If you’re going to create a new mascot, you’ve gotta talk to the experts. In this episode, Akilah speaks with the creators of Benny the Bull, the Chicago Bulls’ mascot, and Gritty, the Philadelphia Flyers mascot, about how to successfully bring a new mascot to life.

If you’re going to create a new mascot, you’ve gotta talk to the experts. In this episode, Akilah speaks with the creators of Benny the Bull, the Chicago Bulls’ mascot, and Gritty, the Philadelphia Flyers mascot, about how to successfully bring a new mascot to life.

In Season Two of Rebel Spirit, Akilah Hughes picks up where her battle to change her high school’s Confederate mascot left off and quickly realizes the problem was never just a mascot. Shifting from her high school still clinging to the “Rebels” name to the long fight over a Jefferson Davis statue in the Kentucky State Capitol, Season Two expands into a sharp, funny, and deeply reported investigation into how America decides what, and who, it chooses to honor. Along the way, Akilah speaks with politicians from both sides of the aisle about their support for change, historians who help contextualize the fight to remove Confederate monuments, and artists who are part of building monuments their whole community can be proud of. All in an effort to answer this season's big question, if we’re willing to tear down racist monuments, why is it so hard to replace them with something better? 

In Season Two of Rebel Spirit, Akilah Hughes picks up where her battle to change her high school&rsquo;s Confederate mascot left off and quickly realizes the problem was never just a mascot. Shifting from her high school still clinging to the &ldquo;Rebels&rdquo; name to the long fight over a Jefferson Davis statue in the Kentucky State Capitol, Season Two expands into a sharp, funny, and deeply reported investigation into how America decides what, and who, it chooses to honor. Along the way, Akilah speaks with politicians from both sides of the aisle about their support for change, historians who help contextualize the fight to remove Confederate monuments, and artists who are part of building monuments their whole community can be proud of. All in an effort to answer this season's big question, if we&rsquo;re willing to tear down racist monuments, why is it so hard to replace them with something better?&nbsp;

Rebel Spirit

Episode 5: Mascots

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/125c9d11-c98f-48eb-b1ee-b1f601525d9d/transcript

In our final episode of Season 2, Akilah reflects on the journey of replacing the Jefferson Davis statue in the Kentucky State House and everything she has learned along the way through incredible conversations with our guests. Sometimes the journey has been slow and frustrating, but it has been exceedingly worth the effort. Even if progress takes time, plant the flag. You don't have to be the one who sees it fly. 

Rebel Spirit is a production of Ninth Planet Audio in association with iHeart Podcasts. 

Reporting and writing by me, Akilah Hughes. I’m also the host and Executive Producer. 

Produced and written by Dan Sinker. 

Edited and mixed by Rudy Jansen.

Executive Producers for Ninth Planet Audio are Elizabeth Baquet and Jimmy Miller. 

Executive Producer for iHeart Podcasts is Cristina Everett. 

Special thanks to all our guests this season.

If you want to get in touch, email us at rebelspiritpodcast@gmail.com. 

And be sure to check out our website, where you can also buy merch, rebelspiritpodcast.com

 

In our final episode of Season 2, Akilah reflects on the journey of replacing the Jefferson Davis statue in the Kentucky State House and everything she has learned along the way through incredible conversations with our guests. Sometimes the journey has been slow and frustrating, but it has been exceedingly worth the effort. Even if progress takes time, plant the flag. You don't have to be the one who sees it fly.&nbsp;
Rebel Spirit is a production of Ninth Planet Audio in association with iHeart Podcasts.&nbsp;
Reporting and writing by me, Akilah Hughes. I&rsquo;m also the host and Executive Producer.&nbsp;
Produced and written by Dan Sinker.&nbsp;
Edited and mixed by Rudy Jansen.
Executive Producers for Ninth Planet Audio are Elizabeth Baquet and Jimmy Miller.&nbsp;
Executive Producer for iHeart Podcasts is Cristina Everett.&nbsp;
Special thanks to all our guests this season.
If you want to get in touch, email us at&nbsp;rebelspiritpodcast@gmail.com.&nbsp;
And be sure to check out our website, where you can also buy merch, <a href="http://rebelspiritpodcast.com/">rebelspiritpodcast.com</a>
&nbsp;

Episode 10: The Flags We Plant

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/e1e72158-c4f4-474f-ad80-b4c2013469b9/transcript

Still slightly reeling from last week's revelations, Akilah takes a step back to look more broadly at the role monuments play in telling our country's full history. Through a conversation with Hamza Walker, director of The Brick and co-curator of 'Monuments' - an exhibit in Los Angeles that displays decommissioned monuments, many of them Confederate, alongside modern works of art - Akilah learns more about the ways we view monuments and how that can shape their value in telling the truth about history.  

Rebel Spirit is a production of Ninth Planet Audio in association with iHeart Podcasts. 

Reporting and writing by me, Akilah Hughes. I’m also the host and Executive Producer. 

Produced and written by Dan Sinker. 

Edited and mixed by Rudy Jansen.

Executive Producers for Ninth Planet Audio are Elizabeth Baquet and Jimmy Miller. 

Executive Producer for iHeart Podcasts is Cristina Everett.

Special thanks to our guest this episode, Hamza Walker. 

Reporting from The President's House in Philadelphia by Helen Ubinas.

If you want to get in touch, email us at rebelspiritpodcast@gmail.com. 

And be sure to check out our website, where you can also buy merch, rebelspiritpodcast.com

 

Still slightly reeling from last week's revelations, Akilah takes a step back to look more broadly at the role monuments play in telling our country's full history. Through a conversation with Hamza Walker, director of The Brick and co-curator of 'Monuments' - an exhibit in Los Angeles that displays decommissioned monuments, many of them Confederate, alongside modern works of art - Akilah learns more about the ways we view monuments and how that can shape their value in telling the truth about history.&nbsp;&nbsp;
Rebel Spirit is a production of Ninth Planet Audio in association with iHeart Podcasts.&nbsp;
Reporting and writing by me, Akilah Hughes. I&rsquo;m also the host and Executive Producer.&nbsp;
Produced and written by Dan Sinker.&nbsp;
Edited and mixed by Rudy Jansen.
Executive Producers for Ninth Planet Audio are Elizabeth Baquet and Jimmy Miller.&nbsp;
Executive Producer for iHeart Podcasts is Cristina Everett.
Special thanks to our guest this episode, Hamza Walker.&nbsp;
Reporting from The President's House in Philadelphia by Helen Ubinas.
If you want to get in touch, email us at&nbsp;rebelspiritpodcast@gmail.com.&nbsp;
And be sure to check out our website, where you can also buy merch, <a href="http://rebelspiritpodcast.com/">rebelspiritpodcast.com</a>
&nbsp;

Episode 9: You Can't Hide History

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/e6988044-30c9-410a-81e9-b4c20133cf93/transcript

After a shocking new development in her efforts to replace the Jefferson Davis statue in the Kentucky State Capitol, Akilah learns you sometimes have to be careful what you wish for. 

Rebel Spirit is a production of Ninth Planet Audio in association with iHeart Podcasts. 

Reporting and writing by me, Akilah Hughes. I’m also the host and Executive Producer. 

Produced and written by Dan Sinker. 

Edited and mixed by Rudy Jansen.

Executive Producers for Ninth Planet Audio are Elizabeth Baquet and Jimmy Miller. 

Executive Producer for iHeart Podcasts is Cristina Everett.

Special thanks to our guests this episode, Jamelle Bouie and Joe Sonka. 

If you want to get in touch, email us at rebelspiritpodcast@gmail.com. 

And be sure to check out our website, where you can also buy merch, rebelspiritpodcast.com

 

After a shocking new development in her efforts to replace the Jefferson Davis statue in the Kentucky State Capitol, Akilah learns you sometimes have to be careful what you wish for.&nbsp;
Rebel Spirit is a production of Ninth Planet Audio in association with iHeart Podcasts.&nbsp;
Reporting and writing by me, Akilah Hughes. I&rsquo;m also the host and Executive Producer.&nbsp;
Produced and written by Dan Sinker.&nbsp;
Edited and mixed by Rudy Jansen.
Executive Producers for Ninth Planet Audio are Elizabeth Baquet and Jimmy Miller.&nbsp;
Executive Producer for iHeart Podcasts is Cristina Everett.
Special thanks to our guests this episode, Jamelle Bouie and Joe Sonka.&nbsp;
If you want to get in touch, email us at&nbsp;rebelspiritpodcast@gmail.com.&nbsp;
And be sure to check out our website, where you can also buy merch, <a href="http://rebelspiritpodcast.com/">rebelspiritpodcast.com</a>
&nbsp;

Episode 8: Son Of A Mitch

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/9559d9bf-8c98-4c7c-b779-b4c20132ef35/transcript

Episode 5: Mascots

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