A Californian high school has relinquished its sports mascot following complaints that the snarling, gold-toothed, hook-nosed Arab that it sent out on to the sidelines was racist.
The Coachella Valley High School’s Angry Arab, represented by a student wearing a large fake head, was created in the 1920s and had been a fixture at American football games, often accompanied by a bevvy of belly-dancing cheerleaders.
The school insisted that the character was created to honour a link between the Middle East and Californian date farmers. However, the Arab became increasingly fearsome in appearance, and the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), a campaign group, accused the school of “orientalist stereotyping”.
President Obama has suggested that the Washington Redskins American football team should rethink their name and in June the US Patent and Trademark Office cancelled its trademark registration.