April 28 2021
The PPS School Board OK s an alternative mascot for Ida B. Wells-Barnett High School in Southwest Portland.
After an abrupt pivot away from an evergreen tree as a new mascot, Ida B. Wells-Barnett High School will now be known as the Guardians. Guardians will replace the school s current Trojan mascot.
The revised mascot was approved unanimously Tuesday, April 27, by the Portland Public Schools Board. Nearly a month earlier, the board paused its consideration of the Evergreens as the Southwest Portland high school s new mascot after a board member noted concern from community members of using a tree at a high school that had recently been renamed to honor a historic Black journalist and NAACP co-founder. The tree could conjure up reminders of lynching, Board Director Michelle DePass noted.
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(Joerg Carstensen/dpa via AP)
Is cancellation all bark and no bite? In Oregon, it seems, bark is what’s biting.
The Portland Tribune reports Ida B. Wells High School has a big decision to make.
The school’s mascot the Trojan was set to get axed.
The sprouting symbol of school spirit set to replace it: the
Evergreen.
Per a resolution, the thinking went thusly:
Evergreens are characterized by the life-giving force of their foliage, the strength of their massive trunk, and the depth of their roots in an individual tree and as a forest of trees.
Additionally:
They provide shelter and sustenance. They have histories that preclude us and will continue in perpetuity after we are no more.