Julie Clarkson (julmclar@mars.utm.edu) from 192.239.151.131 at 10/30/97 03:49PM
comment
    I have been southern since the day I was born and the Lord willing I will be that way until I die. I have never given southren politics much thought until recently. I come from a highschool with a rebel man for a mascot. No one had too much to say about our mascot until recently. I went home a few weeks ago too find my little town in an uproar about the fact that they might have to come up with a new mascot. Why you ask? The answer is that we could be offending people who are living in the past. The rebel man is a part of our heritage just as Malcom X is apart of the heritage of those it could possibly offend. I know for a fact that I did not participate in an event that tried to suppress African Americans rights and neither did any of the students or teachers that attend my former highschool. I have not heard of someone asking people to forget African American history so why are the people of the south being asked to forget their history. I am not saying that there isn't racial problems that need dealing with but should we not focus on more important things than a rebel mascot. We need to look beyond the past and focus on what our future holds. I beleive that we should acknowledge what good came out of past events and get on with making a future for the south as a whole. Objects have no value until you give them value. A dollar is just a green peice of paper, but because we choose to say it represents something it becomes valuable. The Rebel mascot is just a man until someone gives it meaning.