White supremacy in the South never went away, it just laid low for a few decades, and resurfaced when Trump made racism great again.
Virginia’s Shenandoah valley is steeped in Civil War history and Confederate “heritage.” Mountain View High School in Stafford, and Honey Run Elementary School in Quicksburg, formerly were named after Confederate generals.
The names were changed in 2020 in the aftermath of the George Floyd protests. The school board’s goal then was “condemning racism and affirming … commitment to an inclusive school environment for all.”
That was then. The current board, dominated by conservatives, voted to restore the previous names (read story here). The group pushing for the change called it “essential to honor our community’s heritage …,” using the buzzword for Confederate sympathies.
This might not wave a bunch of red flags in and of itself. But similar groups are also pushing, with considerable success, “to limit classroom discussion of racial identity, ban library books dealing with racial themes, and derail diversity plans.”
A slew of efforts throughout the South to revive Confederate “heritage,” and ban teaching of black history and diversity programs from southern schools, leave no doubt where this is heading. Southern conservatives are as racist as ever, and don’t want to go back in the closet.
Photo below: At this Shenandoah County School Board meeting in 2022, restoring Confederate school names failed by a tie vote. That effort won by 5-1 in 2024, a sign the area is going backwards.
