Portland High School Delays Vote On Changing Mascot To Evergreen Tree After Concerns Raised Over Possible Ties To Lynching

A Portland high school delayed a vote that would change its mascot to an evergreen tree after concerns rose over its possible connection to enslaved Black people being lynched on it.

According to the New York Post, Ida B. Wells-Barnett High School was expected to take a vote on Tuesday over whether or not to have an evergreen tree stand as a mascot for the school. According to some critics, the evergreen tree is possibly associated with the cruel act of lynching.

During a board meeting, Director Michelle DePass asked, “I’m wondering if there was any concern with the imagery there in using a tree…as our mascot?” She added, “I think everyone comes with blind spots, and I think that might’ve been a really big blind spot.”

Before DePass, another person had brought up the issue previously, The New York Post reports. “We did talk about it, but we were looking at the symbolism more as a tree of life than a tree of death,” Martin Osborne said. Osborne, Black, said evergreens mascot “had nothing to do with the horrible history of lynching in the United States. Lynching trees typically are not evergreens.”

For now, DePass said that the board should contact Wells-Barnett’s family to make sure they are okay with the evergreen tree being the school’s new mascot.