Should the ‘Red’ Be Dropped from ‘Red Raiders’?

All over the country, schools are dropping ethnic and cultural aspects of their sports team names that many people think are offensive. Then again, some are not.

Take Radnor High School’s Red Raiders. The school district has retired its mascot, a Native American.

"The Red Raider name remains, the logos remain, the only thing that is being retired - said goodbye to - is the physical costumed mascot that rarely over the past few years was present at athletic events to begin with," school district spokesman Michael Petitti told Philly.com.

But, in general, many call Radnor’s football team “the Raiders.” And images of Native American faces have over time disappeared from the school.

“There have been very few symbols used in last few years, but they keep popping up now and then,” said Rick Eckstein, a parent of children in the district and a sociology professor at Villanova University.

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with the term ‘raiders’, it’s when you start associating that with a specific cultural or ethnic group when you start getting into trouble,” Eckstein told Radnor Patch.

Eckstein has been talking about this issue for years. But “I don’t know if it’s widespread of if it’s ten of us,” he said. “Times change, morals change… Some traditions are wrong.”

Eckstein said he does not think there is consensus between the school board, Radnor’s principal Mark Schellenger and the students. Radnor Patch has reached out to Schellenger for comment.

Schellenger, he said, “has been fabulous on this issue.” 

"There's an elusive middle ground that we're trying to find, where we want to maintain our traditions, while not being offensive to anyone,” Schellenger told Fox News.

"You can reference an ethnic group and celebrate them. And that's what the kids deemed we were doing and that's what we're going to continue to try and do as we move forward, is to celebrate the traits of bravery and courage,” he told the news channel.

Do you think the ‘red’ should be removed from Radnor’s team name or should it be kept? Tell us by commenting below.