Federal judge orders Virginia county to replace Confederate school names it restored in 2024
ROANOKE, Va. (AP) — A federal judge has sided with the Virginia NAACP in its lawsuit against a county school board’s reinstatement of Confederate military names to two schools, saying the decision discriminated against Black students and ordering the board to change the schools’ monikers again.
In an opinion filed Thursday in U.S. District Court of Virginia, Judge Michael F. Urbanski said the school board in Shenandoah County violated Black students’ rights under the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause, which forbids racial discrimination in state-supported institutions. The decision also violates the Equal Educational Opportunities Act, the court found.
Confederate army officers’ names are “vestiges” of Shenandoah County’s segregationist history that required separate schools for Black and white students.
“The Confederate names were restored with complete awareness of their historic legacy and ongoing discriminatory impact,” Urbanski wrote. “In the court’s view, the affirmative act of reinstating these vestiges of segregation is far more problematic than a passive failure to remove a long-standing name or symbol.”
http://apnews.com/article/confederate-school-names-virginia-lawsuit-8557b43ca9b995f0dd7135d537d2a415?
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