Virginia NAACP sues over restoration of Confederate names to two schools

The Virginia NAACP sued a county school board on Tuesday over its reinstatement of Confederate military names at two schoolsaccusing him of embracing segregationist values ​​and subjecting black students to a racially discriminatory educational environment.

The Shenandoah County School Board 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 in a scenario of nationwide protests against racial injustice.

The federal lawsuit claims that black students make up less than 3% of the school system’s population. The 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 President Dennis C. Barlow.

The NAACP wrote that students will be “forced, against their will, to endorse the violent defense of slavery persecuted by the Confederacy and the symbolism these images have in the modern white supremacist movement.”

For example, the lawsuit said that a freshman, who is black, would be forced to play sports as a member of Stonewall Jackson’s “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 does not fully participate in school sports or other activities, she could lose future opportunities, including playing college sports, according to the lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court in Harrisonburg.

The NAACP alleges that Confederate school names violate students’ First Amendment rights, which include the right “not to express an opinion with which a person disagrees.” It also cites the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, 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 across the country, was not aware of another case of a school system restoring a Confederate name that had been removed, said the senior intelligence analyst. research Rivka Maizlish in May.

Overall, the tendency to remove Confederate names and memorials has continued, even if it has slowed down a bit since 2020, she said, noting that the Army has renamed nine installations named after Confederate leaders and removed a Confederate memorial from Arlington National Cemetery.

Restoration of Confederate names remains controversial

Shenandoah County school board members who voted in May to restore Confederate names said they were honoring popular sentiment in the community. They said previous council members who voted to remove the names in 2020 ignored constituents and due process on the matter.

Elections in 2023 significantly changed the makeup of the school board, 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 in anyone’s memory.”

That board member, Gloria Carlineo, said during a board meeting in May that opponents of Confederate names should “stop bringing racism and bigotry into everything” because it “diminishes the true instances of racism.”

The only board member to vote against restoring the Confederate names, Kyle Gutshall, said he respected both sides of the debate but believed the majority of residents in his district wanted to keep the names Mountain View and Honey Run.

“I don’t judge anyone or look down on anyone for the decision they’re making,” he said. “It’s a complex issue.”

During several hours of public comment, county residents spoke on both sides of the issue.

Beth Ogle, a mother 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 longtime county resident, said the name Stonewall Jackson “stood proudly for 60 years until 2020,” when, he said, the “actions of a rogue police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota,” led to a movement to change the name, a reference to the murder of George Floyd, which sparked protests and debates across the country about racial injustice.

Details about people whose names schools will carry again

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 being shot and having his arm amputated. Jackson’s name was also removed from another high school in Prince William County, Virginia in 2020. That school was renamed Unity Reed High School.

Ashby Lee was named for General Robert E. Lee, a Virginia native who commanded Confederate forces, and Turner Ashby, a Confederate cavalry officer who was killed in battle in 1862 near Harrisonburg. A high school near Harrisonburg is also named after 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 about 100 miles 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 Joe Biden won Virginia by 10 points.