City school board to review the Crusader and American Indian symbols
Manchester Union Leader – January 9, 2007
By RILEY YATES
Union Leader Staff
MANCHESTER – The school board will review the symbols of Central and Memorial high schools, after a former student complained they are offensive to some minorities.
Last night, a fight that has boiled at Dartmouth College was taken to the Manchester School District, as 2005 Central class president Ibrahim Elshamy charged that Central's American Indian and Memorial's Crusaders herald a history that shouldn't be celebrated.
Elshamy, who now attends Dartmouth, said both symbols are hurtful and should be changed.
Indian and civil rights groups have fought Indian mascots in professional and collegiate sports, while the Crusades is a "dark spot" in Christian history, he said.
"Ostensibly under the name of religion, a fanatical army swept across continents, brutally engaging in genocide against Jews, Muslims, Orthodox Christian, women and children," said Elshamy, who has set up a Web site, HateMascot.com, to lobby against the two schools' symbols.
The school board last night asked a committee to review Memorial and Central's images, though a handful of members voted against the motion.
Memorial's principal said he stands by the "Crusaders" moniker, insisting it is a name chosen in the 1960s to honor the U.S. military—and not the historic Crusades, a series of bloody campaigns from 1095 to 1291.
"It has nothing to do with the Crusades, genocide or anything like that," said Arthur Adamakos, who was reached at home by telephone.
Adamakos added: "I've never had anybody say anything about (the name) as long as I've been around Memorial, which is on and off for the past 25 years."
Questions about school mascots have long been debated across the country.
At Dartmouth, the issue exploded this fall when faculty and student groups protested the invitation of the University of North Dakota's Fighting Sioux hockey team, while a conservative student paper ridiculed the objections.
Mayor Frank Guinta would not say last night if he believes Memorial and Central's symbols are offensive.
"I'm glad the school board is going to review it and I'll see what the committee recommends," Guinta said.
Debra Langton, an at-large member who seconded the motion to review the names, said the school district needs to study whether the symbols are appropriate.
"I didn't realize a lot of people felt that way," Langton said. "If they do, I think it's up to us to maybe address that."
Opposing the review were Vice Chairman Leslee Stewart of Ward 1, Art Beaudry of Ward 9 and Doug Kruse of Ward 8. Marc Cote of Ward 10 was absent.
Beaudry said the symbols are historic and thus shouldn't be changed. He noted the pedigree of Central, a high school that is the oldest in New Hampshire. The school's Web site says it was founded in 1846.
"Our forefathers who set things up in the past thought about this and I don't think we should push that away," Beaudry said. "At Central, it's been around for centuries."
Assistant Superintendent Frank Bass said he believes the issue has been studied before.
A decision shouldn't be made without facts about what the symbols actually refer to, Bass said.