A Portland, Oregon school district is removing the word "Lynch" from its schools' names for fear that the word would alienate racial minorities.
Centennial School District is the home of the Lynch Meadows, Lynch Wood, and Lynch View elementary schools. The Oregonian reports that Centennial Superintendent Paul Coakley announced the change "in response to growing concern about the word's racial connotations."
All three schools are named for the Lynch family, who donated the land for the original schools a century ago. Although there is no connection between the family and the term for racist extrajudicial execution, Coakley says the district has received complaints.
"There were an increasing amount of questions and some complaints from families of color around the name," Coakley said, adding that it had become "a disruption for some students."
The demographics of the Centennial School District has shifted in recent years, Coakley noted. The district was 84 percent white a decade ago, and today 55 percent of its students are non-white.
Others weren't that happy with the decision. "What if former Seahawks and current Oakland Raiders running back Marshawn Lynch wants to fund a school?" asked the Olympian, of neighboring Washington. "Or if Merrill Lynch donates a business college?"
The school district's decision comes after a similar controversy in 2015, when students at Pennsylvania's Lebanon Valley College unsuccessfully petitioned to rename "Lynch Memorial Hall." That building was named for the college's former president, who also had no connection to the murder of emancipated blacks.