My high school had a mascot, as did my college. I never really cared, but I bring it up because in the long list of things about which a society should concern itself, high school mascots rank somewhere between discarded chewing gum and pocket lint. But one should never pass up an opportunity to file a lawsuit.
The New York Education Department decreed that schools could no longer use Native American images, names, logos, etc., unless they secured tribal permission. Fox News notes that in keeping with that decision, the Brentwood Union Free School District on Long Island scrapped its previous mascot, “Indians,” and held a survey among students, teachers, and the community to select a new one. The choices were Bears, Owls, Eagles, Bulldogs, “Green Machine,” and Spartans. Spartans became the mascot of choice. Most people would have shrugged and moved on, but not William King Moss III. Moss is the chairman of the Islip City NAACP chapter and a former math teacher for the district who has two children enrolled there. He is calling foul. And racism.
Moss has filed a suit against the district, claiming that the Spartan mascot is “racially problematic” and a “symbol of hate.” He also claims, “Spartans are of the identifiable and generally perceived protected classes of White Non-Hispanic in race, White in color, Greek in National Origin, and Spartan or Greek in Ethnicity.” His complaint also states that the Spartans were white warriors who conquered other people and “enslaved indigenous people called the Helots.”
Moss is not entirely wrong. Victor Davis Hanson has explained the role of the helots in Spartan society:
Ancient Sparta turned its conquered neighbors into indentured serfs — half free, half slave. The resulting helot underclass produced the food of the Spartan state, freeing Sparta’s elite males to train for war and the duties of citizenship.
The Spartans were cruel and oppressive to the state-owned helots, who did a whole range of jobs that Spartans did not want to do. The helots staged several uprisings as a result of their treatment. However, there are scholars who posit that, in some cases, the helot situation was a bit more complex than the chattel slavery of the transatlantic slave trade (some background can be found here). Historians can argue about that, but then again, find me a society or people group that has never engaged in slavery or cruelty. Go ahead; I’ll wait.
Moss also takes issue with the fact that women were not permitted to be members of the Spartan army. Therefore, the mascot and its accompanying logo are symbols of hatred for female enlistment in the military. Moss believes that the mascot selection process was not done democratically (although the mascot was chosen via a survey) and that he warned the district that if it selected a new mascot based on race, it would prompt a lawsuit. He is asking the district to choose a new mascot and cover his attorney’s fees.
The people in the district did not choose a Spartan because they were white Greeks who held slaves, subjected boys to the agoge, and cast their sickly or less-than-perfect babies off to die. In fact, people who do such things, no matter their ethnicity, do not make for good role models. That said, schools across the nation have the Spartan as a mascot. Brentwood is pretty late to that party.
Schools pick the Spartan mascot because Spartans are known for being brave, committed, and tough. Most people get their knowledge of Sparta from high school history classes or movies such as “300.” (Incidentally, Hanson co-teaches a free online course at Hillsdale on Athens and Sparta, which you can find here.) There has never been an intent or desire to emulate or glorify the crueler aspects of Spartan society. That does not mean those things did not exist or were excusable, but the people who voted for a Spartan mascot likely aren’t even aware of them and have no desire to magnify them.
One of the commenters on the Fox story said in part, “I’m of Greek ancestry, and one of my grandmothers came from Sparta, and never ever have I heard about Spartans being white supremacists.” But for some, the specter of racism is just too alluring to ignore. And again, find me a culture whose hands are clean of slavery and the mistreatment of others. If you are honest, you can’t.
There is an interesting debate that goes along with that situation, but it does not require calling in the lawyers to handle the special effects. And it would be nice if schools spent some time really teaching in-depth history. The nation currently suffers from a lack of critical and analytical thinkers. Moss tips his hand with his claim that adopting the mascot is somehow hostile to women, adding sexism to his accusation of racism. That is quite an impressive stretch. But we must keep in mind our current political climate, where lawsuits and outrage garner attention and money and fan the flames of division.
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