Some South Burlington “Rebels” are living up to their nickname. Resistance has grown steadily in Vermont’s second largest city since the local school board decided in February to call its sports teams something less controversial. Defenders insist the “Rebel” moniker is not specific to Confederate soldiers in the Civil War and therefore shouldn’t offend anyone.
South Burlington voters have already rejected their school budget — twice — and that may have something to do with the organizing efforts of the Rebel Alliance. Now the group has gathered signatures from 5 percent of the city’s registered voters to bring two ballot questions to the public: The first would instruct the board to restore the Rebels name; the second would forbid the board or the city council from spending public funds on the name change.
Two South Burlington grads started the Rebel Alliance, but neither currently lives in Vermont. Kiya Batmanglidj is a 1986 alumnus who works as a staff member of the congressional House Appropriations Committee in Washington, D.C; Corey Mansfield, a member of the class of 1996, is a salesman in Clifton Park, N.Y.
Mansfield played youth football and remembers meeting Batmanglidj back when he was a volunteer coach in the early 1990s. The two reconnected over their fondness for the Rebels name on a South Burlington alumni Facebook page.
“I don’t think it’s racist. You look at the word ‘rebel.’ The country was built on rebels,” Mansfield said, referring to the American Revolution.
They felt strongly enough to launch the Rebel Alliance Facebook Page, and “within 24 hours we had 1,800 members,” Mansfield recalled.
Its focus has grown, too, encompassing issues such as taxes and terms of the teacher contract, which is now under negotiation. Last month, the Rebel Alliance registered as a political action committee with South Burlington residents as officers.
“There’s definitely a high tax rate in SB,” said Batmanglidj, a former U.S. Army paratrooper who identifies himself on Facebook as a National Rifle Association member and proud supporter of President Donald Trump. “Maybe there’s been some festering, you know, angst about the tax rate and the budgets and all that. And maybe the Rebel Alliance group kind of channeled all that.”
Batmanglidj came to Vermont from Iran with his family as a child in the 1980s. He said he supports the name out of loyalty to a community that embraced him as a youth. While neither he nor Mansfield lives in South Burlington anymore, their relatives do, and the two men said they still feel a strong attachment to the city.
Vicki Garrison of Essex — administrator of two Facebook pages, including “Rebel Name Retirement: Our Voice” — got involved in the Rebels debate for an altogether different reason.
“I’m black in Vermont, and that’s enough,” she said via email. “Racism has no boundaries.”
“As a black person, to ask me to accept the Rebel name is to ask me to deny the truth and pain of my ancestors, our black ancestors, which I will not, cannot, and should not be asked to do,” Garrison added.
It’s unclear why the district adopted the moniker after the school was founded in the early 1960s. Whatever the origin, symbols of the Confederacy crept in: Students waved Confederate flags at games and clapped as Captain Rebel marched onto the football field at halftime. The school board banned the flags and the captain about 20 years ago during an earlier go-round in the debate, but kept the name in a compromise.
Renewed objections came from 18-year-old Isaiah Hines. As an appointed student representative on the school board, the African American teen spoke out against the moniker and later celebrated the board’s decision to finally drop it.
His advocacy led to an alleged confrontation with a man who had argued to keep the name. According to a police affidavit, Dan Emmons, 43, accosted Hines in a local store and told him, “You’re shitting in the wrong yard.” The affidavit also says Emmons later sent Hines a Facebook message warning him to keep the conversation private, threatening to reveal images from social media. One showed Hines flipping the bird, and another depicted a friend of his with what appeared to be drugs.
Emmons, who pleaded not guilty Thursday to stalking, said that he was being targeted for political reasons.
Hines declined to comment for this story. He listened attentively but did not speak at a packed school board meeting last Thursday in the library at Frederick H. Tuttle Middle School.
“I see so much anger and unhappiness, and it’s sad,” attorney and former school board member Rich Cassidy told fellow residents at the emotional gathering. He expressed support for the school board’s decision to drop the name and asked publicly how to “achieve healing.”
Others had fighting words for the school board. Stacey Savage, a member of the Rebel Alliance, said it must be more accountable to the public.
“We’re just not going to take it anymore,” Savage said.
Several speakers urged the school board to keep the Rebels label, if only to avoid seeing the budget defeated a third time by Rebel Alliance members. “Leave the name to another day if you want,” said Carol Elliott, a longtime South Burlington resident.
Others disagreed. Jim Leddy, 75, a former state legislator, said he was going to “confession” in public by admitting he voted against the first budget over concerns about the size of the spending increase. But he urged the community to come together and support the school board, including what he called its long-overdue decision to dump the Rebels. “I’ve been opposed to that name for years and years and years,” he said.
Leddy noted that when he attended Rice Memorial High School on the other side of South Burlington, the Catholic school’s mascot was the Little Indians. In 2004, the school dropped the name in response to criticism regarding racial stereotyping and adopted a new mascot — the Green Knights.
Controversy ensued, but people adjusted, Leddy told the crowd. The same thing will happen in South Burlington, he implied. It’s time to stop seeing “Rebels” as a bonding force, because it’s not, Leddy said.
“We are much more than that name,” he said.
Vermont has seen its share of mascot controversies. In 2005, Champlain Valley Union High School in Hinesburg dispatched the Crusaders for a new mascot, the Red Hawks. Critics pointed out the violence and religious persecution that accompanied the Crusades, as well as the questionable use of a religious symbol — a cross on a shield — as part of the public school’s mascot imagery.
Other schools have compromised. Brattleboro Union High School stopped using an image that some said looked like a Southern plantation owner as its mascot, but kept the Colonels as a name.
Danville High School scrubbed the images associated with its mascot, the Indians, but kept the name after a bitter controversy. Randolph Union High School removed some depictions of the cloaked horseman that went with its mascot, the Galloping Ghosts, after some said the image suggested a Klansman on horseback.
The controversies will likely continue, said Bob Johnson, associate executive director of the Vermont Principals’ Association, which oversees high school and middle school sports. Schools favor mascots that are perceived as strong, he said. He’s had many conversations with athletic directors about questionable mascots.
“They really don’t stop to think about, ‘Well, what does the name really mean; how is it being portrayed, and is it offensive to people?'” he said.
Several schools around New England have Confederate-associated mascots. It’s an odd embrace, given how many northerners died fighting the Confederacy and its institution of slavery.
Howard Coffin of Montpelier, author of books about the Civil War, theorized that the Confederate mascots might have surfaced out of ignorance. Schools weren’t teaching much Civil War history back in the 1950s and 1960s, he said, when many of Vermont’s current union high schools were formed and adopted mascots.
The discussion today should be particularly attentive to concerns raised by black people, Coffin said.
“They were the victims of American slavery. And if any of them, if any blacks today are troubled by any of this, get rid of it,” he said of the mascots.
It’s unclear whether South Burlington’s school board or its city council will decide to bring the Rebel Alliance petition questions to voters. State law says the questions should be warned for votes within 60 days of signatures being certified by the city clerk.
But the law also gives local bodies some discretion to deny petitions.
The South Burlington City Council once refused to put an abortion parental-notification question on the ballot, arguing that the question was about state law — and not a local decision. The Vermont Supreme Court upheld that position in 2007.
School leaders say they are seeking legal advice on the issue, and the board was expected to discuss the matter in an executive session during its Wednesday, April 19 session.
As Batmanglidj sees it, people deserve a direct say on the Rebels debate. He said, “It’s about making sure that people have a chance to express themselves.”
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This article appears in Apr 19-25, 2017.
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I am old enough to remember the civil rights movement and in 1961 when South Burlington adopted the confederate iconography the civil rights movement was, like Trump now, about all there was on the news. People here in Vermont watched the CBS Evening News on WCAX religiously. They most certainly knew what was going on nationally. They saw the dogs and the water cannons and the burned churches and murdered teenaged girls. Throughout all of it they waved the confederate flag and sang Dixie. Today the Rebel Alliance has taken up the cause of their ancestors in this new populist world spawned by Trump. They are outspoken in their support of majority rule over the civil and human rights of the minority. Rebel now, rebel forever in 2017 is no different than segregation now, segeregation forever in 1961.
It’s interesting that two people who don’t pay taxes in South Burlington or have children in the school system are so invested in sabotaging the school budget. They’re working very hard to bring about a consequence that won’t impact them in the least. They should join the school boards in the towns where they actually live.
Learn the history. Include everyone. Honoring all people is more important than nostalgia. The school board finally did the right thing in ending this throwback epithet name. Their job is vision and education. We all have this history to make it right. Thank you to Mr. Hines for standing up and weathering the harrassment.
Goes to show Vt is far from immune to racism. It lives and breathes among us– as this long-time keeping of a name, obviously with roots in racism and opposition to civil rights, and backlash against finally using it shows. It only takes a bit of honesty to recognize the longstanding racism of Confederate iconography, with its roots in slavery and then 50-60 years ago opposition to extending equality supposed to be guaranteed to all U.S. citizens to people of color. If supporters fighting still to keep the Rebel name didn’t know before, they have had ample exposure to this information throughout this debate and have simply refused to hear these patient attempts and even resorted to underhanded threats and intimidation. Time to move on and stop holding the school budget hostage to this attempted display of dominance.
And just today, 4/19/17, South Burlington High School was locked down by law enforcement after receiving threats of violence against staff. My son, a student, told me they were locked in their rooms for almost two hours. Those who had to use the bathroom could not… a bucket was placed in the back of the classroom instead.
How much did the emergency services response cost the tax payers of SB?
This is what the so-called “Rebel Alliance” has brought to our community. AND THE LEADERS DON’T EVEN LIVE HERE! Oh yeah, one who actually does live in SB was charged with harassing a student.
What is the matter with you people? Over a mascot name?
I’ve said it before and I will say it again: Rebel Alliance… leave them kids alone!
So much about this story makes me feel ill. That two people who no longer live here are sabotaging a local school budget with devastating consequences. That they really think that the white majority should get a “say” in whether or not something is racist. That the Rebel Alliance group swiftly and decisively blocked anyone who questioned whether racism was behind the allegiance to the Rebel moniker. That Dan Emmons actually said, “you’re shitting in the wrong yard” – as if he were talking to a dog – to a high school student and young man of color. That Mr. Hines has taken so much abuse for advocating for this change. Racism is alive, well, and flourishing here in our green mountain state. We should all be ashamed.
It shouldn’t surprise the PC police that honest, decent, non-racist citizens object to being called racist. People see what they want to see, and the race hustlers take full advantage of those who are not comfortable objecting to political correctness run amok. I attended SBHS and never heard a single reference to the Confederacy. This whole mess is about one or two people getting everyone agitated for nothing. Next they’ll be demanding the city change its name because of the word “South” in it.
I can’t believe that the school is more worried about the name than actually making sure everything else is taken care of. I know a great idea, let’s leave the asbestos alone and spend that money on new Jerseys and remove the Rebel name.
I promise you this, no matter what name is chosen, it doesn’t erase history, if the school board did its job and rebrand like the promised they would, we wouldn’t have this mess to begin with, and taxes could continue to go up like they have been.
@Mitch Kaplan, do we know who is behind the threats causing the lockdown at South Burlington schools? I.e., is there some connection to the issue discussed in this article? WCAX reporting earlier did not indicate that they had determined the person or persons behind it but not sure what the latest info. is.
The out-of-state residents profiled are graduates of South Burlington and former community members so it does appear they would have a legitimate interest and right to share their opinion as alumni/alumnae. Just other voices among the many making various legitimate points.
You really don’t see the connection to the Confederacy? Part of Burlington seceded just like the South attempted and names the new city South Burlington even though most of the new city isn’t even south of Burlington and then takes on the rebel name. It most certainly mimics the Confederacy.
Now, slavery did not play a part in South Burlington seceding from Burlington and I’d bet the whole south/rebel thing was more of an FU to Burlington than anything steeped in racism. I’m of the ilk the name is more stupid than racist but one can’t deny people are moving away from the confederate flag, the Confederacy, and the racism associated with it.
Maybe the rebel name isn’t directly racist but maybe it is also time to rethink, at very least, the division the name creates within the community. I’m sure there is a name that embraces the independence of South Burlington that doesn’t necessarily extend its middle finger quite so largely.
Maybe “Rebels” wasn’t about the Confederacy, but South Burlingtonites then adopted a Southern colonel mascot and the Confederate battle flag and made it about the Confederacy.
Plenty of colleges were “Redmen” simply because they wore red uniforms (Carthage, St. John’s, RMC-Canada, UMass, Ripon). Some later adopted mascots that made the name all about Indians, and thus were complicit in the criticism aimed at them.
Glenn Arthur Pierce, author of Naming Rites: A Biographical History of North American Team Names
Yes the name had to go. But why would they vote to get rid of a name without having a new name to market like crazy and get people to start using it? Currently they are the South Burlington No-Names.
Yesterday, April 19, was the anniversary of the Shot Heard Round the World,the first shots fired in the American revolution against the British sovereignty over the colonies. Revolution is synonymous with rebellion, which of course is conducted by rebels. It is a perfectly good word and numerous positive connotations. The controversy is entirely manufactured.
The school board’s virtue signaling tells the students that they must never be offended, and if they are, everyone must stop it. The world revolves around them and their perceived injuries, regardless of the impact on others. This is how we get the recent incidents at Middlebury, Berkeley, and other institutions of higher learning.
My thoughts turn to the young men and women, not much older than these students (and many of the minutemen “rebels” were younger) who in the past and the present have put their lives at risk to defend free speech among other freedoms. Being shot at, having shrapnel explode right next to you, and watching your buddies die is truly offensive. These young people have no perspective, and the school board is not helping them get it.
I moved to Vermont a few years ago after being born and raised in Alabama. The first time I learned that SBHS had the Rebels as a mascot, I was shocked. In the south, “Rebels” is universally understood to be a pro-Confederacy statement. In my hometown, the high school that uses “rebels” has a parking lot full of confederate flag license plate frames and stickers and such in the student parking lot. I thought it must mean something else here in New England, since surely Vermonters, whose ancestors fought on the other side of what Southern kids learn to call “the war of northern aggression,” wouldn’t be guilty of pro-Confederate statements. The yearbook pictures and other artifacts showing Confederate flags as part of the “rebel” persona would seem to indicate it does not have a definite alternate meaning here, at least not one I’ve seen articulated. I’m not saying that the name absolutely should be changed–as I am neither a taxpayer nor parent in SB, I don’t think it’s my place to have a strong opinion on that–but it does have a connotation that is very clear to people with outsider perspectives.
People often claim that there were no racists in the SB schools when they chose Confederate symbols for the new high school. However, intent is not needed for racism to rear its head. Racism has long been in the very air we breathe but is invisible to those who dont feel its sting.
At the same time South Burlington High School was choosing an identity, hotels in the area had an unwritten agreement to take no blacks. Mayfair Park residents had a written covenant to not sell their homes to people of color. In 1965, Governor Hoff proposed a bill to prohibit racial discrimination in housing sales and rentals. It failed. The South Burlington students and teachers were surrounded by racism but they could not see it because they and their families could rent at any hotel, buy a home anywhere in the city, and read the history of their people everyday in school.
When they chose the Rebel name, Confederate flag and mascot, they unthinkingly chose symbols that represented the nations enemies, who started a war that killed hundreds of thousands to keep people enslaved and, later, foisted a new reign of terror on blacks who dared to fight for a better life. While the South Burlington students were choosing the Confederate flag as their symbol, people of color who dared to register to vote were being tortured, lynched, and burned in the South under that same hateful banner. It is now a part of the high school institution and vey hard to eradicate. To choose such symbols was institutional racism, pure and simple. Intent is not needed for racism to occur. Even if it is not in your heart, it is in the air and a part of all our institutions. We must work to eliminate it.
Hey Kiya Batmanglidj, Corey Mansfield, Dan Emmons and the rest of the RA; one of your ilk is threatening to shoot up the SB high school. You all proud of how your ‘populist revolt” is going?
Let’s be clear, the only rebel in this matter is Isaiah. Godspeed to him who has shown character and bravery.
Bunch of bored, stay at home moms and glory days nostalgic dads. Rebel Alliance is an embarrassment. Trashing teachers and admin, voting down the budget, and slandering any opposition with personal, petty insults. SBHS is the best high school in VT and these mopes want to gut it top to bottom … all for some silly mascot. I suggest they travel a bit outside their homogenous VT echo chamber … or go visit Kiya, their gun-toting, tough guy leader, who doesn’t even live in Vermont. A little perspective would go a long way with that group.
Brattleboro’s solution seems best–revamp the logo and reclaim the name. If the RA can produce a logo that works on all levels to displace any Civil War/racist symbolism, great. But the new images have to be embraced by those who would fly them to trump any who might drag the past into the present. If no one can think of anything, perhaps the opposition is right. Let’s be honest; when people think of Revolutionary War soldiers the word “rebel” does not come to mind–they’re revolutionaries. The RA challenge is not to oppose, but to lead with solutions.
CVU missed a great opportunity to reclaim the Crusader, making it one seeking justice, equality and the like while dropping the knight image. I, for one, look forward to a SB student body honoring Princess Leia with all wearing their hair in buns.
“Hey Kiya Batmanglidj, Corey Mansfield, Dan Emmons and the rest of the RA; one of your ilk is threatening to shoot up the SB high school. You all proud of how your ‘populist revolt” is going?”
Wrong! Wrong, wrong, wrong! Are you — and all the rest of the commenters on here who blamed the anti-name-changers for being behind the violent threats — going to apologize now?
The sad sad Joke is on the people who are viciously attacking those of us who see no reason to change the Rebel nickname. Hey people Josiah Leach who terrorized the South Burlington school system and the community all of last week, pretended to be a Rebel sympathizer to blacken the Rebel Alliance. It could have been possible that it was one of Rebels but thank God it was the other side who used a disturbed person to even put people’s name on the “kill list”. And yet MR Leach says he meant no harm! How many disturbed people have killed students and teachers in our schools all over the nation, considering the degree of threats this young man should be in custody for a long time till they figure out what to do to help him.
Please don’t carry political correctness touch levels to put the community in the hands of a dangerous individual.
I think just leave it the way it is. Wanting to change the name was only a way to have 15 minutes of fame. Come on. Hines is the real racist and all of his followers. Doing it in a really smart way. Love the rebals for who they have been here in Vermont, rebels -defiant.