Arab Anger Wins in California...Sort Of

Almost year ago, we stumbled upon an American football bearded Arab mascot, that is beloved by Californians but absolutely offensive to everyone in the Arab world. Well, after writing about it, and fueling anger on social media, it seems that Coachella Valley High School is ready to retire this controversial mascot.

The headscarf-wearing, bearded Arab, complete with hooked nose and belly dancers, has been the school mascot since the 1930s to honor the once large Arab colony involved in the date palm growing industry in California. The name is considered a gift to the Arab peoples for their contribution to the economy of the Coachella Valley, not as a foreign racial symbol.

The first time we found out about this mascot was last year when the controversy spiralled out of control. It may have taken a year, but officials have finally agreed to submit to the pressure and retire the clearly offensive stereotyped Mascot.

"Bombers, billionaires or belly dancers. There's a lot more to Arab-Americans and the Arab culture and the Arab heritage than what's being depicted by this high school," Abed Ayoub of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee told KABC.

Unwilling to give up the Arab nickname, the school has agreed to change the mascot but not their team name. After much consideration it seems like they are getting close to officially declaring this image their new logo and possible mascot.

"We passed it around to experts and community members," Ayoub told The Sun. "We took our time to get the opinion of that logo, and it was overwhelmingly positive."

This seems like a baby step in the direction of being less offensive. However this is America, the same country that still has a professional Football team named the Washington Redskins. We won’t take all the credit for helping pour more fuel to the controversy, but we would be remised if we didn’t follow up this story to celebrate the end of this horrific beacon of racism.