Looking beyond the song

By David Sweet

In the late 1960s the newly formed Hays CISD took in several communities at once. “Camp Ben” – home of one of the oldest, continuous Confederate reunions – sat in the heart of the district. Thus there were historical reasons for the choice of mascot for Hays High School. Students from that era say that the Rebel mascot and “Dixie” were unifying symbols for a divided population. 

But times and sensibilities changed, and Confederate symbols are greater sources of offense today – or there’s less silence. Some ask how removing them ends racism. It doesn’t. It removes an offense.