South Albany High School examines its Confederate mascot (OR)

[struggle4progress]

By Casey Parks
on July 27, 2015 at 5:05 AM
updated July 27, 2015 at 8:51 AM

... South Albany didn't become the Rebels until 1971, more than 100 years after the South lost the Civil War. Students and faculty chose the mascot as a cheeky joke. They were breaking off from Albany's larger Union High School and thought it would be fun to play off the theme of secession.

Because Albany Union High School teams wore blue, just like Northern soldiers during the Civil War, South Albany adopted red and grey. The dance team became known as the Southern Belles. The sports teams and the marching band used a Confederate flag as a show of school pride ...

Because Albany was primarily a white town, students didn't talk much about the Confederate battle flag's connection to slavery and racism.

"I don't think any of us really thought much about what it meant to other people," said Sam Sachs, a 1986 South Albany graduate and now a member of the city of Portland's Human Rights Commission. "We didn't compete against a lot of athletes of color then" ...

http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2015/07/south_albany_rebel_mascot.html

[Igel]

1. Most people don't think from the other person's perspective.

That, of course, is a problem.

Worse is that they don't *want* to consider the other person's perspective. Sachs is 47 and has grown up. (A lot of 47-year-olds, sadly, haven't grown up. "I, me, mine" is their theme song--granted, it's a fairly obscure Beatles song, but a propos.)