A high school in California obsessed with Middle Eastern culture has finally decided to answer the overwhelming demands to change its controversial “Arab” mascot — but not by much.
Teams taking the field at Coachella Valley High School located two hours east of Los Angeles will now be referred to as the “Mighty Arabs” after the school district’s board of trustees voted 5-0 Tuesday to amend the mascot’s name, Al Jazeera America reports.
The mascot also has a new look: Out is an outlandish caricature of a stereotypical Middle Eastern man with a gigantic, hooked nose, scraggly beard and menacing expression. In is a sleek, more anatomically correct image — though he still wears a headdress.
The school’s about face comes 10 months after officials began collaborating with the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee to find a way to choose an appropriate representation for the teams.
The Coachella Valley campus may seem like a typical Southern California high school complete with palm trees, outdoor lunch gazebos and loads of cackling teenagers, but a closer look reveals a school straight out of a parody of the Fertile Crescent.
Giant murals of men and women in cartoonish Middle Eastern clothing can be found on numerous buildings campus-wide. Harem girls proudly march with the band, while belly dancers entertain fans at halftime.
The school’s peculiar infatuation with life in the Middle East has been viewed as a classic example of Orientalism — a term used to describe Western depictions of various Eastern societies as backward and inferior, according to Al Jazeera.
“Mighty Arab” mascot designers Jesus Olivares and Sergio Espinoza said the original image was something that really struck a chord with them, since it wasn’t remotely accurate.
“It was disrespectful in that it wasn’t clear what it really was,” Olivares said. “Somebody did not study or learn [about the culture] or create something that was true. They slapped it together and put it on the wall.”
The 1990 CVHS graduate added that he and Espinoza tried their best to create a mascot that would embody “determination and pride,” as well as being “positive…not wimpy.”
Members of the CVHS community have been adamant about keeping their title as “Arabs” because of their storied history and connection with people from the Middle East. The school claims to have never meant any harm to Arabs or people of Arab descent and says the reason behind the seemingly offensive name is due to the community’s massive production of dates. CVHS accounts for 95 percent of the dates grown in the US, Al Jazeera reports.
“This process has been a learning experience for everyone involved,” said ADC President Samer Khalaf. “We have had an opportunity to teach those in Coachella Valley about Arab culture and heritage. At the same time, we have had the opportunity to learn about the history of Coachella Valley and its strong connection to the Arab world.”