Colt1911-45 t1_ixje0uv wrote on November 23, 2022 at 9:48 PM

Reply to comment by ImmobilizedbyCheese in Richmond school district to rename Binford, Cary, and Ginter Park for $150k. by Charlesinrichmond

Cary St and Carytown were named after a Colonel from the Revolutionary War who was also involved in politics. Yes he was a slave owner, but this was 200 plus years ago.

Lewis Ginter did a lot to rebuild Richmond after the Civil War and was a known philanthropist. His estate financed Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens which was established by his niece. Ginter was pretty much Richmond through and through.

Byrd Park was named after William Byrd who is considered the founder of Richmond. Byrd was not a nice guy and his diary writings show how he was cruel to his slaves.

We can't erase our history. We need to study it and surround ourselves with it so we can learn from it and do better. Renaming every damn thing because we are using today's moral compass to judge people who built the very things we are enjoying today is just mindless. I am not condoning whitewashing history, I am just saying we shouldn't erase it.

ImmobilizedbyCheese t1_ixm3fh4 wrote on November 24, 2022 at 2:03 PM

All very interesting. I admit I know none of this history and was just being flippant because if we rename schools why not do it all and be done with it. Kind of like legalizing weed. I dont smoke but I'm tired of hearing about it so just do it already and we can move on.

Colt1911-45 t1_ixmpawo wrote on November 24, 2022 at 4:50 PM

We're all guilty of it. We are so overloaded with information now that even though we have all of this info literally at the tips of our fingers we don't have the time or the energy to put 30 seconds into looking past a headline or a post. It's kind of ironic if you think about it tbh.