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1. New York Negros and Carolina Crackers… « Random Illness on 20 May 2009 at 11:06 am

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1. Rob Schmidt wrote:

   Just like hundreds of schools with Redskins, Chiefs, Warriors, or Indians as their nicknames.

   There are also schools nicknamed Crusaders, Cossacks, and Arabs, believe it or not.

   As you say, the amazing thing is that so many people are “cool” with it. Dressing up, pretending to be, and inevitably stereotyping an ethnic group…and no one sees any problem with that?

   Maybe it’s time for the “Fighting Whites” intramural team to return. They play golf in country clubs by day, wear sheets and burn crosses by night. Sure, it’s stereotypical, but so what? It doesn’t harm anybody, right?

   Posted 01 May 2009 at 8:37 am ¶

2. method wrote:

   Is the first one actually racist? It’s the East High Orientals (East High Easterners). From Wikipedia: ‘The term “Orient” is derived from the Latin word oriens meaning “east” (lit. “rising” < orior “rise”)’.

   Posted 01 May 2009 at 8:55 am ¶

3. mT wrote:

   No way, not in a progressive/ liberal upstate city like Rochester.

   Now Akron, Ohio I understand.

   I actually lived in Rochester for many years and this is how things are. No one questions this type of stuff. But this general apathy is found everywhere.

   Posted 01 May 2009 at 9:04 am ¶

4. CVT wrote:

   I shouldn’t be surprised, but that kind of blows my mind (especially that there are TWO of them).

   “Chang the Dragon”!?? Wow.

   Posted 01 May 2009 at 9:08 am ¶

5. Conner wrote:

   That is so funny! My old high school, East High School is Des Moines, had Scarlets as a mascot! As in Indian, Native American. The picture of the mascot was a giant head of a Indian male that was colored deep red with a headdress on. We had a giant drum that someone would beat on at pep rallies and we did the “tomahawk chop.” What is it about East High School that brings out racist caricatures? Also, a middle school in Des Moines has Eskimos as its mascot and all the social science teachers tried to get it changed to Inuits to no avail. The picture of the Eskimo guy was in a furlined parka with tiny slated eyes and a smirk.

   Posted 01 May 2009 at 9:08 am ¶

6. Christie wrote:

   Depending on the region they live in, many of the people in charge, and the students, etc., may not be aware that “Oriental” should not be used. I know awareness is growing on this front, in the U.S., but I don’t think this awareness is in as advanced a stage as with many other perjorative terms.

   This is even more the case in the 2 other countries I am familiar with – England and Japan. In England there is very little awareness that Oriental is a word that perhaps shouldn’t be used. It is still used in many public places. Likewise in Japan. I have seen the word Oriental in restaurant names, and just today on the back of the uniform of a man working for a security/traffic direction service. I was wondering, “Why does his back say Oriental in big letters? Was his uniform manufactured by a company called Oriental or something??” (it was not immediately apparent that he worked for a private company – I thought he might be a city employee, as he was directing traffic on a public road near a sports dome, before a game). Coincidentally, a few minutes later I saw a van from the same security service, that said Oriental Security.

   This is not as an excuse – there is just more work to be done in raising awareness, starting in the U.S. and then in other countries, too.

   Posted 01 May 2009 at 9:45 am ¶

7. Miles Ellison wrote:

   Are there any people of Asian descent at this school?

   Posted 01 May 2009 at 9:52 am ¶

8. Alpha Asian wrote:

   Well, there are the “Fighting Irish.”

   Anyway, even if Oriental is meant to be “Easterner,” the term is on par with the term “Negro.”

   It’s offensive in the sense that it reminds us of a time when Asian Americans were considered second class citizens.

   Posted 01 May 2009 at 9:55 am ¶

9. Celeste wrote:

   Yeah, that’s really wrong. Although it got me to thinking if it’s okay to have teams named after groups that haven’t been marginalized. I used to attend a high school where the Vikings were the mascot. It was a predominantly black school and we didn’t engage in any Viking mocking during pep rallys (I’m not sure how to mock Vikings). It just doesn’t seem as insensitive as the Orientals or the Braves.

   Posted 01 May 2009 at 10:09 am ¶

10. Deaf Indian Muslim Anarchist! wrote:

    wait, so they have a dragon mascot called “Chang”? Well, nice! That’s some improvement for racial diversity in the midwest… lol WTF.

    Posted 01 May 2009 at 10:10 am ¶

11. OTM wrote:

    There’s a whole town called Oriental in eastern North Carolina (and thanks to Method, I think I understand why) but the mascot of the closest high school in Pamlico is the Hurricanes.

    Posted 01 May 2009 at 10:26 am ¶

12. VoxModeri wrote:

    I get being miffed by mascots like Redskins, which is a sort of mild epithet, but East High Orientals… all Oriental means is being from the East, which makes perfect sense. I think it would be cool if we had more mascots that were derived from more foreign sources, rather than your typical Vikings, Warriors, animals and whatnot. Its not like its East High Chinks or any kind of even muted epithet (am I wrong? I’ve never heard the word used that way…).

    Posted 01 May 2009 at 10:37 am ¶

13. gatamala wrote:

    There really is not bottom is there?

    Posted 01 May 2009 at 10:42 am ¶

14. A.D. Nix wrote:

    Oh, woah. Woah. Chang the Dragon. Woah. Everyone knows what they’re doing here.

    @ Celeste
    I’ve been wondering about this too. I was born and raised in a city with the Padres as a home team (with a bat swinging friar graphic and all) and the Aztecs as a local university mascot (nicknamed ‘Monty’ after Montezuma). There was some controversy over the latter when I was in high school but then I feel like people shrugged (!) and went on with things. I don’t remember the Padres ever being much of an issue. Nor the Conquistadors.

    Posted 01 May 2009 at 11:11 am ¶

15. method wrote:

    @Alpha Asian,
    I thought of that comparison after posting my comment. In both cases (Negro and Oriental), though, the change in term seems to have been made more or less consciously based on a specific critique of the term in favor of another term, rather than inherent negative connotations of the term at the time of the change. I think a combination of distance from the term and the old term’s association with a period are what make the term socially unacceptable, where the term isn’t originally a slur. My (obscure) point is that people wouldn’t be any less offended if it were the East High School Asians, whereas the names of the sports teams are clearly based on the fact that they have east in the title of their schools. Only the second school added on a racist motif, by initial appearances. But yeah, they should probably change the name anyway.

    Posted 01 May 2009 at 11:20 am ¶

16. Mike wrote:

    Of course it’s racist, but just like everyone has been saying, so are all the various Native American themed mascots that have been around (I presume) much longer. Has our outrage over that just dulled over time? This sort of thing is nothing new.

    I’m not familiar with the author so I may be speaking quite out of turn here, but this post reminds me of people that start supporting charities for diseases as soon as they get the disease, but not before… if that analogy makes sense.

    Posted 01 May 2009 at 11:31 am ¶

17. Lyonside wrote:

    To add to why “Oriental” is inappropriate at best, to refer to people as “of the East” betrays Eurocentric bias. East of what? Of Europe, of course, the center of the freaking human world, evidently.

    Plus, in modern English, Oriental refers to rugs, not billions of people in what, dozens of nations along the Pacific Coast of Asia.

    Posted 01 May 2009 at 11:48 am ¶

18. Grace wrote:

    The high school in my town is the Indians. And the surrounding high schools are the Arabs and Rajahs. In high school I debated this constantly but only a handful of students saw the racism in it. It’s absolutely ridiculous.

    Posted 01 May 2009 at 12:05 pm ¶

19. PPR_Scribe wrote:

    Stay off of the Google.

    Posted 01 May 2009 at 12:06 pm ¶

20. Brooklyne Gipson wrote:

    I agree that’s completely sickening but I know that there are PLENTY of other schools in America that have refused to change their mascots. Out here in Los Angeles, Compton High School still reps the “Tar Babes” (sometimes called ‘Tar Babies’ as their mascot).

    I always wonder how names stick like that. You’d think at least one person (or preferably a group of people) would notice that the name is completely unacceptable and move to get it changed.

    Posted 01 May 2009 at 12:22 pm ¶

21. Bobby wrote:

    Old folks still call me oriental with a straight face. They really don’t know. The ones with hard of hearing swear I speak Cantonese when I talk to them.

    HOWEVER, I cannot imagine there is a good excuse for these high schools. I’m waiting for fu manchu mascot….

    Posted 01 May 2009 at 12:27 pm ¶

22. Lydia wrote:

    Damn. In my public school district, there was an elementary school with the Cavelliers (sp??) as it’s mascot, and that got thrown out for being “too violent” (the little guy had a fencing sword). I wonder if this would get thrown out there, or just ignored…

    Posted 01 May 2009 at 12:46 pm ¶

23. karak wrote:

    On the bandwagon– my old hometown was the Chinks. Like, racist slur Chinese Chinks, with the Chink Rink and the Chinkettes and everything. In the early 1980s, we changed to the Dragons, but there are still old-timers that bitterly resent the loss of “tradition”. Chink items sell for a high price and gift shops still make Chink keychains and whatnot (I went to buy a small gift for host family on my Chinese foreign exchange, and I picked up a keychain and went dead white when it proudly displayed the name CHINKS).

    Posted 01 May 2009 at 1:02 pm ¶

24. wakarimasen wrote:

    About 30 years ago, I lived in Peoria, IL. There was a town nearby called Pekin. People there claimed that Pekin got its name because if you drilled straight down into the earth, when you came out on the other side, you would be in Peking, China. The mascot of the high school in Pekin was the Chinks! I kid you not. I think they are now known as the Dragons.

    Posted 01 May 2009 at 1:02 pm ¶

25. Ruchama wrote:

    A town near the one where I grew up didn’t actually have a mascot — their team colors were maroon and white, and each team was either the Maroons or the Whites. (I’m not sure how they decided which team would get which color — it seemed pretty random.) And yes, “Go Whites!” at a game sounded utterly ridiculous.

    I so don’t understand have the team name be the Orientals and the mascot be an eagle. What’s “Orientals” supposed to mean there, anyway? Did they maybe used to have a dragon or “chinaman” or something like that mascot, and then realized it was offensive and changed the mascot, but not the name? Or did someone at some point just pick out a name and a mascot that had nothing to do with each other?

    Posted 01 May 2009 at 1:24 pm ¶

26. Brian wrote:

    If an Asian person went to that School I can imagine the dialogue between that Asian person and the School Spirit Committee.

    SSC: You should totally be our MASCOT!!
    Asian: Um, no thanks. But why me?
    SSC: We think you would do a great job!!
    Asian: OK why?
    SSC: EAST HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL RULES!

    Posted 01 May 2009 at 1:27 pm ¶

27. Yolanda C. wrote:

    One question: Is there a struggle within the school or the larger community to get rid of the mascot? The community around U-Illinois Urbana-Champaign fought for years to change their racist mascot, which was finally retired in 2007.

    Outrage is good, but a fight for change within the community is better.

    Posted 01 May 2009 at 2:30 pm ¶

28. Rob Schmidt wrote:

    I suspect Angry Asian Man is expressing renewed outrage, Mike, not new outrage. I’m sure everyone who participates in Racialicious is aware of the mascot issue.

    Some reservation-based high school teams call themselves Warriors or Redskins. And Notre Dame’s Irish chose the “Fighting Irish” name, of course (http://www.bluecorncomics.com/irish.htm). That’s different from whites imposing the names from outside.

    San Diego State University is still the Aztecs, but it abandoned its stereotypical Monty Montezuma mascot. So the issue wasn’t just ignored and forgotten.

    Teams such as the Padres, Conquistadors, and Crusaders have Christian cultural problems, but at least they’re not ethnic stereotypes. Anyone can become a padre (or a cowboy, or a 49′er) because it’s an occupation, not an ethnicity. No one can become an Indian or an Asian.

    Note: Maybe these three teams could find a few other Christian-based teams (Saints, Popes, etc.) and form a Christian-based league. In this league, when they pray to God for victory, they really expect him to choose the winner. Suggested league motto: “God bless our teams…literally.”

    Thanks for reminding us of the Pekin Chinks. I vaguely recall that story from years ago.

    Talking about mascots every so often is a good idea, I think. We should remember that they’re an ongoing source of stereotypes.

    Posted 01 May 2009 at 2:56 pm ¶

29. aishtamid wrote:

    This is pretty outrageous to me. Commenter #2 mentioned that they could be the East High Easterners or Easties because the term Orient technically means East…but why not just say Easterners or Easties?

    I can only imagine how Native Americans feel about the Cleveland Indians, Atlanta Braves and worst of all the Washington Redskins, not to mention the dozens (hundreds, maybe?) of high school and college teams named for Native Americans. It’s hard to imagine that some of the biggest sports franchises on the planet can get away with this.

    Posted 01 May 2009 at 3:29 pm ¶

30. Celeste wrote:

    @Grace & everybody: Arabs…Rajah’s….chinks, chinkettes??!!! For some reason I think I’m most surprised by the Arabs…don’t ask me why. Why am I just now hearing about all of this when it seems like its way too common? I had no idea. My elementary school mascot dragons but I don’t know if that has racist roots or not. My best friend’s high school was the fighting Quakers, I’ll have to ask if the mascot looked like the oatmeal dude.

    Posted 01 May 2009 at 4:10 pm ¶

31. Lyonside wrote:

    Please, Mike, check it: http://www.racialicious.com/?s=mascot

    Racialicious HAS covered the use of Native American imagery (false though it is) for, quite literally, YEARS.

    Yes, AAM has an Asian focus. Matching his online pseudo and blog: Angry Asian Man. This was a REPRINT.

    And saying, “Well, what about XYZ? Why don’t you care about that?” is on the list of Ways To Derail A “Ism” Conversation.

    It’s called multitasking. People can care about the use of Asian stereotypes as “mascots” AND Native Peoples.

    Posted 01 May 2009 at 5:01 pm ¶

32. Sanguinity wrote:

    @ Celeste

    Our neighboring high school was the Vikings. But the town was settled by Norwegians, so I’d say they were using the name fairly honestly.

    I’d say an important consideration is whether the mascot directly represents some aspect of the community itself (”us”) or not (some pet-like “them”). That, I think, is one of the key differences between “The Fighting Irish” and most of the other mascots that are turning up in this thread.

    Posted 01 May 2009 at 5:21 pm ¶

33. Cara wrote:

    Wow, I’m from Rochester, but I’ve never paid any attention to high school sports (including when I was in high school), or really sports of any kind. So this is total news to me now.

    Wow. Wow.

    Posted 01 May 2009 at 7:00 pm ¶

34. Kat wrote:

    Interesting. I live only a few miles from Akron, and had no idea that East High school’s team was named this. I was never into sports in school, though, so it isn’t surprising.
    I’ve driven by the building many times, and seen the dragon motif on the outside of the school, so I just assumed the team was called the Dragons.
    Hmm.

    Posted 01 May 2009 at 7:28 pm ¶

35. A.D. Nix wrote:

    @ Rob Schmidt
    Controversy bubbled up around Monty when I was in high school around 97.’ Compromise? We’ll have Monty dance in a nicer way – less menacing. That’s a shrug to me. It ignores the core issue.

    But yes – three years later they agreed to ‘retire’ the name and about 4-5 years after that, it happened. But the next year, they introduced the new nameless ‘Aztec warrior.’ I know at least one professor there who is angling to have the ‘warrior’ done away with altogether. From where I stand, the name change and choreography haven”t done much.

    Cheering ‘Conquistadors’ onto victory is, and will always be, a real issue for me – and not because of any Christian cultural problems.

    Posted 01 May 2009 at 8:06 pm ¶

36. jillofalltrades wrote:

    I’m shocked that you’re just now hearing about this. I’ve been telling people about the Akron East High Orientals for at least a decade. Coincidentally, I was just telling people about this just this week – completely unrelated to this post.

    Posted 01 May 2009 at 10:26 pm ¶

37. Rob Schmidt wrote:

    Sounds like people are trying to ameliorate the Aztecs’ mascot situation. They may not have resolved it satisfactorily, but they aren’t ignoring it either.

    The Christian cultural problem I referred to encompasses the history and role of conquistadors in Western civilization. I suspect we’re talking about the same thing.

    Posted 01 May 2009 at 10:35 pm ¶

38. bdsista wrote:

    Being from the DC area and part Native, I can’t tell you pissed I get all the time everytime I see the R-word logo. I work in a school and have had to tell students, teachers and Administrators that it is a racial epithet meaning the same thing as the N-word to Black people. I make students remove hats and take off jackets that have the symbol the words of the DC team and the Cleveland team which I term the “jigaboo Indian” you know damn skippy if that grinnin face had a yarmulke or an Afro it would be on. This mascot business is a disgrace and inexcusable!

    Posted 02 May 2009 at 4:06 am ¶

39. margaret wrote:

    @ Celeste: Fighting Quakers?? Aren’t Quakers generally pacifists? LOL

    @Rob Schmit: To me, living in the greater LA area, I’ve always found it…interesting that the schools with the conquistador as their mascot have a majority population of students with Latin American/Mesoamerican Indian descent. To me, this is inexcusable, even if I could force myself to believe that it’s total coincidence. But to me, the Conquistador doesn’t represent a “Christian cultural problem”. I think the conquistador embodies the dark spirit of genocide and the unbelievable cruelty that humans can inflict on one another . I don’t know how that translates into high school sports.

    Posted 02 May 2009 at 2:01 pm ¶

40. Mike wrote:

    @Lyonside: I know racialicious has covered Native America mascot… racism, I was referring to the blogger this post was from (as I said then, I’m not familiar with that blog so I may have been in err).
    I was not trying to derail the conversation at large (like you said, it’s called multitasking), but my concern was that some readers all-of-a-sudden express concern because mascot racism is directed at their in-group, when many of us have been fighting this for some time now.
    My point was; while this is despicable and ignorant, it’s no more despicable or ignorant now than it was before. I was concerned that time has dulled the outrage the community has towards the more … “classical” (sad, yes) forms of mascot racism.
    I apologize if my first post was misunderstood.

    Posted 02 May 2009 at 2:52 pm ¶

41. RCHOUDH wrote:

    Ugh…never having been into school sports, I had no idea so many racist mascots/team names are out there! And they seem to have used names/epithets of every ethnic group available around the US! I bet the East high schools thought they were being clever calling their teams “The Orientals”.

    Posted 02 May 2009 at 5:46 pm ¶

42. Maysie wrote:

    Just to add to the discussion re “Oriental” being non-offensive, like “Negro”.

    I disagree.

    Both terms are offensive. The reasons why are not related to how the terms are or are not descriptive, but because of who chose the names (white folks) to use to describe “others”. Neither of those words were used by the groups that were named, until maybe, by a few, after the fact.

    Do white folks call themselves “Occidentals”? lol

    Posted 02 May 2009 at 5:47 pm ¶

43. Bagelsan wrote:

    I think the conquistador embodies the dark spirit of genocide and the unbelievable cruelty that humans can inflict on one another . I don’t know how that translates into high school sports.

    …I think it translates okay? :p <– (doesn’t like sports) But it’s still an awful name to use –how the hell *do* you cheer for a team with a name like that?

    Posted 02 May 2009 at 7:53 pm ¶

44. Lyonside wrote:

    Mike: As I said previously, the post is a crosspost from another blog, Angry ASIAN Man. No detective work necessary.

    And yes, it’s no more or less ignorant/obnoxious/racist than before the blog post… but isn’t it good that some of us who weren’t aware of THIS example now are aware of it? Many anyone present on the local or state level can advocate against it now.

    Does a blogger to detail the history of prejudice every time they wrote about a particular example of prejudice? Since you say you’re not a concern troll (the other name for that form of derailment), how should AAM have phrased his post or otherwise footnoted it?

    Posted 02 May 2009 at 8:04 pm ¶

45. jeff wrote:

    In the UK no one thinks anything of the word ‘oriental’ It is certainly not associated with negro. Restaurants, health shops, grocers etc are all prefixed with the word. I had no idea the situation was different in the US

    I can see how some people might be offended by’ redskins’, ‘conquistadors’ and the like and ‘chang the dragon’ just sounds stupid, but I think it should be remebered that team names like ‘warriors’ or ‘braves’ are actually meant as a compliment to the formidability of said warriors and braves. The team is associating itself in what it believes is complimentary manner. Its not an insult, I dont think. All societies are proud of the ferociousness of their warriors and I can imagine some long-ago native americans would be pleased if they knew hundreds of years later their bravery and tenacity would be remembered, maybe even in this way.

    Lyonside. The Greenwich meridian (the imaginary line) runs through London. Everything east is east. everything west is west. Its all been agreed for a long time If everybody started using new definitions, where every country decided the imaginary line should go through their country, then all the ships and planes would get lost! I dont think theres much to do about that aspect of eurocentrism.

    Posted 03 May 2009 at 12:15 pm ¶

46. Vik wrote:

    K let’s put this all in perspective. This is a school in my city, Rochester. Yes the name is questionable among other things but the school was established in the early 1900s. The term was used then. This is their justification. It’s an inner city school and stretches the whole spectrum of diversity. Yes, there are Asian students that go there, mostly Southeast Asians because a lot of SE Asians settled in the inner city. It’s not one of our biggest concerns in this city and it’s a stupid name yes, but I find it kind of funny that everyone in that school: Black, Hispanic, Asian, White is considered an Oriental.

    Posted 03 May 2009 at 1:17 pm ¶

47. Kheret wrote:

    There is a theatre here in Milwaukee called the Oriental Theatre. It’s a very old “movie palace” type place, beautiful really, and they’ve just kept the original name.

    Nonetheless, it bothers me. And I often visit this theatre because they show some very great, progressive films.

    Plus, I’m an archaeologist and historic preservationist. In this case, changing the name would significantly damage the architectural integrity of one of my city’s landmarks. So that causes some additional angst, though it hardly seems to be the case for these schools.

    Posted 03 May 2009 at 6:39 pm ¶

48. Jha wrote:

    I must admit I actually found this amusing. In the “LOLWHUT” way, and I’m having a hard time trying to be outraged. I come from Malaysia, and one of our states used to be termed “Pearl of the Orient” (or something) so I guess I’m used to thinking of myself as “Oriental” (which is better than “chink”, I suppose – “Oriental” simply means “from the East”). My first question was, “are there any Asians on this team?” and the second question was “WHY this name?”

    Although VoxModeri’s point that they’re EAST High kinda does make some sense and in a way I think it’s clever.

    Grace @ 18: No, really? “Arabs” and “Rajahs”? Just. Wow. I understand why “Rajah” since it means “king”, but “Arabs”? … What’s going on in the minds of these people that they’d name themselves after other races?

    Maysie @ 42: When I was taking a course discussing feminism’s intersectionality with Orientalism, my prof at some point did refer to herself and my [white] classmates as “Occidental”.

    Posted 03 May 2009 at 7:40 pm ¶

49. Jess wrote:

    I think there’s a funny disconnect between the UK version of the word “Oriental” and in the US.

    This should not surprise anyone.

    After all, I grew up in New England. When I was a kid you went to the “Pakie store” which was short for “Package store.” Now, obviously anybody now hearing that thinks “racial slur” but until I moved to the UK I had never heard the term “paki” as such. I actually mentioned to someone there tha t we called liquor stores “paki stores” when I was little, and got one hell of a reaction.

    The point is, the term “pakie store” was invented long before anyone anywhere in New England ever met a Pakistani, and has no relation to the UK ethnic slur.

    And yes, BTW, westerners have called themselves “Occidental” in the past. “Oriental” wasn’t really ever an ethnic slur in that sense, though it has I think that connotation in the US because it has fallen out of use– along with “Occidental.”

    (Read any literature from the colonial period to get the idea).

    In Britain it seems that the term “occidental” has stayed around, but so have a lot of other terms that have fallen out of American ENglish. It isn’t just because the Brits are evil or more racist (I never heard the word “n—-r” in all the time I was in Europe) but just that these things take on different meanings in context.

    I don’t see the school’s team name as particularly racist, because it was probably adopted (being the East high school) when “oriental” was more common as a term — and strictly speaking, it is correct.

    Obviously now it’s different, so while I am not particularly offended (as a part-Asian guy) I would vote to change it. It makes me think of a bunch of people in pith helmets and white linen suits.

    As an etymological nerd, I should tell everyone that the word “orient” as in to orient oneself, to find direction, to find one’s way, is also related to this word. A good thing perhaps?

    Posted 03 May 2009 at 10:29 pm ¶

50. Nathan wrote:

    @Margaret
    “To me, living in the greater LA area, I’ve always found it…interesting that the schools with the conquistador as their mascot have a majority population of students with Latin American/Mesoamerican Indian descent. To me, this is inexcusable, even if I could force myself to believe that it’s total coincidence.”

    I would imagine that a majority student population would have at least some say over the name of the school team.

    Which makes me wonder at the thought process behind the correlation. Definitely deserves some further consideration.

    Posted 03 May 2009 at 11:17 pm ¶

51. Sami wrote:

    Actually, “East” as a reference (e.g. Middle East, which for some reason people don’t seem to object to, Far East) is in reference to the Mediterranean, not Europe.

    It’s inherited from the Classical era – Ancient Greece and Rome, who believed that the centre of the world was at the Mediterranean (hence the name). Delos, I believe. Which is why the Western world is called the West – being west of the things that are east of the Mediterranean.

    Orientals as a team name with an eagle mascot seems fine to me – because it’s a reference to easternitude, is all. (The West High School Occidentals would also be cool.) Orientals with Chang the Dragon? Oh hell no.

    Posted 04 May 2009 at 10:36 am ¶

52. Ed wrote:

    Google “oriental cuisine”. Include the quotes.

    Posted 04 May 2009 at 8:05 pm ¶

53. Henry wrote:

    You know, this has bothered me for some time now. Being an Akron East Oriental didn’t mean much. Until I moved to Los Angeles and gained a new awareness. The mind set in Ohio was so stilted. Those blue laws in the rust, religious belt made truth very difficult to obtain. The latest run up to the election displayed what Ohio was all about. It was embarrassing…

    Posted 08 Oct 2009 at 8:57 pm ¶