Re: [gatortalk] From the Southern Poverty Law Center News

Well, well, well...

 

If Andrew, Florida's only Territorial Governor, hadn't been buried near Oliver's place in 1845, he certainly might have contributed mightily to one side or the other in our Not-So-Civil War.

 

There was a somewhat closely named deceased southerner called Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson who failed to survive the War of Yankee Agression, AKA We Be Dumb and Stubborn and Will Keep Our Slaves and Bomb Your Forts, War.

 

While scratching my lovely Alma Mater, which is named after the same man as your fair city, from your short list, you might want to add Kirby Smith, my Junior High School, or was that already closed?

 

By the way, I know Robert E. Lee, and that Jacksonville high school used to beat my Alma Mater regularly after a quick turkey dinner every November, and he was no Nathan B. Forrest by a long shot.

 

Where is THFGT when we really need it?  Did Doc do it in?

 

A. Leon Polhill, Gator
"I was gratified to be able to answer promptly, and I did.
I said I didn't know." - Mark Twain

From: Stephen Manuel <srmanuel@bellsouth.net>
To: gatortalk@googlegroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, December 18, 2013 7:41 PM
Subject: RE: [gatortalk] From the Southern Poverty Law Center News

I don't mean to be political but they're 3 other schools in Jacksonville that will probably change their names in the near future.

 

The 3 are:

 

Robert E. Lee High School

J.E.B Stuart Middle School

Andrew "Stonewall" Jackson High School

 

All are named, as you probably know, after Confederate Military Figures.

 

Stephen Manuel

 

From: gatortalk@googlegroups.com [mailto:gatortalk@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Oliver Barry
Sent: Wednesday, December 18, 2013 6:05 PM
To: gatortalk@googlegroups.com
Subject: [gatortalk] From the Southern Poverty Law Center News

 

Florida School Named After Klan Leader to Change Name

By Mark Potok on December 18, 2013 - 10:04 am

Forty-three years after it was integrated by court order, Nathan Bedford Forrest High School in Jacksonville, Fla., will drop the name of the Confederate general who ran an infamous antebellum slaveyard, presided over the massacre of surrendering black Yankee troops, and was the first national leader of the Ku Klux Klan.

It was a long time coming.

Initial efforts to change the name of the school, whose student body is now 61% black, were made in the early 1990s but failed. A second attempt, led by local sociology professor Lance Stoll and a few of his students, also failed in 2007, even though Stoll surveyed the local community and jumped through a series of hoops imposed by the school board. The board defied its own policies then, with members voting 5-2 along racial lines to keep the name of the infamous Confederate.

But this Monday, culminating the largest campaign yet, the board, all of whose members but one are new since 2007, voted unanimously to select a new name before August 2014. Schools Superintendent Nikolai Vitti, who supported the change from the beginning, said it could end a "cloud of divisiveness" and would now "allow us to focus on what matters most — student achievement."

"We recognize that we cannot and are not seeking to erase history," Duval County School Board member Constance Hall said. "For too long and too many, this name has represented the opposite of unity, respect and equality — all that we expect in Duval schools. Our board has [been] and is guided by a set of core values that promote equal opportunity, honors differences, and values diversity."

Stoll said he was glad for the change but still amazed at the stiff defense of the name put up by many locals. "Their argument was so shallow and so ridiculous," he told Hatewatch. "You can't defend Nathan Bedford Forrest. He was a miserable, despicable human being. And the Confederacy was a horrible place. Why do we allow our schools to be named after treasonous people? It's just amazing."

It wasn't easy. In addition to Stoll, a key player this time was Otomayo Richmond, who started a national petition on the Change.org website that eventually garnered some 160,000 signatures. The local NAACP, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the local Democratic Party, several unions and others worked hard to press the campaign forward, Stoll said. "In 2007, it was me and two or three students," he said. "This time, we had a broad coalition and the social media. I think the people running Jacksonville today don't want to be a redneck town any more."

In recent surveys, 94% of the school's alumni opposed changing the name. But 64% of students supported the change, as did Vitti and, ultimately, all members of the multiracial board. By a small margin, the local community also backed a change.

Still, it was an uphill battle that may have turned on a single moment about six weeks ago. "Every board member received a letter from the grand wizard of the Ku Klux Klan of Missouri," Stoll said. "Even the most conservative people on the school board said they were horrified. That was the best thing that happened."

8 Comments

 

 

Oliver Barry, CRS, GRI

Bob Parks Realty, LLC

REO Department

1517 Hunt Club Blvd

Gallatin TN 37066

Phone: 615-826-4040

Mobile: 615-972-4239

barryo@realtracs.com

 

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GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY!
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