I am a proud graduate of Wade Hampton High School. I am a marching General from one of the most successful eras in Wade Hampton's marching band history. When I first heard of the petition to change the name of MY school, I was upset. They're being overly sensitive. What's in a name. You'd have to change a lot more names of schools, roads, and places. Then I thought of my stance on similar issues and I realized, I am being hypocritical and selfish.
I was 100% in favor of taking the conferderate flag off State house grounds. If you want to fly the conferderate flag in your back yard, front porch; put bumper stickers on your car or fly it from the bed of your pickup truck; you have every right to do so and as much as I disagree with you I will be the first in line to defend your right to do so. Flying it on the statehouse grounds or before that on the State capital dome was different. Our statehouse repersents all South Carolinians. Some find the confederate flag offensive. If you don't, that's your opinion. Flying it at our statehouse, however, was a black eye on our state. It not only hurt us financially through boycotts, but also just looked bad. We saw the benefits of removing the flag by getting part of the NCAA basketball tournament here in Greenville.
I also applaud removing statues of so-called confederate "heroes". And while it's not exactly the same issue, I will not watch or record games played by the Washington NFL team because I find this mascot to be a racial epithet. When I finished my college degree at USC Upstate, we were transitioning from the USC Spartanburg Rifles to the USC Upstate Spartans; a move of which I approved.
So considering all this, how can I possibly object to changing the name of Wade Hampton High School? I can't. The fact that I graduated from Wade Hampton High School doesn't change. I will always be able to say that. The building I went to school in is long gone.
I will not actively campaign to change the name of my school. I cannot in good conscience, however, stand in the way or object to efforts to do so. My biggest political pet peeve is hypocracy, and I was committing it.
