Back in 2020, after the murder of George Floyd, a national movement started to eliminate racist iconography. This was done primarily by removing statues of figures we now understand were racist as well as renaming things. Sports teams were renamed, schools were renamed, even musical groups changed names. Those in opposition to these actions often argued that these changes were attempts at erasing the history of the United States while others in support of these actions argued it was not changing history but instead un-memorializing bad people.

One such area that underwent change was Shenandoah County in Virginia. Two of the schools in the county were named after Confederate leaders leading up to 2020 but were changed by the middle of the year. Stonewall Jackson High School became Mountain View High School and Ashby-Lee (named after Turner Ashby and Robert E. Lee) Elementary School became Honey Run Elementary School. Ever since the name change, a right wing group known as the Coalition for Better Schools has been trying to reinstate the old names. After a recent school board vote in the county, they won.

The measure to restore the old names of the schools passed with a 5-1 vote.

This is not the first time a measure has been proposed regarding a similar issue. Previously in 2022, the school board voted on a similar measure; however, it lost due to a tie vote. Ironically, this attempt passed in a 5-1 vote, which is the same vote that the measure to change the names passed in. The board who passed this reverting bill claimed that the previous school board changed the school names “hastily and without community input.” This time, there was lots of community input with around 80 people speaking at the school board’s meeting.

More than half of those who spoke were against the reinstatement of the old names.

Most of the people who spoke at the meeting argued that reinstating the old names served no actual purpose. There has been no harm from the new names, in fact if anything there has been only positives. The schools have become safer places for students of color as they no longer feel uncomfortable knowing they represent a man who was actively against their existence. These voices were ignored when it came time to vote.