Don’t look up unless you’re a racist.

The Air Force Thunderbirds thundered over Colorado Springs on Monday and Tuesday in preparation for the annual F-16 air show Wednesday after the Air Force Academy graduation. The show is so grandiose it draws people from around the country. It is a display of our culture’s commitment to freedom for all in the world’s most diverse society.

Or is it? A state commission of left-wing radicals put a pall, inadvertently perhaps, over the Thunderbirds’ graduation show. The Colorado Commission on Indian Affairs, directed by legislation in 2021 to “Prohibit American Indian mascots” by schools, last week declared 10 Colorado public schools “out of compliance” with the law. Their crimes: They each use “Thunderbirds” as a mascot.

“Thunderbirds” is so offensive, such a serious crime, that each school faces a $25,000 fine for each month it fails to comply with dropping the name within a year. That’s $300,000 a year that would not go toward teaching children or paying teachers the money they deserve because of a Thunderbird emblem.

The commission has no authority over the Air Force and its Thunderbirds squadron. Nevertheless, it is easy to see where this movement leads. If woke bullies cannot stand for Grand Junction’s Thunder Mountain Elementary School self-identifying as Thunderbirds, expect an imminent campaign to rename the demonstration jets in protest of “cultural appropriation.” After all, war machines have a far greater cultural reach than any K-12 school.

Caught off guard by learning his school’s mascot broke the law, Sangre de Cristo Schools Superintendent David Crews asked the Indian affairs commission how the school might comply in swift order. They suggested covering up trophies and anything else that contains the Thunderbird symbol. Students, he was told, could turn uniforms and T-shirts inside out to hide the offensive bird.

The commission found the mythical Thunderbird was important to some American Indian tribes. It was not and never has been anything other than a positive symbol of pride for those who use it.

Indeed, this is insane. It’s a disservice to schools, the Air Force Thunderbirds, American Indians and any other person, demographic or organization that prizes this symbol of power, protection and strength.

No one chooses the name and symbol of a Thunderbird as a sign of misappropriation or disrespect. If that were the case, we would have to consider one of our country’s most iconic air demonstration fleets a joke. We would have to believe Colorado schools are cruel enough to mock American Indians. That would include the schools “out of compliance with the law,” which consist of:

? Hinkley High School, Aurora

? Arrowhead Elementary, Cherry Creek

? Thunder Ridge Middle School, Cherry Creek

? Cheyenne Mountain Junior High, Colorado Springs

? Thunder Mountain Elementary School, Grand Junction

? Johnson Elementary School, Poudre Valley

? Sangre de Cristo Elementary School, Mosca

? Sangre de Cristo Middle School, Mosca

? Sangre de Cristo High School, Mosca

? Shawsheen Elementary School, Greeley

To be consistently woke, Arrowhead Elementary should change its name. Unlike “Thunderbird,” everyone knows an arrowhead belongs to American Indian history. They should order Cheyenne Mountain Junior High and Cheyenne Mountain School District to change their names, as the name comes from the indigenous Cheyenne Indians of the plains.

As the Thunderbirds fly Wednesday, view them with respect. They represent a strong, proud, diverse and respectful country of people from all backgrounds.

We understand some Indian mascots are problematic, most notably the likes of “Savages” and “Redskins.” Nothing about “Thunderbirds” sounds insulting to anyone. This is nothing more than left-wing revolutionaries getting drunk with power and control.

Schools should remain “out of compliance” with the state and refuse to culturally cleanse all traditions and images of the strong and brave American Indians who fought to take land and fought to keep it. The Indian Affairs Commission has no means of collecting the threatened fines. If they did so, the public would revolt.

Look up and take pride in our Thunderbirds and all they represent as we honor a new class of graduates and officers. Don’t let radical revolutionaries further divide us by erasing a proud symbol of our country’s history.

Colorado Springs Gazette editorial board