Surrendering Concord's Minutemen

Concord High School in Northern California is under pressure to give up its "Minutemen" mascot, reports Stephanie Magallon for NBC Bay Area.

Patriot of Color Credit: National Park Service

Principal Julene MacKinnon, a '91 graduate, doesn't want the school represented by an armed man. “Some of the brutality, them being a militia,” she said. She wants "a mascot that represents everyone."

District policy is to switch to non-human mascots.

Some parents want to eliminate the rifle and add a Minutewoman to save the symbol. “Minutemen had a proud history, they weren't just men, there were women, there were African Americans,” said parent Julie Lyster, who favors a more "inclusive" Minuteman.

(Blacks did serve as Minutemen: Prince Estabrook was wounded at Lexington. But not women.)

Proposed alternatives lean toward alliteration, reports Claycord Newstalk 925. Crocodiles, Coyotes, Condors, Cows, Kangaroos, Chargers, Chameleons or Cats have been proposed. But, so far, "Bears" is the most popular with students -- if they have to give up the old mascot.

Bears can be violent too, but I guess it wouldn't be a cocaine bear.

I see that Concord-Carlisle High School in Massachusetts is the "Patriots," but the school's symbol is the Minuteman statue. Nearby Lexington High is the "Minutemen," but without the rifle.

Steven Spielberg has come out against editing classic movies to fit current politics and preferences. writes Stephen Green on PJ Media. At a Time 100 conference, the director said he regrets digital edits he made to E.T. for the movie's 20th anniversary re-release in 2002. In the revised movie, federal agents pursuing the alien carry walkie-talkies instead of weapons. That turns destroys the drama, writes Green.

“No film should be revised based on the lenses we now are either voluntarily or being forced to peer through,” Spielberg said. “For me, it is sacrosanct. It’s our history, it’s our cultural heritage."