Dean of Alabama college says all Confederate imagery must go

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July 7, 2015

"The Rebel," Vestavia Hills High School's mascot, modeled after Ole Miss' former mascot. — “The Rebel,” Vestavia Hills High School’s mascot, modeled after Ole Miss’ former mascot.

MONTEVALLO, Ala. — In the aftermath of the Charleston Shooting, focus turned from the victims to the Confederate battle flag, and now to any imagery of the Confederacy.

First Governor Bentley removed the flags from the Confederate monument on the Capitol grounds in Montgomery, then last week, the Birmingham City Parks and Recreation board—an unelected body—voted to remove a 110-year-old Civil War memorial erected by the Daughters of the Confederacy from a park near City Hall.

Now some are calling for the removal of Confederate memorabilia from Southern culture altogether.

Stephen H. Craft, a Vestavia Hills resident and dean of the Stephens College of Business at the University of Montevallo, in a column for the Birmingham Business Journal Monday, said “Businesses and business professionals that expect to thrive in the 21st century must embrace diversity and inclusiveness as core values”—values that don’t include Confederate imagery.

“While feelings on any given symbol would certainly vary among the diverse group of professionals and entrepreneurs doing business and living in the Birmingham community,” Craft wrote, “there are strong economic arguments in favor of removing the flags, statues, Confederate holidays, and schools mascots that only serve to celebrate a checkered racial history.”

“The more we cling to symbols that suggest that we are still fondly harkening to our racist past, the less attractive we will be as a community to live or do business,” Craft continued. “While you can still get an argument going around the kitchen table in Alabama about “hate or heritage” when it comes to Confederate symbols, the issue is settled in the majority of the world including the c-suite.

“The majority of the business world sees confederate iconography as symbols of hate. Major business organizations such as NASCAR, Wal-Mart, Sears, and Amazon are proactively disassociating themselves from the Confederate battle flag and we should do the same.

“This same argument applies to school mascots such as my own community’s high school in Vestavia Hills, where the Rebel Man, a Confederate plantation owner, still performs at every football game.

“Again there is both a compelling moral and economic argument for a more inclusive mascot because of our obligation to our students.”

Some Southerners have begun displaying their Confederate flags and memorabilia even more prominently as a stand against what they consider political correctness out of control, even as more and more businesses remove remnants of Confederate icons from their shelves. It is clear this debate is far from over.