UNLV Mascot Change Isn't Necessary

Last week, a tragedy of massive proportions took place in Charleston, South Carolina. That we still have major divides when it comes to race in America is absolutely factual, and despite what some want us to believe, it hasn't gotten much better in many ways in the last 50 years. Anyone who believes differently is living under a rock. Racism is alive and well in this country, of that there is no doubt.
I am not going to go into any thoughts on the young idiot and personification of evil did last week, because he doesn't need any more press than he has already illegitimately received. He may not have gotten his race war, but he is more famous, even though infamous, than he deserves. Thanks for that main stream media.
I hate that we are still in this place in America today, where there are bastards that still believe in white supremacy, or the supremacy of any one group over another when it comes to race and class. It's ridiculous, stupid, senseless, and just beyond evil.
That being said, there was a call from Senator Harry Reid today for UNLV to change their Rebel mascot. I believe this to be a massive case of knee jerk reaction for several reasons. When you look at the UNLV mascot (Hey Reb is its name), one can see several differences from what one would see as a confederate. For one thing, the confederate flag is nowhere to be seen in any incarnation of the mascot. Hey Reb looks like an old confederate soldier, however that's all there is. There is literally no other mention of the confederacy, of racist images, of anything that could possibly offend anyone. The reality is that anyone can be a Rebel, not just a confederate. It means many things to be a Rebel, and it's not an automatic assumption that racism has anything to do with it, or at least, it shouldn't.
That said, I absolutely believe that the confederate flag should be removed from any icon representing the south, especially the flag that hangs over the state capital in South Carolina. The confederate flag was an insignia of an ideal where slavery and racism was at the very heart of it. The term Rebel was very much stolen by the confederacy to represent their views on "property" holding, which included owning human beings.
The confederate flag and the ideals it represented were openly defeated during our civil war. That being the case, the flag that represented the confederacy should be put to rest and eliminated from the face of the earth, not flown above a state capital, nor worn as a fashion statement. It should go the way of the Nazi swastika and the Soviet sickle and hammer.
Hey Reb represents none of those things, unlike Ole Miss using the confederate flag for years as their very logo. If UNLV agrees to such a thing, it's just more meaningless measures of PC and knee jerk crap that we are oversaturated with on a regular basis. It has nothing to do with anything, and should be left well enough alone. Even Ole Miss made adjustments to how they represent themselves. Take down the flag, make it go away, but leave non-offensive mascots alone. How about fixing our racism, gun issues, and mental health issues instead. That would be a Senator actually doing something meaningful. That's actually doing your job.