The names of Confederate military leaders will be restored to two public schools following a school board vote in Shenandoah County, Virginia.
By a 5-1 vote, the school board reversed a 2020 decision to change the names of schools, which will once again honor traitorous generals who fought for slavery: Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee and Turner Ashby.
The board had stripped their names amid protests over the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. At the time, the board moved to change the names in another 5-1 vote, stating that it was committed to “condemning racism" and "an inclusive school environment for all.”
What is today Mountain View High School will revert to being called Stonewall Jackson High School. Honey Run Elementary School will likewise be returning to its previous name, Ashby-Lee Elementary School.
The conservative group, “Coalition for Better Schools," had petitioned school officials to change back the names, claiming that “revisiting this decision is essential to honor our community’s heritage and respect the wishes of the majority,” they wrote in their April 3 letter, NBC News reported.
Before the decision was made, a black student had urged the school board not to rename the schools after people who supported the enslavement of Africans and their descendants.
"I would have to represent a man that fought for my ancestors to be slaves," the student said. "I think it is unfair to me that restoring the names is up for discussion."
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