1 day Ago By Kirsten Fleming
Coming soon to the Brentwood Union Free School District in Long Island: My big fat Greek white supremacists. Or as you might know them, the Spartans. But to Suffolk County NAACP leader William King Moss III, whose two daughters are students in the district, this new mascot — introduced after Brentwood schools were forced to scrap their Indian mascot — is anti-woman and racially problematic.
According to his lawsuit filed against the district , the Spartan is a “a symbol of white supremacy.” If you only remember learning in school history that the Spartans were famous for austerity and discipline — as opposed to, say, tucking a KKK hood under their signature plumed helmets — you’re not alone. The suit feels like a parody of the early 2020s, when cancel culture ruled and all aspects of American society were viewed through a warped racial lens.
Moss, however, is extremely serious. He claims the ancient Greek avatar violates civil rights and state constitutional protections, sending a bad message to students. (God help his kids if they end up at Michigan State or, worse, move to Spartanburg, South Carolina.
) “This symbol sends the message that enslaving indigenous people and excluding women from the military are acceptable , ” said Moss, demanding that mascots pass the 21st-century purity test. I asked Greek-American stand-up Ellen Karis , known as the “Greek Goddess of Comedy,” about Moss’ gripes with her culture . She found it funny that he had to go back to BC times to find something offensive.
“This is going to piss the Greeks off so much,” Karis told me. “He is going to get banned from every diner on Long island. He will never get a feta cheese omelet ever again.
” Karis, whose family hails from near Sparta in Greece, said the warrior represents universally appealing values. “Everything about being a Spartan is amazing. You take no crap.
You’re strong, You’re disciplined,” she explained. “You will fight for your friends and family.” This whole mess started with a ridiculous state ruling that required Brentwood to drop its Native American mascot — the district’s sports teams were known as the Indians — by June or lose state funding.
According to a social media post, Spartans beat out Owls, Bears, Bulldogs and the Greta Thunberg-approved Green Machine. And why not? Spartan imagery is ubiquitous on sidelines across America, at all levels. Michigan State’s Sparty is beloved .
Other colleges — including San Jose State and Case Western — and countless high schools have Spartan mascots . My own grammar school, St. Joseph’s in Toms River, NJ, employs the iconic helmet.
Proud Spartans Will Ferrell and Cheri Oteri cheered their way into our hearts on “Saturday Night Live.” Moss’ case is absurd, but mascots — chosen for positive qualities like valor ,or geographic location, or religious affiliation — have become a target of the PC police over the last few decades. And many schools that used Native American imagery as a way to denote pride have rebranded, in a process that feels more like erasure than protection.
In 1994, Marquette changed its avatar from the Warriors to Golden Eagles. Around the same time , St. John’s went from the Redmen to the bland Red Storm .
The NFL’s Washington Redskins are now the Commanders, while the Cleveland Indians are now, eh, I forgot. Something too boring to remember. In other words, names are becoming less fun and more generic.
And if we can’t even have the Spartan , what the hell is even acceptable anymore? Soon we will be left to choose solely from a zoo picture book. At least until PETA comes knocking to tell us that a plush Lions costume is exploiting the king of the jungle. In fact, I wonder when my high school will be forced to drop the Griffin.
God forbid we discover the mythical creature had a long, unsavory history of sexually harassing the kraken. Personally, as a Basque American, I’d love to see a school, likely in Idaho , become the Fighting Basques. Or maybe we should drop the old-timey tradition of mascots all together.
It wouldn’t be fun , but at least Mr. Moss won’t be offended..
