A Virginia community college named for founding father Patrick Henry is fighting back against left-wing state officials backed by the Northam Administration who demand the school change its name and claim the revolutionary patriot who served as Virginia’s first Governor and famously declared “give me liberty or give me death” is a racist and divisive figure from history who must be erased.
The school, which is positioned in Henry County and also serves neighboring Patrick County – both named for Patrick Henry – has operated under the name of Patrick Henry Community College for nearly 60 years. While it is unclear if a citizen complaint has ever actually been lodged regarding the name, state officials claim the image of the founding father is too much for the local minority population to have to live with and have demanded the school change its name to reflect “inclusivity.”
The left-wing state government appears so determined to erase the name of founding father Patrick Henry that when school officials informed them that the name had originally been inspired by the counties the school serves and offered to add a hyphen between the words Patrick and Henry to reflect the school’s geographic location, the state wouldn’t budge.
“They said that while the evidence may be that the college was not directly named after Patrick Henry as a slave owner and the first governor of Virginia, the localities were named for Patrick Henry the person,” Patrick Henry Community College President Angeline Godwin told the local news.
According to local media reports, the state community college board has now twice demanded the school change its name, a process which would cost over an estimated $1 million in taxpayer money and which the school says would have a negative effect on enrollment. Members of school leadership blasted the left-wing board in a recent letter, again refusing to back down before the radical left and pushing back on the name change.
“It is so obvious your board has no understanding of the history of the school’s name, nor does it care to,” reads a portion of the letter. “To date, your only accomplishment has been to bring residents together in disagreement with your mandate.”
Since the radical left began a renewed push against American history and virtually anything seen as “white” in America last year, Virginia’s left-wing, Democrat-dominated state government has been at the forefront of the efforts, seemingly emboldened by politically re-drawn legislative maps which tilted the scales of power in their favor.
As previously reported by National File, Virginia Democrats have made a habit of erasing several of the state’s native sons, abolishing the state’s Lee-Jackson Day named for Confederate Generals Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson while also desecrating and digging up the grave of Confederate General A.P. Hill. Democrats oversaw the complete destruction of Richmond’s Monument Avenue and in Northern Virginia, have made headlines as efforts continue to embed critical race theory in school curricula.