Moore and Cohen suggest renaming the school to honor Thurgood Marshall, the late civil rights leader who became the first African-American justice of the Supreme Court.
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As of Monday afternoon more than 28,000 people had signed the petition, posted on Change.org.
The Academy Award victor – who portrayed former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin in HBO’s 2012 film “Game Change” – has joined a petition to change the name of her high school, which honors Confederate Gen. J.E.B. “The Confederate flag was at the center of our basketball court and on our athletic letter jackets and wasn’t removed until 2001 – but the symbol of Stuart on a horse waving a flag (now solid blue) remains”, they wrote.
The two also discussed in their pitch that the school is supporting a “history of racism”, following the mass shooting at a Charleston historical church in South Carolina, where nine African-Americans were shot and killed.
Stuart was a hero of the Confederacy, considered one of General Robert E Lee’s most important aides and known for his cavalier image.
In the ’70’s, when Moore and Cohen attended J.E.B. Stuart High School, now named for a Confederate general. Stuart High School in 1979.
In a statement to The Washington Post, Moore called it “reprehensible” that the school is named after a “person who fought for the enslavement of other human beings”. Stuart High School to Thurgood Marshall High School, according to the Associated Press. I think the students of this school deserve better than that moniker.”It’s worth noting that it’s not at all unheard of for a school to rename itself”. It is particularly inappropriate in light of the fact that the school was named in the spirit of sour grapes, because a bunch of dumb ass bigots had a sad about their kids attending school with black children.
The school is one of the most diverse in the country: 49 percent of students are Hispanic, 24 percent are white, 14 percent are Asian and 11 percent are black.
[Students seek name change at Stuart High School].
Cohen said that he and Moore chose to focus their attention on changing the name of Stuart after recently learning about the student-led effort.
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The school used to have the Confederate flag featured in its school symbol until 2001.
