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In light of local and national protests spawned by the death of George Floyd in Minnesota, and a heightened public sensitivity to items and names that represent inequalities to minorities, some locals are again calling for the nickname and mascot of a Henrico high school to be changed.
In the past, Douglas Freeman High School’s "Rebels" nickname has been the target of criticism and calls for its removal, and it’s also generated significant support from those who want it to remain in place. So far, it’s stood the test of time – since the school opened in 1954, in fact.
But now, those calls are beginning to grow once more.
Tuckahoe District School Board member Marcie Shea – a former Freeman science teacher – told the Citizen Friday she’s received “quite a few of emails” about the topic (a number that fellow School Board member Micky Ogburn placed at more than 800).
“Being part of the Freeman faculty before coming on the School Board, I know there is a history of advocacy around changing the Rebel, but this week is the first time I have received explicit feedback on the matter since taking office earlier this year,” Shea said. Many of the requests have come from people who don’t live in the district or in Henrico, Shea said.
Freeman’s first-year principal John Marshall has heard from those on both sides of the issue.
“What we’re doing right now is listening,” he told the Citizen Monday. “That’s the most important part.”
Marshall said he hadn’t tallied up the number of calls and emails for or against the name but said the matter wasn’t one that he would weigh solely by the numbers anyway.
During his first year leading the school, following three years there as an assistant principal, Marshall said he and his staff worked to give meaning to the term “rebels” that doesn’t reference Confederate soldiers.
“We’ve spent a lot of time talking to students in the community about challenging the status quo and changing the world,” Marshall said. “We’ve kind of framed the word rebel in that way, really valuing those characteristics of the word.”
It’s too early to know what, if anything, may come next, Marshall said. He and other school officials are busy this week making plans for the school’s virtual commencement today and lap around Richmond Raceway Wednesday, but he reiterated several times during an interview that he intends to listen to students and the school community at large during the coming months.
“We’re always asking the question of how can we be as inclusive and welcoming a place as possible for our students,” he said. “Our current students have a large voice in that, as do our future students.
Meaning of nickname is 'very clear'
Henrico resident Renee Robinson, whose stepdaughter is completing her freshman year at the school, is among those urging Marshall to eliminate the nickname. Though she said she appreciated Marshall’s attempt to distance the nickname from its roots, she believes more direct action is needed.
“In the last 14 days, I would question whether that is still the route that you need to take,” she told the Citizen Monday. “We are all very clear on what Rebels stand for – it’s very clear, and its colors are grey and blue.
“I’m hopeful that Mr. Marshall will take the authority that he has and take the movement that we’re in. . . [and] make this happen.
Given that students already have lost months of school because of COVID-19 and many have now felt the impact of the nation’s protests, “why have this as another barrier?” she said.
Robinson has been encouraging people to add their names to a petition created nearly three years ago by then-Freeman student Connor Battle in the aftermath of the Charlottesville “Unite the Right” rally.
In creating that petition, which now has more than 1,250 signatures, Battle (now a student at UCLA) wrote: “While many Freeman students are used to the mascot and see nothing wrong with it, others see a legacy of hate that does not line up with the diverse and accepting school we are. The mascot was made as a tribute to the Confederacy. When the school was founded, Dixie was the fight song, the mascot was a Confederate soldier called Rebel Man, and the Confederate flag was even flown frequently at games. While most of these racist displays have been removed, the Rebel name is alive and well.”
In 2014, the last time a mascot change was seriously considered by the school (first to a bulldog, then to a lion, though the Rebels nickname would have remained either way), a group of students countered the movement by garnering more than 1,200 signatures in support of bringing back the school’s former Rebel Man mascot, who had been retired more than seven years earlier.
“The Rebel Man was never intended to embark racism or start any kind of political controversy, but only to represent our city’s history,” read a portion of that petition six years ago. “Over the years, the musket and stars and bars have been revoked from our mascot, so what is the harm in having a silly man run around in gray and blue at football games?”
Following significant public interest and attention, then-principal Anne Poates eventually decided to scrap all ideas entirely and simply allow the school continue on as the Rebels, with no mascot.
The school still uses its nickname prominently, not only for its sports teams and students in general but also in other ways, for example attaching it to the "Rebel Camp" it hosted in August for incoming students. The Freeman Athletic Boosters hold an annual Rebel Run fundraiser, though this year's event was canceled because of the pandemic.
Nickname decision typically rests with schools
Although the School Board has the authority to name schools or change their names (as it did when it renamed Byrd Middle School to Quioccasin Middle in March 2016), it traditionally has allowed schools to make their own decisions about nicknames, mascots and colors – as Poates and Freeman ultimately did six years ago.
In 2016, Quioccasin officials and the school’s stakeholders ultimately settled on the Griffins as a nickname, honoring the school’s longtime resource officer, Neil Griffin, who had died of cancer two days before the name change became official.
“Historically, the School Board has just stayed away from taking that decision out of the hands of the kids,” said Ogburn, who represents the Three Chopt District, which includes some students who attend Freeman. “Having the five School Board members make that decision for them may feel like we’re forcing them into something that they may not necessarily buy into.”
Shea suggested to the Citizen that she would support the same process should Marshall feel inclined to consider a change.
“[I] know he will provide insightful leadership on how and when to move forward,” Shea said. “I have offered him my support in the process or facilitating discussion as appropriate. I do want our community to know that any discussion on this matter would be communicated directly to the Freeman family, and would involve substantial community input.”
At its next virtual meeting, June 18, the School Board could discuss the idea of creating a formal policy amendment to outline clearly that the decision about school nicknames and mascots be made by each school individually, Ogburn said.
Robinson sees a summer opportunity for the school to engage its students – perhaps with a virtual process through which they could suggest and vote on a new nickname – and excite them for a new beginning in the fall.
“We have such incredibly talented and creative students,” she said. “I have no doubt they could come up with the artwork for a new mascot, have a poll on new mascot name – they could feel bought in. It could give them something to look forward to.”
In light of Floyd’s death, and with the nation seemingly more unified than ever about the need to bring about true equality, Robinson believes the time is now for the school to act.
“If you let it pass, you’re going to miss that window,” she said.
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