Wilson HS becoming August Wilson HS

[Anonymous]

Well, that was a big nothing burger. I don’t consider this to be inspired leadership.

[Anonymous]

I heard that idea at first and thought it was a joke. I thought writing Black Lives Matter on 16th St was weak but this is far weaker.

[Anonymous]

Is it weird that I don’t care about this?

[Anonymous]

Nope. Great choice Wilson! Next?

[Anonymous]

Not a bad idea at all.

[Anonymous]

Great. Love his work. Now can we get kids back in the building?

[Anonymous]

What exactly is wrong with it? Seems like the best choice. Do you want every item with Wilson on it to be thrown into a land fill? We are in the middle of a climate emergency in case you hadn’t noticed.

[Anonymous]

Wonderful news! So inspiring that my DC is attending a school named for a prominent artist, who documented American life in such a thoughtful, monumental way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wonderful news! So inspiring that my DC is attending a school named for a prominent artist, who documented American life in such a thoughtful, monumental way.

+1

[Anonymous]

That seems like a clever re-using of the name Wilson, and a great way to honor a leading American playwright.

[Anonymous]

I love it! How clever.

[Anonymous]

I would’ve preferred a person who had a connection to DC- I liked the idea of John Wilson.

[Anonymous]

This is a cop-out designed to make the name change as minimally disruptive as possible. I actually had joked that they'd propose this before they even came out with the list of possible names, only to find the joke was on me when August Wilson was on it.

August Wilson is certainly deserving of having a high school named for him, but the only reason a school in D.C. — where he has no real cultural connections — is choosing the name is because it's the same last name as Woodrow Wilson's.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is a cop-out designed to make the name change as minimally disruptive as possible. I actually had joked that they'd propose this before they even came out with the list of possible names, only to find the joke was on me when August Wilson was on it.

August Wilson is certainly deserving of having a high school named for him, but the only reason a school in D.C. — where he has no real cultural connections — is choosing the name is because it's the same last name as Woodrow Wilson's.

+1, lazy decision. They should have picked someone with a connection to the city.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That seems like a clever re-using of the name Wilson, and a great way to honor a leading American playwright.

A city with comparatively numerically few AAs, aside from hometown legends like Jimi Hendrix and Quincy Brown, moved a not-so-courageous 20 years after the assassination of Dr. King to do something similar. Seattle's King County was conveniently renamed after MLK in the 80s, dropping original namesake slaveowner William King, who was VP for all of a month in 1853. The county, the size of Fairfax + Montgomery combined, kept the same king crown logo and colors for 20 more years, until inquiring minds kept questioning why there was no link to Dr. King - the logo was changed to one of his profile.

Food for thought on history is mutable and different generations reinterpret and revisit narratives, Seattle has a very politically and economically-influential LGBTQI community - two consecutive mayors including the current one. Imagine had this proposal come forth today, William Rufus DeVane King's less-known story as the life partner of America's only unmarried president would thrown a monkey wrench into the identity politics debate, conflicting progressive desires to honor oppressed groups. There is always more than one group of victims - who deserves it more?