Letters: If mascots are necessary, consider ‘Conductors’; Discussion, not simple answers, needed

If mascots are necessary, consider ‘Conductors’

Mindful of the public debate about the Bellefonte Area School District’s mascot, I’d like to raise a question here for consideration that is specific to the BASD community but applicable to other school communities (including Penn State). I’d also like to offer a suggestion.

My question: Why do our school communities have mascots? As with any good inquiry question, I don’t believe there’s an easy, simple answer to this; rather, I think it demands a deep, extensive investigation and conversation that considers the stories we tell about ourselves and why and how we tell them.

My suggestion: If it is necessary for a school community to have a mascot — and I’m not sure that it is as mascots often stereotype, marginalize, trivialize, anthropomorphize, etc. — I strongly encourage the BASD school board to change its current mascot (for reasons articulated by the alumni group that created the “Change Bellefonte School District Mascot” online petition) and consider “Bellefonte Conductors” as a replacement.

While “Bellefonte Conductors” would nod appreciatively to the importance of trains in Bellefonte’s history, I believe its most significant reference would be to Bellefonte’s powerful history as a station on the Underground Railroad, on which conductors facilitated a path to freedom for countless enslaved peoples. This is a powerful chapter of Bellefonte’s history that warrants honoring, especially as our local and national communities confront our crippling past and present of white supremacy and racial injustice.

Discussion, not simple answers, needed

Today, I received an email survey from my congressman, Republican Rep. Fred Keller. It was a simple survey asking if I favored congressional legislation to defund the police. My choices were “Yes,” “No,” and “Unsure.” The problem with such a survey is that it undermines the very real need for discussion and consideration of the topic.

I opine that the vast majority of citizens don’t want to zero-out police services. That would simply lead to chaos. But I also believe that the vast majority of citizens do want to discuss the roles that police, social service, mental health, and others, should play, and how we can appropriately fund those disparate needs. It may well include shifting dollars from police departments or – heaven forbid – properly funding the services that are so badly needed.

By making the “defunding of police” a mere binary choice, Rep. Keller misses the real questions that should have been asked. “What are your ideas, thoughts and suggestions to help meet the law enforcement and social needs of our communities?” “Do you favor bi-partisan conversations and solutions to discuss and meet the needs of our communities?”

In fact, the need for federal legislation may not be the best solution. Then again, it may be. Let’s discuss.

Here’s my one-question survey for Rep. Keller: “Will you spend the time, the effort, and the necessary resources to lead the needed conversations locally and nationally to find the workable solutions we very badly need?” “Yes,” “No,” “Unsure.”

Nothing peaceful about protests

According to Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats, the violence and chaos we have witnessed nightly are peaceful protests.

The supposedly peaceful protesters savagely attack anyone who disagrees with them. They loot businesses and lay waste to entire blocks of our cities. They throw explosives, bricks and frozen water bottles at police, and they attempt to set fire to occupied buildings. In one city, in one weekend alone, these supposedly peaceful protesters injured 59 law enforcement officers, and some officers have injuries that will last a life-time.

At the same time, Nancy and the Democrats refer to federal agents as “stormtroopers” and Gestapo. They compare these brave officers to the Nazis for simply enforcing the law and trying to stop the destruction of a federal courthouse.

Truth has become yet another casualty in the Democrats’ quest for absolute power!

This story was originally published August 9, 2020 at 7:00 AM.