And every right-thinker knows it. How it must warm the hearts of black Americans who survived segregation and Jim Crow to see tens of thousands of cheering white southerners on football Saturdays in Oxford, MS as the mostly-black Ole Miss team takes the field. It's strange that there's never been a protest of the Rebel mascot by any of the southern heritage groups. They seem to actually like it. They need to choose a new school mascot free of insulting stereotypes, one that also demonstrates these young people have learned a lesson from the right-thinking folks who govern them.
Academic excellence is important, too.
Such a mascot would inspire these high-schoolers to a higher calling. Along with The Heat, The Flame, The Storm and The Liberty, the Firewater would be completely inoffensive, and it might also spur interest in the team from New Age types. But the best choice for a new mascot, in my humble opinion, would be the Poolesville High Engines. Young people love cars, they love rockets, anything that goes fast. Just look at the success of the film The Fast And The Furious .