TF South Retires Rebel Flag

Not to be taken from this room
STARTING A NEW TRADI ION
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ByJOANCARREON
Times Correspondent
LANSING - Students, faculty, administrators and some parents marked the passing of
one tradition Thursday and the start of another at Thornton Fractional South High School.
In an emotion-charged ceremony, two of
the high school's decades-old Rebel flags were
officially retired and replaced with a new one
bearing the Rebels nickname.
The change occurred during an all-school
assembly filled with pomp and circumstance
and complete with members of a U.S. Army
Color Guard, representatives of the Lansing
Veterans Memorial Committee and the Lansing Historical Society, speeches by students
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Kirk Gill and Julie Wysocki, and performances by the high school's concert choir,
concert band and pompon squad.
The tone for the assembly was set early on
as some students cheered, whistled and applauded when two Rebel flags were hoisted
above the floor of the main gym while the
band played its rendition of "Battle Hymn of
the Republic."
The student audience, some wearing Tshirts imprinted with the Rebel flag and others holding up smaller versions of the Confederate symbol, grew boisterous at irarious
points during the ceremony. Reaction to the
removal of the 33-year-old school symbol and
the installation of a new one appea-ed split
See FLAG, Page A l l
along racial lines.
Clusters of students, most of them
African American, stood and cheered as the
Rebel flags were taken down. Many white
students booed. Groups of white students also booed the raising of the new "Rebels"
flag, while many African-American students
shouted and clapped.
Principal James Spivey also was greeted
with boos from students as he took the podium.
"This is the end of a year-long process in
which we have looked at the state of the nation. We have looked at ourselves and the
past," he said. "TF South is a great school
with a great past and, in spite of your feelings now, has a great future."
After the assembly, Spivey said he
thought the program was a good one but was
disappointed by the students' behavior. "I
wish that the students had been a little more
accepting of the change," he said.
During the assembly, one of the retired
Rebel flags was presented to Lansing Veterans Memorial Foundation P r e s i d e n t and
Founder Tom Luberda, and another to both
Loretta Johnson, president of the Lansing
Historical Society, and museum Curator Betty Humphrey.
The new flag, designed by TF South seniors Kevin Riordan, Anthony Wills Jr.,
Kevin Houston and Joel Paris, was lifted into place above the center of the gym floor
for the ceremony, but will be moved to its
permanent location below the scoreboard.
Among the school district dignitaries on
hand for the event were Thornton Fractional Township High School District 215 Superintendent Kenneth Olsen, Assistant Superintendent John Zelanik, Business Manager
Douglas Handley and school board members
Karen Walker, Marcia Pavich and Nancy
Paliga.
After the assembly, many students were
willing to sum up their feelings about the
change.
"I think it (the new flag) looks nice compared to what they used to have," said senior Carl Tigner.,
Julie Wysocki, who is a senior and vice
president of the student senate, said she
thinks people have to learn "they can't get
everything they want and (that) things
change.
"I'm glad t h a t this whole process has
been completed and we can start a new tradition," she said.
"All the people that were booing were
just kind of being ignorant," said freshman
Jonathan Cannon.
J o h n Vanderhoeck, a senior who is a
member of the high school's varsity basketball team, expressed his displeasure with
the new flag.
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School board member Karen Walker,
left, became emotional during the flag
replacement ceremony Thursday at
Thornton Fractional
South High School.
Times photos by Rob Brown
Continued from Page A-l
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"I don't think it's good. It's nothing. It
says 'Rebels,' " he said, adding he didn't
vote for any of the new banner choices and
thinks the old Rebel flag should have remained.
"I don't think it's fair to the school if the
majority doesn't want it (to be removed),''
he said.
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The new flag was chosen by students and
faculty last week in a school-wide election.
The entry was one of 13 up for consideration. The entries were narrowed to two final-,
ists from which the winning design was then
selected.
The removal of the Confederate symbol
comes nearly a year after an African American p a r e n t told school board members,
among other things, that he was offended by
the use of the Rebel flag as a school symbol
and suggested it be taken down.
The remark touched off months of discord within the school and community over
the appropriateness of the flag's continued
use. In J u n e , the school board concurred
with a student/faculty committee's recommendation that the stars-and-bars symbol be
removed and a new banner designed to represent all of the high school's students.
Kevin Riordan and Anthony Wills Jr. said
they think it is fitting to have the school's
nickname in the new flag. "Look at our assembly," Riordan said. "We are a bunch of
Rebels."
Above, nembers of the Lansing
Veteran; Memorial Committee
take dovn the Confederate flag
Thursday at TF South. At left,
while sone booed, other TF Soith
students cheered as the new
school flag was raised ThursdcV-
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