In Virginia, Stonewall Jackson High is back, thanks to a mix of adults and children: Code Switch: NPR

In 1951, William Faulkner wrote: “The past is never dead. He didn’t even pass. » It’s a phrase that’s been running through my head for a week now, ever since I read the news about a Virginia school district that voted to turn back the clock. How? By restoring the names of two schools that were named after Confederate generals. And what struck me most when reading about this change was not the adults arguing over names. It was the children.

In 2020, at the height of the nation’s “racial reckoning,” the two Shenandoah area schools changed their names for the first time, in order to separate themselves from the legacy of racism those names represented. But in just a few years, the tide has turned. So after a few more After years of debate, Mountain View High School will once again be Stonewall Jackson High School and Honey Run Elementary School will be Ashby-Lee Elementary School, in honor of Turner Ashby and Robert E. Lee.

It’s no big surprise to me that some of the school’s older alumni fought to bring back these names. We have already spoken about Code switch about the idea that school symbols, mascots, and names often end up developing a kind of mythic importance to the people who grew up with them. And it’s not just white people who are willing to put up with racist references. My colleague, Gene Demby, wrote about a majority-black school district that quietly decided to keep its name — that of a famous slave owner. “We all undertake the delicate mental gymnastics of making room for ugly cultural objects when they are familiar to us, when our personal memories are wrapped up in them,” Gene wrote at the time.

(Editor’s note: This is an excerpt from the Code Switch document. Up all night bulletin. You can register here.)

But what about the young students affected? Turns out they were divided, just like the adults – even if they didn’t have the same nostalgic associations with Stonewall and co. Some have described Confederate names as hostile and unwelcoming. But others wanted the old names back — like one eighth-grader who, as my colleague reported, told the county council, “I’d like to have a name that I’m proud of.” (Future Farmers of America) says Stonewall as I enter high school, but I would also like my jerseys – which I wear year round – to say Stonewall.

Which seems like a prime example of how things like pride are passed down – for better or worse.

It has become a cliché for parents to look at their young children and see a kind of purity and innocence. “My children don’t see race“, they will say. But decades and decades of research have suggested the opposite: that 6-month-old babies have already begun to distinguish between different races and that by elementary school, children are well aware of things like stereotypes and racial hierarchies are reflected in their friend groups, and as children grow up, their tastes, politics, and beliefs are deeply shaped by generational differences—young people make up for the shortcomings of their peers. parents A recent Pew study found that between 80 and 90 percent of teenagers share the same political beliefs as their parents. So, by some indicators, young people are much more likely to become their parents than to correct them.

Which means that if children are our future, as that old thinking goes, then our past can also be our future. Alternatively: if we *adults* want a better world, we should probably stop fantasizing about the next generation saving us and do a little more work to save ourselves.

This story was written by Leah Donnella and edited by Courtney Stein.