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TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (WHNT) — A group in Tuscaloosa says the word “Dixie” should be removed from the University of Alabama’s (UA) fight song and replaced with “a more appropriate term.”

The Delete Dixie Initiative (DDI) says the word “Dixie” should be changed for something else, providing the example “Bama” as a replacement word.

The group says the term “Dixie” has been “used in a direct or indirect reference to the Confederacy and the institution of slavery.”

They say the best-known use of the word comes from minstrel performances of the 1859 song “Dixie,” with white performers dressed in blackface. The song then became “wildly popular” in the South, and was played during the inauguration of Jefferson Davis, the first and only president of the Confederacy, according to DDI.

The group says the song then became a staple for Ku Klux Klan groups, along with the Confederate flag and “other racially insensitive iconography.”

The effort is endorsed by UA’s Social Work Association for Cultural Awareness (SWACA) and the Black Faculty and Staff Association (BFSA), according to deteledixie.com.

According to UA’s website, the song is “well-represented in campus culture.”

Few tunes are more recognizable on campus than The University of Alabama Fight Song.

From scores at athletic events to class presentations, the Alabama Fight Song is well-represented in campus culture. This song will give you a sense of pride in your campus and team that you never had before. If you don’t know it yet, don’t worry — you’ll pick it up quickly because it is played at every score at a sporting event, and the Tide tends to score a lot!

The University of Alabama’s website

The website then listed the full lyrics to the song.

DDI stressed they do not want to ban the famous song, “Dixieland Delight,” stating in part, “That song is not officially associated with The University of Alabama, unlike the use of “dixie” in our fight song.”

News 19 reached out to The University of Alabama for an official comment on the effort to remove the word from the fight song.