Change Richland High School's mascot from 'Bombers' back to 'Beavers'
Target:
Richland School District/Richland High School, Washington State, USA
Sponsored by:
Richland High School in Richland, Washington uses a nuclear bomb
explosion, or a "mushroom cloud," as a school mascot since 1945 to
celebrate the end of World War II in Japan via the dropping of nuclear
bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki killing tens of thousands
of civilians. The city of Richland is located a few miles south
of the Hanford Nuclear Site, which helped make plutonium for one of the
nuclear bombs dropped on Japan. Use of the mushroom cloud painted
on a bomb as a mascot has been the subject of intermittent controversy.
In 1988, amidst visits by Tom Brokaw (NBC Nightly News) and Japanese
delegates, a vote was taken by the students making the Bomb (with the
R-MushroomCloud logo) the official mascot of Richland High
School. This needs to change, although dropping the nuclear bombs
on Japan to end the war there is thought of by most to be the best
solution to ending the war with Japan, it was still not a good solution
because of it's immediate human, environmental, and physical
devastation. A symbol representing that kind of destruction is
not a proper mascot for a public high school; also, it is insensitive
and demaning towards the civilians that died in Japan from the nuclear
bombs that were dropped.
Richland High School in Richland, Washington uses a nuclear bomb
explosion, or a "mushroom cloud," as a school mascot since 1945 to
celebrate the end of World War II in Japan via the dropping of nuclear
bombs on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki killing tens of thousands
of civilians. The city of Richland is located a few miles south
of the Hanford Nuclear Site, which helped make plutonium for one of the
nuclear bombs dropped on Japan. Use of the mushroom cloud painted
on a bomb as a mascot has been the subject of intermittent controversy.
In 1988, amidst visits by Tom Brokaw (NBC Nightly News) and Japanese
delegates, a vote was taken by the students making the Bomb (with the
R-MushroomCloud logo) the official mascot of Richland High
School. This needs to change, although dropping the nuclear bombs
on Japan to end the war there is thought of by most to be the best
solution to ending the war with Japan, it was still not a good solution
because of it's immediate human, environmental, and physical
devastation. A symbol representing that kind of destruction is
not a proper mascot for a public high school; also, it is insensitive
and demaning towards the civilians that died in Japan from the nuclear
bombs that were dropped.
We signed the "Change Richland High School's mascot from 'Bombers' back to 'Beavers'" petition!
# 19:
4:47 pm PDT, Oct 12,
Trevor Jones, Washington
as a student, i am very proud to be a bomber. first of all, our mascot isn't the bomb itself, its the bomber plane that carried the bomb. i don't why people are freaking out about it. get over it. we didn't start the war, we ended it. its going to take a lot more to change the mascot with just this one website. GO BOMBERS!
as a student, i am very proud to be a bomber. first of all, our mascot isn't the bomb itself, its the bomber plane that carried the bomb. i don't why people are freaking out about it. get over it. we didn't start the war, we ended it. its going to take a lot more to change the mascot with just this one website. GO BOMBERS!
# 18:
12:23 pm PDT, Sep 19,
Simos Tarabatzis, Greece
# 17:
9:57 am PDT, Aug 5,
Andi Alnwick, New York
# 16:
5:24 pm PDT, Apr 24,
Ken Skead, Washington
# 15:
5:23 am PDT, Apr 23,
Aleasha Casaretto, Texas
# 14:
9:50 am PDT, Apr 21,
Pam Boland, Georgia
# 13:
9:37 am PDT, Apr 21,
Won Lon Dong, Japan
Ah so....you yankee dogs not forget purr haba!!!
Ah so....you yankee dogs not forget purr haba!!!
# 12:
4:42 am PDT, Apr 21,
Name not displayed, Germany
# 11:
2:58 am PDT, Apr 21,
Steve Klein, Canada
# 10:
8:30 pm PDT, Apr 20,
Rebecca Norton, California
As an educator, this seems extremely inappropriate and shocking, actually. Adults should provide adequate guidance in the selection of a mascot. Schools need to be very careful about what they are teaching and the messages they are sending. Visual images are very powerful and affect the subconscious. We need to be promoting peaceful resolutions to conflict, not violent ones. I went to Hiroshima with an exchange program through my high school in 1978. The wax models of people running with their skin melting off were profoundly affecting.
As an educator, this seems extremely inappropriate and shocking, actually. Adults should provide adequate guidance in the selection of a mascot. Schools need to be very careful about what they are teaching and the messages they are sending. Visual images are very powerful and affect the subconscious. We need to be promoting peaceful resolutions to conflict, not violent ones. I went to Hiroshima with an exchange program through my high school in 1978. The wax models of people running with their skin melting off were profoundly affecting.
# 9:
5:55 pm PDT, Apr 20,
David Dunkleberger, Pennsylvania
# 8:
2:16 pm PDT, Apr 20,
Leon E McCants Jr, South Carolina
I am thoroughly disgusted that this could ever have been tolerated or allowed to happen, let alone that, in 1988, the students themselves voted to 'ratify' this 'tribute to genocide,' to an unpardonable double-massacre that was actually responsible for the horrible deaths (immediately and for decades later) of hundreds of thousands of innocent Japanese men, women and children!
I am thoroughly disgusted that this could ever have been tolerated or allowed to happen, let alone that, in 1988, the students themselves voted to 'ratify' this 'tribute to genocide,' to an unpardonable double-massacre that was actually responsible for the horrible deaths (immediately and for decades later) of hundreds of thousands of innocent Japanese men, women and children!
# 7:
12:20 pm PDT, Apr 20,
Bill McGlone, Connecticut
# 6:
8:58 am PDT, Apr 20,
Thomas Pirovano, Switzerland
# 5:
7:03 am PDT, Apr 20,
Name not displayed, New York
# 4:
6:18 am PDT, Apr 20,
Mick G, Australia
# 2:
8:43 pm PDT, Apr 19,
Matthew Millbauer, Washington
This is something that needs to be changed. It's ridiculous that this mascot is still around!
This is something that needs to be changed. It's ridiculous that this mascot is still around!
# 1:
8:40 pm PDT, Apr 19,
Dmitri Stone, Washington
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