Virginia Governor VETOES Bill to Cancel Robert E Lee Plates

 

Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin announced this evening that he vetoed 48 bills today.  Among them are two, passed by Virginia democrats almost entirely along party lines, that would have prohibited the sale of General Robert E Lee and Sons of Confederate Veterans Specialty License plates, and removed the tax exempt status of several of Virginia's oldest historical societies, including the United Daughters of the Confederacy.   

His vetoes mean the license plates will still be available and the United Daughters of the Confederacy will NOT lose their tax exempt status.

The vetoes come on the heels of last weeks' decision by the Shenandoah County School Board to restore the Confederate names to two schools which had previously been changed, and as part of a growing push back against the left's ongoing WOKE attempts to erase the Commonwealth's history and heritage.  

In a foreshadowing of his decision, Youngkin offered this response when asked for his thoughts on the Shenandoah School Board vote:

In poll after poll, and vote after vote, the overwhelming majority of citizens of the Commonwealth have expressed the desire to end the cultural cleansing and destruction that former Governor Northam oversaw in his tenure, and sent a clear message in electing Youngkin that they wanted to see it reversed.  It appears that Youngkin chose to consider the will of the people over appeasing a radical few, joining his fellow Virginia Republicans in standing against the left's cancel culture war.

 

Virginia School Board Votes to Restore Confederate School Names

 

 

Meeting attendees bow for prayer before the Shenandoah County, VA  School Board meeting, May 9, 2024. 

Shortly after 12:30 am this morning, May 10, 2024, on the 161st Anniversary of the death of Stonewall Jackson, the Shenandoah County Public Schools Board voted to restore the names of the Southern Campus Schools to Ashby-Lee Elementary and Stonewall Jackson High School.

 

The motion passed via 5-1 vote with Kyle Gutshall casting the only NO vote.

 

The exact language of the motion that was approved was: “I move that the names of Stonewall Jackson High School and Ashby Lee Elementary School be restored to the schools now named Mountain View High School and Honey Run Elementary School respectively. The funds required to implement the restoration must be provided by private donations exclusively and not be borne by the school system or government tax funds, though the SCPS will oversee disbursements relating to restoration costs.”

In 2020, the school board renamed the schools, both in Quicksburg, in a move that saw board members cave to outside leftist extremists, ignored the will of local citizens, and was done without public input or notice. Since that decision, two election cycles have brought in six new school board members.

In the wake of the 2020 decision, public anger and outrage was channeled into action.  A group called the Coalition for Better Schools asked the board to restore the old names, citing the need to remember the area’s War Between The States history and a belief that the 2020 school board made the renaming decision in haste. In explaining the reasoning for their “yes” vote, most school board members said they believed the 2020 board had acted inappropriately in changing the names within a matter of days without enough community input.  

Across the Commonwealth, EVERY locality which has ever been allowed to vote, has voted in overwhelming majority to keep their Confederate monuments, school names, and references. Only those in cities and counties which did not allow the people to vote have been removed, yet the media and corrupt politicians will report that this is what the people want, despite all the polling data and referendums showing otherwise. 

The good people of Shenandoah County have had their voices heard, and the wrong has been righted.  Supporters vow that this is the first of many, many more such decisions to come.