"You have been petitioned to remove our Rebel mascot.

"Williams said Franklin County's delay in combining both races in schools until 1966 drove deep the feelings of being left out. I've seen this before," Owens said. "I'm here tonight to call for compassion and reason.

'"What I'm saying is, if all lives really matter, I present you that chance to prove it," Williams said. The mascot … Mascot.

"Owens said small rural communities with only one or two high schools are often identified by those team names and mascots, noting neighboring communities/schools like the Tullahoma Wildcats, Lincoln County Falcons, Moore County Raiders and Putnam County Hornets. Wait for the right time? "We were forced into their beliefs, we were forced into this system.

On Facebook, one commenter questioned how a rebel could be seen in a negative light. Those same people who participated in that parade today were students back then. Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium. If you don't, Col. Harland Sanders, rest in peace, might want to watch his back also.

“Why is our Walpole mascot name deemed offensive at this time? "It's not about Black Lives Matter.

A petition is circulating to remove and replace the Boyle County High School mascot, the Rebel, saying that it is a symbol of white supremacy.

He said board members want to be able to focus on the mascot issue without distraction.The last speaker to address the board graduated from Franklin County's all-African American Townsend School in 1958.

Thus, in 1979, Colonel Reb advanced from his 40-year history on paper to a living caricature on the field. It doesn't reoccur for no reason.

"The meaning of Rebel pride goes beyond our past, but not everyone can truly understand what it means to be one, and these are the people who want to make change to a well-organized community. "I saw Confederate flags come down. But he said that not every person of color always had that experience, and he recalled times when Black players on opposing teams would pull him aside to ask him why he played for Walpole, which was perceived as racist due to the use of Confederate imagery, he said.“I want to be able to say to people proudly I was born and raised in Walpole,” Desamot said. The Rebel, also called Mr. Rebel or Col. Rebel, has been the high school mascot since 1950 and it often has been a lightning rod of controversy, even … And more than 4,800 people have signed on to a petition that blasted the town’s use of a “racist name and mascot” with a bloody history.Josh Innocent, 33, a Walpole High School graduate who backs changing the name, said it celebrates bigotry, racism, and violence. "That same parade happened in the '90s.

"They have been robbed of their culture. "I argue for retention [of the Rebel] but I think there's an issue," he said.

"We hold you accountable. “This is just, to me, a really clear cut issue: There is a right and there is a wrong,” Innocent said, “and the ‘Rebels’ is just wrong.”An opposing effort to retain the name is also underway, including a petition that has the signatures of about 3,000 supporters.On the petition and social media, supporters of using the Rebels name point to local history and traditions of the town’s sports teams.“I’m signing because I have lived in Walpole for 56 years and it will always be The Rebels,” wrote one of the petition’s signers. Freeman High School has worked hard to adjust and recognize the need to update, he said, by getting rid of obvious symbols like the mascot and fight song. Neither these AP materials nor any portion thereof may be stored in a computer except for personal and noncommercial use. "Bradford pointed to quotes by Jesus and conservative Black leaders in history, modern culture and in government like Candace Owens, Dr. Thomas Sowell, U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Dr. Ben Carson and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr."These are admirable Black leaders that we should listen to, not Black Lives Matter, who define themselves as trained Marxists," Bradford said.He said the Rebel for 70 years was "an important tradition," and for some Franklin County High alumni is "all they have left of their youth.""Dr. I saw the original walkout.