Tradition is important. All regions of this country have their own traditions and they are proud of them.

The University of Mississippi is no exception. It is proud of its rich heritage and traditions, and unfortunately the powers that be in Oxford and outside the beautiful campus are doing all they can to silence those traditions.

We are referring to the disbandment of Colonel Reb as the school’s official mascot and replacing it with other possible mascots that have nothing to do with the school’s name, the Rebels.

Colonel Reb, who has a gray beard and hair and struts the field on game days on a cane and floppy hat, was designed in the 1930s and served as the athletics teams’ official or near-official mascot from 1979 to 2003.

In 2003, the administration eliminated Colonel Reb from the sidelines at Ole Miss athletic events as the on-the-field mascot, though he was allowed at tailgating and other unofficial university functions.

Those who argued for replacing Colonel Reb said he reminded people of a white plantation owner.

These same people who took Colonel Reb off the field let the winds of political correctness get the best of them, which is very unfortunate when poll after poll indicates that students and alumni overwhelmingly want Colonel Reb back on the field.

Some Southerners may be offended by the New York Yankees name, but they don’t raise a fuss because that is part of the Northern culture. Southerners, like people from other regions of this country, respect their customs and traditions and all they ask is that they be allowed to continue those traditions.

This should not be a racial issue. It should be about Mississippi being proud of its school’s traditions and wanting to keep a decades-old mascot.

The university is in the process of selecting another mascot to replace Colonel Reb. The candidates are the Rebel Black Bear, the Rebel Land Shark and the Hotty Toddy, a character in a gray suit with built-in muscles and a stern-looking face mask.

These seem weak to replace a mascot that has three-quarters of a century of traditions behind it.

The winds of political correctness have landed in Oxford, and they are not going to stop until every last vestige of that school’s Southern heritage is destroyed.

Groups like the Colonel Reb Foundation and thousands of alumni are fighting this change to get their beloved mascot back on the field.

They understandably want to protect their mascot from the politically correct crowd.

If this group gets its way, their next target could be our very own Kentucky Colonel.