Why Ole Miss had to replace Col Reb (long)

There was a large thread on this Sunday and I just wanted to let people know the way I felt. Sorry if wrong board.

When you ask anyone outside of the south what they think a person from Mississippi is, they think fat, stupid, poor and racist. The first 3 are true based on research that is done. Although we are not racist can you blame anyone for thinking that?

From a historical perspective we were the 2nd State to leave the Union to join the Confederate States of America (South Carolina was the 1st). Also the CSA president Jefferson Davis is from Mississippi and some of the most heated battles of the Civil War were fought in Mississippi. Also a riot broke out when we tried to Integrate the University of Mississippi when James Meredith signed up for classes. Bullet holes in the Lyceum prove this. We even show this attitude at sporting events. Our traditions in the past have been waving Confederate Battle Flags during football games, cheering Governor Ross Barnett give campaign speeches about stopping integration at Ole Miss games, having a depiction of a white slave owner/ Confederate Col as a mascot, and most recently yelling “The South will Rise Again” during Dixie before football games.

But why should people care?

In recent years of big college athletics, it is easy to understand the people of state by their fans of major universities. No offense MSU but the University of Mississippi will always be the Flagship University in the state. When people are used to seeing Confederate flags, slave owners/Confederate Colonels and hearing the “The South will Rise Again” churns the stenotypes of Mississippi’s past for the rest of the country.

Again why should we care?

The State of Mississippi is trying to improve itself. How can it pull itself from being the poorest and stupidest state? Government money. How can the government get money? By bringing in Industry to give jobs to citizens of the state and to tax to help government programs such as the Education department.

No one outside of the south is going to move their family to a place that is poor, stupid and racist. And the fact of the matter is we are not. But until we rid ourselves of old southern/racist ties the perception of Mississippi will never chance thus leaving the state I love in a never ending rut of being a second rate state.

This is why the public University of Mississippi did what it had to do against the wishes of the majority because it could see the big picture for the betterment of the state of Mississippi and its citizens. If you are no on board then you are holding the State, University, and well being of those around you back.

That is all I wish to say. I am not trying to tell people how to think or feel I just have never seen this in words and this is how I fell.

Thank you for reading.

Hotty Toddy and Go Rebels.