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Battle over monuments spreads to names of horses

beneteaubeneteau Member Posts: 8,552 ✭✭✭
edited August 2017 in General Discussion
When will this stupidity end?

In California, the raging U.S. cultural battle over the War of Northern Aggression icons has spread to the names of horses.

At the University of Southern California, a student group has declared the equine mascot of the school?s Trojans football team to be a symbol of ?white supremacy.?

Why? Because the horse bears a name similar to that of a steed that belonged to Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.

The USC football horse is called Traveler (one L), while Lee?s horse was known as Traveller (two L?s).

The student group?s leader voiced her disapproval of the home team horse?s name earlier this week, at an on-campus rally to protest last week?s violence in Charlottesville, Va.

?White supremacy hits close to home,? Saphia Jackson, co-director of the USC Black Student Assembly, told fellow students, in pointing out the similarity in the horses? names, student newspaper the Daily Trojan reported.

The Black Student Assembly didn?t respond to a Fox News inquiry on whether the group wanted Traveler renamed or removed.

The renewed debate on public symbols of the Confederacy has sparked a discussion at USC on whether the horse mascot?s name is a coincidence, or possibly a nod to its namer?s sympathy to the Southern cause.

Naming the USC mascot Traveler started nearly 56 years ago, after a rider on horseback galloped across the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum field during a Trojans home game. It was supposed to be a one-time stunt, but quickly became a school tradition, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The original rider of Traveler, Richard Saukko, died in 1992 -- without officially confirming whether the name Traveler was intended as a homage to Lee?s horse.

His widow, Patricia Saukko, however, denied the accusations, calling the kerfuffle about the name a ?hysteria? and a ?political issue.?

?The problem is this: Maybe three weeks ago it was fine,? she told the L.A. Times. ?So now the flavor of the day is ... we all have to be in hysteria. ... It?s more of a political issue. The horse isn?t political and neither am I.

?Over at USC they?re nonpolitical about their horse,? she added. ?What if their name would be Lee? Would they want to change it? It doesn't make any difference. ... He?s a wonderful horse and a great mascot.?

The widow also noted that the spelling of the name is different -- and when her husband bought the horse in 1958, the name had already been picked.
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Comments

  • bigoutsidebigoutside Member Posts: 19,443
    edited November -1
    "L"s are tricky and are easily misunderstood.

    A "one L" Lama is like the Dali Lama and due respect.

    A "two LL" Llama is a camel without a hump and will spit at you if aggravated.

    A "three LLL" Larma is a damn big fire and you should roll every hook and ladder and pumper at your disposal.


    Words. They will jack you up.
  • ltcdotyltcdoty Member Posts: 4,184 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    it will soon hit critical mass...and the average citizen well tell these folks to go screw themselves.....though I am thinking about boycotting the local pizza parlor, since the Romans screwed with my ancestors....

    I want reparations...
  • BT99BT99 Member Posts: 1,043
    edited November -1
    Schools nick name is appropriate.. TROJANS. Saw lots of them for sale in the drug store the other day.
  • mogley98mogley98 Member Posts: 18,291 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Ridiculous
    Why don't we go to school and work on the weekends and take the week off!
  • allen griggsallen griggs Member Posts: 35,693 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I'm with you itcdoty. The Romans took my Celtic ancestors into slavery, from England and Wales.

    I demand that the Roman Coliseum be destroyed!
  • 11b6r11b6r Member Posts: 16,584 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I am looking at all of the white supremacists that run dry cleaners.

    Swear to god, at least half of them are named Lee. One I go to is So Young Lee, and her daughter, Jae Yong Lee.

    They keep saying there is no connection to the General Lee, but that cannot just be a coinkydink.

    If y'all will excuse me, I got to go look at this musician that named himself after Stonewall. I think there were 5 of them in that family....

    [:p]


    And why did they name all of the high ground after that other Confederate general? I want the named changed on all of those........ hills. Right now. I am offended by this.
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