Hampton Roads communities wrestle with Confederate legacy, history

Mike Holtzclaw
May 28

... One option is to dismantle the symbol, which Germany did when it legally banned all uses of the swastika after the end of World War II. Another is to appropriate or transform the symbol, such as when some gay pride groups began using the pink triangle (which homosexuals were forced to wear in Nazi Germany) as a rallying point ...

"There are people who inquire about specific individuals buried here," Tormey said. "But they are interested in the context of the lives more than anything else" ...

Rawls Byrd was superintendent of the schools in Williamsburg and James City County from 1928-64. He fought to keep those schools segregated for 10 years after the Supreme Court ruling. An elementary school there still bears his name — for now. On Tuesday night, the local school board voted to begin the process of changing it ...

"We're always looking for ways to make sure these complex stories, such as the Civil War and the civil rights movement, get told in full fashion. As the power of some of these icons dissipates, the further we are from the linkage to modern-day violence — the Klan, Jim Crow — the better we can understand those stories. That's what is really going to take us forward."

http://www.dailypress.com/features/history/dp-nws-confederate-icons-0529-20160528-story.html