ANAHEIM, Calif. — More than 40% of students at Anaheim High School voted to keep the school's Colonist name and mascot, despite some pushback from some community members to remove and replace it.
The student leaders will give the outcome of the student body vote to the five-member Anaheim Union High School District Board of Trustees, who will ultimately decide to keep or change the school's name and mascot.
"This information will be presented to the board of trustees during a December school board meeting as a recommendation from the student body at Anaheim High School," said Brandi Hoxworth, the school's ASB president, during a town hall on Wednesday.
The student body's vote should end the controversy surrounding the school's name and mascot after a Change.org petition began circulating last year to remove what the petitioners say is the school's insensitive mascot.
The issue comes at a time as high schools, colleges and professional sports teams look at the origin of their name and mascot. Some have said some schools and pro teams have chosen mascots that are racist, objectify and are offensive to a particular culture. There's been a growing movement to change such names and imagery.
With more than 3,000 students, Anaheim High, founded in 1898, is one of Orange County's oldest high schools.
The school's Colonist name has been around for 100 years, chosen by the student body and staff in 1921, and depicts a caricature of a man dressed in a traditional pilgrim outfit, towering over a capital A and leaning on a musket.
The Colonist name came from the city's early German settlers who wanted to create a wine colony in Anaheim.
A pair of Anaheim High School alumni started a Change.org online petition "Decolonize the Colony" removal of Anaheim High's insensitive mascot.
"Colonists are historically depicted as heroes who founded our society by 'discovering' land and enforcing their societal expectations on indigenous people. In reality, they are directly responsible for the mass genocide of native populations," said petition writer Laura Luevano. "With a predominantly Mexican student population (2019-2020), the colonist is an ill-fitting mascot for Anaheim High School. It absolutely does not represent the school or its students. It perpetuates and glamorizes genocide, racial violence and Anaheim's historically racist past as a hub for white supremacy."
As of Wednesday, more than 6,550 people signed the petition.
A rival petition to save the school's name also began circulating at the same time last year. Nearly 4,000 people signed that petition to save the Anaheim High School Colonists.
Rather than tackle the issue straight on, the Anaheim Union School District wanted Anaheim High students to learn about the subject's issues.
In the past couple of weeks, the students at Anaheim High engaged in a multi-day civic engagement education lesson plan during social science and English classes surrounding the city's history, founding and controversy of their high school's Colonist name and mascot.
"As a school, we feel this is a great opportunity for students to partake in a civic engagement project that is relevant to them and unleashes their student voice," staff officials wrote in an email to parents.
The five-day lesson plan culminated with the whole student body voting to either keep the Colonist name, rebrand it by keeping the name but changing the logo or replace the name and the imagery.
The school held a town hall Wednesday to present the arguments for and against each voting category and unveil the student body's vote.
More than 2,400 students participated in the vote. About 41% of the student body voted to keep the Colonist name and mascot imagery, 34% voted to rebrand it and 25% said to replace the name and mascot.
"Our mascot name has nothing to do with those that killed Native Americans and stole their land," said one student who spoke in favor of keeping the Colonist name and mascot.
In an interview with Spectrum News, Thomas Bateman, the Anaheim High School Alumni Association vice president, said he's proud of the students who voted to keep the school's name and mascot.
"This was a small exercise in democracy," said Bateman. "The school felt this was a good opportunity to teach students about the processes of our society."
Bateman, who graduated from Anaheim High in 1989, admits he was a bit nervous about the students voting to perhaps change the school's name that has been around for a century. He didn't appreciate how Anaheim High Colonists were being described on the petition.
"We as Anaheim Colonists have been taught at school by our teachers, coaches and alumni, those who have gone before us, to be great examples of being good citizens, care for one another and look out for each other," said Bateman. "We, as alumni, take so much pride in these students. The faces change, but the spirit remains the same. The vote affirmed the Colonists spirit knows no limits."