|
All this confederate flag talk reminded me of this story from the early 90s.
Feelings Being Unfurled About School's Confederate Flag
April 12, 1993|By Jerry Shnay.
Nichole Palmer tried to turn off her feelings when she first saw her high school's flag, red with blue crossed bars, flying from the roof at Thornton Fractional South High School.
The banner-a Confederate flag-was more than a school symbol to her. It was a reminder of centuries of oppression and slavery.
But she was just a freshman in a huge high school, and one of only a few blacks in the student body.
"I didn't know what I could do with my little voice," said Palmer, now a senior. "So I decided not to dwell on it."
For two generations, many students at T.F. South in Lansing have taken pride in the flag. After all, with "South" in the school's name and Rebels as its teams nickname, it seemed only fitting to have the banner of the Confederacy as the school symbol.
As they gathered under the flag to chat and laugh after class, as they cheered it from the stands at football and basketball games, as they decorated homecoming floats with it, all it meant to them was school spirit. The history it represented was a history of sports victories.
Even today, with the flag under attack, many don't see a problem.
"Our flag doesn't represent slavery," insisted sophomore Steve Lewandowski, 15, who is white. "It's just a sign of our school."
But blacks like Palmer don't see it that way. To them, honoring the Confederate flag is like asking Jewish students to salute the Nazi swastika. And now, black parents protesting a symbol that they believe demeans their children have set off a storm over the flag.
High school nicknames and emblems are part of the web of everday life in almost any community, and many of them are not complimentary. In Hoopeston, you're a Cornjerker. In Freeport, there are Pretzels. Effingham loves its Flaming Hearts, Havana its Ducks, and Centralia its Orphans (girls teams are the Orphan Annies).
Yet even offensive symbols and mascots are hard to give up.
The wounds have not yet healed over a controversial decision last year by the school board to drop the Naperville Central High School nickname, Redskins.
Students objected, and residents went to court in a losing effort to keep the nickname. Last fall, the Redskins became the Redhawks.
"The students have taken to the name," said Supt. Donald Weber, "but some people still remain testy and say they will run against the school board in November."
It was just as hard, years ago, when Pekin High School was forced to give up its locally beloved but racist nickname of Chinks in favor of Dragons.
When T.F. South's Rebel flag was adopted, no one imagined it would one day be seen as offensive.
In 1958, the Thornton Fractional district was divided into North and South High Schools. At the time, when the school was entirely white, it seemed clever and historical to connect South High School with Rebels and a Confederate flag.
But times have changed. Four years ago, Palmer was one of only a few black students at T.F. South. Since then, black enrollment has increased to more than 8 percent.
Yet it's hard when you're a teenager to speak out against the whole school and criticize a symbol that everyone else cheers.
When Anthony Wills, 16, who is black, first saw the flag three years ago, he knew "there was a problem. But I learned to live with it. I thought, `I'm just one person. No one is going to give up their flag just for me.' "
So it was left to Ronnie and Renee Thompson of Lynwood, parents of two students, to protest March 16 at a school board meeting.
"I said I was personally offended by the flag," said Ronnie Thompson, who works for the Flossmoor Water Department. "I wanted the school to have some sensitivity to people of color."
The Thompsons said they were speaking "just for themselves" and did not reflect anyone else's opinions.
And the fact that the flag "had been up there all this time didn't make it right," he said.
"I never asked them to take down the flag," Thompson said. "I just wanted to voice an objection."
The objection touched off a controversy, becoming Page 1 material in local newspapers and from there spreading to 30 seconds of valuable air time on television news programs.
After the stories broke, there were reports of arguments in the school halls and rumors of fights outside the building. Principal James Spivey sent a letter to parents, assuring them the school was safe.
The flag was "not a basic educational issue," he wrote, and the question should be handled by the students.
"The issue is now in the open," said senior Michelle Suski, 18, one of the co-editors of Rebel Rouser, the school newspaper. "Everyone's feelings are now out in the open."
But students may not be left alone to make up their minds.
"I think a lot of alums living in town want to keep the flag," said Suski, who is white, "because it was here when they were in school."
To them, it represents the school's heritage. But some students are now seeing in it another view of the past.
"I knew (the) history," said white senior Dan Burk, 17, "but until now I never put two and two together."
One black student, Nicole Peoples, 15, said that some white students "didn't know anything about the flag's history and even asked me, `What does "Confederate" mean?' "
Palmer said she put together a display case during Black History Month in February, but there was no schoolwide recognition of the event.
The flag issue is far from resolved.
"I think that sooner or later, the flag will be taken down," said Michael Rice, 17, a yearbook editor who is white.
"It's one thing to argue against the flag if you have only 8 percent" black enrollment, he said. "But I think when it is 18 percent, it will be a different story. Something will have to be done."
And at least now, black students say, they no longer have to hide their feelings.
Junior Christina Thompson, 17 (no relation to the Thompsons who protested the banner), said she had "blacked out" the flag.
"Sure, I felt uncomfortable about it," she said, but she didn't want to say anything until now, when "everybody's talking about it."
_________________ Frank Coztansa wrote: conns7901 wrote: Not over yet. Yes it is. CDOM wrote: When this is all over, which is not going to be for a while, Trump will be re-elected President.
|
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
