JEB Stuart HS to Thurgood Marshall HS? (Alexandria: middle school, association)

[JD984]

I would change the current Marshall HS to Tysons HS. "America's Next Great City" deserves its own high school.

[fcyolo]

Originally Posted by FCNova

Of all the names they could've chosen, it has to be one almost identical to a nearby HS?

"Where do you go to school?"
"Marshall"
"Oh cool which one?"
"Thurgood"

Do they think people around here have an extra couple of seconds to spare to explain where they go to school?? I know I don't

They will say the good or the bad marshall

[JD984]

Originally Posted by TheWatchmen

Woodson was alive, active, and had significant effect over policy in Fairfax County within the last 100 years. J.E.B Stuart did not - he died before FCPS was even formed.

That should answer your question. Stuart's only known as a Confederate soldier and he was killed in his early 30s. Woodson presided over FCPS for decades and died an old man. Some will remember he presided over segregated schools and dragged his heels over desegregation. Others will remember he oversaw the construction of many new schools. Most have no idea who he was.

[slim04]

Originally Posted by fcyolo

They will say the good or the bad marshall

I actually thought that Marshall High School was named after John Marshall, one of the early Supreme Court Chief Justices. Couldn't they just change the name to George, John and Thurgood Marshall High School and rename Stuart something else? What about Samuel Tucker? He was a local civil rights activist that fought desegregation in this area.

[TheWatchmen]

8 Things I’d Like to See Fixed at JEB Stuart HS Before the Name Change is Tackled | james-wilkins.com

All. Of. This.

[JD984]

Originally Posted by TheWatchmen

8 Things I’d Like to See Fixed at JEB Stuart HS Before the Name Change is Tackled | james-wilkins.com

All. Of. This.

I think that is a great piece, but it's also a very big wish list. If the current students and community members want to change the school's name, I would do it without treating all these items as preconditions. Otherwise it looks like the bar is intentionally being set too high for the express purpose of defeating a name change.

[car54]

Change the names of all schools to one denoting just their geographical location. They've been pretty much doing this for some time with new schools anyway...Westfield, South County, etc.

That way, silly political controversies can be avoided.

[JD984]

Originally Posted by car54

Change the names of all schools to one denoting just their geographical location. They've been pretty much doing this for some time with new schools anyway...Westfield, South County, etc.

That way, silly political controversies can be avoided.

That was the policy in the county before it started naming schools after Confederate generals in the late 50s and it's effectively been the policy over the last few decades, at least for the high schools. I think Robinson was probably the last high school or secondary school named for an individual.

It is easy for white guys who were the BMOCs when they were teenagers to say it's "silly" for minority and other students to care about their school's name. I've read enough posts in recent months from black students talking about how they felt attending Stuart and Lee, knowing both had fought to keep their ancestors enslaved, to conclude this should be taken seriously, and that the current names are an embarrassment to the county in 2015.

[r0lf3cbn]

I think what this petition needs is a critical mass of Hot Actress Alumni support. How does Jamie Gray Hyder feel about the issue?

[Carlingtonian]

I think the naming of high schools is small potatoes and that there are bigger problems facing society; however, I do think changing these names is the decent thing to do and should be done.

White people and black people need to take each other's perspectives equally seriously. Whites should care that blacks are hurt and insulted by the flying of the confederate flag and the naming of high schools after Confederate generals--which (like the Confederate flag) came along in the face of integration, as a display of Southern defiance.

I didn't always think this way. I went to a high school (built in 1961) that had the Confederate flag as its logo (displayed in abundance) and the Rebel as its mascot. The fight song was an adaptation of a Confederate battle song with the lyrics barely changed, and even the band uniforms had little curlicues on the sleeves, lifted from Confederate uniforms. I thought all this was fine at the time. Over the years I've come to a different conclusion--and I'm glad to say, so has the local population, who finally got rid of the flag and the other baloney.