Another Mascot Change: This Time it’s Concord High School Dumping ‘Minutemen’

For several years now there has been a push from the Woke Left for sports teams at the high school, college, and professional levels to reconsider their names and their mascots. Most of the efforts have centered around renaming teams deemed to be offensive more often than not due to their association with Native Americans and Native American themes. Most notable were the changes of the National Football League’s Washington Redskins to the Washington Commanders and then more recently Major League Baseball’s Cleveland Indians to the Cleveland Guardians. Interestingly enough, the term “R-word” has now been employed by the politically correct to replace “Redskins” when addressing the long-standing controversy surrounding the Washington football team, obviously raising the level of offensiveness to that for which the “N-word” represents.

And while this phenomenon of team name changes has received more attention as of late perhaps due to the hullabaloo leading up to mascot swap outs at the professional level, at the college level the controversy leading up to successful mascot changes has been around for quite some time. Some of the more prominent colleges who have changed names and mascots include:

Stanford University—Indians to Cardinal (1972)

UMass—Redmen to Minutemen (1972)

Dartmouth—Indians to Big Green (1974)

Siena—Indians to Saints (1988)

Eastern Michigan—Hurons to Eagles (1991)

St. John’s (NY)—Redmen to Red Storm (1994)

Marquette—Warriors to Golden Eagles (1994)

Miami (OH)—Redskins to RedHawks (1997)

And there are many more both at the college and high school levels.

Earlier this year In the State of New York, the Board of Regents, which has oversight on all New York schools, decreed that public schools would no longer be allowed to use team names and mascots such as Chiefs, Warriors, Indians, Redmen, Braves, etc. that convey Native American imagery.  The edict would affect nearly 60 schools and force them to comply by the end of the 2024-25 school year. One school district, Massapequa, ironically named for a Native American tribe itself, vowed to stand up to the ban, as students continued to work on a prominent school building mural depicting the Chief logo that has represented the school for decades. In June, the school district relented and voted to comply with the ban despite a claim that it will cost the school district and taxpayers nearly $700,000 to do so. They continue to seek legal redress on the state ban.

Of course, it is not just the use of Native American names and themes that have led to controversy, protest, and ultimate renaming. Many schools affiliated with antebellum southern or Confederate themes and personalities also have faced scrutiny and ultimate cancellation. Even schools and buildings carrying the names of prominent national Founding Fathers have come under attack and have had their names changed because the individuals were slave owners and/or espoused what we now consider to be racist views a couple of centuries ago.

In San Francisco, it even rose to the level where more than forty schools—including those named for Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Abraham Lincoln–were placed in the crosshairs of the local school board for name change. Ultimately, the San Francisco Unified School Board back peddled on the initiative after local and national public outcry. Ultimately three board members were voted out of office by recall and the name change imbroglio was cited as one of several reasons for their ouster.

Evidently a new focus by the Left for school and mascot name changes has arisen, and where better to expect ground zero for that spotlight to be shown than in the San Francisco Bay area? 

Concord, a town that itself was named after Concord, MA, site of one of the opening battles of the American Revolution lies about thirty miles outside of San Francisco. Appropriately, the Concord High School moniker is the Minutemen, after the armed militia that were said to be prepared to rise up in defense of the country at a minute’s notice. They famously took on the British regulars seeking to extend the English Monarchy’s rule over its American colonies during our Revolutionary War of Independence.

In a 4-1 vote by the Mount Diablo Unified School District, of which Concord is a part, it was decided that Minutemen would be dropped in favor of Bears. The school has one year to comply and it is estimated that the cost to the district will be in the neighborhood of $200,000.

The move that led to the vote started about a year ago when the district thought it best to change its human mascots to non-human mascots. A student committee was formed that was given the charge of finding a new name and mascot. The student committee had evidently expressed concerns that the Minuteman mascot was problematic because it carried a firearm. Additionally, the committee thought it best to seek a more gender inclusive mascot.

Linda Mayo, a member of the Mount Diablo Unified School Board Member said at the meeting prior to the vote,:

“If changing a mascot will make students feel welcomed, embraced and empowered to participate more at the school, then I will support this.”

She was joined by another Board Member Cherise Khaund who said:

“I am all for supporting the students and the staff who worked so hard on this to help them reach their vision of welcoming inclusive campus for all,”.

Dr. Adam Clark, the Superintendent of Mount Diablo Unified School District, also was in support of scrapping the Minuteman mascot and said the move was:

“……in response to the mass shootings and killings of students on school campuses. Male minutemen soldier holding a rifle was not a symbol many of our students and staff felt created a welcoming environment.”

Fascinating. In an era where the Left continually points out that those that wrote and adopted our Constitution and the Second Amendment in particular, could not have conceived of the advancement in weaponry such as the AR-15 rifle, now seemingly have a problem with the flint lock musket their Minuteman mascot carries.

In the community there was certainly not unanimity in support for retiring the Minutemen. The initiative leading up to the vote met with resistance, from many whom are Concord students or alumni. An online petition was created to resist the mascot change.

The recent vote yielded outrage in many circles. Matt Shupe, the Republican Chairman of Contra Costa County where Concord is situated, was infuriated by the move. He said:

“It’s disgusting to disrespect those who fought and sacrificed to defeat tyranny and ultimately found our great nation, and to add insult to injury, they’re replacing it with a meaningless and trite mascot that viciously murders small animals. These woke schools need to prioritize teaching math, reading, and writing to catch up from the educational losses during the pandemic rather than spitting on the memories of our veterans.” 

Other locals voiced their sentiments at the board meeting leading up to the vote.  Mark Lloyd, a resident of Concord said:

“You have whole families that identify as Minutemen. You have families who buy a house to continue their legacy there.”

Local resident Wes Anderson said:

“I have relatives that were in the Revolutionary War. They would be appalled at the fact that we are losing our heritage.”

Dr. Clark countered by saying:

“I understand that there are alumni and community members who oppose the change. Their opinions and views have been heard on several occasions in open meetings. This decision was not made lightly and our focus has remained on current students. There is no disrespect to the Minutemen and their contribution to American history,”

Perhaps the sagest idea came from School Board Member Debra Mason who was the lone vote against the resolution to dump the Minutemen name and mascot. She suggested that the Board should also adopt a policy that would require that school uniforms do not include a picture of the mascot, but just the name of the school to save costs in the case that there are future mascot changes. 

Future mascot changes? I think we can all count on that.

In an atmosphere where team names and mascots depicting anything Native American, the Antebellum South, and now American Revolutionary War heroes is considered taboo, it’s just a matter of time before groups such as animal rights activists petition our schools to remove animals as our school mascots. Watch out, Concord Bears—they’re coming for you next.