New year, new… fight song?
It seems that would be the case for Refugio football and all other Refugio ISD sports from now on after the Refugio School Board voted unanimously to end the use of “Dixie” as the high school’s fight song in a specially called meeting on Tuesday evening.
Refugio is not the first school to have the song nixed. The University of Mississippi was banned from playing the fight song after a 68-year run in 2016. After being composed and used as a minstrel show in 1859 then being used in a 1915 movie (The Birth of a Nation) that’ said to have re-sparked hate groups, the song has been widely deemed racist on many accounts.
In the middle of playoffs, on their run toward their 2019 state championship title, the song was called into question and the school district said they would take a closer look at the claims held in opposition of the song. It was mentioned that the song had been, for decade, a source of pride for athletes, students and alumni.
Tuesday’s hour-long special meeting had about 50 people present with around 20 people speaking in opposition to the song.
