Virginia School Board is Looking at Restoring Schools’ Names for Confederate Leaders

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May 31, 2022

A Virginia board is entertaining the idea of restoring the names of two schools.

The two schools in question, Mountain View High School and Honey Run Elementary School, were originally named Stonewall Jackson High School and Ashby-Lee Elementary School in honor of Confederate leaders Stonewall Jackson, Robert E. Lee, and Turner Ashby.

The school’s names were changed by the Shenandoah County School Board in 2020 after George Floyd’s death. However, these name changes have been met with opposition over the last two years. According to school board member Cynthia Walsh, several alumni and community members have voiced their disagreements with this decision to change the schools’ names.

At a board meeting that took place earlier this month, Vice Chair Dennis Barlow revealed that over 4,000 people have signed a petition demanding that the original school names be restored. 

Following the death of George Floyd in the summer of 2020, activist local and state governments have removed a multitude of monuments and statues of Confederate figures. In addition, several buildings, monuments, schools, and statues dedicated to Confederate leaders have been renamed. 

At the board meeting, the members decided that it would poll constituents on the question of changing the names of these schools back to their original names. 

The next school board meeting is set for June 9. 

While these matters may seem trivial, the removal and renaming of monumentals and renaming are one aspect of the culture war that the cultural Left is willing to fight. By removing or changing these artifacts of US history, the Left is engaging in a form of cultural conquest. 

In previous eras, a conquering civilization would knock over all of the monuments from the civilization they conquered and replace them with their own. This is the telltale sign of a society that is being conquered. While society has grown more civilized, conquests still take place albeit in more subtle forms that are seen in the broader culture. 

The Right should not downplay these cultural battles as mere distractions. These are existential battles that will determine whether or not the US will exist as a civilization. Losing these kinds of fights will hasten the US’s disappearance and usher in a new political order that would be completely alien to the Founding generation. 

 

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