Normally when you pick a school mascot, you pick something
that the student body can rally behind.
And the students of Hephzibah High School and Hephzibah Middle School
rally behind… a Confederacy Rebel. Now, the good news is that right now literacy and history
are two of the weakest points in grade school academia, at least in the Southeast. It stands to reason that, if you don’t read
well, you’ll shy away from doing much in-depth historical study, and perhaps
lack interest in history altogether. So
when you ask many kids if they know the significance and the historical context
of the Rebel mascot… they have no freaking idea what you’re talking about. Thus, thanks to their acute lack of knowledge,
they’re not offended by the mascot.
The bad news is, Hephzibah represents a racially blended
population of students. Which means some
of the students are following behind a mascot who would’ve seen their race as God’s
chosen, superior race, and the rest of the students are following behind a mascot
who would’ve seen their race as subhuman, demonic, expendable, and, at best, only
3/5ths of a human being.
…What a dilemma, huh?
Wanna hear something funny?
For many people, the solution to this dilemma is--- keep everybody
ignorant. “As long as everybody stays
ignorant, nobody gets upset. So don’t
talk about slavery, pay no attention to the mascot… hey, at least you people
have Black history month, so be thankful for that.”
But I’ve gotta be real for a second: tradition has it that, when there’s a Black
History Month program at Hephzibah High School, White parents come up to the
school to pick their kids up so that they’ll miss the program. I’m an alumnus, class of 2001; it’s been happening
for decades.
…OH, let me tell you one of my favorite stories from
teaching there!
So, one year, my favorite student of all time says, “When I get to college, I wanna be a mascot. ‘Matter of fact, I wanna be the school mascot right now! How can I do this!”
I look at this young Black man crazy for a second, and I ask him, “…You do know that our mascot is a rebel for the Confederacy, right?”
His response? “I know… I don’t care, I just wanna be a mascot!”
Then I smiled. Because the truth is, there WERE Black Confederate soldiers--- and I knew that most Confederate sympathizers in the local area didn’t know (or appreciate) that. The sociologist in me just would not let me miss this opportunity.
That ended up being the greatest Homecoming ever; just being in the audience and hearing everybody--- Black folks and White folks--- saying with one voice, “What’s he doing in a Confederate uniform! He’s Black!” It confirmed two things: 1) the lack of knowledge we have about the Confederacy; 2) the yet-standing sentiment that… the Confederacy was pretty much not meant for the full participation and well-being of Blacks. People can say it’s about “Southern Pride” all they want, but what part of “Southern Pride” involves being angry at a historically accurate Black Confederacy rebel?
Recently, a friend of mine--- a Black friend--- has been
going back and forth with me about the significance of taking down the
Confederate flag from the statehouse in South Carolina. “Was it worth the effort? What about economic issues? Improving education? The 9 victims in Charleston? Is mere symbolism really that big of a deal?”
…Well, no. In the
context of those other issues, symbolism doesn’t hold very much weight at
all. But let’s talk about what symbolism
means in the context of education. There’s
an old familiar saying: “If you know better, then you do better.” Ya know what that is? That’s education in a nutshell--- learning,
and then applying what we’ve learned for our betterment. But what happens when we know better, and yet
don’t do better? When we gain understanding,
yet act like we don’t understand?
Well, friends… that’s exactly the point where we embrace
ignorance and stupidity--- and education dies.
That’s where we find statehouses and schools presiding over multi-racial
populations, yet insensitively having Confederacy mascots and memorabilia. Enemy flags and enemy soldiers on pedestals that
should be reserved for things more patriotic.
Taking advantage of blindspots in intelligence for the promotion and preservation
of things that arguably should be considered abominations.
…This is big, folks.
This is HUGE. You send your children
to school for an education, and some of the very institutions where they are to
be educated… stand as an affront to education itself. In fact, nationwide, schools are often in
favor of SUPPRESSING education in order to preserve a status quo of ignorance. “Let’s glaze over slavery and glaze over the
Confederacy so that the students won’t be offended enough to inquire why their
school has a Confederacy Rebel for a mascot.”
Then, “Let’s glaze over Black History Month so that the non-Black
students won’t feel uncomfortable hearing the stories of what Blacks had to
suffer through.” In Texas and Oklahoma, “Let’s
get rid of AP courses and soften the discussions of slavery so that they don’t
become divisive.”
Folks… in a modern society that preaches the value of
education constantly and forces people to jump through all manner of educational
hoops just to advance in life, at what point is it okay for our governing bodies
and educational institutions to omit knowledge in the pursuit of preserving…
ignorance?
 |
| The Second National Flag, 1863 |
Let me put it this way:
in both instances--- the flag on top of the SC statehouse and the
Hephzibah Rebel mascot--- it’s not really about taking down monuments to the
Confederacy because the Union won. It’s
not even really about taking down symbols of slavery toward the condemnation of White supremacy. It’s about taking down
monuments to American ignorance so that we don’t make ourselves into hypocrites
when we say we believe in education. Our
actions--- what we do--- are not matching up with our understanding--- what we
know. We KNOW that W.T. Thompson, the man who made the
Second National Flag which preceded the Dixie flag we know of today, said VERBATIM, “As a people, we are fighting to
maintain the Heaven-ordained supremacy of the White man over the inferior or
colored race.” We KNOW that, when you
fight UNDER a flag, the idea is you BELIEVE IN and AGREE WITH what that flag
represents. And we know that the
Confederate Rebel mascot represents a "Southern Gentleman" who would’ve fought under that
flag or some derivative OF that flag. So let's not beat around the bush: the EDUCATED thing to do at an EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTION which serves students of ALL RACES would be to take cue from the SC statehouse and remove the Rebel mascot.
 |
| -W.T. Thompson; a guy we avoided discussing in class |
It takes a certain level of ignorance to participate in
bigotry and hatred. But how much more
ignorance does it take to KNOW better, and YET be responsible for continuing to
INCUBATE the CULTURE of bigotry and hatred? That’s what this is really all about--- it’s not Union vs. Confederacy,
it’s not Black vs. White; it’s education vs. ignorance and it’s truth vs.
omission. It's our preservation of ignorance and our enabling of omission that allows bigotry and hatred to persist generation after generation. Are we or are we not thinking
people? The answer is not in our “yes”
or our “no”; it’s in our conclusions and our actions. And for us to draw conclusions
and then not act is for us to pledge education, but practice ignorance.
Hephzibah, it’s time for a new mascot. And preferably not the Hephzibah Hypocrites*.
*...Although the repeated 'h' sound followed by trisyllables in dactyllic meter kinda creates a nice ring... I'm just flexin' ;-P
Get at me:
earlgreysummers@gmail.com
earlgreysummers@gmail.com
@earlgreysummers on Twitter
/earl.g.summers
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