The Coachella Valley Unified School District adopted the redesigned mascot this week after pressure from the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee.
Sam Mircovich / Reuters
Coachella Valley Unified School District
The snarling, hook-nosed Arab had been Coachella Valley High School's mascot for decades, a nod to the desert climate and the surrounding farms of date trees. Generations of students cheered for Arab pride at football games where, in recent years, a leering, costumed character took part in a halftime show with belly dancers.
Superintendent Darryl Adams said he wasn't shocked when the Coachella Valley Unified School District received a letter from the Arab-American Anti-Defamation Committee last year. When he started at the district four years ago, Adams, an African-American from the Deep South, said he had some of the same thoughts.
"I know about stereotyping," he said.
The November 2013 letter called for an end to the use of the caricatured Arab mascot as well as the halftime performances.
"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," the letter said.
"We immediately began the conversation with them," Adams said.
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