One Portland high school is saddled with a dilemma over whether trees are racist.
Ida B. Wells-Barnett High School, named after the prominent black activist and journalist who chronicled lynching in the post-Civil War era, was supposed to vote on a new mascot Tuesday of last week, according to the Portland Tribune. The vote was postponed, however, following complaints from a board director that a change from the Trojan mascot to the evergreens was racist.
Director Michelle DePass, the local Portland paper reported, said the tree mascot would invoke images of lynching.
“I’m wondering if there was any concern with the imagery here, in using a tree … as our mascot?” DePass pressed the committee tasked with finding a new mascot. “I think everyone comes with blind spots and I think that might’ve been a really big blind spot.”
Portland school postpones vote on changing mascot to evergreens over racism concerns
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Pamplin Media Group - Portland school fears Evergreens mascot tied to lynching
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Ida B. Wells-Barnett High School (formerly Woodrow Wilson High School) in Portland, August 15, 2019 The adoption of a new mascot for Ida B. Wells-Barnett High School was put on pause, after concerns about potential connotations of lynching.
After adopting a new namesake earlier this year, the Southwest Portland high school also wants to ditch its Trojan mascot. A committee comprised of students, staff and community members suggested the evergreens as the school s new mascot. 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, Ellen Whatmore, a teacher and mascot committee member at Wells-Barnett High School said, reading from a resolution. They provide shelter and sustenance. They have histories that preclude us and will continue in perpetuity after we are no more.
Portland school fears Evergreens mascot tied to lynching
Ida B. Wells-Barnett High School wants to swap Trojan mascot for evergreen tree.
The adoption of a new mascot for Ida B. Wells-Barnett High School was put on pause, after concerns about potential connotations of lynching.
After adopting a new namesake earlier this year, the Southwest Portland high school also wants to ditch its Trojan mascot. A committee comprised of students, staff and community members suggested the evergreens as the school s new mascot. 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, Ellen Whatmore, a teacher and mascot committee member at Wells-Barnett High School said, reading from a resolution. They provide shelter and sustenance. They have histories that preclude us and will continue in perpetuity after we are no more.