Windsor high school adopts new team name over racist roots of 'Rebels'

Riverside Secondary School (RSS) has chosen the Stingers as its new team name after abandoning the Rebels' name and logo earlier this year over its links to white supremacy and anti-Black racism.

The east end Windsor high school announced the new name in a video posted to YouTube earlier this month in what the principal is describing as a soft launch.

"I think that we made the right decision. We're doing what we feel is right for our students and for our staff and community," principal Dina Salinitri told CBC News. "We're understanding the importance of inclusion and equity."

Angelina Ebegbuzie, a former Riverside student and member of the Greater Essex County District School Board (GECDSB) Anti Black Racism Advisory Committee, said the name change was due — though it should have happened sooner.

"It's a really great day," she said. "It's about time."

The decision to change the name came about as a result of students who flagged concerns in December 2021, a school board official previously said.

Last winter, the board said that the name "Rebels" refers to Confederate soldiers, who fought to maintain the enslavement of Black people in the U.S. They were referred to as "Rebels" or "Johnny Rebel."

"The connection between pro-enslavement, anti-Black hate and the Rebel name is conveyed in RSS yearbooks and a newspaper article that have been discovered from the 60s, 80s and 90s," the GECDSB said.

"These records display the Confederate flag as RSS' "school spirit" flag, and a mascot dressed in KKK garb carrying the Confederate flag."

A white supremacist country singer also uses the name Johnny Rebel.

In 2021, the school changed the mascot's name from Johnny Rebel to Captain Rebel, a decision that the school board apologized for