The Black Lives Matter initiative seeking to change the names of two Berkeley elementary schools has finally succeeded. The San Francisco-based schools, named after the Founding Fathers who owned slaves, will get new names following the approval of a BLM resolution last week.

The Berkeley Unified School District Board made a universal endorsement of the measure on Wednesday, in the middle of reintroduced initiatives across the nation "to take a second look at buildings and monuments" that honor controversial personalities.

According to reports, such a move means the board can already start processing the renaming of schools named after the first and third presidents, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, respectively. The names which are under consideration were not clearly specified, though.

A Motion being Pushed for almost 2 Decades

News reports said, the district currently has schools already, named after "Malcolm X, Rosa Parks and Sylvia Mendez," the child the center of the case in 1947, forbidding segregation or discrimination in California schools.

A thrust to change the name of Jefferson Elementary School was unsuccessful in 2005, according to past reports, when "motion on the matter did not pass."

Incidentally, ex-Jefferson teacher, Marguerite Talley-Hughes, presently a teacher at Rosa Parks Elementary School, has been aggressively pushing for the renaming of school for almost two decades.

And, in her last seven years at Jefferson, Talley-Hughes, a student-run Berkeley newspaper, The Daily Californian said, citing it "as a Sequoia."

The educator recalled she was wearing a T-shirt where she replaced the letters spelt in "Jefferson," with the letters spelt for the word, "Sequoia." She added, she wore it at their weekly assembly to "protect my heart and my soul" from abuse, racial discrimination, and for the children "who had voted to know the truth."

Other than changing the names of the two schools, BLM's resolution also pushes for training for anti-racism for district educators, as well as the staff, and the "Black Joy Campaign" to run the whole year.

The San Francisco Chronicles described the said campaign as "resources and training" got school instructors to determine added measures of racial inequality and gather information in different schools.

Throughout the nation, various groups have pushed for the removal of statues of owners of slaves, "Confederate members and other figures considered offensive.

Addressing Racism in California Schools

Early this month, the education chief of California said he is planning to head an initiative that focuses on racial discrimination in public schools amid emotional comments about Georg Floyd's killing.

According to Tony Thurmond, the lone elected African American state official, "Now is the time" to deal with racial inequity and implicit favoritism or unfairness in the education sector. He added, while speaking via live stream, this moment must not be left ignored.

Additionally, the state official stated too, that he has reached out to superintendents of states across the country, and committed to instigating conversations with educational leaders, students and parents of California.

Lastly, Thurmond said, there is a need to address racism, as well, not just in education, but in all sectors of the community. Specifically, he said, there is a need to go beyond the academe sector "because racism is taught."

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