Talk:Richland High School (Texas)

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Some interesting things about this school are that it's mascot is the Rebels and until the mid-1990's used the confederate battle flag as a school and team flag. This resulted in occasional controversy including in 1987-1988 when I was there and again in the mid-90's when they redesigned the flag. The students repeatedly fought and demonstrated to keep the flag. I was among them at first but started having my doubts when the KKK showed up in support and now feel odd that 18 years ago I was enthusiastically waving around a confederate flag at football games. Also the band regularly played "Dixie" in substitute for the official fight song, and there was a spirit squad called "Johnny Rebs". The drill team were "Dixie Belles". I believe this is the last school in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and possibly the last school in Texas to use the confederate flag. I'm typing this in the discussion section because I don't currently have references to back this up and am not sure I can compose something encyclopedic-sounding. A couple of other things possibly worth mentioning are construction add-ons like the new front and cafeteria in 1989-1990 and closing of the campus (students not allowed to leave for lunch) sometime in the 90's. There was a school shooting in 1984 or 1985 I believe. Some famous graduates include the voice of Barney the dinosaur (class of 1988), Kelley Blackwell pro footbal player (class of 1988) and a country singer whose name I'm forgetting at the moment. If I can scare up some references or type something worthy of Wikipedia I'll give it a shot; otherwise I'll encourage other classmates to give it a try as they find my new Class of 1988 site. - Jim Nelson, RHS Class of 1988

[edit] Finally someone speaks out!

It appears as though many schools in the southern United States have a long history of racism. It is good to see that many students have found a way to speak out against racist administrators. In this way, Wikipedia can serve as more than just an encyclopedia, but also as a forum for oppressed peoples everywhere. --Martian.knight 03:45, 12 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Deletion of Unsupported Material

I deleted the section on demographics and about the so called racism. Because they cannot be supported through fact. Wikipedia is just an encyclopedia not a forum for political movements. Keep it only to facts. And those paragraphs were hardly neutral as a site like this should be. I also added the name to the 2003 death of the drag racing, because I signed that car, and knew the driver. From jerichowiz the Class of 2004, May, 21 2007

[edit] Still Incomplete But At Least Neutral Again

Sheesh I don't pay attention for six months and the article goes crazy. I just took out one last line, comparing the current school flag to the confederate battle flag. They look nothing alike, or at least no more alike than flags containing red, white, and blue colors and stars can. (The Texas and U.S. flags and the British Union Jack look more like the confederate battle flag than the current Richland flag does.)

Richland's mascot has certainly stirred controversy. I moved to the area just before high school, and I hated the symbols and their connotations. Eventually I realized that, for the majority of students, they were symbols of their school and not of various repugnant alternatives. Despite that, I readily agree that it was time to replace those symbols and move on.

The box on the right is still woefully incomplete. Compare the material presented to that of other high schools in Texas or around the country. When I added that material I just put in what I knew; someone who still lives in the area and is more familiar with the school should fill in the rest per the standard template. N Norder 16:57, 28 June 2007 (UTC)

In retrospect I think the flag and mascot could have been "flaming pile of dog poo" and most students would have fought to keep it and chanted enthusiastically at games. For me at least it was the school flag and had nothing to do with the historical ideas behind the symbol. But even then I knew the big truckers with confederate flags on their grills weren't all spirited RHS alumni. 71.170.97.73 (talk) 02:48, 21 November 2007 (UTC)