I am glad to have grown up and attended school in Boyle County. It was a supportive community that allowed me to achieve success in multiple fields while challenging me to further my potential. As a student there, I was a state champion in five events in cross-country and track. This allowed me to earn a scholarship to compete at a Division-1 university, George Washington. In fact, I was able to finish my university studies early because I earned enough college credit-hours through AP tests and dual-credit that I had a semester completed before I even set foot on campus. Once there, I felt very prepared by having skills in note-taking, studying, and three different styles of citation for essay writing. I had excellent teachers at Boyle County that challenged my opinions and encouraged me to explore my own thinking. These were irreplaceable experiences, and I am proud that Boyle County granted them to me.
Despite all of these great opportunities, there is one very important aspect of Boyle County High School that I do not take pride in: its mascot, the Rebel.
For all the pride I have ever had in Boyle County High School, I am not proud of its mascot and hateful message it sends. The use of the “Rebel” evokes, romanticizes, and celebrates people who committed treason against the United States over the racist issue of wanting to keep human beings enslaved as chattel in perpetuity from generation-to-generation. Some have tried to justify this mascot by saying that it speaks to rebellious youth. Others have said that it is emblematic of a righteous people standing up for freedom against an oppressive empire. But we do not live in the movies, and it is doubtful Warner Brothers will lend you the use of James Dean’s image or Lucas Films the use of the Rebel logo from Star Wars. Really one needs only to look at the logo frequently used by the school: a mid-nineteenth century cavalry soldier astride a rearing horse with saber held aloft. Even the school’s flag harkens back to the battle flag used by the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. With a name and an image such as these there can be no doubt that the BCHS mascot is a reference to the Confederate Military (which Kentucky was never officially part of). This is universally recognized by those who attended, work at, competed for and against, or sent children to Boyle County. It has been a sore spot for many of them, especially so for many competing under its name. The time has come for Boyle County High School to abandon a racist mascot and adopt a new one.
I am now a high school teacher myself, teaching history. One skill I teach my students is to put events of the past in context. When applied here, it further demonstrates the racism inherent in the BCHS mascot. Boyle County High School was formed in 1963 by consolidating several schools around the county. This was also the time period of the height of the Civil Rights Movement. The preceding years had seen sit-ins at lunch counters, integration of southern universities, the Freedom Rides (and the violence against them). That very year was witness to Alabama governor George Wallace saying, “Segregation now; segregation tomorrow; segregation forever!” with him standing in the doorway of the University of Alabama a few months later to prevent its integration. It also saw the Children’s Crusade in Birmingham, AL get attacked by police dogs and sprayed with fire hoses to the point where people were sent careening across streets like rag-dolls. To add insult to injury, NAACP field secretary Medgar Evers was assassinated for working to integrate public spaces in Mississippi. And in the very month that Boyle County High School opened its doors, the now celebrated March on Washington took place which culminated with Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” Speech.
In such an atmosphere, the choice to pick Rebels as a mascot is not coincidental. It was a racist decision to denigrate a people working desperately, even putting their lives on the line, for the idea of living equally and to have their own fair chance at the American Dream. The school’s choice of mascot served to perpetuate the myth of the lost cause which has wrapped up in it the ill conceived idea that people which society deems to be White are superior in intelligence, morality, and culture to those which society deems to be Black. That choice was a direct rebuttal to what was arguably the most moral and righteous movements to ever sweep the United States. It says that the people who run and attend BCHS are unreconstructed and will never willingly give an inch to Black people. For almost 60 years, this has been the message the mascot has communicated: a message that was obsolete the moment it was conceived. It is a message that continues to ring with sour notes in the light of the killings of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, and Breonna Taylor right here in Kentucky. It says to everyone currently saying, “Black Lives Matter!” that Black lives don’t matter, in fact they should be kept subservient and punished, even killed, if they step out of line. The mascot of Boyle County High School must abandon its racist mascot and adopt a new one.
I recognize that such a change can make people apprehensive. After all, all those championships were won under that mascot; many people proudly spoke out the mascot’s name when playing for or watching competitions of the teams. There is nothing inherently wrong with taking pride in your school and symbols used to represent it. Symbols have the power to unite people around a common purpose, such as sports or academic advancement. But symbols can cut both ways and divide people as well, especially when what they represent has a heinous history that sought the dehumanization of an entire class of people. When that symbol is examined in its full form and is seen for the bigotry that it represents, it is time to replace it. As I said earlier, change can be tough for folks, especially if you don’t know where such a change will take you. To that end, I have developed a couple of suggestions, but ultimately, such a decision should be left for the incumbent students as they are the ones who will carry that name for the rest of their lives. One idea is the Caissons which would allow you to keep the current fight song. BCHS could be the Generals, in honor of the largest battle ever fought in Kentucky taking place in what is now your school district. These are just a couple, and I am confident other people can develop more for consideration.
Boyle County High School currently has a racist mascot whose time has long since passed and must be changed. There is no time like the one we are in to make such a change happen. Such a gesture would communicate to every student that walks through the doors of BCHS an openness and acceptance of them; that they are welcome regardless of race. This is an action you have power to take; I hope that your courage matches that power. It is time for Boyle County High School to remove and replace its racist mascot.
Sincerely,
M. Daniel Morgan
BCHS 2003
KHSAA Class AA Cross-Country State Champion: 2001
KHSAA Class AA 1600 Meter State Champion: 2002
KHSAA Class AA 3200 Meter State Champion: 2002, 2003
KHSAA Class AA 3200 Meter Relay State Champion: 2003
George Washington University 2007
BA History
NCAA Division 1 Varsity Cross-Country Athlete
University of Kentucky 2008
MA Secondary Education
Public School teacher 9 years (last 6 at low income, racially mixed urban high school)