Road name changes move forward
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors on Sept. 13 voted to officially request the Commonwealth Transportation Board to rename Lee Highway Route 29 and to rename Lee-Jackson Memorial Highway Route 50.
That decision follows a recommendation from the Confederate Names Task Force.
“If approved by the CTB,” board chair Jeffrey McKay said, “this change will remove these divisive relics of the past, names that were assigned to these roads not to honor history or individuals but to instead celebrate parts of our history that have inflicted much pain on members of our community.”
There are over 230 VDOT signs that reference the old names, and it will cost about $1.4 million to change or replace them, McKay said.
County staff will be looking at grants to provide support to businesses and individuals who need to change printed or other materials.
What a groveling waste of time and money.
that’s your opinion. I’m glad to see our streets free of the names of traitors who fought their countrymen to continue the enslavement of others.
100% agree!
Jeffrey…if you like it so much why don’t you pay for it…I don’t like it but for 1.4 I could send 8 Fairfax Schools for a semester abroad where they would actually learn something other than the substandard education they receiving in the Fairfax Public schools
You immediately torpedo your credibility when you call one of the top ranked school systems in the country “substandard”.
The rankings are quite mixed, and it depends what you’re looking at. For example, TJ magnet school is very high. But the quality of the education in FCPS, compared to 50 years ago, is pretty bad. (That observation applies to most schools in the nation, from what I can tell.)
Chris, you need to get some prospective if you think the 70s were the glory years of US education.
And saying the ratings of FCPS are mixed is like saying there is a mixed consensus on the earth being round. Sure there are some that claim it’s flat, but the vast majority know it to be round.
[Apparently one can only Reply a certain depth, so perhaps this post will appear out of order?]
When I toured Annandale High School about 12 years ago, I noticed the student material in the display boards. It was material that was previously taught in fourth grade, back in my day. Whereas when I attended AHS, what you saw was often college freshman level stuff. I asked around, and my perceptions were confirmed. Also, talking to many many teachers over the past 15 years, I am quite sure that the level of education in FCPS and schools around the country, is way lower than it was 4o years ago. If you equate spending with education, perhaps the “level” is much higher now. I don’t know where all the money is going. But aside from the magnet schools, it all looks pretty dim from where I’m standing.
On the other hand, over in Caroll County, Maryland, I have observed some quality education. Real classes at the real level with the student excellence I recall from the old days.
All I know for sure is that it looked pretty bad over at my old school. And that educators I’ve talked to around the country think things are very bad. And likewise for 20 years my friends with kids (around the country, but mainly in California – I know a lot of high-tech people who moved there) say the schools are awful compared to our day.
Not sure why FCPS has gone to shit, but glad I don’t have any kids in there.
I’m glad you have some anecdotal evidence to back up your claims, but actual studies seem to disagree. Reading and math proficiency scores have been rising across the country for the past 50 years up until 2020, which caused an obvious dip (but still well above 50 years ago). And FCPS consistently rates among the top public school systems in the country. Is it perfect? Hell no. But I’m happy to have my kids in FCPS. I’ve seen what passes for education in the midwest.
Thank you Jeffrey for pointing out the insensitivity of places named for genocidal Confederates who became traitors when they seceded and fired the first shot in the laughably named War of Northern Aggression.
Those who disagree with me say renaming is erasing history. Well, history can never be replaced, but place names can be. Leave this history in books, classes, and museums, but not on memorials and street signs that honor those who enslaved people and turned against their country.
Just because you change the name doesn’t mean that part of History did not happen. Spend money on more important issues in our society.
Absolutely~~ In case they have not noticed, we are having a deadly fentanyl epidemic (especially with our young people) and NO SERVICES!!
You’re absolutely right… the civil war did happen. Which is why every school child needs to be educated about it, and WHY it occurred (the real reasons, with slavery being chief of them, not the revisionist crap out out by daughters of the confederacy). But there is no educational value in public monuments or street naming. Those things only serve to provide honor or memorialize things – neither of which is appropriate for confederates.
When I went to school in Fairfax County in the 60s and 70s, we were taught that the Civil War was mainly about slavery. (This was both in private Protestant schools K-6, and FCPS after that). Some discussion of economic and other cultural differences was included. But the main message, at the most simplistic and direct level from early grade school, would be summed up as “Slavery”.
The only “alternative” history that I’ve seen being promulgated lately is material attempting to diminish the contributions and relevancy of the white European people.
So I don’t know what you’re talking about.
I haven’t heard anyone trying to diminish the contributions of europeans. What I have seen is many claiming the civil war was mainly a war of rebellion against the north’s attempts to oppress state’s rights. Sadly, I hear it all the time. The idea that that was the primary driver of the war is an absolute farce.
Regarding people diminishing european contributions – I don’t see that… but I do see a re-interpretation of many of those europeans to contextualize their accomplishments to be more wholistic and inclusive of all of the people that contributed to help them. While this starts to diverge from the civil war (but still on the topic of history), a great example is the reinterpretation of George Washington. We continue to recognize him as a great man and key founding father, however many of the historical sites that deal with his story are more prominently also including the stories of the people around him that helped him be the person he was – both free and enslaved. I don’t see the inclusion of their stories as diminishing George.
If you feel like changing street signs or removing memorials to confederates is somehow diminishing the contributions of europeans, then I point to my previous statement on how the confederates are best learned about in history classes and museums – not in every day life and memorialized.
I agree with Jeffrey. This is a very brave and stunning act by our Fairfax County Board of Supervisors!
More of this please!
Brave is not the right word. Orwellian is. Today, all civilized and educated persons would agree slavery was bad. That was not the case 140 years ago. The push to erase history is just as bad as what happened post civil war. We can and should do better. Neither the Woke nor MAGA crowds (that both yell to much) are correct.
Sorry JTR, I don’t agree.
In my opinion many people, not just the “Woke” and “MAGA” people as you prefer to label our neighbors and fellow residents of Fairfax County, “yell.”
People want to feel as if they have been heard by their elected officials. If you don’t like how some people legally express themselves, tough.
Especially now, when the current Administration and the FBI have clearly identified White Supremacists and Domestic Terrorists as the Number 1 threat to the health and safety of the American People, this action by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors is stunning and brave.
Bravo. More of this, Please.
The politics of outrage quickly get tuned out by most people, and they move along. Politicians feed on outrage, as do activists and the news media make profits off it. None of which helps have a civil and thoughtful discussion that might find consensus and progress. This applies to all, regardless of whom is a neighbor or not.
I cannot understand how people think renaming roads and schools is “erasing” history. Are we burning books and censoring wikipedia? razing libraries and deleting the movie Glory from Netflix? No? then the information regarding “history” still exists. If you depend on road signs to be your history lesson to remind you of the fact that the civil war existed, you’ve got bigger problems.
Oh wait, you’ll probably just say iTs A sLIpPeRY sLOpe!!!!
I’m confused. Why does Adam G end his comment with words that have both lower and upper case letters mixed together?
Is that the new thing all the cool kids and jive cats be doing?
Is that supposed to make Adam G’s comment more relevant than all the others? Or is it a more polite way of yelling in print without using ALL CAPS?
Help me out here fellow commenters, I’m just trying to keep up with the times.
LoOk aT mE mOmMy, tOp oF tHe wORlD.
Is that how this works. I’d appreciate any and all advice.
@Susie, I believe the interchanging caps and lower case is to convey a mocking tone – it’s best tone can be made via written word.
I CAN DO ALL CAPS TOO
I haven’t seen that jigGLyCaPS convention before, either, and had no idea what it’s supposed to indicate.
The suggestion that the written English language, unadorned, is insufficient to express sarcasm, emphasis, or any kind of nuance, is preposterous.
I’ll admit *emphasis* marks as acceptable typography, although nevree strictly needed. And ALL CAPS is comprehensible as yelling, if that’s what you think your reader will enjoy comprehending. And if all you’re doing is reacting with a simple emotion, by all means telegraph it with a “LOL”, an emoticon such as “:)” or a ROFLcopter pictogram.
But if you want to do more, please write something.
If you’re unable to “use your words”, maybe this illustrates my point about the decline of quality in primary education in our public school systems in the past several decades.
@Chris… I would be really careful insinuating others are uneducated or commenting about the state of education based on others using alternating caps and you not having encountered it before. A simple google search provides additional explanation to the practice, and in the end you come off looking like the uneducated one.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternating_caps
So. some people who lack the basic skills to express themselves in their native language have attempted to compensate by inventing some conventions. And of course, that hasn’t caught on, either. Your response (I guess you’re self-identifying as one) is to cite where this practice has been documented, endorse it, and say that people who disagree are the ignorant ones. Yeah, I’m still not impressed.
I can’t tell if people are still making fun of me for using a trope because I have received a horrendously substandard education in the area in the 90s, but I thought I made some actual comments before diverting to said trope.
Because the amount of money being spent to do this couldn’t POSSIBLY do more good somewhere else… homelessness, fentanyl epidemic, mental health services…
Whatever.
Isn’t the correct headline: “Road name changes move forward despite opposition from citizens”? Because the county did a survey, and the overwhelming response was NOT to change the road names. That was the basis of the objection by the one supervisor on the board. They asked, formally and officially, and people said “No”. And then they fucking did it anyway, because, Fuck You, Citizens, We Are Your Betters.
Personally I’m fine with the name changes.
But I’m not fine with what they did here.
The same thing happened with JEB Stuart changing the name to Justice high. Parents were polled, the board didn’t like the results; the board did what they intended to do the whole time.
I would like to sincerely thank Jeffrey for answering my question; and I applaud Adam + G for his dexterity with a keyboard and his sense of humor.
I just really don’t like the whitewashing of history – we should leave most of these long-time names alone. The CSA lost, that was a good thing; but many Virginians fought bravely for their state and many lost their lives. We should continue to recognize that sacrifice, just like we need to more completely tell the whole story.
How stupid. Adults who cannot function without a name change. Money going to reprint things that could “saved” versus spent and give the residents a tax cut. But no, not the elitist liberal idiots in Fairfax County. No fiscal discipline and a lot of “pandering” to work and triggered “adults.”
Route number work better because they are easier to follow. Lets keep it consistent.