'Cotton Pickers' latest battle in team mascot debate across sports - USA TODAY
'Cotton Pickers' latest battle in team mascot debate across sports - USA TODAY |
- 'Cotton Pickers' latest battle in team mascot debate across sports - USA TODAY
- Review: In throwback role, Tom Hanks helps steady wobbly Western 'News of the World' - USA TODAY
- Backstory: In a dire year, reporters found hope in a 100-year-old hero, a rusty hoop and a newborn panda. Some favorite moments of 2020. - USA TODAY
| 'Cotton Pickers' latest battle in team mascot debate across sports - USA TODAY Posted: 31 Dec 2020 06:19 AM PST CLOSE  Editor's note: Part of a series looking at the debate surrounding some high school mascots as Washington's NFL team and others have announced changes in 2020. Twenty miles west of Corpus Christi, Texas, lies the city of Robstown and the Robstown Early College High School. They are home of the Robstown Cotton Pickers. In the Southern region of the state, the Cotton Pickers mascot is a symbol of pride that acknowledges the history and hard work of those who migrated across the border to make an honest living in America. "It's merely a label that is accurately portraying what your grandmother did," Bianca Prado, a fourth-generation Robstown, Texan and Robstown High School alumna told USA TODAY Sports. To critics of the mascot, the nickname is an offensive downplaying of our country's painful history of slavery and the forced labor of enslaved Africans, Black and Indigenous people. "It's ironic that they (people from Robstown, Texas) are saying that this mascot name is teaching their history," said historian Kelsey Moore to USA TODAY Sports. "How is it teaching history if you are not asking historical questions? If you were asking yourself historical questions, then you wouldn't be confused as to why the name has caused so much controversy." Professional sports teams across the country are under pressure to change racially insensitive mascot names. The latest change took place in Cleveland, when the Major League Baseball team announced it would eventually be dropping the "Indians" name in December, months after the Washington Football Team removed "Redskins" from their title over the summer. These changes are also taking place in high school athletics. One of the mascot battlegrounds is in Texas. High schools there recently removed controversial names offensive in Native and Indigenous culture. Hays Consolidated Independent School District recommended the Board of Trustees at Hay High School move on from its Rebels mascot in July. The board unanimously voted to fully retire the name connected to the Confederacy by the end of the school year. RELATED: Maine banned racist mascots. Why haven't others followed? COLUMN: Arizona school clings to mascot tradition. Here's why Outside of Dallas in North Richland Hills, Richland High School also booted its Rebels mascot in June. Birdville Independent School District Board of Trustees unanimously voted to remove the controversial mascot and all related imagery around the school after hearing members of the campus community state that the mascot and related traditions – including a fight song with lyrics reverent of the Confederate South – condoned a culture of racism. 'It's our family's story'The high school, a part of the Robstown Independent School District, is where Hall of Fame offensive lineman Gene Upshaw attended. He'd go on to win two Super Bowls in 14 years playing for the then Oakland Raiders. The school came under the national spotlight in September when a tweet of its football team went viral. Chris Tomasson, a sports reporter for KIII TV, tweeted a video from a Friday night football game along with the caption: "The Robstown Cotton Pickers come out before their season opener against London tonight." Thirty minutes later, Tomasson tweeted, "This tweet is blowing up. To be fair, most times I remember to just call them the Pickers. Agree it's probably time for a change." The tweet now has 2.6 million views, 230 times more people than the population of the city. The school district put out a statement the next day. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, America is the world's leading cotton exporter, providing about 35% of the global cotton exports in recent years. U.S. cotton is grown in predominantly 17 southern "Cotton Belt" states with Texas accounting for the most production followed by Georgia, Mississippi and Arkansas. Members of the Robstown community, including alumni of the high school, supported the district's statement advocating for the name and sharing their reverence in the cotton-picking profession on social media. Prado was furious to see the negative comments people shared on social media against the name, believing the name carried a sense of pride and admiration for migrant workers who came from Mexico, including her great-grandfather. "The town was built on the backs of a labor force of Hispanics that followed the production season," she said. Like many other Robstown High School Alumni, Prado does not believe the name should be changed because of its historical value within the community. "They (social media users) tried to make it a Black thing," said Prado, who believed that was done strictly for "shock value." The school district said in a statement to USA TODAY Sports it backs the use of the nickname because it "represents a sense of pride based on tradition for the students and a historical legacy for the community members." According to the 2019 Census, Robstown is 93.9% Hispanic or Latino origin – referring to a person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin regardless of race – and only 0.2% Black or African American. "People are changing the story," said Prado. "They don't know the history. It's a location thing. This close to the border, you are going to have Hispanics. That's the only difference. In the South – they needed to bring in a labor force and that is unfortunate." Prado graduated from Robstown in 2004 and the accounts she has from family members who picked cotton and her own memories of visiting fields are not even 50 years old. "I myself have picked onions before," she said. "My grandmother picked cotton. My mom picked fruit. "This is our family's story." Prado says there is a stigma that comes along with the town and being a "Robstown Cotton Picker." "Having met people from other areas, people try to shame you about it," she said. "I take it. I say nothing." "Was it (picking cotton) the most glamorous way to become an American?" she asked. "Probably not, but look, I am a Texan. Because of them (her family who came from Mexico to pick cotton in the United States), now I am an American." The negative attention the school and its mascot received after the viral tweet was not new. When a middle school less than thirty minutes away decided in 2017 to end using "Rebels" as its mascot, which sported a confederate uniform, residents of southwest Texas wondered if Robstown would be the next school to make a change. But school district officials came to the same defense then as they did in September. "Robstown ISD administration has not received commentary from parents due to neighboring school districts' mascot controversy," the school district said in a release in October 2017. "To be a Robstown Cotton Picker exhibits a sense of pride. At this time Robstown ISD will stay focused on student needs as their priority." 'A lot of things don't deserve commemoration'The negative connotations of 'cotton pickers' stem from America's history with slave labor and the systems of oppression that followed and continue to plague the nation today. Moore, a history doctoral student at Johns Hopkins University, believes people can take pride in their family history without commemorating or honoring the parts of history when people of color were exploited for their labor. "And a lot of things don't deserve to be commemorated if we are being quite honest," said Moore. Moore, a Black woman who grew up in the South, is the descendant of those who picked cotton including, she said, her own grandmother. The first Black family moved to Robstown in 1912, according to the City of Robstown website. According to the Texas State Library and Archive Commission, slavery dominated 19th century American life, and Texas was no exception. "The Mexican government was opposed to slavery, but even so, there were 5,000 slaves in Texas by the time of the Texas Revolution in 1836," writes the commission. "By the time of annexation a decade later, there were 30,000; by 1860, the census found 182,566 slaves – over 30% of the total population of the state." Moore wants people to consider when they are debating the various mascot controversies, always remember the historical context. "Everything has a history. History is everywhere," she said, "and in the United States and in the world, everything is racialized." Contact Analis Bailey at aabailey@usatoday.com or on Twitter @analisbailey.  |
| Posted: 11 Dec 2020 12:00 AM PST CLOSE Tom Hanks stars as a Texas storyteller who takes on a young 10-year-old girl (Helena Zengel) during his travels in the Western 'News of the World.' USA TODAY Tom Hanks is America's Dad in the present day and he makes for a pretty good father figure in the Old West, too. Reteaming with his "Captain Phillips" director Paul Greengrass, Hanks slings the news more than a gun in the Western drama "News of the World," set in Reconstruction-era Texas. The Oscar winner is cast in the film (★★★ out of four; rated PG-13; in theaters Dec. 25), based on the 2016 Paulette Jiles novel, as a former Confederate captain on a Homeric odyssey to take a young girl home, though genre tropes at times rob the film of its timely narrative punch. Five years after the end of the Civil War, Jefferson Kyle Kidd (Hanks) travels from town to town reading newspaper articles, charging 10 cents a pop to people crowding in to hear him tell stories from across the country and the world. Imagine Anderson Cooper circa 1870 with a great beard and Hanks' unmistakable blend of warmth and humor. Review: 'The Midnight Sky' navigates a rocky route before George Clooney sticks the landing Remember going to the movies?: 15 things we miss most about theaters While passing through Wichita Falls, Kidd discovers an upturned carriage and its lynched Black driver, a reminder that dark aspects of the South still infected Texas at the time. Near the scene, Kidd finds fierce 10-year-old orphaned girl Johanna (Helena Zengel), who had been taken from her home six years prior by the Kiowa people and raised as one of them. When authorities won't take her, Kidd decides he'll escort Johanna to her aunt and uncle in southern Texas. The two travel hundreds of miles through a wide-open and sometimes dangerous path through the American southwest, running afoul of a villainous Confederate soldier (Michael Angelo Covino) and the evil boss (Thomas Francis Murphy) of a region thriving on racism and propaganda that amounts to 19th-century fake news. Greengrass captures stunning landscapes for Kidd and Johanna to navigate and it's a nice scenic backdrop for the key relationship that blossoms in "News of the World." (It's also interesting to see "metropolises" like Dallas and San Antonio in that period.) The pair are reluctant travel partners at first – Kidd's wary of the kid, and distrusting Johanna isn't exactly chatty, not even speaking English when she does talk – but the palpable chemistry between Hanks and Zengel helps the odd friendship to blossom on screen. Hanks exudes the vibe of a steady grownup in a crisis and Zengel holds her own with a Hollywood icon by imbuing her character with a wild-child manner that ultimately cracks to show the innocence underneath. It does seem to be the season of Hollywood war horses teamed with fresh-faced youngsters: George Clooney's upcoming "The Midnight Sky" throws Clooney and 8-year-old Caoilinn Springall together for a bonding session at the end of the world. Hanks and Zengel offer a similar dynamic though it's a more immersive shared narrative, as the military widower and the confused youngster both are searching for a home, having been on their own for years. If only the Western villains they meet, be it through gunfights, chases, or just plain ornery behavior, didn't get in the way of the core duo's story, leaving the film meandering until they get back on the road. "News of the World" isn't as good a "dad" movie as Hanks' seafaring adventure "Greyhound" this year. Still, as Greengrass' nomadic storyteller, the naturally folksy Hanks fits the wild Western setting. Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/movies/2020/12/11/news-world-review-tom-hanks-steadies-narratively-wobbly-western/3890316001/  |
| Posted: 31 Dec 2020 02:31 AM PST I'm USA TODAY editor-in-chief Nicole Carroll, and this is The Backstory, insights into our biggest stories of the week. If you'd like to get The Backstory in your inbox every week, sign up here. On Sunday, we told the story of Jo Marie Hernandez, a single mom of a 4-year-old, who was selling her car to pay rent. "I only have $100 left to my name," she said. "We're starving and will be out on the street soon." By Tuesday, strangers had donated more than $5,000 to help her avoid eviction.And just like that, out of a news story of despair came hope. Reporters Jessica Menton and Joseph Spector were writing about the negotiations over coronavirus relief. Hernandez, who lives in Olean, New York, had lost her job at a gas station in Randolph because of the coronavirus pandemic and was counting on extended unemployment benefits. "When I accepted to do the story, I did it in hopes a politician would read it and see the genuine struggle the American people are going through. Yet instead it's the true heart and backbone of this country, the people, that heard my voice. It goes to show where the heart of our country lies," Hernandez said about the donations to a GoFundMe page set up for her by a stranger from South Carolina moved by her story. As journalists, we're on the front lines of history, and this year it's been dire. But we also get to witness kindness like that shown to Hernandez, hope from the "heart of our country," as well.Sports reporter Analis Bailey recounts the story of FedEx driver Aubrey Robinson, who drove by 11-year-old Eli Maines as he played basketball on a rusty, bent hoop in his mobile home park outside West Harrison, Indiana. The ball barely fit through the warped basket. Eli didn't seem to care. He played joyfully. Still, Robinson, who works six days a week, bought him a new hoop and ball and drove 50 miles to secretly leave it for his family. She set it up next to the old hoop with a note that said it was from "just one of the FedEx drivers for the area." When Eli's mom read the note, she knew who it was from, and she began to cry. So did Eli when he got home and saw it. "It taught me that there are not only bad people in the world," Eli said. "It taught me to do stuff for others, be nice for others." The story that brought joy to reporter N'dea Yancey-Bragg involved a 100-year-old British army veteran. Captain Sir Thomas Moore, 99 at the time, pledged to walk 100 laps in his garden before his 100th birthday to raise $1,250 (£1,000) for National Health Service staff and volunteers. His goal was to walk 10 laps a day with the help of his walker. He reached his fundraising goal within 24 hours and went on to raise close to $44 million. "When you think of who it is all for – all those brave and super doctors and nurses we have got," he told the BBC. "I think they deserve every penny, and I hope we get some more for them, too." He was thanked (and knighted) by Queen Elizabeth II, was honored with a military flyover and received more than 150,000 cards from schoolchildren. "In the face of the pandemic and the incredible suffering it has created, it's easy to feel helpless," Yancey-Bragg said. "Captain Tom reminded me that any person can make a difference, even by doing something as simple as taking a walk." In Chicago, reporter Grace Hauck met Juanita Tennyson. The 23-year-old had been laid off from her fast-food job and decided to use her free time to help others. She organized "love marches" and set up sidewalk tables to give free household goods to Chicagoans in neighborhoods that had been hit especially hard by COVID-19, the economic fallout and the nation's gun violence. "Love can heal, and I think I'm proving that," Tennyson told Hauck as she passed out tampons and canned beans in the city's South Shore neighborhood, across the street from an empty retail corridor. "I've helped a lot of people. I've met a lot of people. Usually people say I came right on time." Supreme Court reporter Richard Wolf was taken with pandemic frontline health care workers who were also "Dreamers." "They were undocumented children when they arrived from Mexico and elsewhere, living under the constant threat of deportation," Wolf said. "Yet here they were working as doctors, nurses, paramedics and physical therapists, often without enough protective equipment. I had interviewed many DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) recipients before and after the Supreme Court heard the Trump administration's challenge to the program's legality late in 2019. "Now they were waiting for the justices' decision – and while they waited, they were saving lives." Physical therapist Veronica Velasquez told Wolf in March, "This is just my calling." She is a native of the Philippines who came to the U.S. when she was 11. "I knew this was something I wanted to do, pandemic or no pandemic." Three months later, the "Dreamers" won a 5-4 decision from the Supreme Court, Wolf reported. And this month, a federal judge ordered the program fully restored, for old and new applicants alike. Editor Jay Cannon smiles at the story of the 103-year-old woman from Eaton, Massachusetts, who recovered from COVID-19 then celebrated with a Bud Light. Great-great grandmother Jennie Stejna is an avid bingo player and a "hardcore Boston sports fan." "I don't know if it was her age, her demeanor or the fact that she celebrated beating COVID-19 in the same fashion I would celebrate making it to Friday afternoon, but Stejna is a rock star in true 2020 fashion," Cannon said. Not all joy came out of hardship. Some of our favorite stories came from moments of celebration, humanity, sweetness and awe.Photojournalist Harrison Hill enjoyed reporting on the fan reaction to the World Series. "Covering the Dodgers World Series drive-in watch party was the first time this year that I saw people come together for the love of baseball," he said. "In the midst of a pandemic, hundreds of people were able to find comfort and family in the parking lot of Dodgers Stadium, even if every car was 10 feet away from each other." Life reporter Bryan Alexander was moved by a "Quarantine Diary" interview with Henry Winkler, and how the actor captured the way so many are feeling (including trying to "maintain some sort of being able to fit in a shirt.") "I think no matter who you are, no matter what we are doing in our lives before this started, no matter how old we are, eventually, we are all feeling exactly the same," Winkler said to Life reporter Andrea Mandell. "You're up for a moment. You are down for a moment. You make the mistake of watching the news and you crash." But when asked what he will do when this is all over, Winkler said without pause, "Hug my family." Reporter Ryan Miller reveled in the miracle of a giant panda birth at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., shown live on the zoo's Giant Panda Cam. "Of course the animal news that dominated 2020 was the "murder hornets" in Washington state, but the birth of Xiao Qi Ji was a miracle – as the translation of his name implies – when his mother became the oldest giant panda to successfully give birth in the United States," he said. While interviewing people at the zoo, he met a couple from upstate New York who were among the panda superfans who drove down to Washington often to visit. "I can only imagine their joy when they got the news of the birth," he said. And finally, science writer Doyle Rice reminds us we are part of a much bigger picture. "With so much bad news in 2020, I took comfort in this story I wrote back in June," he said. "One about a new study that said there could be over 30 intelligent civilizations scattered somewhere throughout our own Milky Way galaxy. To me, stories about outer space tend to give needed perspective on our troubles down here on Earth. "Specifically, this story gave me hope about our own species and planet, that we're not alone after all, and that we'll get through this and future ordeals." As for me, as a mom and an editor, stories of kindness, especially toward kids, get to me.This year, I got a little teary when Dr. Anthony Fauci told our reporter that Santa was immune from the coronavirus. Children had been asking about Santa getting sick or spreading the virus, and Fauci wanted them to know Santa was going to be OK. "Santa is exempt from this because Santa, of all the good qualities, has a lot of good innate immunity," Fauci told our reporter, without missing a beat, when asked about Santa's health. I'm not sure what moved me more: that little kids were worried about Santa or that the nation's leading expert on COVID-19 took time to reassure them. As journalists, it's our job to bring you the news of the day, no matter how tough. But it's also important that we write about joy and inspiration, marvel and kindness. A cold beer. A walk around a garden. A newborn cub. Rent money from strangers. This is news as well. Backstory: With millions of Americans about to lose COVID-19 benefits, here is where relief stands Nicole Carroll is the editor-in-chief of USA TODAY. Reach her at EIC@usatoday.com or follow her on Twitter here. Thank you for supporting our journalism. You can subscribe to our print edition, ad-free experience or electronic newspaper replica here. Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2020/12/31/uncovering-moments-hope-joy-difficult-year-2020/4074793001/  |
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