U. Alabama Faculty and Students Want the Word ‘Dixie’ Removed From School Fight Song
“Since the launch of the project, however, many have come out against the change.”
These people should be told to pound sand. The answer is no.
Campus Reform reports:
Faculty, staff try to change school’s fight song ‘Yea Alabama!’
Students and faculty at the University of Alabama (UA) are attempting to remove the word “Dixie” from the Crimson Tide’s fight song “Yea Alabama!” due to its allegedly racist past.
The initiative, called “Delete Dixie,” publicly launched an official website on Sept. 29.
Originating from concerns expressed by the Black Faculty and Staff Association in 2021, the initiative now has an entire coalition of students and faculty behind it.
The site features a video exploring the history of the term “Dixie” and encouraging others to join the cause.
The video explains that the dominant theory of the term’s origin is that it arose from the “Mason-Dixon line,” which was “known as the separation between the slave states and free states.” The term also, according to the video, has historical connections to racist minstrel groups, the Ku Klux Klan, and the Confederacy more broadly.
The Delete Dixie initiative also started a petition a month ago to “show the University that this issue is important and that the students, staff, faculty, and fans demand for change to happen.”
The petition asks, “Does the University of Alabama want to be remembered for its refusal to adopt change and promote the well-being of every group on campus?” and further claims that “it cannot be denied that the word is deeply associated with the ‘Old South,’ slavery, and racist imagery.”
Since the launch of the project, however, many have come out against the change.
A counter-petition was started three weeks ago attempting to defend Alabama’s fight song, amassing over 600 hundred signatures at the time of this article’s publication.
Henry Roberts, a UA student who started the petition, declares in the description that “Dixie is nothing more than a synonym for the South with the connotation of home for millions of people.”
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
The Mason-Dixon line pre-dates the Civil War. This is stupidity. It was a line of demarcation that actually pre-dates the entire United States!
Yes, but it was later used as the demarcation line between free and slave states.
So was the color grey of the confederate uniform
We going to never use grey again?
So what!
So the claim that there is a link between slavery and the term “Dixie” is in fact correct. Your note that the M-D line was drawn much earlier is true but irrelevant; it does not in any way contradict the claim being made.
That doesn’t mean the song should be changed. It just means the historical point made by the people demanding the change happens to be correct; that is not always (or even often) the case, so it should be acknowledged when it is.
The history lesson counters the narrative that everything that was associated with slavery should be banned. For example, the White house hasn’t been torn down (yet). I’m pretty sure slave masters breathed air, too, should the protesters stop breathing in protest? I could get behind that one.
And…?
And nothing. This just happens to be one of those few times that the people making unreasonable demands like this make a historical claim that is actually accurate. That doesn’t happen often.
The whole area is insanely proud of that university. I say that in an envious way. I wish I had ever attended a school with such spirit and loyal alumni.
I suspect that if this tinge of the old south is removed, the obviously vast amounts of money given there will dry up. They’ll do what they want, but if the complainers get what they ask for, they may regret it along with the whole state.
Full disclosure: I haven’t seen Auburn.
There’s a reason it’s called “The Loveliest Village On the Plains.” Come visit some time, especially in football season. Even the Bammers say it’s a great place to see a game, no matter who wins or loses. In honesty, it’s Bama/Auburn 60/40 but that doesn’t mean nobody has a bad experience.
.
As for the whole area being proud of the University of Alabama, it’s true, and I say that as an enthusiastic Auburn fan. If this goofy idea flies, the whole South will respond with something akin to et tu, Bama? What’s next, doing away with Big Al like Ole Miss did with The Colonel?
.
“We’ll pretend none of that vulgar history ever happened.”
“the dominant theory of the term’s origin is that it arose from the “Mason-Dixon line,” which was “known as the separation between the slave states and free states.”
Only if you’re a historical moron ignorant of the fact that Maryland, the first state south of the Mason-Dixon line, was a free state.
Looks like I’m the historically ignorant one. I confused the fact that Maryland was a Union (not Confederate) state with the fact that it was also a slave state. In fact, Maryland, being part of the Union, got to keep its slaves despite the Emancipation Proclamation.
Though not for long. And the fact that MD remained in the union was not the result of its citizens or their representatives expressing their democratic will. Lincoln arrested the legislators to prevent them from voting to secede, and at the subsequent election he stationed troops at the polls to make sure nobody voted Democrat. (Ballots were not secret back then.) Maybe that’s what Hillary Clinton and Jim Clyburn have been talking about, when they allege a Republican plot to steal the 2024 election.
Does this mean that Dixie cups are on their way out too? Do I have to remove “Chapel of Love” by the Dixie Cups from my playlists?
Who wants to represent my wife, and anyone else named “Dixie,” in a class-action defamation suit against the allegations made by the so-called Delete Dixie initiative? Contrary to their claims, this is not an important issue, and I do deny that my wife and her name are deeply associated with the ‘Old South,’ slavery, and racist imagery.
If a bunch of snowflakes in racist studies programs have their knickers in a knot and want to change the school’s fight song, fine. But don’t hide behind this racialist crap just because they lose control of their bladders when they hear a particular word.
First of all, there is no such thing as a “class action defamation suit”. On the contrary, US law does not recognize such a thing as group defamation; anything you say about a large group of people — defined as approximately 25 people or more — is by definition not actionable.
Second, your wife’s name is deeply associated with the Old South and with slavery. That is simply a fact. It’s no reflection on her or her character, but the facts are the facts. So even if there were fewer than 25 people with that name they still couldn’t sue.
Given the very strong historical associations between ‘the South’ and slavery, Jim Crow, and the like, they will next want to change geographical directions, so that Alabama is located in some other direction. Perhaps ‘Least East’ would work? ‘Under North’? Or they could push for a new term, such as ‘Mouth’, ‘Nowth’, or ‘Wouth,’ (pronounced ‘wowth’)? After all, we only have to change words in order to obliterate the past and eliminate all undesired tendencies in human nature, right?