{"id":388985,"date":"2021-04-05T12:58:23","date_gmt":"2021-04-05T16:58:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=388985"},"modified":"2021-04-05T12:58:27","modified_gmt":"2021-04-05T16:58:27","slug":"trees-are-now-racist-portland-school-delays-vote-on-evergreen-mascot-over-fears-people-may-link-it-to-lynching","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trees-are-now-racist-portland-school-delays-vote-on-evergreen-mascot-over-fears-people-may-link-it-to-lynching\/","title":{"rendered":"Trees Are Now Racist: Portland School Delays Vote On \u2018Evergreen\u2019 Mascot Over Fears People May Link It To Lynching"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">38<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftrees-are-now-racist-portland-school-delays-vote-on-evergreen-mascot-over-fears-people-may-link-it-to-lynching%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=388985&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/fb_image-242.jpeg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p>Schools are now so fearful of racism allegations that making a tree a mascot is considered a concern because black Americans were once hanged using trees.<\/p>\n<p>In Portland, Oregon, Ida B. Wells-Barnett High School has delayed a vote to adopt an evergreen tree as its mascot because some fear such a mascot would be reminiscent of lynching, the Portland Tribune <a href=\"https:\/\/pamplinmedia.com\/pt\/9-news\/503434-403207-portland-school-fears-evergreens-mascot-tied-to-lynching-\">reported<\/a>. The school\u2019s current mascot is the Trojans but was set to be changed to evergreens following the suggestion from a committee \u201ccomprised of students, staff and community members,\u201d the outlet reported.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut just before the Portland Public Schools Board of Education\u2019s vote to approve the new mascot Tuesday, March 30, Director Michelle DePass shared community concerns of an unwanted correlation between Ida B. Wells\u2014the historic Black activist, and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who documented and crusaded against lynching\u2014and a tree which could conjure up reminders of hanging people with ropes from branches,\u201d the Tribune reported.<\/p>\n<p>DePass asked the mascot committee if they considered any concerns when coming up with the new mascot.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think everyone comes with blind spots and I think that might\u2019ve been a really big blind spot,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>It is unclear just how many community members expressed concern about a connection between a tree as a mascot and lynching \u2013 or whether those concerns were genuine.<\/p>\n<p>Mascot committee member Martin Osborne told the Tribune that the lynching connection was discussed, but those concerns were put to rest.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe did talk about it, but we were looking at the symbolism more as a tree of life, than a tree of death,\u201d Osborne, who is black, said in response to DePass\u2019 comments. \u201cYou could certainly take it either way, depending upon your position.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Osborne added that the committee\u2019s suggestion of the evergreen \u201chad nothing to do with the horrible history of lynching in the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLynching trees typically are not evergreens,\u201d Osborne informed the committee, explaining that trees with larger lower branches were what were used in the south.<\/p>\n<p>DePass, who is also black, called on other board members to agree with her in viewing the new mascot as a racist symbol.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLynching is a really difficult topic to talk about and as a sole Black board member, I invite you, beg you, implore you to join me in disrupting the situations, practices, that are racist. I can\u2019t do this by myself,\u201d she said, according to the Tribune.<\/p>\n<p>Filip Hristic, the Wells-Barnett High School\u2019s principal, told the board that Wells\u2019 family has generally been supportive of the school\u2019s attempts to honor her legacy, though he said he, too, worried about the perceived connection to lynching.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe take this seriously and I definitely want to follow that commitment to protect, preserve and promote the legacy of Ida B. Wells,\u201d Hristic said, adding that the Wells-Barnett family hadn\u2019t been contacted about the mascot.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe focus and opportunity was really to marry this sentiment that we heard from a lot of our stakeholders during our naming process, which was the desire for a local connection,\u201d Hristic added. \u201cIda B. Wells was somebody who stood strong and stood proud against what Woodrow Wilson and many others promoted.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a&nbsp;<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><em>member<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Schools are now so fearful of racism allegations that making a tree a mascot is considered a concern because black Americans were once hanged using trees.In Portland, Oregon, Ida B. &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2311669,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/fb_image-242.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"Trees Are Now Racist: Portland School Delays Vote On \u2018Evergreen\u2019 Mascot Over Fears People May Link It To Lynching","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-388985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/fb_image-242.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"Trees Are Now Racist: Portland School Delays Vote On \u2018Evergreen\u2019 Mascot Over Fears People May Link It To Lynching","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=388985"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388985\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2311669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=388985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=388985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=388985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}