Two Virginia schools vote to reinstate Confederate names: Axios
3 Min Read
The Shenandoah County School Board has voted 5-1 in favor, four years after the racial justice protests erupted following the murder of George Floyd.
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The South Carolina and American flags fly at half-staff behind the Confederate flag, in front of the State House in Columbia, South Carolina on June 19, 2015. (AFP)
A school board in Virginia has voted to reinstate the original Confederate names of two public schools in the state – Mountain View High School and Honey Run Elementary School, in a recent first since the removal of Confederate symbols from US institutions and public spaces in 2020.
The Shenandoah County School Board voted 5-1 in favor, four years after the racial justice protests erupted following the murder of George Floyd, reversing the board's 2020 decision to remove the local elementary and high schools' association with Civil War-era Confederate leaders Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee, and Turner Ashby.
But now, Mountain View High School will be called Stonewall Jackson High School and Honey Run Elementary School will become Ashby-Lee Elementary School.
Following this decision, the local conservative group, Coalition for Better Schools, justified the board's move, saying that they "believe that revisiting this decision is essential to honor our community's heritage and respect the wishes of the majority."
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Turner Ashby served as a Confederate cavalry commander who enslaved African Americans and called for violence against Northern abolitionists, according to Axios' justice and race reporter Russell Contreras. Ashby served under the leadership of Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, a general who owned six enslaved people.
"The funds required to implement the restoration must be provided by private donations exclusively and not be borne by the school system or government tax funds, though the SCPS [Shenandoah County Public Schools] will oversee disbursements relating to restoration costs," according to the motion that was executed.
Starting from the roots
In September of 2021, the largest Confederate monument in the US, which was a statue of Lee, was removed in Richmond, Virginia.
Then-President Donald Trump denounced the move, expressing that the takedown of the statue resembles the downfall of American culture. Moreover, he accused left "extremists" of demolishing the history of the state. He added that Americans ought not to permit that.
It's worth recalling that last year, the Department of Defense (DoD) confirmed that Pentagon officials are planning on renaming military infrastructure tied to the Confederate States of America at the beginning of 2024, which includes nine Army bases, two Navy ships, and more than 1,000 items on American military installations.
Approximately $21 million is planned to be put toward renaming the nine Army bases located in Southern states named after Confederate figures, including forts Benning, Gordon, Bragg, Hood, Rucker, Polk, AP Hill, Pickett, and Lee. Another $41 million will be designated for roads, signs, buildings, and street names.
In addition, at the time, the 220-year-old West Point Academy officials removed monuments and objects that “commemorate or memorialize the Confederacy.”
It began a “multi-phase” process over the holidays to abolish all 13 references and monuments at the Academy that glorify the Confederacy, including a portrait of former West Point Superintendent Gen. Robert E. Lee.
