But the competing events represented the two sides in the often contentious — and racially tinged — debate over the high school’s Rebel nickname. And the gatherings came just days after a South Burlington High School senior’s arrest for allegedly threatening to kill his classmates and teachers, supposedly as retribution for the decision to drop the Rebel name.
One of the groups gathered for a vigil outside city hall with a message of peace and unity, while another showed up at the police station to thank officers for their work as the death threats last week terrified the town.
Organizer Vicki Garrison told the 60-person strong crowd at city hall that the vigil was “an opportunity to start healing, to start a new beginning — together. This gathering represents unity, harmony and peace and I just thank you so much for coming.”
Holding signs that read “unity is in our hands” and “strength in unity,” the crowd listened as speakers urged the school board to stand by its February decision to drop the Rebels name, which some say has racist connotations. The group at times prayed together and sang “We Shall Overcome” in the round.
Garrison collaborated with Black Lives Matter Vermont and the Champlain area National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to put on the event. She said she wanted “to have people come from near and far to wrap their arms around South Burlington.” Garrison emphasized that the decision to drop the name was morally just, even though it generated struggle and controversy.
“This is what our country must go through in order to heal. Frederick Douglass said, ‘Without struggle, there will be no progress,’” Garrison said, quoting the 19th-century orator and abolitionist who escaped slavery.
“I’m black in Vermont and that answer should suffice. We have a responsibility. I feel a very personal and communal responsibility to stand in solidarity with voices of color, especially young voices,” Garrison said.
Mary Brown-Guillory, president of the local NAACP chapter, said community leaders need to stand up for what is right, and that is to retire the Rebels name with its association to the Confederacy and slavery.
“We are standing up for the right to say our children will not bear this anymore,” she said.
The mood was somber, reflecting events of the last week. Josiah Leach, 18, was arrested Friday for allegedly making threats to kill teachers and students at his school. He’s due in court Thursday morning.
The escalating threats prompted school lockdowns and a district-wide cancellation on Friday. Leach, who is African American, allegedly issued a kill list of specific teachers and students. Among those named was Isaiah Hines, an African American student who pushed the district to drop the Rebel name.
Garrison urged forgiveness for Leach, and also for Dan Emmons, a supporter of the Rebels name who is accused of stalking and harassing Hines. Emmons has pleaded not guilty.
“I really just want to say thank you to everyone here,” he said. “But also thank you to my peers who stood up with me, thank you to the teachers who have supported this, thank you to the administration who has always been there to support the Student Diversity Union since the very beginning …”
Hines told Seven Days after the vigil that he was taken aback by Leach’s arrest. “I’m totally and completely shocked and really saddened by it,” he said.
Hines said he does not know Leach well, other than as a fellow senior at the high school. The two are Facebook friends and did have a few exchanges online, Hines said.
“It seemed like he was a nice guy,” Hines said of Leach. “I was really confused by it and and it makes me sad that he would do that.”
The vigil initially was scheduled to take place outside South Burlington High School. District administrators approved it, but then rescinded the invitation after members of the Rebel Alliance, a group that wants to keep the Rebels name, complained that Garrison is not a city resident and accused her of attempting to sow racial division.
“These individuals are the same ones who have used race as a means to divide the South Burlington community by insisting on pushing an ideological agenda that includes the racist ideas of ‘white privilege,’ ‘white dominance’ and ‘white fragility,’” Rebels Alliance member Stacey Savage wrote to schools superintendent David Young.
Hines attended the vigil with his mother, Khrishna Hines,* who at one point teared up as speakers at the event repeatedly thanked her son for his leadership. “I’m more proud than I could ever show,” she said of her son.
Two police officers stood near the vigil, on hand for security if needed. It wasn’t, and the event unfolded in a peaceful manner that seemed to leave many participants deeply moved – choked with emotion, tears streaming down their faces.
Michael Hill Jr., who works at Spectrum Youth & Family Services in Burlington, came because he believed it was important to gather. “I think it was necessary and much needed,” he said.
Organizers, most of whom are active in the Rebel Alliance group, billed the event as an opportunity to show support for South Burlington police officers after their work during last week’s school lockdowns.
The group also made clear in interviews that they were opposed to the vigil and the fact that it attracted members of Black Lives Matter Vermont, a group they considered to be reflexively anti-police.
Savage, who attended the event at the police department, said she and others had been planning an event to thank cops before learning of the vigil.
“We are showing support for our police. It’s not a reaction to them. We had been talking about this for days,” Savage said, later adding: “Black Lives Matter is an anti-police group, I don’t know what else to say.”
Parents said that they were still on edge after the events of last week. Many of them said they received frantic texts from their children during the lockdowns, and were still struggling to feel normal again.
They said they saw the vigil as divisive.
“This is a community building event. We have a divided community and we’re trying to bring it together,” said parent Carrie Plunkett, who has three children in the South Burlington school system. “Our community is severely divided right now and I feel like their event is further dividing the community. I feel like all lives matter, all children matter, no matter what color.”
Word filtered down to parents that the on-duty officers had been busy with a series of calls.
Finally, Sgt. James Mills emerged and sheepishly told the excited group that officers were tied up responding to larceny complaints and car crashes.
“I don’t know what to say. I appreciate everything, and I’m sorry the rest of my team is not here,” Mills said. “There’s really no need. This is what we do. We want to be police officers. We want to help people. But thank you … I don’t know what else to say.”
Mills then basked in a hearty round of applause, posed for pictures — and went back to work.
*Correction, April 28, 2017: A previous version of this story misidentified Khrishna Hines.
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So, the mission failed, and the anti-rebel, just-moved-to-vermont faction wants to play nice for the time being.
Do I have that right?
I’m quite Krishna teared up. Since the BS was exposed.
5 gets ya ten that Josiah Leach doesn’t do a serious day of time in the pen like he should for terroristic threats. Which he should. The guy threatened to kill:
a) cops
b) fellow students
c) himself, hysterically
d) [FILL IN THE BLANK]
But it’ll be chalked up to “white racism forced this young man to piss away a bunch of money (which I and the rest of VT is paying for) to make a point.
VT Teachers Unions, you have a special place in hell. This is why people are turning against you. You’re the most spoiled people on the planet.
I’m disapointed this article quoted a person saying that pointing out white privilege and fragility is racist without explaining at all what those terms mean.
Had the suspect in custody been white this very likely would have been deemed a Federal Hate Crime. That the suspect now in custody still had persons of color in the community fearing for their lives and even feeling insecure and scared to death in their own homes, as Chief Whipple has mentioned in interviews, is proof of that racial intimidation and bias required in a Hate Crime. That Leach listed himself on the hit list as another potential victim of color is even more indication that his motive was trying to appear to be a white racist boogeyman in his actions, determined to show that there was racial hatred behind those against changing the innocuous Rebel name. There will be many double standards unfolding in the coming months as this case, and the Rebel name change, unfolds.
Black Lives Matter doesn’t mean “Black lives matter MORE than anyone else’s.” It means “Black lives matter AS MUCH AS anyone else’s.” It’s not anti-police, it’s trying to underscore the cultural bias that many of us hold in this country that views black people as more dangerous, more threatening, and more expendable and results in their death. The movement is trying to correct that bias and save black people’s lives.
The terms white fragility, white privilege, white dominance – those phrases are used to describe how racism, as a system, works, and how it hurts all of us, white people included. You can ignore the phrases, you can call them racist, but these things still exist in our culture whether you acknowledge them or not. The hurt and harm they cause is there whether you are willing to look at it or not. It’s painful to talk about racism if you are white, and certainly easier to ignore it or pretend it doesn’t exist (by calling these terms racist). But how good does ignoring it feel when your friends and neighbors are hurting?
And Ed, don’t know where you’re getting the “just moved to Vermont” piece of this. Many people involved have lived here their whole lives. Maybe it’s because white Vermonters often assume people of color must be from somewhere else?
Thank you SBPD and FBI for your swift investigation. This mama bear is relieved that all students will be safe to go back to school on Monday! Wonderful job by Rebel Alliance for honoring our local heroes by planning a positive event intended to unify our community with grateful hearts.
It’s time for our community to heal. Anyone willing to compromise? A wise student suggested rebranding to the Rebel Eagles at a recent school board meeting. I think that’s a fantastic solution.
Can you imagine in a white student had been posing as a person of color and threatening to kill white people to help push a narrative? You’d be hearing about it on the national news, I guarantee it.
I can’t believe nobody is talking about the fact that Josiah Leach was actually in support of changing the name.
On 4/19/17 JoJo Leach posted to Isaiah Hines’ FB wall…”Keep up the good work bro i respect your movements and what you’re doing 100.” This doesn’t sound like a person who wants to keep the Rebel name. Isaiah acknowledged to compliment “Thanks dude, I appreciate that {black fist up, black fist bump}”.
Do people really buy into what he said in the threat letter and video? It was all an elaborate ruse to look like an angry white person aligned with the Rebel Alliance was issuing the threats. The video is of a random video still that had nothing to do with any of this, all part of the ruse.
Also, to not acknowledge the facts surrounding BLM. Perhaps the root of the movement is legitimately focused. However, their are factions of the organization that have called for the killing of white people and cops. The organizers of this movement have not issued an condemnation of these actions. They are in all sense of the words a domestic terror organization. Just a simple Google search of BLM Kill Cops, the results are disturbing. This is not an organization or it’s constituents that anyone should support to be involved with our schools.
It’s sad that people like Vicki Garrison are allowed to inject their personal agenda and hate-filled diatribe into our community. Some of her Facebook posts promoting “toxic whiteness” are beyond decency. And there is no such thing as “racial” justice or “social” justice. There is justice. Equal justice for all races, creeds, and colors. This is why the statue of justice wears a blindfold.
The group isn’t called “Only Black Lives Matter,” Carrie.
Two things here. First the student who is supposed to represent the ENTIRE student body was a a rally hosted by groups that last time I checked were anti police and I have found one shred of evidence that these groups have promoted anything that isn’t in their own interest. Ask yourselves please what Latin American, what Spanish American, what Italian American interest have these groups ever promoted?
Second since Hosiah is supposed to represent the entire student body did he bother to even go and thank the SBPD or the FBI who put their time and outstanding efforts to protecting him and his fellow students. But he is not only standing proudly at a rally but even spoke at the rally. Is the student that is the representative of the school body supposed to be apolitical.
Bottom line here. Hosiah I call for your resignation as the rep for students at SBHS effective immediately. Also any further decision regregarding racism in our school should be sent to the board of education for review. Mr Young please for the love of all stand down from the name change and let the community be what they have clearly shown that the majority want. LET THEM BE REBELS!
The duelling rallies were just that…they were not uniting events. Black Lives matters wants to dictate to South Burlington and the Rebels are not buying it. The community really cares put it up to a vote and let the losers accept the will of the people of South Burlington.
Iserved20, who is ‘Hosiah’?
Should we assume you’re a student, if you’re calling for the resignation of a student representative to the school board?