Virginia: Fairfax County High School To Be Named After John Lewis

The Fairfax County School Board recently decided that it would be in their best interests to change the name of a school that was named after confederate general Robert E. Lee.

After a virtual town hall meeting, school board member Tamara Derek Kaufax released a press statement, saying:

“The name Robert E. Lee is forever connected to the Confederacy, and Confederate values are ones that do not align with our community. The name is, in all honesty, an embarrassment to the many students that attend Lee High School. It’s an 80 percent minority population that goes to that school every day. The choice is obvious to me, Last night we heard from so many community members, students, and alumni about the amazing things that John Lewis did during his life. And I think many people would be proud to have that as the name of their school. I think it would be an honor for the community as well as I hope, the congressman’s family.”

In response to this community action, Sean Perryman, president of the Fairfax chapter of the NAACP Tweeted:

“Y’all, we just renamed Robert E. Lee High School to John Lewis High School. When I was the education chair of @FairfaxNAACP in 2019, we were told we would never remove Lee from this community. We proved that we are this community. Step up and speak out, everyone!”

Source:
TheRoot