Renewed Rebellion Sparked Over Mascot : Schools: Citing area racial tensions, the NAACP and students are protesting Confederate symbols on Quartz Hill High campus.

The Confederate flag can be clearly seen on the school crest of Quartz Hill High School in the Antelope Valley. A Confederate soldier, nicknamed Johnny Reb, is the school’s official mascot and its football team is called the Rebels.

Civil rights-minded residents have on several occasions expressed unease at these symbols being adopted by a public high school. Now, in the wake of several racial incidents in the area, including a shooting, the NAACP and a large number of students have added their voices to the protest.

“In case you haven’t heard, the South lost the war,” Lynda Thompson Taylor, an official with the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People, said in a strongly worded address to the Antelope Valley Union High School District board Wednesday night. “This is the United States of America. Not the Confederate States of America.”

Taylor and about 75 other African Americans attended the board meeting to demand that all Confederate symbols at Quartz Hill High be eliminated, and that district employees receive mandatory sensitivity training. Also at the meeting, Quartz Hill student La Dawn Best presented the board with a student petition opposing use of the symbols. It had been signed by more than 1,000 students, Best said.

“The symbols are offensive and degrading to all Americans,” said Taylor, describing them as “symbols of hate.”

But Taylor said the name “Rebels” is not a problem for the group.

The board took no formal action on the matter at the meeting, but school officials said afterward they have already taken steps to eliminate the symbols.

Quartz Hill High Principal Susan Custer said a few students had sought a meeting with her in February to express their concerns on the matter. About two weeks ago, she said, she stopped using the school stationery that features a depiction of a Confederate flag and soldier.

Several school officials said the Quartz Hill High art department is planning a contest to come up with a new crest based on a multicultural theme. “Obviously,” Custer said, “with a Confederate flag on it, it’s time to take a look at that.”

Also, the school will adopt a new mascot, probably of a Western-looking figure, Supt. Robert Girolamo said. The Confederate soldier on the sign in front of the school will be replaced, Custer said.

Taylor, president of the Antelope Valley branch of the NAACP, said the school district needs to do more than buy new stationery and a sign. African American students, teachers and employees in the high school district are “subjected to racial hostility,” Taylor told the board.

“We’re serving notice the African American community will not allow you to continue the disrespect,” she said. “We’re here to take our rightful position in the community.”

Girolamo said Thursday he is arranging a meeting with Taylor and others who attended the meeting to “come up with an action plan.”

“We have heard the same kind of complaints from the Latino community and we are dealing with that through the Latino Heritage Advisory Commission,” he said. “They have established a very proactive connection to the students.

The district, he added, already provides sensitivity training.

Mike Kirkland, a local resident who was at the meeting with the protest group, told the board that there is a feeling of alienation among African American students.

“We’re not looking for anything special,” he said. “We’re not asking for anything special.”