I’m black, and I just went to a reunion at my Confederate flag-loving high school

 

My ten-year high school reunion happened this past Saturday in Florence, KY. That’s in Northern Kentucky — near Cincinnati, Ohio — close to what many consider the physical border between the North and the South. I didn’t even understand how racist the school was until I was on the plane and I suddenly remembered that our school mascot is a Confederate general. The trip brought back a lot of tough memories and forgotten anxieties from growing up in an area bubbling with racial tension.

For some Kentucky high schools, Rebels nickname OK for now

 

"What she doesn't seem to understand is things have completely changed and we're very sensitive," Boone County community relations spokesperson Barbara Brady said. "We have people speaking 52 different languages going to Boone County schools. We have people of numerous races and ethnicities going to Boone County schools.

 

"There cannot be anything in anything we do — our curriculum, our presentation and the way we represent ourselves — that can be offensive to anybody of any skin color, of any race, of any ethnicity, of any sexuality. We are completely neutral and inclusive of anything and everything."

 

Brady stressed that the Rebels mascot — which Hughes described on Twitter as a Confederate general — had no connection with the Confederate flag. Brady said Superintendent Randy Poe has told her the Rebels mascot was inspired by James Dean and the 1955 film Rebel Without a Cause.

Lots of topics in these two articles to cover, but does anyone believe the Boone County mascot is based on the movie Rebel Without A Cause?

 

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The mascot looks just like James Dean. (Past) Time for Boone County to change.

I’m black, and I just went to a reunion at my Confederate flag-loving high school

 

My ten-year high school reunion happened this past Saturday in Florence, KY. That’s in Northern Kentucky — near Cincinnati, Ohio — close to what many consider the physical border between the North and the South. I didn’t even understand how racist the school was until I was on the plane and I suddenly remembered that our school mascot is a Confederate general. The trip brought back a lot of tough memories and forgotten anxieties from growing up in an area bubbling with racial tension.

The news story and Hughes' account certainly raise valid points. Thanks for sharing.

IMO, people are WAY too sensitive and reading into things far deeper than need be. We can all look at something and find something we perceive wrong with it.

52 languages is a lot.

I firmly believe that the blog in the first post is nothing more than a "professional blogger" jumping on a social topic to try and draw attention to their blog.

 

Being white, I'm sure I didn't see all the same things, but to paint Boone County as being a haven for racist activity from 2000-2005 is a joke to me.

Yep, Boone Co's mascot does look like James Dean. Who knew

This is simply going too far.

Lots of topics in these two articles to cover, but does anyone believe the Boone County mascot is based on the movie Rebel Without A Cause?

 

I was always told that the class was given the opportunity to come up with a mascot. They never could come up with anything that stuck. At the time the Principal said something like, "You're a bunch of Rebels" and that stuck as the mascot.

 

Who knows the truth to that, but it might be the correlation to the James Dean movie.

IMO, people are WAY too sensitive and reading into things far deeper than need be. We can all look at something and find something we perceive wrong with it.

 

Yes and no. Can you really find anything offensive in Eagles, Jaguars, Wildcats, etc?? I admit I'm not sure about this particular case, but the imagery is kind of undeniable. And I'm not comfortable telling a group (especially a large group of people like a minority) what should or shouldn't be offensive, especially if I don't have any skin (no pun intended) in the game.

The better question is why are adults so easily offended these days.

 

How does a school mascot affect anyone ?

The are two schools in Alabama named for confederate leaders that are now predominately black. I wonder how they feel.