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2013-11-08 Home Front: Culture Wars

California high school pressured to drop Arab mascot

At a Coachella Valley High School football game, you may be surprised to see belly dancers performing at halftime shows. Spectators also will find a snarling mascot wearing a headscarf firing up fans to root for the team.

This mascot has existed for nearly a century, but has now drawn the anger of an anti-discrimination group that calls the caricature offensive and stereotypical.

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee recently sent a letter to school district officials asking them to get rid of the mascot. It said, By allowing continued use of the term and imagery, you are commending and enforcing the negative stereotypes of an entire ethnic group, millions of whom are citizens of this nation."

Superintendent Darryl Adams said the topic will be discussed at the next school board meeting. He said he was surprised by the Arab name when he first was hired. He said, Being an African-American from the Deep South, Im sensitive to stereotyping. But in this context, when this was created it was not meant in that way. It was totally an admiration of the connection with the Middle East.

The Arab mascot has been around since the 1920's and was a recognition of the areas reliance on date farming, traditionally a Middle Eastern crop. The nearby community of Mecca also pays tribute to the Middle East.

Posted by ryuge 2013-11-08 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11132 views ] Top

#1 Coachella Crusaders has a ring to it.

Posted by Shipman 2013-11-08 00:25|| 2013-11-08 00:25|| Front Page Top

#2 Ship - in a somewhat related note - the local Catholic HS's mascot is the "Crusaders" and a small, but vocal, group of parents petitioned the Bishop to change the mascot to a more PC form.

The Bishop responded by saying something to the effect of; "The Church has no interest in embracing the latest fashions."

Bless his heart.

Posted by GORT 2013-11-08 08:32|| 2013-11-08 08:32|| Front Page Top

#3 In the 90's the UN regularly put out studies highlighting the appalling backwardness of the Muslim world. More books translated into Greek each year than in the entire Arab world. More patents to Israelis each year than to all the Arab world for all time combined. That sort of thing.

Now of course we can't say a derogatory thing about Islam in public and our school children are forced to pray to 'allah' as part of their 'multicultural studies.

By any measure the 9/11 attack was a strategic success almost without equal in human history.

Posted by Iblis 2013-11-08 11:08|| 2013-11-08 11:08|| Front Page Top

#4 As a member of the League of Americans of Mixed European Ancestry but Mainly Northern and Western European or LAMEAMNWE, I am appalled by the Notre Dame mascot of a fighting Irishman. It is a horrible caraciture that depicts the Irish as drunken brawlers upholding the negative stereotype of the Irish as drunken brawlers.

P. S.
is it still ok to say Irishman? I know one can't say Chinaman anymore. It's so hard keeping up with the PC fads these days.

Posted by Lowspark 2013-11-08 17:02|| 2013-11-08 17:02|| Front Page Top

#5 A person of keltic descend is preferred, except for the bastaedly prods.

Posted by Shipman 2013-11-08 18:55|| 2013-11-08 18:55|| Front Page Top

#6 So Arab is a bad word now?

Posted by rjschwarz 2013-11-08 20:42|| 2013-11-08 20:42|| Front Page Top

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