Portland School Delays ‘Evergreens’ Mascot Vote over Fears It’s Tied to Lynching

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Ida B. Wells-Barnett High School — named after the prominent black activist and reporter who documented lynching — was set to vote on the new mascot last Tuesday until a board director shared community concerns over the tree’s imagery, the Portland Tribune reported.

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“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, who is black, said the evergreens mascot “had nothing to do with the horrible history of lynching in the United States. Lynching trees typically are not evergreens.”

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