Letters: Dec. 8, 2019, from Rivers Edge High School students about the RHS logo

Editor’s note: As an assignment in the SPED/GenEd class at Rivers Edge High School in Richland, students learned the history behind the Richland High School mushroom cloud. They were assigned to write a Letter to the Editor answering the question, “Is a mushroom cloud an appropriate symbol for a high school?”

RHS logo should go

I don’t think that Richland High School should use the mushroom cloud. It may have stopped the war, but the cloud stands for terrible things that had happened. The mushroom cloud represents the destruction and devastation that happened to the cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. There are pictures that showed the destruction of what happened to the buildings. People were disintegrated, and there was nothing left of them but their shadow. The mushroom cloud represents death — 80,000 civilians died in Nagasaki and about 80,000 people died in Hiroshima. Also, people got leukemia from the bomb and to this day they are still getting cancer. There is still radiation in Nagasaki and Hiroshima to this day as well. For these reasons and evidence, I don’t think Richland High School should have the mushroom cloud as their logo.

Mushroom cloud frightens people

I am writing to you about the Richland High school’s logo. The school’s logo is the famous mushroom cloud that nuclear bombs make after they are detonated or dropped. People agree or disagree with the school’s logo. In this letter, I am going to explain why I disagree with the logo. BOOM! The United States dropped a nuclear bomb called “Fat Man” on Nagasaki, Japan that killed 60,000 to 80,000 people instantly! Back in June of 2019, Nonoka Koga, an exchange student from Fukuoka, Japan came to talk to Richland High about their logo and about the dropping of the bomb. She said the U.S. was going to drop the bomb on Kokura, on Aug. 9, 1945, but because it was too cloudy, they chose Nagasaki instead. Her grandparents lived in Kokura the day of the bombing. Nonoka said, “I am here because of a cloudy day.”

My second reason for disliking the Richland Bombers logo is that most of the people who see the mushroom cloud, especially the Japanese people, find the image offensive, scary and violent. People are scared of the mushroom cloud because it reminds them of the sickness they could get, the death and destruction of the bomb or even the end of the world! In conclusion, I dislike Richland’s logo because it’s offensive, and it represents the end of the world and the terrible sickness you can get from the bomb.

Support the cloud

The Richland High school mascot, the mushroom cloud, has been a popular subject that has a lot of controversy. I personally believe that the symbol is not offensive. It is just a high school mascot. If you want to get offended by that then go for it. It also was a historical event. Do you really want to throw away a piece of our history? The cloud represents how we got here. The school is super proud and so is the city, so I believe that it won’t go away. Stores in Richland represent the cloud and some love it. You can see Bomber merch sold in stores and even gas stations. This is why I support the mascot.

Replace the mushroom cloud

The Richland High School logo supports murder. It stands for the death of all 200,000 Japanese people on August 6th and August 9th, 1945. The mushroom cloud needs to go because it is offensive to the Japanese and it honors death. The cloud is offensive to Japan because it represents the horrid day that destroyed people’s lives and still devastates the Japanese today. The bombs killed and injured so many people and still does because of the radiation from the bombs, causing Leukemia and other horrible diseases. Also, the mushroom cloud honors death because more than 200,000 people in Japan died because of the bombs. Something that caused death and destruction should not be honored.

So again, the bomb cloud should not be the Richland High School logo. I advise that people like me who are against the cloud come together and form a petition to try to inform people and most importantly, change the logo. The bomb cloud has disappeared from modern history. Shouldn’t this logo disappear too?

Proud of the tradition

In my opinion, the mushroom cloud is important to us as a city and even a state, believe it or not. The first reason I have to back up my opinion, in my mind, is that it symbolizes our city because it reminds us of what we did in the past and that is good. Also, the Hanford workers donated a days worth of pay just to buy a B-17 bomber. I also have some points to back up the information I have stated.

The first fact I have that backs up my opinion is from a 2017 Tri-City Herald article, Richland High School Bombers Mascot in the News Again, by Cameron Probert. It states, “Many pointed out that Japan was unlikely to surrender if the U.S. didn’t drop both of the atomic bombs. They said they were proud of the tradition.”

If we didn’t drop the bombs, there might have been worse damage in the war. I don’t see a problem with the cloud. The second point I have is from the same article. It said, “Several people repeated a story perpetuated in the 1900s about the school’s connections with the day’s pay collection drive in which Hanford workers donated a day of their pay to help fund construction of a B-17 heavy bomber.” The second way I feel my opinion backs up the fact is Richland High was forced to change their school mascot so they wanted to be unique. Now there are people hating the cloud because they are just standing out.

Mushroom cloud represents death

Would you wear a symbol that represents the end of the world? In Tri-Cities, there is a town called Richland that has a high school, Richland High School, that has a mascot of a mushroom cloud. The people in the community have mixed feelings about the symbol. For me, I believe that the mushroom cloud is a derogatory symbol. The mascot represents an atomic bomb killing many innocent young people.

There were two bombs that were dropped during World War II. Little Boy was the first atomic bomb dropped at Hiroshima. After that Fat Man was dropped on Nagasaki. After the atomic bombs were dropped the world changed. Nothing would ever be the same. In an article that I read it said “It is estimated that 200,000 Japanese people died when the atomic bombs exploded in the two cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki.”

The symbol represents the ending to WWII, but also people we killed. It still offends a lot of people who lost their loved ones from the atomic bombs. All they see is the students wearing the mushroom cloud with no understanding of what the bombs did to a lot of innocent people. Exchange students or even students who don’t like the mascot should be able to express their thoughts and feelings on how they feel offended. In an article that I read on an exchange student from Fukuoka, Japan, Nonoka Koga, went to Richland High School. Koga felt like she couldn’t speak her mind at Richland High about the mushroom cloud. “Koga didn’t discuss her feelings about the mushroom cloud until the atomic bombing came up in her U.S. history class.” The only time she could say how she felt was in history class. More students should be able to speak their feelings about the mascot.

The mascot at Richland High School can be interpreted in so many different ways, bad or good. I feel that the mascot for a high school shouldn’t be a mushroom cloud.

Bombers should change mascot

Since 1940 Richland High has been known as the Bombers with their mascot being a controversial mushroom cloud. Its controversy mostly stems from it being the mushroom cloud from the bombs that we dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II that killed 60,000 to 80,000 people. For this reason I say we should either change the mascot or educate more students about the symbol and its meaning.

What most people forget about is that even nine years after the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki people were still getting sick from the radiation. They called it the atom bomb disease, also known as leukemia. There is even a story about it call “Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes” and the sickness is still going on today.

When people hear about the mascot or we go to high school sports events people don’t understand why we take pride in something that killed millions. They think we are either Nukeheads or ignorant of what the symbol stands for. This is why I support changing the mascot or educating more students on the symbol’s meaning.

Not proud of the cloud

It’s not alright to have a mushroom cloud as a logo. But, it persuades people to find out about the history, or what it means.

Richland High shouldn’t be so proud of being a part of it because it’s a public school. Your school shouldn’t make you feel like you are proud of what your city and the government has done. I think they wanted to support the mushroom cloud because it was in Richland, at the Hanford site. For example, having stores called “Atomic Bomb” is pretty disrespectful for people that come around our city and see that. They may not know exactly why it’s called that. When other people come from other states they probably know what it means and get offended.

In 1938, dramatic news came from Germany. America joined World War II. At Hanford, they produced plutonium and helped build the bomb. After the B-17 “Bomber” dropped the bomb “Little Boy” on Hiroshima, the city was destroyed and thousands of people died. They also dropped “Fat Man” on Nagasaki and 80,000 people died. I don’t support Richland High and their logos even if they are proud of it. I think they should change the logo.

This story was originally published December 8, 2019 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Letters: Dec. 8, 2019, from Rivers Edge High School students about the RHS logo."