The Shenandoah County School Board in Virginia will restore the names of Confederate generals Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, Robert E. Lee and Turner Ashby to two local schools. The controversial reversal comes nearly four years after the names were changed.
Mountain View High School will revert to its former name, Stonewall Jackson High School, and Honey Run Elementary School will go back to being Ashby-Lee Elementary School.
A handful of students attended the meeting, including several who said the current names represent inclusion and progress and should be kept.
“School board minutes from 1959 reveal that the decision to name our school after Stonewall Jackson was a product of massive resistance,” said student Pria Dua, referring to an era when Virginia’s leaders were aggressively fighting attempts to racially integrate the state’s schools.
“I acknowledge that the community has been left divided and unhappy over the initial name change,” Dua said. But, she asked the board, “By taking this step backward in 2024, what foot are we putting forward? What legacy are you leaving behind for my generation to inherit?”
Another student, Eden Shelhamer, criticized the board for investing time and energy into what she called a “clearly divisive argument” at the expense of important issues, while also seeming to refuse to consider students’ opinions.
“The fact that this discussion is receiving a disproportionately vast amount of attention from the county deeply disappoints me,” she said, “and leads me to wonder whether we are operating in the interests of our students or the preservation of our parents’ pride.”
Aliyah Ogle, a Black eighth grader and athlete who plays three sports for Mountain View High School, spoke about the possibility of having to compete under Stonewall Jackson’s name.
“I would have to represent a man that fought for my ancestors to be slaves,” she said, adding that she would feel as if she’s being disrespectful both to her ancestors and her family’s values.
Carter Heishman, an eighth grader who is an athlete and a member of Future Farmers of America, also asked the board to restore the Stonewall Jackson name.
“I would like to wear a name that I’m proud of,” he said. “Not only do I want to have my FFA jacket say Stonewall as I enter high school, but I would also love to have my jerseys — which I wear all year round — say Stonewall.”
R&I ~ MJM
Conservative-Minion
Article URL : https://www.npr.org/2024/05/10/1250446827/virginia-confederate-school-names-restored