I graduated from Lee High School in San Antonio, TX.
Lee High School Alma Mater
We all hail† to thee and thy name forever,
Robert E. Lee High;
Your Red and Gray will always wave
As will your banner fly;
Our hearts and loyalty remain forever
In your hallowed halls;
Your majesty will show the way.
There are no other peers
Your fame and glory will not die.
Robert E. Lee throughout the years!
One hundred and twenty six years after the end of the Civil War. During my sophomore year our mascot was downgraded from ‘Rebel’ to ‘Volunteer’. However, the Confederate flag was still our official symbol. Painted and printed on every wall, poster, pom-pom, and on the faces of enthusiastic attendees of pep-rallies. We had three different dance teams: Rebel Rousers, Dixie Drillers, and Confederates. I even had a flag sewn on the front of my Speedos® blasted across my crotch for the swim team and another flag on my skin cap.
My senior year, a small faction of black football players refused to don their jerseys emblazoned with the “Bars and Stripes” on their chest. Other students rallied behind them. Our demographics were divided into four major ethnicities: 60% Hispanic, 29% White, 8% Black, 2% Asian, and Ninook Sealslayer the Eskimo (or Inuit for the PC-people).
The football players who came forward stated that opposing players from the west side all black high schools were hitting them harder and threatening their lives. They were even getting tackled when they were on defense without possession of the ball. Concerned for their safety, they refused to play again until the flag was removed from their uniform.
The Daughters of the Confederacy pleaded to the school board that the flag represented the tradition of the South and paid homage to a great man who attended West Point.
The KKK came and set up camp in the parking lot. Things got heated when they vandalized the church next door. They spray painted a cryptic message, ‘Nigers Go Home’. The church left it up to show their ignorance for the English language.
The students against the flag used the analogy comparing the Confederate flag to the Nazi flag.
They invented this scenario:
Imagine the school was named Erwin Rommel High School in honor of the distinguished German Field Marshal. The mascot was the Desert Fox and the school flag was the very recognizable, satanic red, black and white Nazi flag. Now imagine, you are young 15 year old Jewish boy named Ned Finklestein forced to play defensive end with a swastika on your chest. What do you think would happen to Ned?
First of all, fuck the Confederacy, fuck the KKK, and fuck Bobby Lee!
I can’t connect with this analogy. Jews aren’t renowned as football players. Football owners but not football players. Ned’s father would had made a few phone calls to the superintendent and the board of trustees and gotten the name changed. Done and done.
Perhaps, if they had invented Antonio López de Santa Anna High School and had me imagine how it would feel to be a 15 year old redneck named Tex Alamo with a Mexican flag on your jersey and you had to play against David Crockett High School.
Now that’s something I could imagine.
Jeez, that’s horrible.
If you don’t believe me?
Read a forum I created on MySpace with Robert E. Lee alumni about the “KKK Incident”
Click here
† I always felt comfortable “hailing” to a Confederate flag
Originally posted 2006-02-28 17:18:43. Republished by Old Post Promoter.
Tags: school
Wow, I remember all of that. Kristin Mayer, my best friend at Lee, went all political our senior year and took the flag out of my trunk (the kind we all held up at games) and proceeded to burn it as a sign of her sympathy with those that did not like the rebel flag. It was an eye-opening experience for me.
I think you are spot on in your observations. Bravo.
WOW. Thanks for posting this. I am doing some research on Lee now. I am a comedian as well who has not yet delved into my personal experiences at Lee. I always wondered what eventually happened with that flag.
I will never forget seeing it the first time on the jackets and tee-shirts and uniforms and just about everything. Football season was a surreal swirl of red, white and gray. And I’ll never forget the days the large rebel flag went up along the side of the courtyard wall. That was an improvement that just happened to come a few weeks after I arrived, one of 5 black kids who attended there at the time. I had just moved to San Antonio from Germany, and I spent the next two months convincing people I wasn’t German. I spoke with a faint Brit accent at the time, so I confused ALOT of people.
My folks didn’t know how to handle the flag thing, but were convinced it was a good school and had me go there. And despite being called the n word a few times and being spat on once (that’s some real trashy southern bullshit, no?) I really had a great time! Honestly. The people I met were great, and the school had a very interesting mix with predominantly latino. Most were friendly, and when it came time to move AGAIN with my military family, I didn’t want to leave.
But I have to admit the flag had me torn. It is just a flag, but the meaning behind it for many is still quite painful. And to be quite honest, when we no longer have black men being dragged to death behind a pickup, and when the poverty of the south is eradicated, then maybe we can feel a little better about actually celebrating this symbol. I thank Lee for keeping their heritage, but toning that flag down. Thank you SO much Dan. Hope to see you on the road one day.
I have posted all the clippings from the old San Antonio Light and Express-News articles covering the flag removal, as well as a picture of the flag the last day it ‘flew’ over the gym on facebook, for those who are interested. Also, check them out at leehisa.com
The flag you proudly show was the gift from my graduating class of 1979! I miss it, too!