The city of Lynchburg, Virginia should change its name. In order to enact this change I need your help. We need to hold the city accountable. If black lives truly matter to the city, then such a word defining the hanging of people, primarily people of color can and will be eliminated. I have always been embarrassed to admit where I come from. I cringe having to say the name of the city Lynchburg because lynch is in the name. I do anything I can to get around it. But this isn't about me. It's about why we need to rename the city. The name of a city should not have such violent, racist, and horrifying connotations. I understand it was named after a man named John Lynch, but why do we insist on explaining that when people react to its name poorly (understandably so)? Why do we insist on defending it? We understand the power in the word. We need to erase the power that word holds over the connotation to our city.  It's not at all about the man John Lynch, or his family. It's about the word "LYNCH," and when others outside of our town, who don't know the history, see it on a map, or on a piece of paper, or on a screen in 2020, their only reference to the word "LYNCH" can be quite negative causing them to assume the worst. We can honor John and his family by removing the word that has grown to mean something he would not be proud of. 

If nothing changes, how can we ensure safety for our black community when the very name of where they live is a reminder of their ancestry who were threatened and killed? How can we ensure children just learning the word and it's meaning in history class do not see it within the name of our city and then think it is okay to use? How can we continue to be okay and complacent with its name, if black lives matter to us?