CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Kanawha County School Board Member Pete Thaw is not in favor of renaming Stonewall Jackson Middle School in Charleston after a petition was started to remove the name.
An adjunct professor at West Virginia State University, Gregg Suzanne McAllister created a petition last week to remove the name of the Confederate general from the school. The Confederate flag was removed from the South Carolina statehouse last week in the wake of a shooting last month at a black South Carolina church that left nine dead.
Since the white shooter wore a Confederate patch, the symbol has since come into question along with the names of historical figures who fought for the Confederacy. Thaw wasn’t a proponent of renaming the school.
“I am not in favor of that because frankly when this started I went to my computer and looked up Stonewall Jackson, and got his life story,” Thaw said. “I think he’s a historical figure who deserves to have his name on the school.”
Thaw pointed out that a statue of Jackson is also on the Capitol Complex lawn.
“You think you’re going to change history by taking down his statue? Or removing his name? I don’t,” Thaw said. “It’s really kind of sad. It’s what the Russians did when they had their revisionist history. They ran around taking everyone’s names off buildings.”
Jackson was born in Clarksburg and was a West Point graduate before he joined the Confederacy in 1861. The middle school has one of the county’s highest populations of black students.
Thaw wasn’t sure if the renaming would come under discussion at the next BOE meeting, but called it “a publicity deal” and said he wouldn’t vote for it if it did come up.
McAllister’s petition had approximately 150 signatures Monday afternoon.