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Cultural Cleansing in the South by Roger Young Not far north of Dallas, Texas lies the community of Frisco. This sprawling suburb claims to be the fastest growing city in the state, which is a fact hard to argue when you consider that the town’s population has grown nearly 400% in just the last 10 years to nearly 49,000 residents. While growth of this magnitude will certainly change the appearance and feel of a small town, recently, events have occurred that illustrate that old conflicting with new happens within a city’s culture as well. In March 2002, the Frisco school board voted to change the name of Frisco High School’s mascot from the Fighting Coons to the Fighting Raccoons. Board members decided to change the mascot name in the interest of racial sensitivity. Supposedly, some residents complained that "coon" is a racial slur against blacks. School superintendent Rick Reedy agreed and recommended that board members modify the name. "If one student is made to feel uncomfortable, that is one too many," he claimed, despite the fact that the town has lived harmoniously with the "Coon" moniker for 79 years. School Board President Dan Presley chimed in, "There are kids moving here and parents who are moving here that are hurt by it and they shouldn't be hurt by it." Finding blacks who are offended by the name, however, appeared to be quite a challenge. "The word 'coon' doesn't define who I am," said Otto Hannah, a 2001 graduate and football player who is black. "Changing the name would be taking away the tradition and legacy that people have worked so hard for." A large crowd showed up at the eventful school board meeting, some with T-shirts that read, "Don't RAC my Coons!" Absolutely NO ONE in the audience spoke in support of the change. Despite this, the board, in a great example of representative democracy, voted unanimously to rid the school and community of this scandalous name. In the grand scheme of things, changing a high school’s mascot name is, I agree, a relatively minor occurrence; but not so insignificant as to be ignored and escape analysis. Following The War of Northern Aggression, corrupt scoundrels, backed by the policy of Reconstruction, robbed and pillaged the South of property and wealth. Concurrently, those who despised Southern culture worked to eliminate any sliver of uniqueness. This process has been much more incremental and continues to this day. Step by step, Southern culture is being robbed now, not of its property so much (except through onerous federal taxes) but of its heart and soul. Rather than being the victim of the plundering Union Army, the South now must withstand the volleys of political correctness being lobbed continuously by transplanted Yankees, as well as by domestic scalawags indoctrinated through government schooling. Ever notice how the Left loves democracy except, of course, when they lose? School superintendent Reedy claims the name should be changed, “if [just] one student is made to feel uncomfortable.” So, in this case, at least, a minority of one can overturn the will of a majority. Hardly a textbook illustration of “democracy,” wouldn’t you agree? The Righteously Anointed (the Leftist Elites) seem to reserve the right to overthrow the will of the Great Unwashed (the People) when majority decisions do not conform to the party line of collective thought. This parallels Lincoln’s view of the Confederacy. Even though a majority within each seceding state agreed they no longer wanted to be part of the existing Union, the moral imperialists, led by Lincoln, insisted they remain bound. Apparently, this conviction was worth sacrificing the lives of tens of thousands of fellow countrymen. Southerners must constantly battle a “Yankee imperialism,” buttressed by the concepts of false history, paganism, cultural Marxism, intellectual homogenization, and uniformity of purpose. Their authentic culture has never been acceptable to the Leftist aristocracy because it will not accommodate their bigotry. When the nickname “Coon” was chosen as a nickname way back in 1924, there is no evidence that it was meant as a racial slur. That attitude was imported by insular, intolerant transplants. Clyde Wilson, writing for The League of the South, writes, “They [Leftist Northerners and their intellectual sympathizers] have no heritage of their own and do not know what a heritage is. They believe in their own self-interest and fashionable abstractions.” Michael Hill, president of The League, writes this in response to Northern attacks on Southern nativism: “All we’ve ever wanted from you and yours was to be left alone. But you people could not oblige us because God has fitted you by nature to be busybodies. And on top of that, you’re envious busybodies. Having no real cultural inheritance of your own, you have sought to destroy what we have out of sheer spite. You are not the sort to make good neighbors.” What can we expect in the future? When the lights finally go out in California (and economic law says they will), Texas can expect to see many migrants arrive from the Golden State. Don’t be surprised to be a witness to this scenario: the word “Fighting” will be dropped from the mascot name so as not to encourage an atmosphere of violence. After all, “one” student may feel threatened and offended. The “Fighting Raccoons” may just morph into the “Recycling Raccoons.” As in any situation where people are abused and individual thought and conscience is squelched, resistance arises to give the tyrannized hope. Tracey Stafford, a black, Frisco sophomore, claimed changing the name is “pointless.” She and others pledged to continue using the name. "We're still going to say we're Coons," she said. "We're all Coons." [Note: Quotes used in this column were taken from reports published by The Dallas Morning News and MSNBC.com.]
discuss this column in the forum Roger Young is a freelance photographer in Texas and maintains a website called PixelPrairie.com. He believes that being a Christian, creationist and anarchist are three of the most rational decisions a person can make. |
Don't 'Rac' My Coons! 
