Riverside Secondary to rename school's team due to racist roots

Anyone entering Riverside Secondary School in Windsor, Ont. Tuesday will notice some things missing — anything bearing the school's team name or mascot has been removed.

The Greater Essex County District School Board (GECDSB) is renaming the 58-year-old school's sports program and mascot over its racist roots.

The board says the Rebel name and mascot "Captain Rebel" have links to white supremacy and anti-Black racism.

"The students and alumni had done some digging and found some really startling and harmful connections to the Confederate flag, to a racist singer named Johnny Rebel, and to a history of anti-Black hate associated with the rebel," said Josh Canty, superintendent of education, student success, alternative education and equity at the GECDSB.

"We knew once this was brought to our attention that we had to take it down."

Students went to Riverside's administration in December last year asking for acknowledgement of the name's history and for something to be done about it, said Canty. 

Once the school did its own research, administration saw that students were right, said Canty. 

"We had a meeting last week with our anti-Black racism advisory committee and they made it clear to us some members of the Black community have known about this for years, and wanted something done about it for years," he said. 

Ros Salvador, the human rights equity system advisor for the board, said the name and mascot is a serious human rights issue.

"We know that the Ontario Human Rights Commission has given some really useful direction in this regard saying that being subjected to references of racist organizations creates a poisonous environment and discriminates against students contrary to the human rights code," said Salvador. 

The school's name refers to the Confederate Army, said Salvador, explaining that the racist organization fought for the enslavement of Black people.

"We know the name is profoundly harmful to Black students and Black communities and to Indigenous students and communities as well. So yes, there is a serious human rights concern and we wanted to act to rectify that," said Salvador. 

The school has removed almost all references to the team name and mascot except for a few items that are difficult to remove and need more work, said Canty. Another few items that may be considered anti-Indigenous were also removed, as administration looks to work with community members to understand if that imagery could also be harmful. 

"I was really disappointed in myself in that, I taught for eight years at the school — I love that school and I didn't know," said Canty.