Recently, graduates of the beloved high school Douglas S. Freeman have declared that not only has the school instigated racism, but Henrico County Public Schools has as well. With the Black Lives Matter movement in full swing, I am in no way belittling the Black community nor saying racism does not exist. However, I do think it is unfair to drag Freeman, its community, and our school system through the gutter with unverified opinions and zero factual evidence behind these statements.

     Freeman is not only a great public school, but is also host to one of the top specialty centers in the state of Virginia. With this being said, it has drawn top teachers and administrators towards the school to assist students in not only bettering themselves academically, but individually as well. Freeman has tried to be of aid by creating extracurricular clubs which aim to help and better minority students. Clubs such as PRISM, Women’s  Empowerment Club, and Black Student Union are just a few of the many groups that have been founded to empower minorities at Freeman. 

     I graduated from the specialty center at Freeman: The Center for Leadership, Government, and Global Economics. This center was highly selective, highly competitive, and highly difficult. Our schedule was chosen for us, filled with Honors and AP Courses. I did take some “college prep” classes during my freshman year, and from my experience, that doesn’t make you any less of a student as these writers have implied. The AP and Honors courses were not for white students only. There was no limitation on which race could take these classes. Any student of any color can sign up for these classes. While there are patterns to which class you should take after your freshman year (Calc 1 to Calc 2), there is nothing holding students back from selecting these classes. The issue of minorities being underrepresented in AP and Honors courses, which is a very real problem, is in no way correlated to Freeman being non inclusive. This stems from a much larger socio-economic problem that the United States has to deal with. To bring this burden on a single school (Freeman), while it exists at almost every public school in our country, is an unfair argument.

     Another point brought up that I struggled with was the comments surrounding the cafeteria. I ate in the cafeteria for 4 years. This is the most stressful place in a high school. However, as I rushed down the stairs to scarf down food in the allotted twenty-two minutes, nowhere did I see a sign directing a certain race to sit in a certain place. The message written to Mrs. Cashwell made it very clear that the cafeteria was a prime example of racism as it was proclaimed to be separated. I am saying that that was never done on purpose. Nowhere are white kids telling black kids they can’t sit with them. Nowhere does it say the lunch line is for minorities only. Nowhere are there assigned seats. In fact, Freeman actually worked hard to shake things up during lunch time. There were multiple days throughout the year known as “Mix It Up Day” where our homeroom teachers gave us colored stickers. At lunch, you were supposed to sit, eat, and mingle with people who had the same color sticker as you did. This was designed to help the student body meet new people and get comfortable with kids outside of their normal circle of peers. This is a prime example of Freeman trying to better the school.

     It was disappointing to read that the authors’ of the letter sounded disgraced at the name “Rebel”. It’s a little ironic seeing that our chants “Rebel Born, Rebel Bred, Rebel ‘till The Day I’m Dead” were actually spoken by the writers of this petition. Not only spoken, but screamed at pep rallies and sporting events. If they were fighting words which instigated violence, then why did you say it? In the dictionary, the word “rebel” is used to describe one who defies authority. Our Founding Fathers were “rebels” and we are proud of them. So, why can’t we be rebels? Frederick Douglass himself said that the real rebels of American History are our Founding Fathers. That’s who he saw as the rebels of our country - not the Confederacy. Furthermore, many journalists and historians have also labeled the thousands of black men and women enslaved at that time to be “rebels” after they were freed, because they willingly joined the army to fight back against the Southern Confederacy. Before you aim to take down the Rebel name, I ask you to consider the aforementioned groups which should be celebrated for fighting and living up to the title of a Rebel.

     While this petition was a disappointing read as it saddened me, it also angered me. It puzzles me that the authors of the letter would blatantly lie about my former school. You are not just attacking the name and the logo, you are attacking everything that comes with it. I am proud to be a Rebel, and it is frustrating to see how people have tried to use my school as a scapegoat to move for change. It is time to move on from signing petitions, posting instagram stories, and protesting in the streets. Enough awareness has been raised, it is time to act if change is really what you strive for. I call for groups to focus their well-intended actions for justice by making laws and changing political behavior, not by attacking and diminishing the name of a great school. 

Rebel ‘Til the Day I’m Dead

Sarah Halsey, Class of 2018