XPost: va.politics, alt.education, sac.politics   
   XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, talk.politics.guns   
   From: jbrady@amazon.com   
      
   A Virginia school board has approved a motion for two schools to revert to   
   their Confederate names following a debate that bitterly divided a town.   
      
   The Shenandoah County School Board voted 5-1 to reinstate the names of   
   Stonewall Jackson High and Ashby-Lee Elementary in Quicksburg.   
      
   Community members had been pushing for a reversal, arguing the 2020 name   
   change was unpopular.   
      
   The vote marked the first such U-turn anywhere in the US.   
      
   A large crowd flocked to the school board's public meeting on Thursday to   
   listen to a series of arguments from residents on both sides of the issue.   
      
   Following the May 2020 murder of George Floyd and a summer of racial   
   justice unrest, Virginia and other states took down Confederate statues   
   from public spaces.   
      
   In a letter to school board chairs across the state, then-Democratic   
   Governor Ralph Northam said: "It is time to change school names and   
   mascots that memorialize Confederate leaders or sympathizers."   
      
   The Shenandoah County School Board took action three days later, moving to   
   rename Stonewall Jackson High as Mountain View High, and Ashby-Lee   
   Elementary as Honey Run Elementary.   
      
   The schools were named after Confederate generals Robert E Lee and   
   Stonewall Jackson, and cavalry commander Turner Ashby.   
      
   In doing so, the six-member panel also approved a resolution condemning   
   racism and affirming its "commitment to an inclusive school environment   
   for all".   
      
   But some critics slammed the renaming effort as a hasty and undemocratic   
   move, and have since attempted to restore the schools' Confederate names   
   as local elections reshaped the school board.   
      
   A 2022 vote on the matter failed by a tied 3-3 vote - but the three who   
   voted against the move have since been replaced on the school board.   
      
   In April, a local conservative community group, the Coalition for Better   
   Schools, brought up the request again, pointing to citizen surveys it   
   conducted that "indicate overwhelming support for this restoration".   
      
   "These groups hold historical significance," the group wrote in a letter   
   to the school board, and "revisiting this decision is essential to honor   
   our community's heritage and respect the wishes of the majority."   
      
   According to local media, the group says it will raise private funds to   
   cover expenses related to the name reversal, such as changing school   
   signage.   
      
   Its effort is drawing attention across the state, with the Virginia   
   chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People   
   (NAACP), a civil rights organisation, urging the school board in a letter   
   on Wednesday to "use your power in a way that positively impacts all your   
   district's children and their families".   
      
   Neil Thorne, a local resident campaigning against the U-turn with a group   
   called Claim the Names, warned "it will indelibly damage our community's   
   reputation".   
      
   Minority members of the community still recall when Stonewall Jackson High   
   was "whites-only" and they had to be bussed to schools in adjacent   
   counties, he said.   
      
   "The naming of these schools was not incidental but reflected the   
   segregated policies of the time," he said in a statement.   
      
   "The people who suffered through this are not past strangers - they are   
   people we know, they are our friends and neighbours."   
      
   Shenandoah County, in northern Virginia, was once a stronghold of the pro-   
   slavery South, with its ample valley providing food, security and   
   transportation advantages.   
      
   During the US Civil War, Confederate forces waged several successful   
   military campaigns against the Union army there.   
      
   The county is now home to more than 44,000 people, and is predominantly   
   white.   
      
   Black residents often live and work in towns where Confederate flags are   
   displayed on front porches. Many of those who fly the banner defend it as   
   a celebration of heritage, not a symbol of hatred.   
      
   https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-68985412   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)