Cincinnati, meet the Anderson High School Raptors.
The Forest Hills School District Board of Education announced the school’s new mascot Friday, following months of brainstorming and voting on the name.
The new mascot is an orange-red velociraptor bearing pointy white teeth and claws. Secondary logos include a close-up of a menacing dinosaur eye and an Anderson “A” that’s been slashed by claws.
A 30-member brand and logo steering committee led the school and community through three rounds of suggestions and voting. In a video posted to Facebook on March 5, Forest Hills School District says that the Raptors name received the largest margin of votes from current students, staff and future students by far. The mascot was the second choice for Anderson alumni.
The school district retired the previous name, the Anderson Redskins, as Native American groups criticized its racist nature. The district removed the Redskins moniker in phases, culminating in Friday’s reveal of the Raptors name and branding — its first in more than eight decades.
In recent years, professional and local sports teams across the country have been changing or beginning to change team names and mascots that are racist, predominantly those with negative references to Indigenous Americans. In December, the Cleveland Indians announced that the team would take a new name and mascot before the 2022 baseball season; it had retired the controversial Chief Wahoo mascot beginning with the 2019 season and currently uses a stylized “C” on its uniforms.
Anderson High School still is in the process of removing all references to its former mascot. As of Friday afternoon, a Twitter handle and athletics department website still use the “Redskins” name.
Watch the mascot reveal video below.
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This article appears in Best Of Cincinnati 2021.