Update: Monday, Nov. 23. After I posted this, I was reminded by a resident that while the focus is on school names at the moment, there are city-owned buildings, streets, statues, and parks named for people that our community might want to change as well. That’s a great point. Last week the City Council began talking about reviewing names of City-owned facilities, streets, and parks to determine if any of them should be changed for the same reasons I mention below. We are discussing the 2021 Work Plan at tonight’s meeting, and how to do this work will be part of the conversation. Stay tuned.
Every year Falls Church City Public Schools has a themed t-shirt. This year the shirt has a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It says, "The time is always right to do what is right.” FCCPS employees are invited to wear the shirts as a team on the third Friday of every month, which is appropriately, today.
In 1995 we bought our first house on West George Mason Road, using George Mason Mortgage Company, and realized that the high school serving our new home was named for George Mason, too.
Not knowing much about this man, we did a little research and learned that he was the forgotten founding father, a contributor to the Bill of Rights, and owner of Gunston Hall plantation, with connection to The Falls Church as a vestryman. That was enough for me. Over the years it has been kind of cool and quirky to educate my out-of-town relatives and friends when they ask about our street name.
When the idea of changing the school names of George Mason High School and Thomas Jefferson Elementary School first arose, I admit, unfortunately, that I was ambivalent. I listened to the School Board meetings, and heard well-reasoned points and good arguments on both sides, and I was torn. In retrospect, this take on the arguments sounds a lot like the offensive both-sideism that we all condemned after the tragedy in Charlottesville in 2017. What I’ve learned is that there are compelling arguments and not-compelling arguments, both of which are overshadowed by the most essential arguments.
Now, I am fully in favor of changing the names of both schools. What changed?
A friend, quoting his grandmother, reminded me recently that we are all evolving. He said, "When you know better, you do better," and now I know better. Because I am a trusted voice in Falls Church, I ‘m taking this moment to share this truth, and help others know better, too
I know better because I am listening to Black voices, listening to the people who are in the minority of our community. These people are tired of always having to tell the White majority to widen our lenses, to have empathy, to do the right thing. They want everyone to get it. They see Black Lives Matter signs, and they are heartened to think that more people understand. And yet, when it makes us uncomfortable, we still resist really listening and truly understanding. The day after the School Board survey results were posted, I answered the phone to a sobbing Black mother, who couldn't believe that the community where she is invested, is raising her family, is volunteering and participating, doesn't understand this, doesn't see the bigger picture. She is devastated to think that her Black life doesn't really matter to the majority.
To most of us, slavery happened in the past, perpetuated by and suffered by long dead people. We fiercely reject the terrible things that were inflicted on enslaved children and families for 250 years in America. In our modern world, child abuse, family separation, rape, forced labor are horrors that we detest. And yet... that is what these men, Mason & Jefferson, symbolize to Black people who live in our community - to people who are our neighbors, friends, colleagues, and leaders. That should be enough.
I won’t pretend to speak for all Black people, but the people I’m listening to tell me that it matters that the school they attend, the school they send their children to, the school they work in, is named for a slaveholder. It matters that the White people in the community don't understand why it matters. Today I stand with my friends, colleagues and community members. This is so important. This is a moment to take action to live the slogans that we say and post on social media.
Earlier this week I heard School Board member Lawrence Webb speak emotionally about his experience as a Black elected leader, and descendant of enslaved people, in this supposedly progressive community. I heard student representative Elisabeth Snyder (a senior in high school) say everything that the adults in the community need to understand and act on. If you want to understand why we need to change the names of our schools, watch their comments from the School Board meeting.
I’m proud to live in a city that is talking about equity and justice for all. This is one opportunity for those of us in the majority to put that talk into action. We say that we want to level the playing field. Right now, the names of our schools are the playing field. Yes, there was a survey. Yes, it shows the majority don’t want to change the names or don’t care. Rather than get stuck on the raw survey numbers that show only about 25% of our population is for a name change, I am trying to imagine the reasons why that 25% want the names to change. Since I don’t have access to all of the comments from the survey, I can only assume that some portion of those respondents think like the people I am listening to. Some who want to change the name are uncomfortable going to or working in a school named for a slave holder. What percent of opinion is enough to change hearts? How loud do the minority voices have to be for the majority to listen?
Join me in standing with the minority to amplify their voices. Changing the names of schools is just a start in our community and we have a lot of work to do.
The School Board is set to vote on this December 8. If you agree with what I've written, if you've evolved, and know better now, if you stand for justice, but waited to get involved, don't stay on the sidelines any longer. Let the School Board and the community know that you are with them in a vote to change the names. No matter how the School Board decides this issue, people will be upset, so let them know that you stand with the choice that brings us to the more equitable future we all desire.
I will close where I began. Every year Falls Church City Public Schools has a themed t-shirt. This year the shirt has a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. It says, "The time is always right to do what is right.” This is the time to do what is right.