In January we lost MLB great, Hank Aaron. Earlier this week, the city where he set the MLB home run record honored him by renaming a school for the baseball legend.
In a unanimous vote, the Atlanta Board of Education changed the name of Forrest Hill Academy to the Hank Aaron New Beginnings Academy. The significance of the change is not just that it is a tribute to Hank Aaron. It is also because the school had been named after Nathan Bedford Forrest, a lieutenant general in the Confederate army, a founding figure of the Ku Klux Klan, and the eventual “Grand Wizard” of the racist group.
“It is very important that we understand our history,” said board member Michelle Olympiadis. “It’s very important that we understand where we are coming from.”
This decision follows on the heels of MLB’s decision to pull the All-Star Game from Atlanta. And it’s another major step in healing the pain and removing the stain, forged by racism across America, particularly in the South.
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