I've been thinking a lot about how deeply embedded Confederate iconography has been in my own life. In New Orleans I drove down streets named after Confederates. Attended a middle school named after a Confederate. Played in parks full of Confederate statues. They were everywhere.
My middle school was named after Robert Mills Lusher, a Confederate and former Louisiana schools superintendent who fought against desegregation and who explicitly stated that he believed in "the supremacy of the Caucasian race." To get there, I drove down Robert E. Lee Blvd.
I think about what it means that so many Black children walk into schools named after those who thought they were an inferior caste. Or for ppl in a majority Black city to drive down streets named after those who fought a war to keep their ancestors enslaved. It's got to change.
