Today I sit at my desk with tears in my eyes and joy filling my heart. Today marks a point in Anaheim High School history that proves that there are still those who love Anaheim, its history and who have retained true school spirit for their high school.
First and foremost, for those students who chose to vote to keep the Anaheim Colonist name, as well as the mascot, I want to take this moment to sincerely say "THANK YOU!!"
Thank you for listening to reason, for weighing out the facts and for making your choice to preserve the school's history. When the school decided a century ago to use the Colonists (originally "Mother Colonists") as their mascot, they did so with pride of their heritage.
The pioneers who came to this area and built a proverbial paradise out of a dry desert. The hard work that they broke their backs achieving, the values they held high and the strength and determination they had to make something from virtually nothing was honored by the school the very day they chose the their mascot, so that they would never forget where they came from.
Thank you students of Anaheim High School, who have honored a century's old decision, and in essence you too are honoring our founders now as well. The term Colonist is not a bad thing. It never has been. And with the passing of time, and each class that comes and goes, no matter what cultural background you may be, if your family or ancestors came from another place to make a better life for themselves, they too are Colonists. Be proud of that. Hold your head up high. Because there is nothing to be ashamed of by that.
A group of people had chose to demonize the very meaning of the word, when if really researched thoroughly you can find that the word derived from the Latin "colere" simply means: "to inhabit, tend or guard." It also means "a group of people of one nationality or ethnic group living in a foreign city or country." There was never any mention of oppression, racism, genocide or theft in any of those definitions. Someone just decided to make up their own interpretation of the word to suit an agenda.
I am happy to see that their movement didn't work. But we cannot give up, because they will try again down the road. They always do. What we can do now is educate others on the truth about Anaheim history and the Colonists. To shine a light on the facts, because the more informed a person is of the facts the less likely they will jump to conclusions based on conjecture and opinions.
If you would like to know more about the true history behind the Colonists name, please read my blog here: https://anaheimhistory.blogspot.com/2020/07/the-origins-of-anaheim-high-schools.html
I hope that this small victory today shows that not everyone believes in this "cancel culture" society. Honestly, I think people are getting tired of it because if you allow others to find fault in one person, place or thing, before you know it, you will find fault in everything. Then where will that leave us?
I couldn't be more proud of the students today, and their choice to preserve Anaheim High School's namesake. Thank you again, you made history today as you were saving it!
J'aime Rubio (Copyright 11/10/2021)
Youtube Screen Shot Photo Credit : Marivel Bermudez
