Christian dad protests devil mascot

By WND Staff

Kenneth Locklear had no idea when he enrolled his daughter at Roosevelt Middle School in West Palm Beach, Fla., for its math, science and technology magnet program that the school was also the home of the devils.

Locklear was horrified when his daughter showed him a band T-shirt depicting Roosevelt’s devil mascot complete with horns, pointy ears and a thick mustache.


Roosevelt Middle School’s devil mascot (Photo: Sun-Sentinel/Ken Locklear)

Locklear, a Christian, wants the school board to establish a ban on devil symbols and says he’s willing to pay the school with his own money to get rid of all its devil-related items.

”It is a hideous portrayal of the devil,” he tells the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

Three other schools in the district have devil mascots. Officials say no one else has objected, and each school has a right to pick its own symbol, according to the paper.

A spokeswoman for the Palm Beach County School Board says members of a local church have been conducting meetings in Roosevelt’s gym, where the devil image appears on the floor, and they too have voiced no objections.

Locklear insists his appeal is a matter of separating church and state, and he’s considering suing if the school district doesn’t give in.

”What if this was a cross?” he asked the paper. ”Because it is the devil it doesn’t seem to be recognized as a religious symbol. That will change.”

Susan R. Garrett, author of the book, “The Demise of the Devil,” says public objections to devil mascots are common but says the devil is a religious symbol that has lost its biblical connection in modern society, according to the Sun-Sentinel.

Legal challenges to devil mascots are common around the nation, but they have failed so far. In 1996 three public school students in Ohio filed a federal suit against their high school for using a Blue Devil mascot, a symbol they thought to be satanic. A federal court ruled against the students, and an appeals court upheld that decision, reports the paper.

According to the Associated Press, high schools in Devil’s Lake, Mich., and Devils Lake, N.D., voted in 2002 to replace long-held team names “the Satans” because of concerns the monikers and mascots were inappropriate.