The Shenandoah County School Board in Virginia has decided to restore the names of Confederate generals Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, Robert E. Lee, and Turner Ashby to two local schools. This is a controversial reversal nearly four years after the names were changed amid nationwide protests calling for a reckoning over racial injustice after the murder of George Floyd.
Mountain View High School will once again be called Stonewall Jackson High School, while Honey Run Elementary School will revert to Ashby-Lee Elementary School. NPR reports that the school board approved this change by a 5-1 vote, with proponents arguing that the removal of the Confederate figures’ names in 2020 was a “knee-jerk” response to protests following George Floyd’s murder by police.
However, opponents, including some current students, cautioned that restoring the Confederate names would associate the schools and their county with regressive, racist ideologies. The debate over the name change began last month, marking the second attempt to restore the names after a failed try in 2022.
During the meeting, several students, including Pria Dua and Eden Shelhamer, expressed concerns about the divisive nature of the argument and urged the board to consider the impact on students’ perspectives and values.
“School board minutes from 1959 reveal that the decision to name our school after Stonewall Jackson was a product of massive resistance,” said Dua, referring to an era when Virginia’s leaders aggressively fought attempts to 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?”
“The fact that this discussion is receiving a disproportionately vast amount of attention from the county deeply disappoints me,” Shelhamer 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, highlighted the discomfort she would feel representing a figure who fought for her ancestors’ enslavement.
“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.
“It is your job to make our schools a place where all students are valued and respected,” Ogle said. She later added, “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.”
Some residents, like Stuart Didawick, advocated for restoring the Confederate names based on their familial ties to the community.” We are the majority,” Didawick said, “that’s the way the government works.” He added, “This board has a moral and ethical obligation to the citizens you represent to undo the dirtiest, most underhanded political stunt in the history of Shenandoah County politics.”
Other residents pushed back on that notion and emphasized the importance of moving forward and not dwelling on divisive historical legacies.
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