Persistence pays off in Rebel mascot issue

Opinion

Persistence pays off in rebel mascot issue

When I read that Annie McCord-Wilson was among those leading the charge to have the rebel removed as the mascot of her daughter’s elementary school — Cullowhee Valley — I almost couldn’t believe it.

In 2002 when The Smoky Mountain News was only three years old and trying to establish itself as an information source for the region, I read a fantastic letter to the editor in the Sylva Herald. It was written by then-eighth-grader Annie McCord, and I was astonished at her maturity. Here’s an excerpt from that letter discussing the use of the rebel as a mascot:

“People say it represents our heritage, and we should honor and respect it .... But there is much about our heritage I am not at all proud of. It is time to shed this unfortunate image of the past and to select a new mascot with positive imagery and associations.”

Back when I had few sources and was always hustling to find stories with some depth, I recognized this would get some traction if I could talk to Annie. I started asking around and got in touch with her father, who is a professor at Western Carolina University. He and his wife agreed to let me interview their daughter, and so we ran the story the next week. In it, the then-superintendent of Jackson County Schools had this to say: “While I am pleased at her intelligence to confront this issue, I don’t want to see adults hammering at her. I’m not sure that her and her parents are prepared for this.”

Well, it seems Annie and her parents were very prepared for this. Annie’s mom was a teacher at Cullowhee Valley back then — and still is — when her daughter took on the issue, so no doubt she probably heard from many people. Still, her parents encouraged their daughter to speak out, and both were present 19 years ago when I interviewed their daughter in the school cafeteria.

“If she can get people thinking more deeply about it, it can lead to change,” said David McCord, her father, in 2002. “Opening the doors to discussion is more effective than any kind of belligerent stance …. People who support the rebel aren’t racist. I don’t think they intend any offense to AfricanAmericans. To me that is beside the point. Whatever the intent is, it is offensive to a lot of people.” Besides the support and encouragement of her parents, there was another inspiration for the young Annie to take on this battle way back then. Universities, like Western Carolina, are supposed to be institutions of learning, enlightenment and growth — not just job training centers as some want them to become. Annie had visited WCU’s Mountain Heritage Center and seen an exhibit that examined the issue of Native American images as the names of sports teams. It inspired her to examine her own school’s mascot.

Back then — as now — Annie got a lot of pushback. Here’s an excerpt from the 2002 story from an adult who did not agree with removing the rebel: “I will not stand by and let a person trample on what I believe is right .... There has been a constant badgering of us Southerners, and I am sick of it.”

In fact, her mother, Melanie Smathers, told me this week that Annie and the family even got death threats back in 2002. That’s the main reason they gave up on their efforts, that it was not worth Annie getting hurt. Now, as then, she’s a proud mother.

“This is a great example of the kind of person Annie is,” said Smathers. “As an adult, with a daughter at CVS, she realized it was time to stand up for her values again. With grace and dignity, she started a campaign to replace the rebel with a mascot in which every student would feel comfortable.”

Indeed, Wilson and a dedicated group of supporters kept fighting. I asked Annie what she hoped — as a mother — this would mean for her daughter and other children attending Cullowhee Valley: “Firstly, I hope this shows students that it is important to consider perspectives other than their own and their family’s. Though many people do not see the problem with such a mascot, we must be thoughtful about the experiences of others and have empathy. Many students and families have been hurt by this symbol in the past, and the decision to retire the rebel will save future families from this particular pain.”

And so it will. After almost a year of letters and work by many alumna and community members, the Jackson County School Board voted unanimously decision to ditch the rebel and let the school choose a new one. Nineteen years after first raising the issue, Annie McCord-Wilson — and the whole community — will get to see their elementary school retire a controversial mascot. Editor ’ s Note: To contribute to the fundraising effort to cover costs associated with retiring the old mascot and coming up with a new one, please visit Retiring The Rebel’s Go Fund Me page: www.gofundme.com/f/retiring-the-rebel (Scott McLeod can be reached at info@smokymountainnews.com)

Scott McLeod Editor

Hatred is a human flaw

To the Editor:

We all probably hate something. It could be a certain vegetable, a hard or distasteful task like doing laundry, going to the dentist, or even some kinds of weather. It is even not unusual to hate a person which in the case of the hate of Donald J. Trump turned into a derangement.

In 2015, the minute Donald Trump announced as a candidate for president, he was hated. When he was elected president in 2016, that hate escalated to excessive proportions in media, with lefty voters, politicians and especially the bureaucrats known as the “deep state” in Washington, D.C. He was hated to the point of continual attempts to rid the country of President Trump. Many, like me, could not understand such hate. Some hated his personality or style, others hated the fact that he won an election from Hillary Clinton. Besides those reasons, such colossal hate remains a mystery to many.

But the hate of Donald Trump is now over…. it has morphed into hatred a much more dangerous emotion. We have seen hatred often in our world. Hatred of a race, ethnic group, religion, individual, region or countries across the globe has unfortunately been prevalent throughout history. This kind of hatred, still found in our world, is dangerous, vicious, vile and often unexplainable. It brings on acts designed to destroy, hurt, marginalize and harm the subjects of hatred.

That is what hatred is doing now to Donald Trump. It is revengeful, ruthless, malicious and vindictive. It causes some who we thought to be ordinary citizens, politicians, celebrities, businesses, corporations to turn into nasty, malevolent, rancorous uber-haters set out to use any and all methods to not only destroy a President of the United States but to destroy a man, his family and his livelihood.

If you have only heard one side of the story, the anti-Trump story, you will probably think all of the above is OK. There is another side of that story. For instance, the latest reason for the rampant hatred is that Donald Trump encouraged a violent breach of the U.S Capitol. The other side of that story is Donald Trump did no such thing. His exact words were for supporters make “a peaceful and patriotic” march to the Capitol. Even before a final investigation of who the Capitol attackers were, a vengeful Democrat majority House of Representatives went right ahead to impeach President Trump. Funding to help those who have been greatly damaged by Covid-19 business closings and lock downs took months …. but not the impeachment of President Trump. They got that done in two days!

Hatred is a serious human flaw that does nothing but harm to the haters and those that receive the hate.

Shirley Slaughter Cashiers

LETTERS

Dental health helps children learn

To the Editor:

Since 1963, Blue Ridge Health (BRH) has provided essential healthcare to residents with the greatest need in Western North Carolina (WNC). This care includes dental services for our youngest community members. Since February is National Children’s Dental Health Month, I want to highlight an important partnership between BRH and the Dogwood Health Trust. BRH recently received a grant from Dogwood to restart our mobile dental clinic after a temporary COVID-19 grounding. The grant will be used to provide dental services in the rural counties we serve throughout Western North Carolina. As a region, WNC has a rate of childhood caries that is 10% higher than the state average of similar aged children. By no fault of their own, children with dental caries are more likely to fall behind their peers when reaching academic and social milestones. We have to do better. To this end, our mobile dental clinic is equipped to effectively educate and treat pediatric patients throughout the region. Our goal is to help WNC children achieve oral health that all children deserve.

We accept Medicaid and private insurance as well as patients without insurance who pay on a sliding scale based on their income. No patient is turned away for inability to pay. In addition to adults, the grant we received will help us further our mission to expand these dental services to more children in our service area. We are enormously grateful to the Dogwood Health Trust for their support of our important work.

Ben Cozart, DDS (Dr. Cozart is Dental Director at Blue Ridge Health, and serves on the WNC Oral Health Collaborative and the UNC Adams School of Dentistry Alumni Board.)

When will N.C. ratify ERA?

To the Editor:

In January 2020, Virginia became the 38th and final state needed for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). First introduced in 1923, the ERA finally received bipartisan congressional approval in 1972. It then went to the states for ratification. The required three-quarters of the states (38) have finally ratified, making the ERA qualified to