Calif. Arab sparks debate over ethnic mascots

December 2, 2013   LOS ANGELES — On game days in Thermal, where date farms and desert surroundings evoke the Middle East and nearby communities have names like Mecca and Oasis, fans cheer a high school team known as the Arabs. A belly dancer jiggles on center court. And a black-haired, mustached mascot wearing a…

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    Spain recognizes Morisco population

    The Spanish parliament will vote on an initiative to recognize the injustice done to the Moors expelled from the country 400 years ago. The non-legislative proposal asks the government to take action to strengthen economic, social and cultural ties to the descendants of the Moors expelled from Spanish territory in the seventeenth century. The proposal…

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      Moorish historians want Spain to apologize upon the 400th anniversary of expulsion from Spain

      400 years after King Philip III signed an order to expel 300,000 Moriscos – or part-Muslims who had converted from Islam to Christianity, some Muslim writers, Spanish and Moroccan campaigners are asking Madrid to apologize for the wrongs committed during the 17th century. The anniversary highlights the uneasy relationship that still exists between modern-day Spanish…

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        Toning Down the “Reconquista”

        Spanish villages are toning down traditional fiestas in which revelers blow up dummies representing the Prophet Mohammed for fear of offending Muslims, the newspaper El Pais reported on Monday. One eastern Spanish village, Bocairent, decided to abandon the custom of packing the head of a dummy representing Mohammed with fireworks after seeing the angry response…

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