Post by timholycross on Jun 10, 2020 19:59:25 GMT -5
I post this because this school had a controversial nickname and symbol and (rightfully so) ditched all the symbols (their school logo is now a knockoff of the University of Virginia with a "W" instead of a "V"). But this is apparently not enough.
So, don't think a bunch of wokens won't come after the Crusader nickname again.
"In Walpole, longstanding demands to drop the “Rebels” nickname from the town’s sports teams are gaining traction amid worldwide Black Lives Matter protests, as critics called for an end to local athletes carrying a moniker associated with the Confederacy.
Local school officials, who cited increasing concerns over the Rebels name, are expected to hear from the public at an upcoming meeting and make a decision on the name later this month, they said in a statement.
The renewed debate comes five years after the School Committee voted to rebrand the Rebels name rather than abandon it.
A group of Walpole students, graduates, parents, and residents signed an open letter this month to local school officials, insisting that the town change the nickname. And more than 4,800 people have signed on to a petition that blasted the town’s use of a “racist name and mascot” with a bloody history.
Josh Innocent, 33, a Walpole High School graduate who backs changing the name, said it celebrates bigotry, racism, and violence.
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“This is just, to me, a really clear cut issue: There is a right and there is a wrong,” Innocent said, “and the ‘Rebels’ is just wrong.”
An opposing effort to retain the name is also underway, including a petition organized by Daniel Bush, a 16-year-old Walpole High School student that has the signatures of about 3,000 supporters.
“We rewrote the narrative of the word ‘Rebel’, we took away the narrative of Confederate soldier. And we rewrote it through tradition, pride, [and] excellence,” said Bush, who plays football for the school. “The word means so much more than just a name... it’s a lifestyle to us, and we don’t want to see that taken away.”
On Tuesday, the Walpole School Committee will hold a virtual community forum starting at 6 p.m., officials said in a statement, and will take written comments on the issue through its website. The committee expects to hold a vote on the matter June 18, the statement said.
“We are committed to listening carefully to our community and our students on this matter,” the statement said. “One of our most important goals is to maintain a school culture that supports all students.”
Renewed concerns over the Rebels nickname come as worldwide Black Lives Matter demonstrations have led to a moment of reckoning for memorials to the Confederacy across the country.
For decades, Walpole’s high school yearbooks featured photographs of teams and fans holding Confederate flags, and the symbol appeared on uniforms. At some games, players and fans would sing the lyrics to the Southern anthem “Dixie.”
In 1994, Walpole’s schools removed the Confederate flag as a symbol in response to complaints about the symbol’s “divisiveness and connection to certain hate groups.”
Use of the flag continued, however. The owner of a property abutting an athletic field posted a Confederate flag for years, though it has been since removed. In 2015, Walpole’s School Committee disavowed use of Confederate imagery, but declined to rename the town’s teams.
The imagery remains popular enough that Walpole school officials warned graduating seniors and their families not to display “rebel flags” during last Sunday’s graduation ceremony.
The petition calling for changing the Rebels name said the move was needed immediately “in order to take a step towards righteousness and justice.”
“Though many have opposed this action in the name of school pride and their own personal history with the name, now cannot be the time to take half-measures and appease those with no regard for Black lives and justice,” the petition said.
Bush, who is pushing to keep the Rebels name, said he and other players grew up wanting to join the town’s sports teams. The town’s success in football and other sports are the traditions being celebrated with the nickname, he said. Any ties to racism were disavowed long ago.
“They’re trying to get rid of the name only because of its link to its racial past,” Bush said. “The school de-associated every racist thing from the name. We’ve done what we can.”
Bush’s mother, Maureen McCann, supported her son’s effort to retain the nickname. Flying the Confederate flags at games was wrong, she said, but the nickname is completely separate from that symbol. She said she never saw the flags at games.
“Since these kids believe it to be different, and they don’t think of it [having] any relationship to racism, to slavery, then let it be that to them,” she said.
But for some Walpole natives, the time has come to change the name.
Lisa Dignan, 31, who graduated from Walpole High School in 2006, said Walpole’s schools should never have allowed students and teams to be equated with the Confederate rebels.
“Some say that the name is important to them, but I can’t see how the disappointment in having a new name could come close to comparing to the feelings of a Black person whose right to life would have been threatened by those originally called the ‘Rebels,’” said Dignan, who now lives in Hopkinton.
Darley Desamot, 28, who played for the Rebels football team and graduated from the high school in 2010, said the team’s nickname “represents ignorance to a community that has been striving to feel equal."
Desamot, who is Black, said he experienced nothing but love and respect growing up in Walpole and playing football. But he said that not every person of color always had that experience, and he recalled times when Black players on opposing teams would pull him aside to ask him why he played for Walpole, which was perceived as racist due to the use of Confederate imagery, he said.
“I want to be able to say to people proudly I was born and raised in Walpole,” Desamot said. “There is a negative connotation when I say I’m from Walpole -- that is enough reason to spark change.”
Innocent, who grew up in Walpole after his parents immigrated to the United States from Haiti, and now lives in Providence, also looks back fondly on much of his time growing up in Walpole.
It was not without facing bigotry: While he was a freshman at the town’s high school in 2001, Innocent said there a teacher who discriminated against him and other Black students.
She would keep them up front in class, would find excuses to use racial slurs, and would unfairly discipline them, he said.
The problem was never addressed while he was a student, and now, Innocent wants to make sure current students don’t face similar harassment because of their color.
The community needs to have an ongoing conversation about systemic racism, and how it impacts Black Americans and people of color, he said.
Changing the Rebels name would represent a start in that process, he said.
“It’s not just about changing the name and the flag, it’s about changing the culture," Innocent said. “The name change is not the end goal, it’s the beginning, as we examine ourselves as a town.” "
So, don't think a bunch of wokens won't come after the Crusader nickname again.
"In Walpole, longstanding demands to drop the “Rebels” nickname from the town’s sports teams are gaining traction amid worldwide Black Lives Matter protests, as critics called for an end to local athletes carrying a moniker associated with the Confederacy.
Local school officials, who cited increasing concerns over the Rebels name, are expected to hear from the public at an upcoming meeting and make a decision on the name later this month, they said in a statement.
The renewed debate comes five years after the School Committee voted to rebrand the Rebels name rather than abandon it.
A group of Walpole students, graduates, parents, and residents signed an open letter this month to local school officials, insisting that the town change the nickname. And more than 4,800 people have signed on to a petition that blasted the town’s use of a “racist name and mascot” with a bloody history.
Josh Innocent, 33, a Walpole High School graduate who backs changing the name, said it celebrates bigotry, racism, and violence.
Advertisement
“This is just, to me, a really clear cut issue: There is a right and there is a wrong,” Innocent said, “and the ‘Rebels’ is just wrong.”
An opposing effort to retain the name is also underway, including a petition organized by Daniel Bush, a 16-year-old Walpole High School student that has the signatures of about 3,000 supporters.
“We rewrote the narrative of the word ‘Rebel’, we took away the narrative of Confederate soldier. And we rewrote it through tradition, pride, [and] excellence,” said Bush, who plays football for the school. “The word means so much more than just a name... it’s a lifestyle to us, and we don’t want to see that taken away.”
On Tuesday, the Walpole School Committee will hold a virtual community forum starting at 6 p.m., officials said in a statement, and will take written comments on the issue through its website. The committee expects to hold a vote on the matter June 18, the statement said.
“We are committed to listening carefully to our community and our students on this matter,” the statement said. “One of our most important goals is to maintain a school culture that supports all students.”
Renewed concerns over the Rebels nickname come as worldwide Black Lives Matter demonstrations have led to a moment of reckoning for memorials to the Confederacy across the country.
For decades, Walpole’s high school yearbooks featured photographs of teams and fans holding Confederate flags, and the symbol appeared on uniforms. At some games, players and fans would sing the lyrics to the Southern anthem “Dixie.”
In 1994, Walpole’s schools removed the Confederate flag as a symbol in response to complaints about the symbol’s “divisiveness and connection to certain hate groups.”
Use of the flag continued, however. The owner of a property abutting an athletic field posted a Confederate flag for years, though it has been since removed. In 2015, Walpole’s School Committee disavowed use of Confederate imagery, but declined to rename the town’s teams.
The imagery remains popular enough that Walpole school officials warned graduating seniors and their families not to display “rebel flags” during last Sunday’s graduation ceremony.
The petition calling for changing the Rebels name said the move was needed immediately “in order to take a step towards righteousness and justice.”
“Though many have opposed this action in the name of school pride and their own personal history with the name, now cannot be the time to take half-measures and appease those with no regard for Black lives and justice,” the petition said.
Bush, who is pushing to keep the Rebels name, said he and other players grew up wanting to join the town’s sports teams. The town’s success in football and other sports are the traditions being celebrated with the nickname, he said. Any ties to racism were disavowed long ago.
“They’re trying to get rid of the name only because of its link to its racial past,” Bush said. “The school de-associated every racist thing from the name. We’ve done what we can.”
Bush’s mother, Maureen McCann, supported her son’s effort to retain the nickname. Flying the Confederate flags at games was wrong, she said, but the nickname is completely separate from that symbol. She said she never saw the flags at games.
“Since these kids believe it to be different, and they don’t think of it [having] any relationship to racism, to slavery, then let it be that to them,” she said.
But for some Walpole natives, the time has come to change the name.
Lisa Dignan, 31, who graduated from Walpole High School in 2006, said Walpole’s schools should never have allowed students and teams to be equated with the Confederate rebels.
“Some say that the name is important to them, but I can’t see how the disappointment in having a new name could come close to comparing to the feelings of a Black person whose right to life would have been threatened by those originally called the ‘Rebels,’” said Dignan, who now lives in Hopkinton.
Darley Desamot, 28, who played for the Rebels football team and graduated from the high school in 2010, said the team’s nickname “represents ignorance to a community that has been striving to feel equal."
Desamot, who is Black, said he experienced nothing but love and respect growing up in Walpole and playing football. But he said that not every person of color always had that experience, and he recalled times when Black players on opposing teams would pull him aside to ask him why he played for Walpole, which was perceived as racist due to the use of Confederate imagery, he said.
“I want to be able to say to people proudly I was born and raised in Walpole,” Desamot said. “There is a negative connotation when I say I’m from Walpole -- that is enough reason to spark change.”
Innocent, who grew up in Walpole after his parents immigrated to the United States from Haiti, and now lives in Providence, also looks back fondly on much of his time growing up in Walpole.
It was not without facing bigotry: While he was a freshman at the town’s high school in 2001, Innocent said there a teacher who discriminated against him and other Black students.
She would keep them up front in class, would find excuses to use racial slurs, and would unfairly discipline them, he said.
The problem was never addressed while he was a student, and now, Innocent wants to make sure current students don’t face similar harassment because of their color.
The community needs to have an ongoing conversation about systemic racism, and how it impacts Black Americans and people of color, he said.
Changing the Rebels name would represent a start in that process, he said.
“It’s not just about changing the name and the flag, it’s about changing the culture," Innocent said. “The name change is not the end goal, it’s the beginning, as we examine ourselves as a town.” "