Last night, as on other nights before, Dixie school district in Marin, rejected efforts to change the name away from “Dixie.” This is trash. “Dixie” is not a whimsical place. “Dixie”refers to the North-South border, and celebrates the slave side. So why would the good liberals in Marin over several decades, and over more than a dozen votes, cling to this, offensive symbolism, their own confederate flag flying high?
The Chronicle covered the board meeting here, stating
Dixie will stay Dixie — for now.
After more than five hours of public comment and a heated debate, the school board of the small Dixie School District in a corner of San Rafael voted Tuesday against changing the controversial district name that critics say pays tribute to the Confederate states.
In fact, they voted against 13 name changes.
To be fair, some of the publicly created name changes, were things like “Skywalker” but others were entirely sensible, like John Muir, Miwok, or Terra Linda. Honestly I would prefer Skywalker or “Schooly Mc Schoolface Unified School District” to Dixie.
Oh Marin, land of the free and liberal celebrator of the slave. We know about the history there, but still? If we need to wait for the good folks there to vote on it—ha. Pretty much like the votes in good old Dixie, where democracy is a majority of wolves are voting on which sheep are for dinner. Or more benevolently voting on whose offence matters, and whose go to the back of the bus.
Once you understand what “Dixie” means, if you are Black person you should never send your kid there, and if you are another race and at-all anti racist, you should boycott too.
The History on Dixie
From history.com, “Dixie” is the “Dixon line” between the North and South, that separated slave states from free ones, specifically
The line was originally crafted to settle a border dispute between the two colonies, but it later became an informal demarcation point between the southern slave states and the free states to the north. With this in mind, it’s likely that “Dixie” and “Dixieland” first emerged as slang terms to refer to the territory south of Jeremiah Dixon’s boundary line.
Dixie means slave state basically. If your kids go to Dixie High school, they are walking into Black Slavery Celebration Academy. Seriously—that is what it means. That is what you are celebrating, that is what you are voting for. Seriously. That Dixie song we all know, it was a battle hymn for the Confederacy.
And don’t talk no ish to me about “should we rename Dixie cups then?” as someone on the morning news said. If you ask me, and they are named for that “Dixie” then yeah. But I can choose not to buy them, I don’t have the same choice about the public school where I live. I don’t see why some folks seem so invested in holding onto what are symbols of oppression. And why only they get to define what other people should be offended by, especially when they are doing the offending.
Don’t Say Yes to Dixie
Not coincidentally, the district got its name in 1864. Reminder, the confederacy lost. I don’t know why this is so hard. Oh yeah I do, it’s Marin. And they have been having this debate for a while, again from the Chron.
The debate over the Dixie name has popped up several times over the past few decades, first in 1997, then in 2003, 2015 and again this year. So far the name — which goes back to 1864 — has stuck.
So will history repeat itself again? Personally, I stand with Board member Marnie Glickman, who stated,
that the debate over the name has been an issue for decades and it’s time to find an alternative to Dixie.
“I think it’s important for all of us to acknowledge this is about ethics and morality,” Glickman said. “Saying no to all of these is saying yes to Dixie again.”
So please, change this name, and Marin, don’t keep being the dix in Dixie, be better.
Use Schooly Mc SchoolFace. That has more dignity and reflects better on you.