Virginia school board votes to restore names of Confederate leaders to schools
Virginia school board votes to restore names of Confederate leaders to schools
In the wake of George Floyd’s murder, a school board in northern Virginia stripped the names of Confederate military figures from two schools. Four years later, the board approved a motion to restore the names.
In the wake of George Floyd’s murder, a school board in northern Virginia stripped the names of Confederate military figures from two schools. Four years later, the board approved a motion to restore the names.
The school board in Shenandoah County, Virginia, early Friday approved a proposal that will restore the names of Confederate military leaders to two public schools.
The measure, which passed 5-1, reverses a previous board’s decision in 2020 to change the names of schools that had been linked to Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee and Turner Ashby, three men who led the pro-slavery Southern states during the Civil War.
Mountain View High School will go back to the name Stonewall Jackson High School. Honey Run Elementary School will go back to the name Ashby-Lee Elementary School.
The board stripped their names after a Minneapolis police officer murdered George Floyd, fueling a national racial reckoning. The calls for racial justice and equity inspired some communities to remove Confederate symbolism and statues of Confederate generals.
But in Shenandoah County, the conservative group Coalition for Better Schools petitioned school officials to reinstate the names of Jackson, Lee and Ashby. “We believe that revisiting this decision is essential to honor our community’s heritage and respect the wishes of the majority,” the coalition wrote in an April 3 letter to the board, according to a copy posted online.
But while he was alive, Lee stressed his belief that the country should move past the war. He swore allegiance to the Union and publicly decried southern separatism, whether militant or symbolic. “It's often forgotten that Lee himself, after the Civil War, opposed monuments, specifically Confederate war monuments.”
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/amp/nation/robert-e-lee-opposed-confederate-monuments
TFW the historical leader of the traitors is more patriotic than the modern republican voter.
I would recommend listening to the Behind the Bastards episodes on the guy.
As a fellow BtB fan, that was my first thought as well. No one should give a damn what Lee said regardless of what side he appears to be taking. He was a terrible person, a terrible general, and only ever seemed to do what he felt would benefit him the most personally.
It's the same reason I get annoyed seeing media portray Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, John Bolton, and Anthony Scaramucci, etc as a source of valid, balanced, and impartial viewpoints. We all saw what you guys did when you had control, but some of us don't forget as quickly as others. You're only concerned for your reputation and legacy and to preserve another chance to do what you did all over again.
Never listen to a traitor, me boys!
Their Confederate "heritage" lasted five years. The Obama administration lasted eight years. Maybe they need a Barack Hussein Obama elementary school to celebrate their heritage.
Wikipedia has a list of places named after each president. I see zero southern schools named after Obama. You might be on to something.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_educational_institutions_named_after_presidents_of_the_United_StatesI love that the only entry under Trump is Trump University.
Nixon gets two real schools.
Obama Magnet school in Jackson, MS?
Now now, that heritage was established after five years and has run for generations. Their heritage is picking fights they can't win, quitting because it wasn't easy, and being a bitch about it for generations.
Government buildings should not be named after enemies of the state.
Or losers.
My "heritage" involves kicking the shit out of their "heritage." Perhaps I should honor mine?
Uncle Sherman approves
There is no honor in anything relating to pro-slavery. Fuck those ignorant bastards.
"It's not hate, it's heritage!" The literal words said to my Asian wife driving through Virginia with her friend and their cousins seeing confederate flags painted on barn roofs. And yeah, it's a heritage of fucking pro-slavery. It's like when people say it was about economic policy...Well yeah, the Confederate economy was built on Slavery, so you're not wrong....but still not in the way you think you're right.
Never forget that ever state that seceded listed slavery, specifically superiority over black people as the reason for secession, codified slavery into law, and the CSA had a federal law stating that no state within the Confederacy could ever be allowed to become a free state.
Kinda puts a damper on the "states rights" argument.
Funny how their entire heritage is based around a bunch of guys who committed treason and only existed for 4-5 years over 150 years ago.
I’m just glad they never messed with the Adolf Hitler Center for Diversity.
"respect the wishes of the majority"
ffs
They left the word 'white' out of that sentence.
Except for when the majority didn't vote for their desired leader.
The tyranny of the majority more like. Fuck those racist traitors.
Johnson really fucked up post-war. From the perspective of those who saw the South’s principles as abhorrent and detestable. I’m sure he thought he did just fine, tho.
Not hanging those traitors was one of the largest fuckups in the nation's history.
100%
I see people blame Trump, Bush Jr, Reagan, and Nixon for our current political woes, and while not incorrect, how our country canceled Reconstruction and made peace with those who tore our nation apart to be cruel to those they felt were subhuman and gave them back their property and power is a slap in the face to what we supposedly stand for and is disrespectful to all those that died in the war and were formally enslaved before the war and systematically enslaved after it. We just acted like the whole thing never happened. And people wonder why that sentiment of racism, classism, and entitlement still persists...
We had a chance to do something, and we chose to just forget. Stories like this just show we still choose to forget, or worse yet, some people do remember, because they benefited in the long run.
Jackson and Lee were prominent, competent military leaders. Who is Ashby, though?
googles
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turner_Ashby
Some cavalry commander under Jackson. He doesn't sound like that big a deal.
Jackson and Lee were traitors.
I'm guessing he's a local boy where that school is.
That's a thought.
checks
I mean, same general region, northern Virginia, but not really his place of birth. Something like a hundred miles away.
It sounds like he was one of a number of people who got appointed via political connections.
I'd think that if one wanted to choose a Confederate military leader who did well, there'd be a lot of better choices. Like, the North-South division ran right next to Washington, DC, due to the Maryland/Virginia split, Richmond wasn't that far away, and so northern Virginia was the location of a lot of important Civil War stuff and my impression is that generally, Confederate forces in the east performed better than those in the west. So one would think that the northern Virginia region would have a lot of prominent options.
If you wanted to pick a Confederate cavalry commander, I'd think that I'd pick someone like J. E. B. Stuart, who really did outperform.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._E._B._Stuart
Like his intimate friend, Stonewall Jackson, General J. E. B. Stuart was a legendary figure and is considered one of the greatest cavalry commanders in American history. His friend from his federal army days, Union Major General John Sedgwick, said that Stuart was "the greatest cavalry officer ever foaled in America."[83]