The Dixie spirit shouldn't be divided by political correctness

I moved my family to St. George in the summer of 1969 and soon became caught up in the Dixie spirit. I was amazed at the sense of community and the attendant support for Dixie High School and Dixie College. I learned that this spirit originated with a people who were sent to a difficult climate to establish the Cotton Mission and help the Saints become self-sufficient in a hostile land. Never did I hear any connection between "Dixie" and the injustices of the old South. I did find a people who were proud of their pioneer ancestry; a people and community bonded together by the values of honesty, charity, family, hard work, church, country and individual and collective responsibility,

I assume that sense of community inclusiveness and mutual support would have been the same if other names had been chosen for the high school and college.

The current divisiveness over political correctness regarding the name of Dixie College would be foreign to the mothers and fathers of the traditions that became the Dixie spirit. I wonder, should the name of Dixie College be changed, will some future wave of political correctness find it offensive and once again divide the community and further erode the Dixie spirit?

Jack Burr

Koosharem