Current:Home > Contact-usVirginia NAACP sues school board for reinstating Confederate names-LoTradeCoin
Virginia NAACP sues school board for reinstating Confederate names
View Date:2024-12-23 15:35:59
The Virginia NAACP sued a county school board Tuesday over its reinstatement of Confederate military names to two schools, accusing it of embracing segregationist values and subjecting Black students to a racially discriminatory educational environment.
The school board in Shenandoah County voted 5-1 last month to revert the name of Mountain View High School back to Stonewall Jackson High School, and that of Honey Run Elementary to Ashby Lee Elementary. The vote reversed a 2020 decision to remove the original names against a backdrop of nationwide protests over racial injustice.
The federal lawsuit states that Black students compose less than 3% of the school system’s population. Plaintiffs include five students — identified by their initials and described as Black, white and biracial — and their parents.
The Associated Press sent an email seeking comment to school board chair Dennis C. Barlow.
The NAACP wrote that students will be “required against their will to endorse the violent defense of slavery pursued by the Confederacy and the symbolism that these images have in the modern White supremacist movement.”
For example, the lawsuit said an incoming freshman, who is Black, would be forced to play sports as a member of the Stonewall Jackson “Generals.” And she would have to wear a uniform “adorned with a name and logo that symbolizes hatred, White supremacy, and Massive Resistance to integration.”
If the student doesn’t fully participate in school sports or other activities, she may miss out on future opportunities, including playing college sports, according to the lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court in Harrisonburg.
The NAACP alleges that the Confederate school names violate the students’ First Amendment rights, which include the right “not to express a view with which a person disagrees.” It also cites the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause, which “prohibits racial discrimination in state-supported institutions.”
The Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project, which maintains a database of more than 2,000 Confederate memorials nationwide, was not aware of another case of a school system restoring a Confederate name that was removed, senior research analyst Rivka Maizlish said in May.
Overall, the trend of removing Confederate names and memorials has continued, even if it has slowed somewhat since 2020, she said, noting that the Army renamed nine installations named for Confederate leaders, and removed a Confederate memorial from Arlington National Cemetery.
The school board members in Shenandoah County who had voted in May to restore the Confederate names said they were honoring popular community sentiment. They said the previous board members who had removed the names in 2020 had ignored constituents and due process on the matter.
Elections in 2023 significantly changed the school board’s makeup, with one board member writing in an op-ed for the Northern Virginia Daily that the results gave Shenandoah County “the first 100% conservative board since anyone can remember.”
That board member, Gloria Carlineo, said during a board meeting in May that opponents of the Confederate names should “stop bringing racism and prejudice into everything” because it “detracts from true cases of racism.”
The lone board member to vote against restoring the Confederate names, Kyle Gutshall, said he respected both sides of the debate but believed a majority of residents in his district wanted to leave the Mountain View and Honey Run names in place.
“I don’t judge anybody or look down on anybody for the decision they’re making,” he said. “It’s a complex issue.”
During several hours of public comment, county residents spoke up on both sides of the issue.
Beth Ogle, a parent and longtime resident, said restoring the Confederate names is “a statement to the world that you do not value the dignity and respect of your minority students, faculty and staff.”
Kenny Wakeman, a lifelong county resident, said the Stonewall Jackson name “stood proudly for 60 years until 2020,” when he said the “actions of a rogue police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota,” prompted a move to change the name, a reference to the killing of George Floyd that sparked nationwide protests and debate over racial injustice.
Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson was a Confederate general from Virginia who gained fame at the First Battle of Bull Run near Manassas in 1861 and died in 1863 after he was shot and had his arm amputated. Jackson’s name was also removed from another high school in Virginia’s Prince William County in 2020. That school was renamed Unity Reed High School.
Ashby Lee is named for both Gen. Robert E. Lee, a Virginia native who commanded Confederate forces, and for Turner Ashby, a Confederate cavalry officer who was killed in battle in 1862 near Harrisonburg. A high school near Harrisonburg is also named for Ashby.
The resolution approved by the school board states that private donations would be used to pay for the name changes.
Shenandoah County, a largely rural jurisdiction with a population of about 45,000, roughly 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of Washington, D.C., has long been politically conservative. In 2020, Republican Donald Trump won 70% of the presidential vote in Shenandoah, even as Biden won Virginia by 10 points.
veryGood! (28696)
Related
- Judge hears case over Montana rule blocking trans residents from changing sex on birth certificate
- Dozens of Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes in Rafah
- Hallmark's When Calls the Heart galvanized an online community of millions, called Hearties
- Everything you need to know about Selection Sunday as March Madness appears on the horizon
- QTM Community Introduce
- These 'America's Next Top Model' stars reunited at Pamella Roland's NYFW show: See photos
- Labor board gives Dartmouth’s trustees more time to appeal as athletes prepare for union vote
- The best and worst Super Bowl commercials of 2024: Watch this year's outlier ads
- Watch: Military dad's emotional return after a year away
- Channing Tatum Steps Out for Rare Red Carpet Appearance With Daughter Everly
Ranking
- Artem Chigvintsev Returns to Dancing With the Stars Ballroom Amid Nikki Garcia Divorce
- Jon Stewart’s return to ‘The Daily Show’ felt familiar to those who missed him while he was away
- Sally Field says 'Steel Magnolias' director was 'very hard' on Julia Roberts: 'It was awful'
- Why Hoda Kotb's Daughter Called Out Travis Kelce for Heated Super Bowl Exchange With Coach Andy Reid
- Fighting conspiracy theories with comedy? That’s what the Onion hopes after its purchase of Infowars
- Wisconsin Assembly to consider eliminating work permit requirement for 14- and 15-year-olds
- Officials are looking into why an American Airlines jetliner ran off the end of a Texas runway
- 'I Love You So Much It's Killing Us Both' is a rare, genuinely successful rock novel
Recommendation
-
Review: 'Emilia Pérez' is the most wildly original film you'll see in 2024
-
Ex-aide to former Illinois House Speaker Madigan gets 2.5 years for perjury
-
4.8 magnitude earthquake among over a dozen shakes registered in Southern California overnight
-
Trump attends closed-door hearing in classified documents case
-
Today Reveals Hoda Kotb's Replacement
-
Tom Brady Weighs In on Travis Kelce and Andy Reid’s Tense Super Bowl Moment
-
Paul Giamatti, 2024 Oscars nominee for The Holdovers
-
Tom Brady Weighs In on Travis Kelce and Andy Reid’s Tense Super Bowl Moment