The following is a press release issued by the grassroots community group Change Our Name:
In a project designed to get Fort Bragg High School students thinking and writing about their school name, the grassroots community group Change Our Name announces their second annual essay contest asking students to write on the subject “The Name of Fort Bragg High School Should be Changed” or “The Name of Fort Bragg High School Should Not be Changed.”
Explained Change Our Name: “Of course, the 900 folks who are part of our group are clearly in favor of a name change given Braxton Bragg’s role as a General in the Confederate Army and as a slaveholder and the Fort’s historical role in dispossessing the original Indigenous inhabitants of our land. But we realize that many people and many students don’t know this history. So the contest will impel them to research and make up their own minds about the issue. The essays will be judged not on whether the students agree with us but on the breadth of their research and the force of their arguments for or against the name change.”
Contest prizes re-doubled from last year and will be $2,000 First Prize, $1000 Second Prize. The judging will be independent of Change Our Name and judges are four community leaders who are either writers or educators themselves. Entrees will be accepted from March 1, 2024 to April 19, 2024. and should be sent as attachments to changeournamefortbragg@gmail.com
More information and all contest rules can be found at www.changeournamefortbragg.com.
Change Our Name is a grassroots organization and 501(c)(3) educational non-profit incorporated in the state of California dedicated to towards educating citizens on American History and racial justice to change the name of Fort Bragg. This essay contest is solely a project of Change Our Name Fort Bragg and is neither sponsored by nor affiliated with the Fort Bragg Unified School District nor with Fort Bragg High School.
This is what indoctrination looks like.
The guidelines of Change Our Name’s contest indicate: “The essays will be judged not on whether the students agree with us but on the breadth of their research and the force of their arguments for or against the name change.” The Change our Name group also actively encourages the discussion of other points of view in their Facebook group with the only restriction being that all participants remain civil. Compare that with the opposing group Fort Bragg Forever’s stated rules which prohibit any dissenting comments and blocks the participation of anyone that does not fully support their goals. Which of these policies and approaches seems more aligned with the goal of indoctrination to you?
So Randy, why is “this” indoctrination? How about providing a main idea and supporting details that any good writer could provide – which is what any good elementary school student would provide if that student was properly taught how to write.
I think history lessons are good; and give thumbs up to awards for writing; … while questioning the Shoulds vs Shouldn’t theme. I value political conversations that lobby for forward looking community improvements without the Should vs Shouldn’t contest. I hope to read how some students side step that unconscious contest about “Who is In Charge of The Shoulds”; …by thinking outside that box; and promoting on merits of what they consider good forward oriented ideas for our communities. That is my 73 orbits around the Sun perspective ?
‘In a project designed to get Fort Bragg High School students thinking and writing about their school name, the grassroots community group Change Our Name announces their second annual essay contest asking students to write on the subject “The Name of Fort Bragg High School Should be Changed” or “The Name of Fort Bragg High School Should Not be Changed.”
William, I agree with you that “history lessons are good; and give thumbs up to awards for writing … while questioning the Shoulds vs Shouldn’t theme.” So how would you title the writing contest that would address the issue of whether or not the name of Fort Bragg should be changed? I assume that you are aware that two schools in Fort Bragg are named after a Confederate traitor and are the only public schools in California named after a Confederate traitor.
“traitor” is a strong word. he wasn’t a traitor in the army he served.
“he wasn’t a traitor in the army he served.”
It’s true that some of the members of the Confederate army may not have considered Braxton Bragg a traitor, but since Braxton was a general he had responsibility for the deaths of thousands of Union soldiers and that certainly makes him a traitor. I have reposted below a comment from Dave Martin that is on the Change our name Fort Bragg Facebook page dated January 14th:
“The Army post was named after Braxton Bragg, who rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel during the Mexican American War. Bragg and later became a traitor to the United States Army and was given the rank of General in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. Bragg was a slave owner who fought against the US Army in order to preserve the institution of slavery within the Confederacy. He ultimately lost his command and served as an aid to Robert E. Lee and others. Bragg has been consistently ranked as one of the worst Generals of the Civil War. He is the subject of the book: Braxton Bragg: The Most Hated Man of the Confederacy.”
for those concerned about history perhaps reviewing what Yuri Bezmenov once. see the video in the link.
https://bigthink.com/the-present/yuri-bezmenov/