Following the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, many states with statues honoring Confederate leaders made the decision to take them down. Similarly, schools named after people who played an important role in the Confederacy were renamed.
However, a school district in Virginia recently voted to reinstate the names of two schools four years after the district renamed the schools in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement.
On Friday, the Shenandoah County school board voted 5-1 to reverse a 2020 decision that renamed Stonewall Jackson High as School Mountain View High School and Ashby Lee Elementary as Honey Run Elementary.
The decision, which was expected in the more than 90 percent white county, reversed a previous “knee-jerk” response to the 2020 protests.
During a public meeting, both supporters and those in opposition of the name change expressed their opinions.
“It is your job to make our schools a place where all students are valued and respected,” Aliyah Ogle, a Black eighth grader and athlete at Mountain View High School said. “If this board decides to restore the names, I would not feel like I was valued and respected and you would not be doing your job.”
Meanwhile, Tom Streett, one of the board members who voted for the reinstatement said, “When you read about this man — who he was, what he stood for, his character, his loyalty, his leadership, how Godly a man he was — those standards that he had were much higher than any leadership of the school system in 2020.”
Those in attendance argued board members were not listening to the citizens of the county, but instead listening to “the opinions of woke outsiders.”
“When you vote on the name restorations, will you listen to the opinions of woke outsiders who have for the most part no ties to the land, the history, or the culture of this county?” Stuart Didawick asked. “Or will you listen to the voices of the people who elected you to represent them, the people whose families built and have sustained this county for generations?”
On the other hand, Stephanie Bullock Smith, a Black woman who graduated from Stonewall Jackson High School in 1983 said, “Please do not go back in history. We don’t need that. Our children don’t need that either.”
Should the schools revert back to their original names that honor Confederate leaders? Share your thoughts with us on Facebook.
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