Wapo:
“In the latest salvo of an intensifying debate over the commemoration of Confederate leaders in public spaces, Jefferson Davis Davis IB (International Baccalaureate) Elementary in Jackson, Mississsippi, is getting a new name: Barack Obama IB Elementary School.
The name change will take effect next school year, when the Jackson, Miss., school will join at least 21 other schools across the nation named “Obama,” including two named for former first lady Michelle Obama.”
The name change comes in the wake of the State of Mississippi declaring Jackson’s schools in a state of emergency and that the state might take them over.
Whether or not that would help matters is certainly up for debate, but the President of the school’s PTA, Janelle Jefferson, described how the decision to change the name of the school came about and how the former name may be part of the problem....
“The process started a few weeks ago after one of the elementary school students had a conversation with her mom about Jefferson Davis.
The parent brought the issue to the PTA as word spread throughout the school, one of 38 public elementary schools in Mississippi’s capital city. Students made presentations; their parents contacted school board members. The PTA and other stakeholders voted Oct. 5 to rename the school. They took their recommendation to the school board, which approved the change Tuesday.
“It consisted of the student recognizing that our school is named for a person who didn’t agree that they should thrive educationally — or any way in life — or really be considered a human being,” Jefferson, who is black, told The Post.”
That naming a majority black school after a man who fought to keep black people in chains might not be appropriate apparently never occurred to former Mississippi Officials.
Or, maybe it did….
Good Luck to the students of Barack Obama IB Elementary School, and especially to that one intrepid little girl who kicked things off.