This Isn't Sparta

Go tell the lawyers:

The New York Education Department decreed that schools could no longer use Native American images, names, logos, etc., unless they secured tribal permission. Fox News notes that in keeping with that decision, the Brentwood Union Free School District on Long Island scrapped its previous mascot, "Indians," and held a survey among students, teachers, and the community to select a new one. The choices were Bears, Owls, Eagles, Bulldogs, "Green Machine," and Spartans. Spartans became the mascot of choice. Most people would have shrugged and moved on, but not William King Moss III. Moss is the chairman of the Islip City NAACP chapter and a former math teacher for the district who has two children enrolled there. He is calling foul. And racism. Moss has filed a suit against the district, claiming that the Spartan mascot is "racially problematic" and a "symbol of hate." He also claims, "Spartans are of the identifiable and generally perceived protected classes of White Non-Hispanic in race, White in color, Greek in National Origin, and Spartan or Greek in Ethnicity." His complaint also states that the Spartans were white warriors who conquered other people and "enslaved indigenous people called the Helots." Moss is not entirely wrong. Victor Davis Hanson has explained the role of the helots in Spartan society:

Ancient Sparta turned its conquered neighbors into indentured serfs — half free, half slave. The resulting helot underclass produced the food of the Spartan state, freeing Sparta’s elite males to train for war and the duties of citizenship.

The Spartans were cruel and oppressive to the state-owned helots, who did a whole range of jobs that Spartans did not want to do. The helots staged several uprisings as a result of their treatment. However, there are scholars who posit that, in some cases, the helot situation was a bit more complex than the chattel slavery of the transatlantic slave trade (some background can be found here). Historians can argue about that, but then again, find me a society or people group that has never engaged in slavery or cruelty. Go ahead; I'll wait. Moss also takes issue with the fact that women were not permitted to be members of the Spartan army. Therefore, the mascot and its accompanying logo are symbols of hatred for female enlistment in the military. Moss believes that the mascot selection process was not done democratically (although the mascot was chosen via a survey) and that he warned the district that if it selected a new mascot based on race, it would prompt a lawsuit. He is asking the district to choose a new mascot and cover his attorney's fees.

I think the real Spartans would have responded: