September 3, 2024 • 39 mins
Akilah heads back to her hometown of Florence, KY to attend her former high school’s homecoming celebration and kick off her campaign to get the Boone County Rebels mascot changed.
If you have a racist mascot at your high school, or are an alumni of a high school with a racist mascot, and want to share your own experience, please email us at rebelspiritpodcast@gmail.com. We would love to talk to you!
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
My old black n drollers done on overlanding rentro.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
No ninth Planet Audio dot com. We're overlanding, you're over
landing over.
Speaker 4 (00:15):
Thank you for joining us tonight for the meeting of
the Boone County Board of Education. I will now call
the meeting to order.
Speaker 5 (00:22):
It's December fourteenth, twenty twenty three. I'm Akila Hughes, and
I'm in Florence, Kentucky. It's my hometown, and I've braved
a cold night and two and a half very long
hours of bureaucratic updates about bus drivers, software and survey
results in order to speak at the Boone County Schools
Board of Education meeting.
Speaker 4 (00:39):
Market So we'll be bringing that back to our January
Classified Task Force meeting desegregating.
Speaker 5 (00:46):
That many people who had signed up to speak at
the public comments section dropped out as the agenda dragged on.
I was determined to stick it out, and finally at
nine thirty one pm it was my turn.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
And I do see Hughes, our former student board rep
from back in the old days, is first up to
talk about an item. It's not on origin tonight, but
that's okay. And I do notice that a couple of
people have yielded their time to you.
Speaker 5 (01:16):
So good evening. I'm a cue. Actually wait, I'm getting
ahead of myself. Let's rewind a.
Speaker 6 (01:23):
Bit on ourgent Four score and seven years ago, our
fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation.
Speaker 5 (01:34):
Okay, okay, that's actually too far back. Hold on, give
me a second, all right, May two thousand and five.
Speaker 7 (01:46):
Perfect.
Speaker 5 (01:47):
It's the final week of my senior year at Boone
County High School. But instead of watching movies and emptying
our lockers, there's a pep rally arrange for the final
quarter of the day. Imagine two thousands Weddy high schoolers
crammed into the gym, chattering through the post lunch haze,
waiting for an update on why any of this is happening.
(02:08):
Most pep rallies followed the same format. There was some
rocous speech by the principal, the cheerleaders would perform, some
sports boy would do a speech from varsity Blues.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
I woke go kind of sad, but then I cheered
up when I realized there's only a dream, because I
know it will be bango by way more than that.
Speaker 5 (02:28):
But seeing as there were no more games to attend
this pep rally was kind of mysterious. The pep band
rose to their feet and with a one, and a
two and a everyone got up and clapped along. Some
would muster more sincerity than others. In addition to the
queuing of smoke machines, a large paper banner unfurled the
(02:49):
work of a listless art class at the end of
the year, decorated with the words let's go and the
school's initials BCHS. Cheerleaders shook their palm palms and kicked.
This was going to be something, and that something was
a relatively high energy, kicking and punching figure. The smoke
settled and the secret was revealed, a brand new, felt bodied,
(03:11):
blue eyed, big headed Confederate general named Mister Rebel. The
reactions were mixed. The demographics of the school were like
a fist full of cocoa puffs sprinkled in a family
sized box of kicks. Among the white underclassmen, there was
a wave of excitement and anticipation, but for the white
seniors there was a sense of too little, too late.
(03:33):
For the four years of our attendance at the school,
there was no physical mascot on the sidelines cheering on
the Rebels. Why did the incoming freshmen deserve that more
than them? Among the black kids was a wave of
sideyeing and disgust. It wasn't breaking news that our school
had a racist team name the Rebels, named for the Confederacy.
It hadn't even been a decade since they repainted the
(03:54):
Confederate flag that was on the gym floor. Every one
of us was acutely aware of what it meant to
be black and Florence can now here was a bobbleheaded
mascot to remind us that we were never meant to
belong And it's a little funny kind of that, one
hundred and forty years later, in a state that did
not secede from the Union and fight as part of
the Confederacy, there was a hatred deep enough to spend
(04:16):
real American currency outfitting a mascot, and none of us
related to Seeing mister Rebel made me feel pretty good
about graduating and getting away. It's been eighteen years and
I've done a lot since then. For those of you
who don't know me, Hi, I'm Akila Hughes. I'm a writer, comedian, actor,
(04:36):
and podcast host. I'm firmly a millennial, so having a
career made up of artsy side hustles isn't that unusual.
In the past five years, I've written for Steven Soderberg,
voiced a character on Bob's Burger's proposal I'm Gonna cry,
Oh Nat, I'm flattered, but released a collection of essays
called Obviously Stories from My Timeline from Penguin. Random House
(04:56):
put out a banger of a sketch series with Comedy
Central and Milana Eintru called Making Fun with Aequila and Milana,
and hosted more than four hundred episodes of the hit
daily news podcast What a Day from Crooked Media. I
currently live in Los Angeles with my very cute dog
that I also rescued in this short time span. But
this podcast isn't about any of that. This podcast is
(05:19):
about how I went back to my hometown and tried
to change my high school's mascot from the Rebels to
the Biscuits.
Speaker 8 (05:25):
I was a lady rebel, Like, what does.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
That even need?
Speaker 4 (05:28):
The Boone County Rebels will stay the Boone County Rebels.
Speaker 5 (05:31):
But the image of it right here in black and
white and France.
Speaker 9 (05:34):
Ami figures is a flag or mask on.
Speaker 10 (05:37):
Anytime you're trying to mess with tradition, you get to
be ready for a serious backlash.
Speaker 5 (05:48):
From Ninth Planet Audio. I'm Aquila Hughes, and this is
Rebel Spirit Episode one, a homecoming. Some of you American
history buffs might be scratching your head wondering why a
school in Kentucky, a state that was famously neutral in
the Civil War but still practiced chattel slavery, would have
the Rebels team name. It's a good question and one
(06:12):
that I began seriously asking in twenty fifteen. Back in
June of twenty fifteen, a white supremacist named Dylan Rufe
murdered nine churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina. A few days later,
his manifesto was revealed online, complete with Confederate flags, slurs,
and photos of him brandishing weapons. I saw those images
as my flight took off from New York to the
(06:33):
Cincinnati Airport, which is actually in northern Kentucky. I was
on my way back home to attend my high school reunion.
For the extent of the more than two hour flight,
I thought about high school. I remember the lack of
diversity at the school, how sometimes I would be counting
blackfaces and noticed that another black kid was doing the
same thing.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
Do you have a number, actually on how many black
kids there were in your graduating class?
Speaker 10 (06:57):
Oh?
Speaker 11 (06:57):
Man, I wish I knew exactly, but I know Ashley
me that was the girls, and you who was the quarterback.
He was like trade off quarterback with this Greek kid,
q On Meeks Jamal, and there's like two.
Speaker 12 (07:16):
Thousand kids or something.
Speaker 5 (07:18):
The only black administrator I knew was Coach Floyd, a
former NFL player whose office got trashed and spray painted
with slurs. I remembered getting in school suspension and threatened
with worse for wearing a shirt I decorated with puffy
paint to say, kiss me, I'm black. One history teacher
wouldn't even read it correctly. He'd just loudly repeat kiss me,
I'm irish as I passed his classroom.
Speaker 6 (07:39):
That's right.
Speaker 5 (07:39):
He wasn't even my teacher, just going out of his
way to be obnoxious. I thought about the social side
effects of being black, how most of the black girls
went to prom alone, and the black guys would go
with white girls if they were on the football team,
and the girls' fathers weren't terribly racist. I considered how
it wasn't uncommon to see Confederate flags on bumper stickers,
T shirts, and tat two. It was just something I
(08:01):
had to live my adolescence next to. But then I
also thought about my friends in forensics and choir field
trips to the zoo, where instead of completing our group assignments,
we all just met up to watch the monkeys going
at it. I remembered a kid getting suspended from making
stink bombs and the grassroots campaign to free him from suspension.
It was a super complicated flight emotionally. I'll tell you
(08:22):
that fast forward. I attend the reunion at what was
then the Florence Freedom Minor League Baseball Park. The food
was unremarkable. There were so many kids with their parents,
my former classmates, and everyone was nice. I didn't expect
anyone to be unpleasant at the reunion, and genuinely it
was an okay time. I caught up with a few
kids from my AP classes in extracurriculars and it was
(08:45):
truly fine. I wrote about all of this for the
website Fusion, a short lived joint venture between ABC and
Univision Rest in Peace, thinking that I covered pretty much everything.
The school had a racist team name and mascot. Racism
happened when I was in high sch just as naturally
as fun and crushes and lockers happened in high school.
But now everyone kind of grew up and saw more
(09:06):
of the world and generally didn't seem represented by those
racist totems. They, being the people still in Florence, Kentucky,
did not like this. Pretty quickly after that essay was published,
the Cincinnati Inquirer re published it in their Sunday paper.
The photo for the article was a nearly twelve x
twelve inch color square of me photoshopped onto a Confederate flag.
(09:29):
The title was changed to Rebel Pride Hard to Take
After that. It was pretty much NonStop discourse on Facebook.
Some of my fellow alums agreed with me, while many
claimed it wasn't that racist, like, for example, one person
said that they only got called the N word one
time at Boone County, and oh did I know that
I was the real racist for talking about rather than
ignoring racism. Thankfully, my years of being a YouTuber gave
(09:54):
me pretty thick skin about the whole thing. Time moved on,
and so did I Boone County, however, still hasn't. Two
years later, in twenty seventeen, there was a white supremacist
rally that took place in Charlottesville, Virginia. Replace you can
probably recall the khakis and tiki torches right.
Speaker 10 (10:18):
Well.
Speaker 5 (10:18):
During that riot, a protester, Heather Hare, was murdered run
over by a car.
Speaker 8 (10:23):
James Fields face is a murder charge in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Fields grew up in Boone County.
Speaker 5 (10:29):
Boone County, Kentucky is where I'm from. Two. He grew
up fewer than ten miles from my high school and
is currently serving a life sentence plus four hundred and
nineteen years on state murder charges in another life sentence
on federal domestic terrorism charges. The timing of that white
supremacist rally really is, at least in my opinion, White's
now twenty twenty four and the team name is still
(10:51):
the Rebels. Charlottesville happened in August twenty seventeen, two years
after the Charleston church shooting, and in those two years,
America started doing away with Confederate relics. Streets name for
Robert E. Lee were changed, statues celebrating their loser leadership
were melted down or disappeared, And in March twenty seventeen,
it was reported that Boone County High School was going
(11:12):
to get a new mascot.
Speaker 13 (11:13):
Mean asked to leave their mark after they graduate. They're
being challenged to create a new logo, new mascot that'll
be used across the school's teams and clubs. Right now,
different clubs use different logos. Now, that's not uncommon, but
Boone County wants to create a look that also creates
an identifiable brand. The change also means the long time
mister Rebel will be retired. About thirty students have already
(11:35):
submitted ideas. A winning submission will be named in the
coming weeks.
Speaker 5 (11:39):
The news seems to have been met with a collective shrug.
There was no outcry, no petitions to keep the Confederate
General springing up after the announcement. But the twenty seventeen
twenty eighteen school years started just two weeks after the
Charlottesville riot, and what was agreed upon and uncontroversial in
March was suddenly an uphill battle.
Speaker 13 (11:58):
We don't want a new logo, we want our rebel.
Speaker 5 (12:02):
You know, well, why take it away?
Speaker 13 (12:06):
Now why they're taking our statues.
Speaker 8 (12:09):
They're taking everything.
Speaker 5 (12:10):
They're taking our statues, not much statues might those be
who might she be associating the rebels with? There was
also a Save Mister Rebel Facebook group founded on August
twenty fourth, twenty seventeen. It had been five months since
the announcement that the school was getting rid of Mister Rebel,
but suddenly this stupid mascot was worth rallying behind, not
(12:31):
despite the white supremacist rally, but because of it. That's
what we're dealing with. And so since twenty seventeen, nothing
has changed. The school is still the Rebels. Mister Rebel
is dead, and for a lot of people that's good enough,
but not for me. I'm doing this podcast with one
goal in mind, and that's to get the team name
(12:52):
changed for good Goodbye Boone County Rebels, Hello Boone County Biscuits. Okay,
so why Biscuits. Well, when you ask why the Rebels,
one deflection is that the short lived and famously losing
Confederate Rebels against the United States of America are the
heritage of the area. We already discussed how that's not true,
but that's what you'll be told it's not hateful, it's
(13:15):
just our heritage. Don't discuss what the war was about.
In fact, remove any history books that tell you it
was about slavery. No one is questioning whether or not
it's a heritage to be proud of, or pointing out
that it's not really even a Kentucky thing. They aren't
really asking any questions at all. But if we do
want to celebrate Southern heritage, I can't think of a
better more inclusive icon than a biscuit. It's warm, it's welcoming,
(13:39):
it's not especially healthy, and you'll be hard pressed to
find a worthy one outside of the South. It's vegetarian,
and you really can't beat them. They're great. Also, biscuits
has the same number of syllables as rebels, so the
cheerleaders won't have to change their cheers that much. I've
thought about it a lot, and I think the Boone
County Biscuits has a real ring to it. What do
you think of the Boone County Biscuits just as a name.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
The book?
Speaker 1 (14:04):
What so okay?
Speaker 8 (14:20):
Or what do you put on the side of the
football home.
Speaker 12 (14:22):
Is it like just a static biscuit or is it
like a biscuit around a bowl of sausage gravy.
Speaker 5 (14:27):
Mascot needs to be something that celebrates Southern heritage. Perhaps
it could be the Boone County Biscuits. How does that
hit you biscuits yet?
Speaker 8 (14:35):
I don't know, not not really feeling biscuits.
Speaker 11 (14:39):
Not feeling biscuits, fair biscuits.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
Okay, I can't wait to see that.
Speaker 5 (14:43):
Maybe the Biscuits name is mister Rebel.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
Yeah, like Rebel Biscuits. Like there's something there. I mean, it's.
Speaker 7 (14:51):
Cute, right, and it's honestly, it could be biscuits right,
like right, It could be so many things, but I
just know what it can't be at this point, and back,
let's get it done.
Speaker 5 (15:03):
Yeah all right, Well, not everyone's into the whole biscuit
team name, but no, Biggie, We're going to dive deep
into mascots, good and bad team names and what helps
create school spirit a little bit later. But first, let
me tell you a little bit about my hometown of Florence,
Kentucky and the one and only Florence Mall. Back in
(15:26):
the seventies, Florence tied its newly built mall to the
water tower. It said in big black letters, Florence Mall
as a way to get people driving to and from
Cincinnati to stop. The letters were a little too big,
larger than highway advertising laws allowed, and they legally had
to change it. The mayor at the time had the
brilliant idea to change Florence Mall to Florence y'all. They
(15:46):
literally painted out a little bit of the M to
make it into a Y and an apostrophe. Originally just
a quick fix, the phrase stuck, becoming a cherr symbol
for the city over nearly fifty years. The water tower,
the mall, the y'all of it all are fixtures of
my childhood in the region. I came back to Florence
for a week in September twenty twenty three to start
(16:06):
my quest to change the mascot. There was a school
board meeting to attend in a big homecoming game at
the end of the week our main draw, but my
first stop was the mall. And there's a beautiful view
of the water tower, just stunning.
Speaker 7 (16:20):
Florence y'all.
Speaker 11 (16:23):
My whole life.
Speaker 7 (16:24):
This is our empire statepoo.
Speaker 5 (16:27):
There's nothing like it's I mean, you can see it's
just like a fence being home again is strange. I
come back probably once a year to visit family and friends,
but to be back for a full week in my
old stomping grounds is wild. Nothing is really the same.
There is an explosion of new chain restaurants and shops.
There are sidewalks, and even if it's diminished in stature
and importance, there's still the mall, a nineties relic but
(16:50):
still standing. Yeah, there's still the Claire's. I got my
ears pierced there when I was ten. The mall seemed
like the right place to start out enacting our game plan,
except it's a pretty dead mall. There's probably to people
we can even talk to.
Speaker 7 (17:05):
How is this the mall?
Speaker 5 (17:06):
I mean this used to be like if you were
in high school in the early two thousands, you would
go on dates to the mall. You would hang out
with your friends at the mall. Forever twenty one is there?
Like that was the store I worked in when I
worked at a store, but I also worked at the
Hershey's ice Cream which No Wanderings is for Florence as
like a destination. The mall was really kind of the
biggest thing in the area, like northern Kentucky. When I
(17:28):
was growing up, and so we are here. We're gonna
go outside and stand on the sidewalk talk to some
people about biscuits and see how they feel about it.
And Wow, I'm overwhelmed by how depressing this place is
to me. Sorry, I know you all are about to eat,
(17:48):
but if you have like two minutes for a survey,
we're giving out free target gift cards. It's like five
questions and it's about biscuits.
Speaker 11 (17:55):
Biscuits, biscuits.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
Oh, I'm the perfect person.
Speaker 8 (17:57):
Please comator, dotoor ball so you have a strong previous.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
We love biscuits those times.
Speaker 13 (18:03):
It's my favorite field.
Speaker 5 (18:04):
Would you support a sports mascot that was a biscuit?
Speaker 3 (18:07):
Absolutely? I would be all over that.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
That's very random biscuit mascot, y'all.
Speaker 8 (18:12):
Want a biscuit mascot?
Speaker 5 (18:13):
Like, could you see yourself at a game for the biscuits? No,
any reason why In particular, I just think it's weird.
Do you have any ideas for the name of a
sports mascot that is a biscuit?
Speaker 7 (18:24):
See biscuit?
Speaker 3 (18:25):
See dis is a biscuit?
Speaker 2 (18:28):
I like that?
Speaker 5 (18:29):
Do you see any issues with a sports mascot that's
a biscuit.
Speaker 9 (18:32):
No, no, no, yeah, well biscuits is like universal sports.
Speaker 8 (18:36):
Mascot, that's tigers. Why can't a sports mascot be.
Speaker 11 (18:39):
A food like only flag football?
Speaker 3 (18:41):
Yeah, like not like actual football.
Speaker 6 (18:43):
Why a biscuits?
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Huh? I think that people would think it was nuts.
Speaker 5 (18:50):
All right, I get it. Making a high school team
into the Biscuits is an uphill battle. But have you
met me?
Speaker 14 (18:56):
Some black people were starting to work in the Vine County,
and you know, you have the mall, you have people
who work at the mall, you have stores around them
all and so different kinds of people come in there,
and I think that got their eyes open, like woo,
we'd like to live out here and have a big
line on a big yard.
Speaker 5 (19:12):
So while we were in Florence, I knew I needed
to sit down with someone who has known me my
whole life, the legendary Marilyn Arnold, also known as my Mom.
Marilyn was born and raised in Covington, Kentucky, just outside
of Florence, so she's seen decades of change in the area,
and I wanted to get her take on this mascot journey.
Per usual, she did not hold back.
Speaker 14 (19:32):
You know they're going to say, oh, she's just a
trouble maker, come back to town to do this.
Speaker 5 (19:37):
They want this to be a welcoming place, but a
Confederate general does not project that to a lot of people.
What do you think is keeping it there besides tradition
or maybe just tradition.
Speaker 14 (19:49):
Racism? Racism? And I really believe that people need education,
and they keep saying they have, you know, diversity officers
everywhere and things like this, But this takes of real
education and some willingness to open up to yourself and
learn yourself and who you really are.
Speaker 5 (20:08):
Growing up in Covington, Maryland experienced a ton of history,
from the dangers of Boone County as a sundowntown to
the slow progress of school integration. Eventually working for the
Board of Education in Covington for thirty two years, which
is the job that led her to capitalize on the
housing boom of the nineties and bring our family to
Florence in the house I grew up in while attending BHS.
Speaker 14 (20:29):
When we moved to Florence, you would see rebel flags
on people's they'd have them on their license plates, they'd
have them. The Confederate flag they'd have it. They'd have
it on shirts. You'd buy the shirts in the store.
Sometime they'd sell them at the grocery store at Kroger,
you know, occasionally like they just kept your eye, make
(20:50):
it very clear they don't want you there. I mean,
you walk into the school to register your kids and
there's this pause and you're going and you feel it,
you know.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
It's palpable.
Speaker 14 (21:03):
It was like, what.
Speaker 10 (21:06):
Is that?
Speaker 3 (21:06):
You know, what is that feeling?
Speaker 14 (21:08):
And you know it's almost you almost see a nervousness
of them while they're gathering the papers and they keep
looking over at you. You know, I've had you know,
them say well, what street is it? And I tell them,
I give them the address and they said, well, what
apartment is it? I said, I don't think there are
any apartments over there, and they said, well, what's your
(21:31):
apartment number? I said it's a house. Yeah, I said,
we we live in a house. And the lady looks
at me like.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
How could this be possible?
Speaker 14 (21:42):
Yeah, she looked at the paper like she looked at
it as if later on she's gonna go check. And
I just thought, oh, leave my kids here. Yeah, right,
I'm thinking, you know, this isative cell phones or anything.
I don't thinking what's going to happen of it's Boone County.
Speaker 5 (22:10):
Long before Make America Great Again, Blue lives matter versus
Black lives matter, or hell even Obama, I was navigating
the halls of education during the George Bush era. John
Kerry was defeated in my senior year. Kentucky is known
historically for its political diversity. The pendulum swung between Republican
and Democratic control in various offices, but Boone County voted
(22:30):
seventy one percent in favor of Bush. Boone County voted
sixty seven percent in favor of Trump in twenty sixteen
and sixty six percent for Trump in twenty twenty. See
a pattern. Ninety percent of Boone identifies as white. However,
even in the seemingly monolithic landscape, there are ships afoot.
Over the past couple of decades, the non white population,
(22:50):
encompassing Black, Hispanic, American, Indian, Asian, and others, had seen
a steady increase. In two thousand, this demographic made up
four percent, and by a twenty twenty two sis it
had risen to twelve percent. That's a lot of percentages
to say that when I was in high school, there
were not a lot of black kids and not a
lot of white kids would think about a black kid's
perspective on mister rebel. They were busy with things. Kids
(23:12):
are busy with sports, dances, friends, and duh them all.
Speaker 8 (23:16):
I remember my brother and I both we both perceived
this whole rebel and Confederate flag things, this huge embarrassment, backwards,
redneck sort.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
Of icon that we didn't understand why it was there. Now. See,
we didn't have that history either.
Speaker 8 (23:31):
Even though we had, you know, educated parents that were
pretty good about exposing us to stuff, we weren't getting
the story about Boon County's history right. So we just thought,
this is stupid and doesn't belong here, and why are
he trying to identify us with Mississippi?
Speaker 3 (23:45):
Right? Yeah, we didn't know we had lunchings here.
Speaker 8 (23:47):
We didn't know we had I mean, we intellectually knew
that there was enslavement.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
We thought that was in.
Speaker 5 (23:52):
The st Yeah, I mean we taught that like Kentucky
was neutral.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
That's what I was taught. Every year. Every time we
hear that, every time.
Speaker 5 (24:00):
Meet Hillary Delaney, a librarian at the Boone County Library System.
She also helms the Borderlands Archive and History Center, where
her focus is on African American history in Boone County, Kentucky.
She's a Boone County graduate class of eighty six and
was definitely a member of Boone County High Schools first
ever computer club.
Speaker 8 (24:17):
But yeah, so like in the eighties, we had what
are they the drill team, and they had the big
you know, stars and bars on their uniforms, and yeah,
there were rebel flags around and there still are rebel
flags around, and it's just idiocracy to meet. We were
just blind to it when we were in high school.
And there were you know a handful of kids who
are African American who are probably real quiet about it,
(24:37):
I'm sure. And I think the eighties just toned up,
and you know, there were very few people there too
to say, hey, please don't do that. Do I think
that it's a fair and friendly, welcoming place for everyone
all the time.
Speaker 5 (24:52):
No.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
I went to book High School starting.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
In nineteen ninety one.
Speaker 5 (24:55):
This is Jenavan Lanningham, class of nineteen ninety four. She
gets a lot of real estate in the Boone County
yearbooks from competing on the girls track team.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
At Boone my freshman year. I remember rebel flags, like
being a football games. I actually was involved in sports,
and my older brother was too, and we had things
with rebel flags on them, sort of not really knowing
or understanding what that meant at all at age thirteen fourteen, fifteen.
(25:24):
I don't know of just maybe a handful of black
students in the early nineties, and I think they all
were on the football team, like yeah, and maybe also
played some basketball.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
But it was very white at the time.
Speaker 12 (25:38):
About the time that I was getting there, the socioeconomics
of the community were starting to change. A higher percentage
of the population that was coming in was non white.
It was still predominantly white. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (25:50):
This is Spencer's Imbroke class of twenty eleven. He has
a sweet photo as a sophomore playing piano and is
quoted saying, I play about four instruments. I play them
either because their fun or they came naturally. Your books
are so cute until you get to a photo of
someone posing with mister Rebel. Anyway, what was rebel spirit
like when.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
You were there?
Speaker 12 (26:10):
I remember seeing mister Rebel at the football games and
pep rallies and things like that. I don't remember having
like a strong attachment or affection for him other than
the fact that, like, hey, if he comes into the stands,
I'm gonna high find Yeah, just the things you do
at sports ball games.
Speaker 10 (26:30):
Anyway.
Speaker 9 (26:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (26:31):
Fully, fully, we're all pretty much on the same page
about what Boone was like. And some might say, well,
those experiences are in the past, that for Hillary, Jenna
and Spencer it was a different time. Hell that even
my experience as one of a handful of black kids
at BHS in the early two thousands, well that was
nearly twenty years ago. And I totally hear you, But
(26:51):
talk to kids today and it doesn't actually sound all
that different.
Speaker 9 (26:54):
Uh. Yeah, I'm a freshman, I'm on the basketball team.
I'm new to I like, I just moved from Louisville
State to the school, and I came like kind of
late in the school.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
So I was like, yeah, to all.
Speaker 5 (27:05):
This this is Quincy Jackson. He recently moved with his
family from Louisville, Kentucky to Florence, and as a current
student at Boone County High School.
Speaker 9 (27:13):
Coming from Louisville, it's like the verse is a lot
of different, like people my color a lot and then
coming here, first of all, it's called the rebels, so
I kind of like anticipated it to you know, it's
like it's way less diverse. It's a lot of like
white people for real. But yeah, but like the thing
(27:35):
is like they're kind of like like they're big with
like rebel pride and stuff, like they have down the
walls a lot too.
Speaker 5 (27:42):
Like when you say rebel pride as like a student
of color, like, what is it like when you see
those sort of messages, what does it mean to you?
Speaker 3 (27:51):
It's like they're trying to like.
Speaker 9 (27:53):
Celebrate it kind of like like why are we talking
about rebel pride?
Speaker 14 (27:58):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (27:59):
Right, And like I mean you're a student there, do
you feel like, I guess, like when you hear the
word rebel, what do you feel like the school is
rebelling against? Like is there a thing?
Speaker 14 (28:12):
Yeah?
Speaker 9 (28:12):
Because like the Confederates was called rebel and it seems
like they're just like, you know, team's racist. So yeah,
and like like our shooting machine has the rebel logo
on there, like the guy, Yeah, it has that on there.
Speaker 5 (28:28):
So it's like it shoots the ball to you. You
shoot and you're looking at mister rebel literally a Confederate
general passing you the ball if anyone can, certainly Quincy
can agree that the Biscuits is a better name.
Speaker 9 (28:40):
Right as a basketball player, I wouldn't really want it
to be called the Boone County business.
Speaker 6 (28:45):
That's fair.
Speaker 5 (28:45):
You don't what it necessarily Okay, So the Biscuits is
also a controversial name, but for better reasons than the
Rebels is. Remember earlier when I said we were back
in Florence for Boone County's homecoming week. Well, now it's
Friday night, it's homecoming and we are in the stands
eager to experience the festivities. There's mister Rebel on a
(29:09):
shirt the little that's our guy. Yeah, festivities is maybe
over selling it. Homecoming at Boone County High School is
exactly as I remembered it, following a week of themed
spirit days at school, usually like Seventies Day or Pajama Day.
The friday we attend the game is somehow not school
(29:30):
spirit Day but USA Day. There's an after school parade
with kids from all over the district, including the feeder,
elementary and middle schools, and it stretches a few blocks
in front of the school. The band plays maybe two songs,
but they're not powerful enough. To be heard at any distance.
(29:51):
There's candy being thrown from convertibles, where the smiling homecoming
queen nominees wave and their respective teams and clubs walk
beside them. The members of the student council and dance
team gently hand candy to the little kids on the sidewalk,
but there's more candy than attendees by one hundred times,
so it'll likely just be littered there. But also it's
high school and homecoming, and it's hard not to get
(30:13):
swept up in it despite everything. Okay, for they speak
to drama, let's go. I used to go to them,
and you why people? I love it.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
There used to be way more blue is forensics.
Speaker 5 (30:26):
One thing that feels different is the makeup of the crowd.
Boone County High School is now notably diverse. There are
kids of all shades with all shades of hair color.
That there are three black girls with braids on the
middle school team. I really don't want to cry, but
I'm like, I remember they just there was only one
and it was like that was by design, like they
(30:47):
just really didn't want it. It's kind of hard to
ignore at this point that there's just more people in
color yeah, they seem less repressed than when I walk
the halls, and frankly, it's something the school should take
pride in.
Speaker 14 (30:59):
Oh god, yeah, and then all the traffic's coming.
Speaker 7 (31:02):
All right, do you want to walk back?
Speaker 5 (31:04):
But now that the parade is over, it's time for
the game. I don't recognize anybody's got some.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
Great tunes to go along with all the excitement here
for the rebel fans.
Speaker 9 (31:19):
Athletic officials are seldom given the appreciation they deserve.
Speaker 5 (31:22):
They are given the response when we enter the stadium.
It's clear that this event isn't a big deal to
the school community. The stands are half empty, and everyone's
sort of milling about, buying walking tacos and catching up
with each other.
Speaker 12 (31:33):
Please rise and remove your caps for the singing of
the national anthem by the Boone County Choir and alumni
from the choirs.
Speaker 5 (31:46):
You can hear the choir singing the national anthem of
the United States and not the Confederacy, so that's a
good sign. The pep band is only a couple of
leaster sections away, but if they're playing anything, no one
can really hear it. There's a computer program playing radio
(32:07):
edits of music and every few beats we hear you're
listening to game time radio. I wanted to talk to
students who are at the game about how they experienced
school spirit at Boone County, but well, most weren't really
able to come up with much. So what brings you
to homecoming?
Speaker 8 (32:26):
You know?
Speaker 10 (32:26):
I just wanted to come and watch the football players
play football?
Speaker 13 (32:31):
Nice?
Speaker 3 (32:31):
Okay? So yeah, yeah, and she invited me.
Speaker 5 (32:33):
So, like, what does a school spirit mean to you? Like,
what about the school if anything makes you feel sort
of spirited and excited?
Speaker 8 (32:40):
Blue?
Speaker 5 (32:41):
The color blue blue?
Speaker 3 (32:42):
Yeah, yeah, that's fair, Kylie. What makes you feel school spirit?
Speaker 11 (32:47):
Anything?
Speaker 5 (32:49):
No clue, no clue, that's fair. The first half of
the game highlighted two things. One, the rebels are no
good this season. Maybe part of the reason and no
one seemed invested in the game was because the team
was down thirty points at halftime. The second thing was
(33:09):
how desperately the school needs a mascot. The dance team
and the cheerleaders were never really in sync and mostly
seemed to be talking amongst themselves or visiting with classmates.
Wouldn't the mascot be at least a place to focus
your attention? And not on the flailing athletic department that
seems to have spent more money on headsets than good coaches.
(33:30):
Halftime had a lot to make up for, and it
really didn't.
Speaker 3 (33:36):
Welcome food.
Speaker 7 (33:37):
The Country High School is homecoming celebration recognizing the class
of twenty twenty three twenty twenty four.
Speaker 5 (33:44):
I want to disclaim right now that I'm not making
fun of the kids. They're just trying their best. Adolescence
is a tough time, that said, Imagine Beyonce's legendary homecoming
performance when she headlined Coachella in twenty eighteen. Really picture
the band outfits, the energy. Now imagine the bizarro opposite
(34:11):
a slow, dirge like and two long procession of the
Jackson Five's I'll Be There, played by a sad marching
band representing.
Speaker 3 (34:17):
The girls cross country team.
Speaker 5 (34:20):
I think he was laid the teacher your name? Teenage
girls in suits being walked by their fathers down the
field between two baby shower inspired blue balloon arches. The
announcer says that the candidates have been judged based on
a few different categories.
Speaker 12 (34:34):
Are evaluated based on toys, personality, appearance, and cultural awareness.
Speaker 5 (34:41):
Of the notable ones was their appearance, and even though
that's implied, I mean it's high school after all, it's
still wild to admit out loud when there's not even
a check for the winner. Also, cultural awareness, Loo First.
Speaker 1 (34:55):
Please Help Us and Welcome Back are twenty twenty two,
twenty twenty three homecoming.
Speaker 5 (35:02):
Most people in the crowd are looking at their phones
or waiting to use the bathroom. Some students cheer for
their friends when they're announced as homecoming Court and queen,
and then the homecoming court walks off the field, the
band packs up, and it's just over. There's no high
energy performance complete with choreograph moves, no cheerleaders rushing on
to midfield to hype up the crowd. The whole thing
(35:22):
felt deflated, like the balloon arches that struggled to stay
up in the evening's fall breeze. The game never got better.
There was no made for TV come from behind ending.
The Boon County Rebels, like their Confederate namesakes, lost thirty
six to seven. But I left shortly after the second
half started. It had been a long week and I
had an early flight in the morning, but mostly I
(35:44):
was exhausted coming home starting these hard conversations about mascots, yes,
but also about racism and history and about what it
takes to make real change. It was more emotionally taxing
than I had expected. I'll be honest. There was a
part of me that thought I'd come back to Florence,
talk to a few people, and bam, the Boone County
Biscuits would come running onto the field. But let's face it,
(36:06):
that's not how change happens. And as long a week
as it was, it's clear now that this is just
the start of something. Because this week was a lot
of things, but the main thing it was was a
huge reminder that these kids, the ones at Boone County
High School today and the ones coming into it tomorrow,
kids that look different than the ones that were there
when I was in school, counting every black kid in
(36:27):
a class, they deserve so much more than they have
right now. It's about more than a mascot, right A
mascot is a symbol for the school. It signals what
they believe in. It's literally what they cheer for, and
they deserve to be proud of their school in all
they've accomplished there, and to see that pride reflected back
not with Rebel Pride, but with something better, something beautiful.
(36:49):
The homecoming game may have been uninspiring, but ultimately I
left Florence inspired, inspired that maybe, just maybe change can
happen here, and inspired to try my hardest to get
it done this season.
Speaker 12 (37:09):
On Rebel Spirit, just tell me you're not gonna name
my baseball team after a goddamn water tower.
Speaker 7 (37:16):
John Alexander Way, that's the guy individual that came to
the school saying that God sent him to talk to
me about the mascot switch.
Speaker 3 (37:25):
Is a leader? You choose hills that you want to
die on.
Speaker 10 (37:28):
There's a safe way to reveal mascot, and they went
in the opposite direction.
Speaker 3 (37:32):
They are called segregation academies.
Speaker 12 (37:34):
When Civil rights said that we need to integrate public schools,
these charter schools were exempt from that.
Speaker 3 (37:40):
Why would we want to be the losing team. I
just take all the other stuff out of it.
Speaker 1 (37:45):
We're rocking the team with the hell.
Speaker 4 (37:46):
The chair of Mom's ce Liberties is one of the
board members.
Speaker 9 (37:50):
Oh there are meetings like this is a foreur alarm
fires suddenly.
Speaker 5 (38:00):
Rebel Spirit is a production of Ninth Planet Audio and
association with iHeart Podcasts, reporting and writing by me Akila Hughes.
I'm also an executive producer and the host produced by
Dan Sinker, edited by Josie A.
Speaker 1 (38:13):
Zahm Our.
Speaker 5 (38:14):
Assistant editor is Jennifer Dean. Music composed by Charlie Sun,
Sound design and mixing by Josie A.
Speaker 13 (38:21):
Zahmb Our.
Speaker 5 (38:22):
Theme song is All the Things I Couldn't Say, performed
by Busty and the Bass, courtesy of Arts and Crafts Productions, Inc.
Our production coordinator is Kyle Hinton. Our clearance coordinator is
Anna Sunenshein. Production accounting by Dill pried Singh. Additional research
support from Janie Dillard Abraham Lincoln Boys performed by Hal Lovelin.
(38:42):
Executive producers from Ninth Planet Audio are Elizabeth Baquet and
Jimmy Miller. Special thanks to Jay Becker and the whole
team at BLDG, the Florence Yawls, Amber Hoffmann, Hilary Delaney,
and Leslie Chambers. If you have a racist mascot at
your high school, or are an alumni of a high
school with a racist mascot and want to share your
own experience, please email us at Rebelspirit Podcast at gmail
(39:04):
dot com. We would love to hear from you,
My old black n drollers done on overlanding rentro.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
No ninth Planet Audio dot com. We're overlanding, you're over
landing over.
Speaker 4 (00:15):
Thank you for joining us tonight for the meeting of
the Boone County Board of Education. I will now call
the meeting to order.
Speaker 5 (00:22):
It's December fourteenth, twenty twenty three. I'm Akila Hughes, and
I'm in Florence, Kentucky. It's my hometown, and I've braved
a cold night and two and a half very long
hours of bureaucratic updates about bus drivers, software and survey
results in order to speak at the Boone County Schools
Board of Education meeting.
Speaker 4 (00:39):
Market So we'll be bringing that back to our January
Classified Task Force meeting desegregating.
Speaker 5 (00:46):
That many people who had signed up to speak at
the public comments section dropped out as the agenda dragged on.
I was determined to stick it out, and finally at
nine thirty one pm it was my turn.
Speaker 4 (00:56):
And I do see Hughes, our former student board rep
from back in the old days, is first up to
talk about an item. It's not on origin tonight, but
that's okay. And I do notice that a couple of
people have yielded their time to you.
Speaker 5 (01:16):
So good evening. I'm a cue. Actually wait, I'm getting
ahead of myself. Let's rewind a.
Speaker 6 (01:23):
Bit on ourgent Four score and seven years ago, our
fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation.
Speaker 5 (01:34):
Okay, okay, that's actually too far back. Hold on, give
me a second, all right, May two thousand and five.
Speaker 7 (01:46):
Perfect.
Speaker 5 (01:47):
It's the final week of my senior year at Boone
County High School. But instead of watching movies and emptying
our lockers, there's a pep rally arrange for the final
quarter of the day. Imagine two thousands Weddy high schoolers
crammed into the gym, chattering through the post lunch haze,
waiting for an update on why any of this is happening.
(02:08):
Most pep rallies followed the same format. There was some
rocous speech by the principal, the cheerleaders would perform, some
sports boy would do a speech from varsity Blues.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
I woke go kind of sad, but then I cheered
up when I realized there's only a dream, because I
know it will be bango by way more than that.
Speaker 5 (02:28):
But seeing as there were no more games to attend
this pep rally was kind of mysterious. The pep band
rose to their feet and with a one, and a
two and a everyone got up and clapped along. Some
would muster more sincerity than others. In addition to the
queuing of smoke machines, a large paper banner unfurled the
(02:49):
work of a listless art class at the end of
the year, decorated with the words let's go and the
school's initials BCHS. Cheerleaders shook their palm palms and kicked.
This was going to be something, and that something was
a relatively high energy, kicking and punching figure. The smoke
settled and the secret was revealed, a brand new, felt bodied,
(03:11):
blue eyed, big headed Confederate general named Mister Rebel. The
reactions were mixed. The demographics of the school were like
a fist full of cocoa puffs sprinkled in a family
sized box of kicks. Among the white underclassmen, there was
a wave of excitement and anticipation, but for the white
seniors there was a sense of too little, too late.
(03:33):
For the four years of our attendance at the school,
there was no physical mascot on the sidelines cheering on
the Rebels. Why did the incoming freshmen deserve that more
than them? Among the black kids was a wave of
sideyeing and disgust. It wasn't breaking news that our school
had a racist team name the Rebels, named for the Confederacy.
It hadn't even been a decade since they repainted the
(03:54):
Confederate flag that was on the gym floor. Every one
of us was acutely aware of what it meant to
be black and Florence can now here was a bobbleheaded
mascot to remind us that we were never meant to
belong And it's a little funny kind of that, one
hundred and forty years later, in a state that did
not secede from the Union and fight as part of
the Confederacy, there was a hatred deep enough to spend
(04:16):
real American currency outfitting a mascot, and none of us
related to Seeing mister Rebel made me feel pretty good
about graduating and getting away. It's been eighteen years and
I've done a lot since then. For those of you
who don't know me, Hi, I'm Akila Hughes. I'm a writer, comedian, actor,
(04:36):
and podcast host. I'm firmly a millennial, so having a
career made up of artsy side hustles isn't that unusual.
In the past five years, I've written for Steven Soderberg,
voiced a character on Bob's Burger's proposal I'm Gonna cry,
Oh Nat, I'm flattered, but released a collection of essays
called Obviously Stories from My Timeline from Penguin. Random House
(04:56):
put out a banger of a sketch series with Comedy
Central and Milana Eintru called Making Fun with Aequila and Milana,
and hosted more than four hundred episodes of the hit
daily news podcast What a Day from Crooked Media. I
currently live in Los Angeles with my very cute dog
that I also rescued in this short time span. But
this podcast isn't about any of that. This podcast is
(05:19):
about how I went back to my hometown and tried
to change my high school's mascot from the Rebels to
the Biscuits.
Speaker 8 (05:25):
I was a lady rebel, Like, what does.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
That even need?
Speaker 4 (05:28):
The Boone County Rebels will stay the Boone County Rebels.
Speaker 5 (05:31):
But the image of it right here in black and
white and France.
Speaker 9 (05:34):
Ami figures is a flag or mask on.
Speaker 10 (05:37):
Anytime you're trying to mess with tradition, you get to
be ready for a serious backlash.
Speaker 5 (05:48):
From Ninth Planet Audio. I'm Aquila Hughes, and this is
Rebel Spirit Episode one, a homecoming. Some of you American
history buffs might be scratching your head wondering why a
school in Kentucky, a state that was famously neutral in
the Civil War but still practiced chattel slavery, would have
the Rebels team name. It's a good question and one
(06:12):
that I began seriously asking in twenty fifteen. Back in
June of twenty fifteen, a white supremacist named Dylan Rufe
murdered nine churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina. A few days later,
his manifesto was revealed online, complete with Confederate flags, slurs,
and photos of him brandishing weapons. I saw those images
as my flight took off from New York to the
(06:33):
Cincinnati Airport, which is actually in northern Kentucky. I was
on my way back home to attend my high school reunion.
For the extent of the more than two hour flight,
I thought about high school. I remember the lack of
diversity at the school, how sometimes I would be counting
blackfaces and noticed that another black kid was doing the
same thing.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
Do you have a number, actually on how many black
kids there were in your graduating class?
Speaker 10 (06:57):
Oh?
Speaker 11 (06:57):
Man, I wish I knew exactly, but I know Ashley
me that was the girls, and you who was the quarterback.
He was like trade off quarterback with this Greek kid,
q On Meeks Jamal, and there's like two.
Speaker 12 (07:16):
Thousand kids or something.
Speaker 5 (07:18):
The only black administrator I knew was Coach Floyd, a
former NFL player whose office got trashed and spray painted
with slurs. I remembered getting in school suspension and threatened
with worse for wearing a shirt I decorated with puffy
paint to say, kiss me, I'm black. One history teacher
wouldn't even read it correctly. He'd just loudly repeat kiss me,
I'm irish as I passed his classroom.
Speaker 6 (07:39):
That's right.
Speaker 5 (07:39):
He wasn't even my teacher, just going out of his
way to be obnoxious. I thought about the social side
effects of being black, how most of the black girls
went to prom alone, and the black guys would go
with white girls if they were on the football team,
and the girls' fathers weren't terribly racist. I considered how
it wasn't uncommon to see Confederate flags on bumper stickers,
T shirts, and tat two. It was just something I
(08:01):
had to live my adolescence next to. But then I
also thought about my friends in forensics and choir field
trips to the zoo, where instead of completing our group assignments,
we all just met up to watch the monkeys going
at it. I remembered a kid getting suspended from making
stink bombs and the grassroots campaign to free him from suspension.
It was a super complicated flight emotionally. I'll tell you
(08:22):
that fast forward. I attend the reunion at what was
then the Florence Freedom Minor League Baseball Park. The food
was unremarkable. There were so many kids with their parents,
my former classmates, and everyone was nice. I didn't expect
anyone to be unpleasant at the reunion, and genuinely it
was an okay time. I caught up with a few
kids from my AP classes in extracurriculars and it was
(08:45):
truly fine. I wrote about all of this for the
website Fusion, a short lived joint venture between ABC and
Univision Rest in Peace, thinking that I covered pretty much everything.
The school had a racist team name and mascot. Racism
happened when I was in high sch just as naturally
as fun and crushes and lockers happened in high school.
But now everyone kind of grew up and saw more
(09:06):
of the world and generally didn't seem represented by those
racist totems. They, being the people still in Florence, Kentucky,
did not like this. Pretty quickly after that essay was published,
the Cincinnati Inquirer re published it in their Sunday paper.
The photo for the article was a nearly twelve x
twelve inch color square of me photoshopped onto a Confederate flag.
(09:29):
The title was changed to Rebel Pride Hard to Take
After that. It was pretty much NonStop discourse on Facebook.
Some of my fellow alums agreed with me, while many
claimed it wasn't that racist, like, for example, one person
said that they only got called the N word one
time at Boone County, and oh did I know that
I was the real racist for talking about rather than
ignoring racism. Thankfully, my years of being a YouTuber gave
(09:54):
me pretty thick skin about the whole thing. Time moved on,
and so did I Boone County, however, still hasn't. Two
years later, in twenty seventeen, there was a white supremacist
rally that took place in Charlottesville, Virginia. Replace you can
probably recall the khakis and tiki torches right.
Speaker 10 (10:18):
Well.
Speaker 5 (10:18):
During that riot, a protester, Heather Hare, was murdered run
over by a car.
Speaker 8 (10:23):
James Fields face is a murder charge in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Fields grew up in Boone County.
Speaker 5 (10:29):
Boone County, Kentucky is where I'm from. Two. He grew
up fewer than ten miles from my high school and
is currently serving a life sentence plus four hundred and
nineteen years on state murder charges in another life sentence
on federal domestic terrorism charges. The timing of that white
supremacist rally really is, at least in my opinion, White's
now twenty twenty four and the team name is still
(10:51):
the Rebels. Charlottesville happened in August twenty seventeen, two years
after the Charleston church shooting, and in those two years,
America started doing away with Confederate relics. Streets name for
Robert E. Lee were changed, statues celebrating their loser leadership
were melted down or disappeared, And in March twenty seventeen,
it was reported that Boone County High School was going
(11:12):
to get a new mascot.
Speaker 13 (11:13):
Mean asked to leave their mark after they graduate. They're
being challenged to create a new logo, new mascot that'll
be used across the school's teams and clubs. Right now,
different clubs use different logos. Now, that's not uncommon, but
Boone County wants to create a look that also creates
an identifiable brand. The change also means the long time
mister Rebel will be retired. About thirty students have already
(11:35):
submitted ideas. A winning submission will be named in the
coming weeks.
Speaker 5 (11:39):
The news seems to have been met with a collective shrug.
There was no outcry, no petitions to keep the Confederate
General springing up after the announcement. But the twenty seventeen
twenty eighteen school years started just two weeks after the
Charlottesville riot, and what was agreed upon and uncontroversial in
March was suddenly an uphill battle.
Speaker 13 (11:58):
We don't want a new logo, we want our rebel.
Speaker 5 (12:02):
You know, well, why take it away?
Speaker 13 (12:06):
Now why they're taking our statues.
Speaker 8 (12:09):
They're taking everything.
Speaker 5 (12:10):
They're taking our statues, not much statues might those be
who might she be associating the rebels with? There was
also a Save Mister Rebel Facebook group founded on August
twenty fourth, twenty seventeen. It had been five months since
the announcement that the school was getting rid of Mister Rebel,
but suddenly this stupid mascot was worth rallying behind, not
(12:31):
despite the white supremacist rally, but because of it. That's
what we're dealing with. And so since twenty seventeen, nothing
has changed. The school is still the Rebels. Mister Rebel
is dead, and for a lot of people that's good enough,
but not for me. I'm doing this podcast with one
goal in mind, and that's to get the team name
(12:52):
changed for good Goodbye Boone County Rebels, Hello Boone County Biscuits. Okay,
so why Biscuits. Well, when you ask why the Rebels,
one deflection is that the short lived and famously losing
Confederate Rebels against the United States of America are the
heritage of the area. We already discussed how that's not true,
but that's what you'll be told it's not hateful, it's
(13:15):
just our heritage. Don't discuss what the war was about.
In fact, remove any history books that tell you it
was about slavery. No one is questioning whether or not
it's a heritage to be proud of, or pointing out
that it's not really even a Kentucky thing. They aren't
really asking any questions at all. But if we do
want to celebrate Southern heritage, I can't think of a
better more inclusive icon than a biscuit. It's warm, it's welcoming,
(13:39):
it's not especially healthy, and you'll be hard pressed to
find a worthy one outside of the South. It's vegetarian,
and you really can't beat them. They're great. Also, biscuits
has the same number of syllables as rebels, so the
cheerleaders won't have to change their cheers that much. I've
thought about it a lot, and I think the Boone
County Biscuits has a real ring to it. What do
you think of the Boone County Biscuits just as a name.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
The book?
Speaker 1 (14:04):
What so okay?
Speaker 8 (14:20):
Or what do you put on the side of the
football home.
Speaker 12 (14:22):
Is it like just a static biscuit or is it
like a biscuit around a bowl of sausage gravy.
Speaker 5 (14:27):
Mascot needs to be something that celebrates Southern heritage. Perhaps
it could be the Boone County Biscuits. How does that
hit you biscuits yet?
Speaker 8 (14:35):
I don't know, not not really feeling biscuits.
Speaker 11 (14:39):
Not feeling biscuits, fair biscuits.
Speaker 3 (14:41):
Okay, I can't wait to see that.
Speaker 5 (14:43):
Maybe the Biscuits name is mister Rebel.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
Yeah, like Rebel Biscuits. Like there's something there. I mean, it's.
Speaker 7 (14:51):
Cute, right, and it's honestly, it could be biscuits right,
like right, It could be so many things, but I
just know what it can't be at this point, and back,
let's get it done.
Speaker 5 (15:03):
Yeah all right, Well, not everyone's into the whole biscuit
team name, but no, Biggie, We're going to dive deep
into mascots, good and bad team names and what helps
create school spirit a little bit later. But first, let
me tell you a little bit about my hometown of Florence,
Kentucky and the one and only Florence Mall. Back in
(15:26):
the seventies, Florence tied its newly built mall to the
water tower. It said in big black letters, Florence Mall
as a way to get people driving to and from
Cincinnati to stop. The letters were a little too big,
larger than highway advertising laws allowed, and they legally had
to change it. The mayor at the time had the
brilliant idea to change Florence Mall to Florence y'all. They
(15:46):
literally painted out a little bit of the M to
make it into a Y and an apostrophe. Originally just
a quick fix, the phrase stuck, becoming a cherr symbol
for the city over nearly fifty years. The water tower,
the mall, the y'all of it all are fixtures of
my childhood in the region. I came back to Florence
for a week in September twenty twenty three to start
(16:06):
my quest to change the mascot. There was a school
board meeting to attend in a big homecoming game at
the end of the week our main draw, but my
first stop was the mall. And there's a beautiful view
of the water tower, just stunning.
Speaker 7 (16:20):
Florence y'all.
Speaker 11 (16:23):
My whole life.
Speaker 7 (16:24):
This is our empire statepoo.
Speaker 5 (16:27):
There's nothing like it's I mean, you can see it's
just like a fence being home again is strange. I
come back probably once a year to visit family and friends,
but to be back for a full week in my
old stomping grounds is wild. Nothing is really the same.
There is an explosion of new chain restaurants and shops.
There are sidewalks, and even if it's diminished in stature
and importance, there's still the mall, a nineties relic but
(16:50):
still standing. Yeah, there's still the Claire's. I got my
ears pierced there when I was ten. The mall seemed
like the right place to start out enacting our game plan,
except it's a pretty dead mall. There's probably to people
we can even talk to.
Speaker 7 (17:05):
How is this the mall?
Speaker 5 (17:06):
I mean this used to be like if you were
in high school in the early two thousands, you would
go on dates to the mall. You would hang out
with your friends at the mall. Forever twenty one is there?
Like that was the store I worked in when I
worked at a store, but I also worked at the
Hershey's ice Cream which No Wanderings is for Florence as
like a destination. The mall was really kind of the
biggest thing in the area, like northern Kentucky. When I
(17:28):
was growing up, and so we are here. We're gonna
go outside and stand on the sidewalk talk to some
people about biscuits and see how they feel about it.
And Wow, I'm overwhelmed by how depressing this place is
to me. Sorry, I know you all are about to eat,
(17:48):
but if you have like two minutes for a survey,
we're giving out free target gift cards. It's like five
questions and it's about biscuits.
Speaker 11 (17:55):
Biscuits, biscuits.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
Oh, I'm the perfect person.
Speaker 8 (17:57):
Please comator, dotoor ball so you have a strong previous.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
We love biscuits those times.
Speaker 13 (18:03):
It's my favorite field.
Speaker 5 (18:04):
Would you support a sports mascot that was a biscuit?
Speaker 3 (18:07):
Absolutely? I would be all over that.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
That's very random biscuit mascot, y'all.
Speaker 8 (18:12):
Want a biscuit mascot?
Speaker 5 (18:13):
Like, could you see yourself at a game for the biscuits? No,
any reason why In particular, I just think it's weird.
Do you have any ideas for the name of a
sports mascot that is a biscuit?
Speaker 7 (18:24):
See biscuit?
Speaker 3 (18:25):
See dis is a biscuit?
Speaker 2 (18:28):
I like that?
Speaker 5 (18:29):
Do you see any issues with a sports mascot that's
a biscuit.
Speaker 9 (18:32):
No, no, no, yeah, well biscuits is like universal sports.
Speaker 8 (18:36):
Mascot, that's tigers. Why can't a sports mascot be.
Speaker 11 (18:39):
A food like only flag football?
Speaker 3 (18:41):
Yeah, like not like actual football.
Speaker 6 (18:43):
Why a biscuits?
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Huh? I think that people would think it was nuts.
Speaker 5 (18:50):
All right, I get it. Making a high school team
into the Biscuits is an uphill battle. But have you
met me?
Speaker 14 (18:56):
Some black people were starting to work in the Vine County,
and you know, you have the mall, you have people
who work at the mall, you have stores around them
all and so different kinds of people come in there,
and I think that got their eyes open, like woo,
we'd like to live out here and have a big
line on a big yard.
Speaker 5 (19:12):
So while we were in Florence, I knew I needed
to sit down with someone who has known me my
whole life, the legendary Marilyn Arnold, also known as my Mom.
Marilyn was born and raised in Covington, Kentucky, just outside
of Florence, so she's seen decades of change in the area,
and I wanted to get her take on this mascot journey.
Per usual, she did not hold back.
Speaker 14 (19:32):
You know they're going to say, oh, she's just a
trouble maker, come back to town to do this.
Speaker 5 (19:37):
They want this to be a welcoming place, but a
Confederate general does not project that to a lot of people.
What do you think is keeping it there besides tradition
or maybe just tradition.
Speaker 14 (19:49):
Racism? Racism? And I really believe that people need education,
and they keep saying they have, you know, diversity officers
everywhere and things like this, But this takes of real
education and some willingness to open up to yourself and
learn yourself and who you really are.
Speaker 5 (20:08):
Growing up in Covington, Maryland experienced a ton of history,
from the dangers of Boone County as a sundowntown to
the slow progress of school integration. Eventually working for the
Board of Education in Covington for thirty two years, which
is the job that led her to capitalize on the
housing boom of the nineties and bring our family to
Florence in the house I grew up in while attending BHS.
Speaker 14 (20:29):
When we moved to Florence, you would see rebel flags
on people's they'd have them on their license plates, they'd
have them. The Confederate flag they'd have it. They'd have
it on shirts. You'd buy the shirts in the store.
Sometime they'd sell them at the grocery store at Kroger,
you know, occasionally like they just kept your eye, make
(20:50):
it very clear they don't want you there. I mean,
you walk into the school to register your kids and
there's this pause and you're going and you feel it,
you know.
Speaker 3 (21:02):
It's palpable.
Speaker 14 (21:03):
It was like, what.
Speaker 10 (21:06):
Is that?
Speaker 3 (21:06):
You know, what is that feeling?
Speaker 14 (21:08):
And you know it's almost you almost see a nervousness
of them while they're gathering the papers and they keep
looking over at you. You know, I've had you know,
them say well, what street is it? And I tell them,
I give them the address and they said, well, what
apartment is it? I said, I don't think there are
any apartments over there, and they said, well, what's your
(21:31):
apartment number? I said it's a house. Yeah, I said,
we we live in a house. And the lady looks
at me like.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
How could this be possible?
Speaker 14 (21:42):
Yeah, she looked at the paper like she looked at
it as if later on she's gonna go check. And
I just thought, oh, leave my kids here. Yeah, right,
I'm thinking, you know, this isative cell phones or anything.
I don't thinking what's going to happen of it's Boone County.
Speaker 5 (22:10):
Long before Make America Great Again, Blue lives matter versus
Black lives matter, or hell even Obama, I was navigating
the halls of education during the George Bush era. John
Kerry was defeated in my senior year. Kentucky is known
historically for its political diversity. The pendulum swung between Republican
and Democratic control in various offices, but Boone County voted
(22:30):
seventy one percent in favor of Bush. Boone County voted
sixty seven percent in favor of Trump in twenty sixteen
and sixty six percent for Trump in twenty twenty. See
a pattern. Ninety percent of Boone identifies as white. However,
even in the seemingly monolithic landscape, there are ships afoot.
Over the past couple of decades, the non white population,
(22:50):
encompassing Black, Hispanic, American, Indian, Asian, and others, had seen
a steady increase. In two thousand, this demographic made up
four percent, and by a twenty twenty two sis it
had risen to twelve percent. That's a lot of percentages
to say that when I was in high school, there
were not a lot of black kids and not a
lot of white kids would think about a black kid's
perspective on mister rebel. They were busy with things. Kids
(23:12):
are busy with sports, dances, friends, and duh them all.
Speaker 8 (23:16):
I remember my brother and I both we both perceived
this whole rebel and Confederate flag things, this huge embarrassment, backwards,
redneck sort.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
Of icon that we didn't understand why it was there. Now. See,
we didn't have that history either.
Speaker 8 (23:31):
Even though we had, you know, educated parents that were
pretty good about exposing us to stuff, we weren't getting
the story about Boon County's history right. So we just thought,
this is stupid and doesn't belong here, and why are
he trying to identify us with Mississippi?
Speaker 3 (23:45):
Right? Yeah, we didn't know we had lunchings here.
Speaker 8 (23:47):
We didn't know we had I mean, we intellectually knew
that there was enslavement.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
We thought that was in.
Speaker 5 (23:52):
The st Yeah, I mean we taught that like Kentucky
was neutral.
Speaker 3 (23:56):
That's what I was taught. Every year. Every time we
hear that, every time.
Speaker 5 (24:00):
Meet Hillary Delaney, a librarian at the Boone County Library System.
She also helms the Borderlands Archive and History Center, where
her focus is on African American history in Boone County, Kentucky.
She's a Boone County graduate class of eighty six and
was definitely a member of Boone County High Schools first
ever computer club.
Speaker 8 (24:17):
But yeah, so like in the eighties, we had what
are they the drill team, and they had the big
you know, stars and bars on their uniforms, and yeah,
there were rebel flags around and there still are rebel
flags around, and it's just idiocracy to meet. We were
just blind to it when we were in high school.
And there were you know a handful of kids who
are African American who are probably real quiet about it,
(24:37):
I'm sure. And I think the eighties just toned up,
and you know, there were very few people there too
to say, hey, please don't do that. Do I think
that it's a fair and friendly, welcoming place for everyone
all the time.
Speaker 5 (24:52):
No.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
I went to book High School starting.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
In nineteen ninety one.
Speaker 5 (24:55):
This is Jenavan Lanningham, class of nineteen ninety four. She
gets a lot of real estate in the Boone County
yearbooks from competing on the girls track team.
Speaker 2 (25:01):
At Boone my freshman year. I remember rebel flags, like
being a football games. I actually was involved in sports,
and my older brother was too, and we had things
with rebel flags on them, sort of not really knowing
or understanding what that meant at all at age thirteen fourteen, fifteen.
(25:24):
I don't know of just maybe a handful of black
students in the early nineties, and I think they all
were on the football team, like yeah, and maybe also
played some basketball.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
But it was very white at the time.
Speaker 12 (25:38):
About the time that I was getting there, the socioeconomics
of the community were starting to change. A higher percentage
of the population that was coming in was non white.
It was still predominantly white. Yeah.
Speaker 5 (25:50):
This is Spencer's Imbroke class of twenty eleven. He has
a sweet photo as a sophomore playing piano and is
quoted saying, I play about four instruments. I play them
either because their fun or they came naturally. Your books
are so cute until you get to a photo of
someone posing with mister Rebel. Anyway, what was rebel spirit
like when.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
You were there?
Speaker 12 (26:10):
I remember seeing mister Rebel at the football games and
pep rallies and things like that. I don't remember having
like a strong attachment or affection for him other than
the fact that, like, hey, if he comes into the stands,
I'm gonna high find Yeah, just the things you do
at sports ball games.
Speaker 10 (26:30):
Anyway.
Speaker 9 (26:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (26:31):
Fully, fully, we're all pretty much on the same page
about what Boone was like. And some might say, well,
those experiences are in the past, that for Hillary, Jenna
and Spencer it was a different time. Hell that even
my experience as one of a handful of black kids
at BHS in the early two thousands, well that was
nearly twenty years ago. And I totally hear you, But
(26:51):
talk to kids today and it doesn't actually sound all
that different.
Speaker 9 (26:54):
Uh. Yeah, I'm a freshman, I'm on the basketball team.
I'm new to I like, I just moved from Louisville
State to the school, and I came like kind of
late in the school.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
So I was like, yeah, to all.
Speaker 5 (27:05):
This this is Quincy Jackson. He recently moved with his
family from Louisville, Kentucky to Florence, and as a current
student at Boone County High School.
Speaker 9 (27:13):
Coming from Louisville, it's like the verse is a lot
of different, like people my color a lot and then
coming here, first of all, it's called the rebels, so
I kind of like anticipated it to you know, it's
like it's way less diverse. It's a lot of like
white people for real. But yeah, but like the thing
(27:35):
is like they're kind of like like they're big with
like rebel pride and stuff, like they have down the
walls a lot too.
Speaker 5 (27:42):
Like when you say rebel pride as like a student
of color, like, what is it like when you see
those sort of messages, what does it mean to you?
Speaker 3 (27:51):
It's like they're trying to like.
Speaker 9 (27:53):
Celebrate it kind of like like why are we talking
about rebel pride?
Speaker 14 (27:58):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (27:59):
Right, And like I mean you're a student there, do
you feel like, I guess, like when you hear the
word rebel, what do you feel like the school is
rebelling against? Like is there a thing?
Speaker 14 (28:12):
Yeah?
Speaker 9 (28:12):
Because like the Confederates was called rebel and it seems
like they're just like, you know, team's racist. So yeah,
and like like our shooting machine has the rebel logo
on there, like the guy, Yeah, it has that on there.
Speaker 5 (28:28):
So it's like it shoots the ball to you. You
shoot and you're looking at mister rebel literally a Confederate
general passing you the ball if anyone can, certainly Quincy
can agree that the Biscuits is a better name.
Speaker 9 (28:40):
Right as a basketball player, I wouldn't really want it
to be called the Boone County business.
Speaker 6 (28:45):
That's fair.
Speaker 5 (28:45):
You don't what it necessarily Okay, So the Biscuits is
also a controversial name, but for better reasons than the
Rebels is. Remember earlier when I said we were back
in Florence for Boone County's homecoming week. Well, now it's
Friday night, it's homecoming and we are in the stands
eager to experience the festivities. There's mister Rebel on a
(29:09):
shirt the little that's our guy. Yeah, festivities is maybe
over selling it. Homecoming at Boone County High School is
exactly as I remembered it, following a week of themed
spirit days at school, usually like Seventies Day or Pajama Day.
The friday we attend the game is somehow not school
(29:30):
spirit Day but USA Day. There's an after school parade
with kids from all over the district, including the feeder,
elementary and middle schools, and it stretches a few blocks
in front of the school. The band plays maybe two songs,
but they're not powerful enough. To be heard at any distance.
(29:51):
There's candy being thrown from convertibles, where the smiling homecoming
queen nominees wave and their respective teams and clubs walk
beside them. The members of the student council and dance
team gently hand candy to the little kids on the sidewalk,
but there's more candy than attendees by one hundred times,
so it'll likely just be littered there. But also it's
high school and homecoming, and it's hard not to get
(30:13):
swept up in it despite everything. Okay, for they speak
to drama, let's go. I used to go to them,
and you why people? I love it.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
There used to be way more blue is forensics.
Speaker 5 (30:26):
One thing that feels different is the makeup of the crowd.
Boone County High School is now notably diverse. There are
kids of all shades with all shades of hair color.
That there are three black girls with braids on the
middle school team. I really don't want to cry, but
I'm like, I remember they just there was only one
and it was like that was by design, like they
(30:47):
just really didn't want it. It's kind of hard to
ignore at this point that there's just more people in
color yeah, they seem less repressed than when I walk
the halls, and frankly, it's something the school should take
pride in.
Speaker 14 (30:59):
Oh god, yeah, and then all the traffic's coming.
Speaker 7 (31:02):
All right, do you want to walk back?
Speaker 5 (31:04):
But now that the parade is over, it's time for
the game. I don't recognize anybody's got some.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
Great tunes to go along with all the excitement here
for the rebel fans.
Speaker 9 (31:19):
Athletic officials are seldom given the appreciation they deserve.
Speaker 5 (31:22):
They are given the response when we enter the stadium.
It's clear that this event isn't a big deal to
the school community. The stands are half empty, and everyone's
sort of milling about, buying walking tacos and catching up
with each other.
Speaker 12 (31:33):
Please rise and remove your caps for the singing of
the national anthem by the Boone County Choir and alumni
from the choirs.
Speaker 5 (31:46):
You can hear the choir singing the national anthem of
the United States and not the Confederacy, so that's a
good sign. The pep band is only a couple of
leaster sections away, but if they're playing anything, no one
can really hear it. There's a computer program playing radio
(32:07):
edits of music and every few beats we hear you're
listening to game time radio. I wanted to talk to
students who are at the game about how they experienced
school spirit at Boone County, but well, most weren't really
able to come up with much. So what brings you
to homecoming?
Speaker 8 (32:26):
You know?
Speaker 10 (32:26):
I just wanted to come and watch the football players
play football?
Speaker 13 (32:31):
Nice?
Speaker 3 (32:31):
Okay? So yeah, yeah, and she invited me.
Speaker 5 (32:33):
So, like, what does a school spirit mean to you? Like,
what about the school if anything makes you feel sort
of spirited and excited?
Speaker 8 (32:40):
Blue?
Speaker 5 (32:41):
The color blue blue?
Speaker 3 (32:42):
Yeah, yeah, that's fair, Kylie. What makes you feel school spirit?
Speaker 11 (32:47):
Anything?
Speaker 5 (32:49):
No clue, no clue, that's fair. The first half of
the game highlighted two things. One, the rebels are no
good this season. Maybe part of the reason and no
one seemed invested in the game was because the team
was down thirty points at halftime. The second thing was
(33:09):
how desperately the school needs a mascot. The dance team
and the cheerleaders were never really in sync and mostly
seemed to be talking amongst themselves or visiting with classmates.
Wouldn't the mascot be at least a place to focus
your attention? And not on the flailing athletic department that
seems to have spent more money on headsets than good coaches.
(33:30):
Halftime had a lot to make up for, and it
really didn't.
Speaker 3 (33:36):
Welcome food.
Speaker 7 (33:37):
The Country High School is homecoming celebration recognizing the class
of twenty twenty three twenty twenty four.
Speaker 5 (33:44):
I want to disclaim right now that I'm not making
fun of the kids. They're just trying their best. Adolescence
is a tough time, that said, Imagine Beyonce's legendary homecoming
performance when she headlined Coachella in twenty eighteen. Really picture
the band outfits, the energy. Now imagine the bizarro opposite
(34:11):
a slow, dirge like and two long procession of the
Jackson Five's I'll Be There, played by a sad marching
band representing.
Speaker 3 (34:17):
The girls cross country team.
Speaker 5 (34:20):
I think he was laid the teacher your name? Teenage
girls in suits being walked by their fathers down the
field between two baby shower inspired blue balloon arches. The
announcer says that the candidates have been judged based on
a few different categories.
Speaker 12 (34:34):
Are evaluated based on toys, personality, appearance, and cultural awareness.
Speaker 5 (34:41):
Of the notable ones was their appearance, and even though
that's implied, I mean it's high school after all, it's
still wild to admit out loud when there's not even
a check for the winner. Also, cultural awareness, Loo First.
Speaker 1 (34:55):
Please Help Us and Welcome Back are twenty twenty two,
twenty twenty three homecoming.
Speaker 5 (35:02):
Most people in the crowd are looking at their phones
or waiting to use the bathroom. Some students cheer for
their friends when they're announced as homecoming Court and queen,
and then the homecoming court walks off the field, the
band packs up, and it's just over. There's no high
energy performance complete with choreograph moves, no cheerleaders rushing on
to midfield to hype up the crowd. The whole thing
(35:22):
felt deflated, like the balloon arches that struggled to stay
up in the evening's fall breeze. The game never got better.
There was no made for TV come from behind ending.
The Boon County Rebels, like their Confederate namesakes, lost thirty
six to seven. But I left shortly after the second
half started. It had been a long week and I
had an early flight in the morning, but mostly I
(35:44):
was exhausted coming home starting these hard conversations about mascots, yes,
but also about racism and history and about what it
takes to make real change. It was more emotionally taxing
than I had expected. I'll be honest. There was a
part of me that thought I'd come back to Florence,
talk to a few people, and bam, the Boone County
Biscuits would come running onto the field. But let's face it,
(36:06):
that's not how change happens. And as long a week
as it was, it's clear now that this is just
the start of something. Because this week was a lot
of things, but the main thing it was was a
huge reminder that these kids, the ones at Boone County
High School today and the ones coming into it tomorrow,
kids that look different than the ones that were there
when I was in school, counting every black kid in
(36:27):
a class, they deserve so much more than they have
right now. It's about more than a mascot, right A
mascot is a symbol for the school. It signals what
they believe in. It's literally what they cheer for, and
they deserve to be proud of their school in all
they've accomplished there, and to see that pride reflected back
not with Rebel Pride, but with something better, something beautiful.
(36:49):
The homecoming game may have been uninspiring, but ultimately I
left Florence inspired, inspired that maybe, just maybe change can
happen here, and inspired to try my hardest to get
it done this season.
Speaker 12 (37:09):
On Rebel Spirit, just tell me you're not gonna name
my baseball team after a goddamn water tower.
Speaker 7 (37:16):
John Alexander Way, that's the guy individual that came to
the school saying that God sent him to talk to
me about the mascot switch.
Speaker 3 (37:25):
Is a leader? You choose hills that you want to
die on.
Speaker 10 (37:28):
There's a safe way to reveal mascot, and they went
in the opposite direction.
Speaker 3 (37:32):
They are called segregation academies.
Speaker 12 (37:34):
When Civil rights said that we need to integrate public schools,
these charter schools were exempt from that.
Speaker 3 (37:40):
Why would we want to be the losing team. I
just take all the other stuff out of it.
Speaker 1 (37:45):
We're rocking the team with the hell.
Speaker 4 (37:46):
The chair of Mom's ce Liberties is one of the
board members.
Speaker 9 (37:50):
Oh there are meetings like this is a foreur alarm
fires suddenly.
Speaker 5 (38:00):
Rebel Spirit is a production of Ninth Planet Audio and
association with iHeart Podcasts, reporting and writing by me Akila Hughes.
I'm also an executive producer and the host produced by
Dan Sinker, edited by Josie A.
Speaker 1 (38:13):
Zahm Our.
Speaker 5 (38:14):
Assistant editor is Jennifer Dean. Music composed by Charlie Sun,
Sound design and mixing by Josie A.
Speaker 13 (38:21):
Zahmb Our.
Speaker 5 (38:22):
Theme song is All the Things I Couldn't Say, performed
by Busty and the Bass, courtesy of Arts and Crafts Productions, Inc.
Our production coordinator is Kyle Hinton. Our clearance coordinator is
Anna Sunenshein. Production accounting by Dill pried Singh. Additional research
support from Janie Dillard Abraham Lincoln Boys performed by Hal Lovelin.
(38:42):
Executive producers from Ninth Planet Audio are Elizabeth Baquet and
Jimmy Miller. Special thanks to Jay Becker and the whole
team at BLDG, the Florence Yawls, Amber Hoffmann, Hilary Delaney,
and Leslie Chambers. If you have a racist mascot at
your high school, or are an alumni of a high
school with a racist mascot and want to share your
own experience, please email us at Rebelspirit Podcast at gmail
(39:04):
dot com. We would love to hear from you,
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