Fairfax High School drops Rebel nickname, Mosby Woods name change coming

[Anonymous]

George Mason?

[Anonymous]

All I ask is just do it quick and get it over with, and then focus on more important things that will actually have an impact on people's lives...like getting distance learning right.

[Anonymous]

I’d y see TJ renamed before Mosby Woods is renamed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All I ask is just do it quick and get it over with, and then focus on more important things that will actually have an impact on people's lives...like getting distance learning right.

They can do both. You are trying to create a false dilemma.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
What’s next? On the college level, at least, how could Washington & Lee keep that name?

Valid question, but not a good comparison to public K-12 schools since W&L is a privately funded university.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sidney Lanier, from Wikipedia: The United Daughters of the Confederacy worked successfully to enhance Lanier's legacy

Amazing how ingrained these symbols of white supremacy are in our communities. I had no idea.

There’s a great book, Dixie’s Daughters, about how the United Daughters of the Confederacy created “the Lost Cause”. It gave these women clout in their communities —remember, they couldn’t vote yet during the height of monument building.

I’m making the rising 9th graders in my home read it before taking USH 9 and APUSH next year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidney Lanier, from Wikipedia: The United Daughters of the Confederacy worked successfully to enhance Lanier's legacy

Amazing how ingrained these symbols of white supremacy are in our communities. I had no idea.

There’s a great book, Dixie’s Daughters, about how the United Daughters of the Confederacy created “the Lost Cause”. It gave these women clout in their communities —remember, they couldn’t vote yet during the height of monument building.

I’m making the rising 9th graders in my home read it before taking USH 9 and APUSH next year.

I remember in college a friend from the South made this impassioned emotional argument about how the Civil War wasn’t about slavery but some sort of noble cause and it was so disturbing to me. Time to undo this BS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PS1, PS2, PS3, and so on. And no names to go with the numbers. Just number them. People on all sides will hate it, but nothing to really object to. And then change the name of the county, because Lord Thomas Fairfax was no Saint. County 1, County 2, and so on and so forth.

No. This notion that we either have white people or numbers is ridiculous. There are plenty of amazing, deserving heroes of color who can inspire young people. They should be recognized now to make up for the lack of memorials representative of the diversity and history of our country. But even more than statues, please fix the damn useless history textbooks.

I realize they won't just number the schools. Name them, or rename them whatever you want. I don't see any schools names after Asians, Muslims, Latinos, Indians... Fix the textbooks for sure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All I ask is just do it quick and get it over with, and then focus on more important things that will actually have an impact on people's lives...like getting distance learning right.

They can do both. You are trying to create a false dilemma.

This. But also, attending a school named for a Confederate leader definitely has an actual impact on our children’s minds. It’s honoring people who fought for slavery, how could kids NOT think “It must not have been that evil if this person is honored.”?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sidney Lanier, from Wikipedia: The United Daughters of the Confederacy worked successfully to enhance Lanier's legacy

Amazing how ingrained these symbols of white supremacy are in our communities. I had no idea.

There’s a great book, Dixie’s Daughters, about how the United Daughters of the Confederacy created “the Lost Cause”. It gave these women clout in their communities —remember, they couldn’t vote yet during the height of monument building.

I’m making the rising 9th graders in my home read it before taking USH 9 and APUSH next year.

I remember in college a friend from the South made this impassioned emotional argument about how the Civil War wasn’t about slavery but some sort of noble cause and it was so disturbing to me. Time to undo this BS.

Yes, and I want my kids to be forearmed to refute that BS. Amazon also sold us a book that years apart the myth of Black Confederate soldiers. My kids will be ready for any adult or fellow teen who tries to rehabilitate the Confederacy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All I ask is just do it quick and get it over with, and then focus on more important things that will actually have an impact on people's lives...like getting distance learning right.

They can do both. You are trying to create a false dilemma.

They can. However, if you've already lost confidence in the school district for their Spring response (which even the superintendent thought was poor enough that it warranted a 3rd party investigation), then it's reasonable to be concerned that a name change ordeal could be a distraction from doing a better job in the fall.

It seemed like there was a lot of effort, controversy, meetings, and hand-wringing put into previous renaming of schools in Fairfax, but maybe I've overestimating the news reports I remembering hearing. Seems like it when on for a whole.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All I ask is just do it quick and get it over with, and then focus on more important things that will actually have an impact on people's lives...like getting distance learning right.

They can do both. You are trying to create a false dilemma.

They can. However, if you've already lost confidence in the school district for their Spring response (which even the superintendent thought was poor enough that it warranted a 3rd party investigation), then it's reasonable to be concerned that a name change ordeal could be a distraction from doing a better job in the fall.

It seemed like there was a lot of effort, controversy, meetings, and hand-wringing put into previous renaming of schools in Fairfax, but maybe I've overestimating the news reports I remembering hearing. Seems like it when on for a whole.

I get Robert E. Lee. So, just rename it Lee after Lee District. Cheaper, quicker, etc. "Lee" is all over Fairfax County as is "Fairfax." You will spend an inordinate amount of money doing this that could be better used educating kids. As for Mosby Woods, that is superfluous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where is the line?

Thomas Jefferson and James Madison were slave owners.

Bull run was a battle won by the confederates

The references are everywhere in this area

While I am 100% fine with changing those names, the changes under discussion right now involve traitors to the U.S. it's a pretty low bar, let's clear it first and then see what else we want to change.

I'm a Mosby Woods parent and was very pleased to see the message about changing the name.

This is a weak definition of a traitor IMO. For example, Lee didn't want VA to secede but when it did, he felt he had no choice but to follow his home state: https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/lee-resigns-from-u-s-army
If I am not mistaken, that's roughly what we still want from our military today - to follow orders.

Colonel Robert E. Lee resigns from the United States army two days after he was offered command of the Union army and three days after his native state, Virginia, seceded from the Union.
Lee opposed secession, but he was a loyal son of Virginia. His official resignation was only one sentence, but he wrote a longer explanation to his friend and mentor, General Winfield Scott, later that day.
“Save in the defense of my native State, I never desire again to draw my sword.”

I don't care if we rename things named after him - and we probably should - but I think to say it's because he is a traitor, is the wrong reason, IMO.
I think the line that is getting drawn in the sand here about confederates inappropriately absolves the north from all the profiting it did over slavery.

The commercial North shares in the shame of slavery
https://www.sfgate.com/books/article/The-commerical-North-shares-in-the-shame-of-2566636.php

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All I ask is just do it quick and get it over with, and then focus on more important things that will actually have an impact on people's lives...like getting distance learning right.

They can do both. You are trying to create a false dilemma.

This. But also, attending a school named for a Confederate leader definitely has an actual impact on our children’s minds. It’s honoring people who fought for slavery, how could kids NOT think “It must not have been that evil if this person is honored.”?

DP. I also agree school names matter, but PP has a point they should do this quickly. The past few years, in particular, has demonstrated that the School Board has limited bandwidth and that the time they spend on social justice initiatives takes away from time that could have been spent on other pressing topics. FCPS is falling apart in many other aspects and Brabrand has shown no signs he gets it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mosby was a pretty interesting fellow from a historical standpoint—after the civil war he condemned the confederacy and became a staunch supporter of the US, campaigned for Grant, appointed a diplomat, only to have his house burned down by Confederate arsonists who felt betrayed by his change of heart.

There you go with your nuance again.
No need to mentioned how Lee's surrender at Appomattox probably saved the country years of guerrilla warfare.

Is this some sort of Confederate fetish?
Lee was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans in defense of the South’s authority to own millions of human beings as property because they are black.

You might want to read up on Lee he is a very interesting character, very conflicted about the war, was a noted progressive who hated slavery having decried it as a "evil institution", who freed his slaves during the war a few days before the emancipation proclamation, and a famous educator before the war and after as well.

He was offered command of Union forces. Think of him in the following situation: Lee would be from France and offered command of the EU army, who itself was engaged in a war against France. The various states at the time were more akin to the current countries of Europe bound together via the EU today, so in such a scenario one might understand why he fought for Virginia.

This isn't to glorify the man, but understand that things were not black and white as the pop culture version of the civil war might appear to be.