Photo above is a crop from Michael Amaral from a Greg Salvatore photo.
Now that it has been established that people DO bring Confederate flags to Walpole High football games, as evidenced by legendary retired Rebel Coach John Lee, it appears that the WalpoleWords forum is now abuzz with some discussion about whether or not it is appropriate to be bringing Confederate paraphernalia to Walpole sporting events. I have said multiple times that waving Confederate flags at football games is embarrassing and not a good way to represent our town.
Coach Lee, an alumnus of the University of Memphis, is the one who caused the innocent Walpole Rebel mascot to be connected to the Confederacy, when the media called his football team “General Lee’s Rebels”. He encouraged students to bring Confederate flags to football games and to sing “Dixie”, not bothering to do the right thing. And here he is, in 2009, still showing off the Confederate flag. Check out my history of the Walpole Rebel.
I have also been tipped off by friends at Walpole High that Confederate flags are making a comeback at Walpole home football games. I plan to go to the next game at Turco Field with a camera to take pictures of every Confederate Flag I observe. I will post pictures on this blog.
Another friend informed me that other towns’ football teams often motivate their black players before playing against Walpole by telling them that Walpole “hates them”, indicated by the Confederate flags. How incredibly unfortunate.
The Rebel is offensive, and the Confederate flag is an incredibly bad representation of our town. The Rebel mascot is an issue that needs to be addressed now.
