Confederate flags found in old SBHS yearbooks (VT)

[struggle4progress]

Haley Dover, Free Press Staff Writer 12:04 a.m. EDT September 27, 2015

SOUTH BURLINGTON – Inside the robin-egg blue binders of the 1966 South Burlington High School yearbook is a black-and-white photo of a cheerleader’s megaphone adorned with the Confederate battle flag. The yearbooks from that era contain numerous images of students posing with the flag.

Those yearbook photos settle the question about the link between the school’s nickname, the Rebels, and the slave states that fought to secede from the Union during the Civil War. Though the school dropped the Confederate colonel as its mascot about 20 years ago, the name has remained.

Since late July, the board has heard comments and received emails from community members after a South Burlington resident questioned whether “the Rebels” is offensive and should be removed.

Numerous residents have urged the School Board to replace the nickname with something more inclusive of all South Burlington students. Voices on the other side of the debate have been as loud, with many students urging the district to keep the name ...

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/local/2015/09/27/confederate-flags-found-old-sbhs-yearbooks/72574168/

[marshall]

1. Will the photos be removed from the yearbooks?

when no record of intolerance remains, we can move forward.

[struggle4progress]

2. They're still discussing whether calling the high schoolers "rebels" is a confederate reference

It clearly was, in some sense: the high school ditched its confederate soldier mascot about 20 years ago; and the old yearbook pictures are just a further reminder of that understanding of the name

It would have been hard to misunderstand the political significance attached to the confederacy and the battle flag in the early 1960s: the flag regularly appeared in TV footage and magazine pictures of opposition to desegregation. This picture is from 1964 Indianapolis:

http://historymaniacmegan.com/2015/07/22/worst-excuses-for-keeping-a-confederate-flag/

Some local lore claims the South Burlington High name "rebels" was a joke based on South Burlington's "secession" from Burlington; so perhaps the people of this Burlington suburb were simply overcome by their own sense of humor at the time

I suppose that this is, in some respects, a local issue. The population of South Burlington is somewhere around 20000. I don't see any evidence people are trying to rip pages from old high school yearbooks or hoping to destroy evidence of past intolerance: I see discussing whether they need to re-evaluate what symbols they promote today

[artislife]

3. And how does this pertain to the primary?

OOPS! I thought I was in the other forum.

[struggle4progress]

4. It doesn't have anything to do with the primary. I like both Bernie and Hillary very much,

in different ways, and I have some concern about the electability of either

Vermont doesn't need to spend money to improve my opinion of that state, since my opinion is already largely favorable

In our high school years, my friends and I were sometimes brilliant, sometimes confused, and sometimes totally moronic, depending randomly on who-knows-what; and from what I can tell, the current crop of high-schoolers is that way too

[artislife]

5. I said oops in the body of the post.

[goldent]

6. Trying to ban "rebel" seems a typical modern American overreaction.

According to wikipedia, the term rebel was also applied to American fighters during the revolutionary war. That's going to result in a lot of stuff going down the memory hole. Of course "Rebel Without a Cause" will be headed there too.

[Fumesucker]

7. Star Wars has to go too...

Holy Crap! The Rebels are the good guys in Star Wars, how twisted can you get?

[struggle4progress]

8. Nobody's banning anything. South Burlington High is having a discussion about whether

they want to retain a team name that was originally understood as a reference to confederates

I could find at least 300 teams in the US that call themselves the rebels. A random sample of 10 suggests to me about 75% are in the secession states where the name almost certainly refers to the confederacy.