Woke dems rename Lee-Jackson Hwy in Fairfax County, Virginia

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for sharing! Great news. Traitors shouldn't be honored.

This. I'm hardly a "woke dem"--I'm a moderate independent. But reasonable people are supposed to agree that traitors shouldn't be honored and slavery is bad.

You will find me on other threads saying I've had enough of progressive social and political nonsense. But removing honors from Confederates is not "woke dem" nonsense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Removing Lee and Jackson’s names from roads and schools is the lowest of the lowest hanging fruit. All it does is make smug, self-righteous, and privileged white people feel good about themselves.

Want to make real change? Reform the tax, housing, zoning, education, law enforcement, and transportation policies that continue to uphold systematic racism in 2023 and trap a growing underclass of mostly Black and brown people.

Why not both? If anything, the backlash from neo-Confederates against even the "lowest hanging fruit" should underscore how politically difficult it is to dismantle systemic racism and effect real change. Not that that's an excuse. But our public officials should keep pushing forward on all fronts; progress on one doesn't imply lack of effort on others.

Except we’re not really doing both.

Here are the choices:

1. Action that's primarily symbolic, only
2. Action that's primarily symbolic AND action that's more direct
3. No action

I think option 1 (action that's primarily symbolic, only) is better than option 3 (no action). Don't you?

This is the white person cop-out.

Take a symbolic action and say, “Hey! It’s better than nothing.”

I’m AA and don’t know one black person who does not support these name changes. We can concurrently demand substantive changes to our laws and get rid of insulting street names, memorials, etc. (And for the “erasing history” nuts, trust me, we also understand the importance of accurately learning all about this history in schools, museums, documentaries, tv, movies, etc.).

Of course, we can concurrently demand substantive changes to our laws and the removal of insulting street names and memorials. The problem is white people of all political ideologies still have disproportionate power in this country, and most are going to do everything they can to hold onto it. Changing street names and removing memorials makes people, especially the liberal white people in charge, feel good about themselves, but it doesn’t change the underlying structures of racism that keep mostly Black and brown people in a state of economic poverty and political powerlessness. That’s where the real change is needed and that’s where the real change isn’t happening.

[Anonymous]

Wow just in, historic John Mosby Highway has also been renamed. This is very tragic to our commonwealth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow just in, historic John Mosby Highway has also been renamed. This is very tragic to our commonwealth.

It's ok, PP, they're just returning to the actual historic name: Little River Turnpike. There's no need to use road names to honor losers, lonesome or otherwise.

http://www.novahistory.org/LittleRiverTurnpike/LittleRiverTurnpike.htm

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do they have nothing better to do than to rename every single street and school, most of which residents don’t care enough about? So sad that northern virginia’s rich confederate history (Robert E Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, Arlington Cemetery, etc.) history has attempted to be erased, as evident in changes to Lee Hwy, Jackson Lee Hwy, Jefferson Davis Hwy, many of Fairfax City and Alexandria City’s streets, Robert E Lee HS, JEB Stuart HS, Fairfax HS Rebels, Loudoun County Raiders in LoCo, and PWC’s Stonewall Jackson HS, just to name a few.

Anonymous wrote: "Woke dems rename Lee-Jackson Hwy in Fairfax County, Virginia"

FTFY: "Reasonable non-racist people work to rename Lee-Jackson Hwy in Fairfax County, Virginia to something less offensive"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:CRT is systemic racism. Renaming roads is one of its outcomes.

The first part is correct. CRT is revisionist racist theory and history no different than the Nazis to justify the hate, except people could read back then so the “narrative” had a few more layers.

Renaming roads after woke BS is an outcome. There are a few examples pushing an agenda.

Renaming roads back to what they were, before in this case confederate (more Democrat) activism and without an affiliation is not.

Your Fox-addled post gives me an idea for a great public messaging campaign to appeal to racist idiots.

“Did you know that those DEMONCRATS named YOUR streets after TRAITORS who KILLED our TROOPS? Time to RECLAIM OUR ROADS and dedicate them to REAL AMERICAN PATRIOTS!”

Angry much?

I am for renaming these streets to just U.S. 29 and 50. Like now Richmond Highway.

In Fredericksburg it is Emancipation Highway, which is how you pervert something like freedom into more hate.

If you can’t see that, you’re probably the one doing it.

“Emancipation highway” is . . . hateful?

Only for the snowflakes among us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:CRT is systemic racism. Renaming roads is one of its outcomes.

The first part is correct. CRT is revisionist racist theory and history no different than the Nazis to justify the hate, except people could read back then so the “narrative” had a few more layers.

Renaming roads after woke BS is an outcome. There are a few examples pushing an agenda.

Renaming roads back to what they were, before in this case confederate (more Democrat) activism and without an affiliation is not.

Your Fox-addled post gives me an idea for a great public messaging campaign to appeal to racist idiots.

“Did you know that those DEMONCRATS named YOUR streets after TRAITORS who KILLED our TROOPS? Time to RECLAIM OUR ROADS and dedicate them to REAL AMERICAN PATRIOTS!”

Angry much?

I am for renaming these streets to just U.S. 29 and 50. Like now Richmond Highway.

In Fredericksburg it is Emancipation Highway, which is how you pervert something like freedom into more hate.

If you can’t see that, you’re probably the one doing it.

“Emancipation highway” is . . . hateful?

Not hateful. However, “Emancipation” is not something that Black people have fully achieved in 2023.

[Anonymous]

It’s all a political stunt. Why don’t they ever consider changing the names of Fairfax County, given that it’s named after a Slave owner? Because it would be too much effort, there’s other ways they can make a progrssive name for them selves

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s all a political stunt. Why don’t they ever consider changing the names of Fairfax County, given that it’s named after a Slave owner? Because it would be too much effort, there’s other ways they can make a progrssive name for them selves

Do you want to change the name of Fairfax County? It could certainly be done. Though it does seem notable to me that Fairfax County was named after a slaveowner 120 years before the Civil War (in 1742), whereas "Lee Jackson Hwy" was named after two losing and traitorous generals 60 years after the Civil War.

[Anonymous]

I have rarrely heard it referred to as Lee-Jackson Memorial Hwy --I live not far away and most people just call it Hwy 50.

I do wonder how this is going to affect all the businesses that will have to change their addresses. That costs money, etc. But, FWIW, it's just a name.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Removing Lee and Jackson’s names from roads and schools is the lowest of the lowest hanging fruit. All it does is make smug, self-righteous, and privileged white people feel good about themselves.

Want to make real change? Reform the tax, housing, zoning, education, law enforcement, and transportation policies that continue to uphold systematic racism in 2023 and trap a growing underclass of mostly Black and brown people.

Why not both? If anything, the backlash from neo-Confederates against even the "lowest hanging fruit" should underscore how politically difficult it is to dismantle systemic racism and effect real change. Not that that's an excuse. But our public officials should keep pushing forward on all fronts; progress on one doesn't imply lack of effort on others.

Except we’re not really doing both.

Here are the choices:

1. Action that's primarily symbolic, only
2. Action that's primarily symbolic AND action that's more direct
3. No action

I think option 1 (action that's primarily symbolic, only) is better than option 3 (no action). Don't you?

This is the white person cop-out.

Take a symbolic action and say, “Hey! It’s better than nothing.”

I’m AA and don’t know one black person who does not support these name changes. We can concurrently demand substantive changes to our laws and get rid of insulting street names, memorials, etc. (And for the “erasing history” nuts, trust me, we also understand the importance of accurately learning all about this history in schools, museums, documentaries, tv, movies, etc.).

Of course, we can concurrently demand substantive changes to our laws and the removal of insulting street names and memorials. The problem is white people of all political ideologies still have disproportionate power in this country, and most are going to do everything they can to hold onto it. Changing street names and removing memorials makes people, especially the liberal white people in charge, feel good about themselves, but it doesn’t change the underlying structures of racism that keep mostly Black and brown people in a state of economic poverty and political powerlessness. That’s where the real change is needed and that’s where the real change isn’t happening.

This is all certainly true, but is it meant to be an argument for keeping these old names? Or are you just layering an additional critique to keep people from feeling like their work is done here? I don't really see where continuing to honor generals who fought to preserve slavery is helpful one way or the other.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow just in, historic John Mosby Highway has also been renamed. This is very tragic to our commonwealth.

Gross.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow just in, historic John Mosby Highway has also been renamed. This is very tragic to our commonwealth.

Yes this was planned years ago. They had already been renamed by people who wanted to honor traitors and segregationists.

“John Mosby Highway that is inside Loudoun will again be called Little River Turnpike, while Harry Byrd Highway will go back to Leesburg Pike.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2021/12/08/loudoun-county-renames-highways/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Literally all traitors who should have been hung and then thrown in an unmarked grave.

Anonymous wrote:Do they have nothing better to do than to rename every single street and school, most of which residents don’t care enough about? So sad that northern virginia’s rich confederate history (Robert E Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, Arlington Cemetery, etc.) history has attempted to be erased, as evident in changes to Lee Hwy, Jackson Lee Hwy, Jefferson Davis Hwy, many of Fairfax City and Alexandria City’s streets, Robert E Lee HS, JEB Stuart HS, Fairfax HS Rebels, Loudoun County Raiders in LoCo, and PWC’s Stonewall Jackson HS, just to name a few.

Robert E Lee was a Virginia patriot. He loved his state so much that he was willing to fight for them. That in itself is honorable, and should be commemorated, especially as he so much history related to him here.

“Adolf Hitler was a German patriot. He loved his people so much that he was willing to fight for them. That in itself is honorable, and should be commemorated, especially as he so much history related to him here.“

Robert E. Lee violated his oath, betrayed his country, and bears responsibility for killing thousands of American soldiers. If that’s not enough to make him one of history’s most notorious villains, he was also an unabashed white supremacist and brutal slave master.

You’ve beed lied to. Stop spreading the lie.

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/06/the-myth-of-the-kindly-general-lee/529038/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s all a political stunt. Why don’t they ever consider changing the names of Fairfax County, given that it’s named after a Slave owner? Because it would be too much effort, there’s other ways they can make a progrssive name for them selves

It’s because it wasn’t named “Fairfax County” to enforce the redemption of white supremacy. You need to look at the timing and the motivation, not just whether the person enslaved people.