This does feel good

First off, let me say that I've visited lots of Civil War battlefields.  I know the history, the causes, and that there was valor and heartbreak and tragedy on both sides.

There are lots of monuments (some of the BIG monuments) to the Confederate forces that fought in those battles.  Those monuments should stay there -- even though I know no one has talked about removing them.  Yet.  We can't make history go away just because we don't like parts of it.

But about those monuments that have been removed -- yes, some of them were put up to commemorate past history for a particular reason, that reason being that some people don't like the fact that their side lost.  By putting up those monuments, they were asserting power that they once had but don't anymore (but wanted to make sure some other people knew they once had it).  Those monuments aren't historical for the reasons that monuments on a battlefield ARE historical.

Likewise for the naming of streets and schools for heroes of the Confederacy, politicians and generals.  If they were named purely for the commemoration of history, fine.  But clearly most of them weren't.

So, having said all that, it felt good that an elementary school in Richmond, VA had a name change.  The school board decided to drop the original name, and replace it with a new one.  The original name?  J.E.B. Stuart Elementary School.  The new name?  Barack Obama Elementary School.

This isn't the first time Obama has had a public building or school named after him.  But it just feels good that there is an elementary school in the former capital of the Confederate States of America named after an African - American president.


Richmond renaming school after Obama, scrapping Confederate's name