 This is Kayla Wilson. Kayla is a senior, about to be a senior, at Lee High School. And Lee High School is located in District 1, and this is Councilman Roberto Trudino, who is District 1, San Antonio. And Kayla, why don't you tell them what you did? Well, I created a petition to rename my school so that the NEISD board knows that people do want to change since the spokeswoman had mentioned that they weren't considering changing it because no one had raised, you know, any concern about it. And when former Mayor Julian Castro brought it up, I, as soon as I knew that we could, I wanted to. So I made it create a petition so I could bring this to the board meeting and show them that people do want to change. Well, that's great. And it just shows that, you know, the power of proper representation and petitioning to get your voice heard. So I think that's really the whole point of this, and, you know, starting a great conversation. So I can certainly support that. I just think that, you know, there are better people, because I understand that Robert Lee and the Confederacy in this award is part of our history, but it's not a history that we necessarily should celebrate. And I just think there are people, you know, other people, better people to name a school after, to honor not someone who participated and led an army against them, the Union United States. And, you know, if they had won, the enslavement of people would have continued. So I just think that there's other people to, you know, honor and celebrate. And yeah. And I actually proposed a different name because there was a middle school that was actually changed called Jefferson. Davis Middle School is now Stonewall Jackson Davis. They replaced it for a civil rights leader because Jefferson Davis was a Confederate president. So I thought, you know, for a better easier transition, it would be George W. Lee, who was also a civil rights leader. So I thought, you know, that would be better. Yeah. Wow. Very thoughtful. And I think that's great. I think it's great that you're leading this. And as you mentioned earlier, you're going into your senior year. So, you know, kudos to you for for leading this effort. I'll say that, you know, certainly on a personal level, I see the I see the issue. The issue is is is is very complicated because our history is complicated. And what's what's really great, though, is that you're starting a great conversation. And I think we should have this conversation. I think we need to embrace the telling of all our stories and be brutally honest and and understand, you know, what that history entails. You know, on a personal level, I think it's it's it's a subject that's it's time is due to talk about. And but as it also as a as a council member and representative of district one, you know, I do want to open this conversation up to to the community and to the people that have attended that school before as well. I mean, I know that they have some strong feelings. And I think it'd be really great to to to begin this conversation to to be inclusive. Like you said, it's curious that most people would say, you know, nobody's ever actually petitioned this before. Well, we've never done this because nobody's petitioned. But maybe people have these feelings have never actually done it. So, you know, you've you've done a great service by sort of paying attention to that and saying, I'm gonna so I'll be the first petition. And now are there other people that might have a similar voice or have have an opinion to express? You know, we all have that right. And that's really what's important. You know, I've said it all along, the San Antonio's greatest treasure is its history. We have a very complicated history, as you know. And there's probably the most iconic element of our history is the Alamo. And that in itself has a very complicated past. You know, we Texas was a slave state. And the battle of the Alamo told from one side is one story of heroism. And the other side is is another story that entails and tells the actual story of how there was slavery in Texas. And and, you know, Mexico's desire to abolish it be the second nation in the whole world to abolish it. I think it those are the kind of things that, you know, really deserved, you know, some sunlight deserved to be told. And so so I applaud you for for for taking that first step. We're all very anxious about that. I appreciate the the mayor's statements yesterday regarding this this subject because I think she's right. We can't forget that this is this is our history. And I think that she's also suggesting that we be more methodical, take a very thoughtful approach and and be inclusive, transparent and and really embrace who we are and then try to move forward in a more positive way so that people feel like they're not, you know, being excluded from from what we are today. And so that's how I feel about that. Yeah, like, what do you feel is is your role? Well, I mean, that's a great question because it's it's it's a bad engagement. It's about conversation. It's about representation. You know, we just celebrated July 4th, and I went to a small neighborhood association celebration that we had called River Road. And it was a small gathering. They celebrated July 4th. And I was there with our state rep. And it was really they were so thankful that they had their city council in there and their state rep in the small gathering. And I said, this is what independence is about. It's about representation to it's about that everybody gets a say, you know, that everybody gets attention. And so I think that that's what our role is. Our role is to make sure that that if you have something you want to say that you were hurt. And we really believe that that our role has to extend beyond our own personal beliefs and and embrace what the community is feeling and brace and try to reach out to to those that feel like they cannot say something or didn't know that they could say something. We need to we need to, you know, bring them into the fold. I feel like when I did address this with the school board with the NIC school board, especially like my principal, I had emailed my principal about about this. Like I asked her if she could take a look at my petition. And I felt like when she emailed me back, I she didn't really take my email into consideration. And that I wanted to have this conversation at the board meeting. And I felt like the board and her just like, kind of just pushed it aside and said, we're not gonna like this is not offered discussion. And when she emailed me back, she kind of like gave me history lessons instead of like, you know, saying that that she appreciated my concern. But so I kind of feel like we can't like have this conversation with the board because they really don't want to address it. But I that's why I'm trying to get as much support as possible. So so they have to have this conversation. No, and you're absolutely right. And I'm here to tell you that you have every right to speak up. And the board represents people the way I represent people. And so they should be, they should embrace the conversation. My hope is that that we can have a conversation all of us. Me, not just as a council person, but also as a citizen of San Antonio. And I live just down the street from that high school, by the way. And I think it's important that everybody, everybody's voices be heard. You know, we must continue to champion those. You know, we we have, we had a motto early on when I stepped into this role as a council member, we're talking about some issues. It's a very diverse district district one, for example. And we caught ourselves in a conversation where we said, you know, we're going to tell all the stories, even the ones we may not like. And we thought, that's a great saying, you know, because what my take is on something is not necessarily what somebody else's point of view can be. And so it's important to embrace all stories and important embrace what everybody's, you know, got to say. I also want to applaud you. I mean, just for your tenacity, because, you know, I can remember being your agent and being shut down and being told, oh, you know, it's, it's, you know, we don't necessarily need to discuss this. You need, you need to know that you're right to want to bring up the conversation. This is important. And anytime anybody wants to bring something up, they have the very right to do so. We, we on City Council express that every week by having a citizens to be heard. We have citizens to be heard on Wednesday evenings and Thursday mornings, both our council sessions, for that very specific reason, you have the right to come in and just tell us whatever you want to say, what's, what's going on. Because that's what we're here for. We're here to listen. We're here to pay attention. And I think that's what's really important here. This is what you've, what you've done. And, and I think that especially at your age, you know, I want to encourage you that this is, this is how you should be doing things. You should be, you know, taking charge, believing in yourself. The most important thing you can do is trust in who you are and what you feel. And if you feel like something needs to be talked about, then let's, let's hear, let's talk about it. And we as leaders in our community must have the courage to, to have conversations, brutal ones, brutally honest ones, conversations that are pretty tough. But, you know, my hope is that the conversations yield a feeling of, of inclusiveness, a feeling of community and, and, you know, a way to advance how, how we're addressing all our community concerns. Yeah. So, so yeah, you know, any, I hope that we can, we can, we can help out. The reality is, is it, you know, people who, who speak up and refuse to, to, to, to be quieted are usually the ones that get hurt. You know, you just got to be tenacious. And it's, unfortunately, this kind of work is hard work. I'll tell you, this is, this is both the most rewarding thing I've ever done in my life. It's also the hardest because it really, it takes me on this emotional scale all over the place. And it's, I'm dealing with people and their feelings and, and I want to help them. But yeah, I can tell you, I want to encourage you to stay, to be tenacious, to, to, to keep pressing. It's, it's, it takes a lot of work, takes a lot of work on our part. But you know, leaders should, should be willing to take, take on that work. Yeah. Yeah. These are things that are born out of you. And, and when, when, when you have a dream to do something, I had a dream to be an architect. And I swear it, you know, there's so many things that, that wanted to, you know, derail that. And I was hellbent on, on, on becoming an architect. I became an architect. And now that I'm a council member, I, I hope to bring a lot of that passion that I had for being an architect to this role. In fact, people will say, so you're an architect, that means you, you draw plans. Well, okay, that's, that's kind of in a nutshell, you know, sort of like tasks that we do, but that's not really what we do. What we do is we shape experiences. And like you just described, you know, how does it, you know, shape people's perceptions? Spaces do that. And as architects, we, we, we take on the clients want for a certain experience. If we're designing a home, how does somebody want to live at home? If we're designing a park, what does that park want to engage its users like? So this is, this is what we're after, it's experience. So that's why I can embrace, you know, what you're saying, because it's your experience. It's, it's valid because it's yours. It's not, you know, it's, you know, what you feel is what you feel. It's always valid. And so as an architect, we take on those, those notions about what people are wanting. And I think that, that spaces, public spaces, for example, especially are seen in very different ways. And as an architect, I've worked on, you know, several projects like that and know that depending on what culture you come from, what background, even what age, they really tend to be different experiences for many people. You have to sort of try to gauge exactly what that is. And I think that, you know, what we're facing here is, I know that in relationship to this, you know, this all started with this idea of this flag in South Carolina, you know, up in this flagpole in a public space that, you know, really, I think a flag has been co-opted for, you know, for use in so many ways. Spaces and monuments are a little different because they do provide a sort of an experience in a certain spot and they do try to address the heritage and the culture and the time frame that they existed. Certainly, you know, I have no issue taking down Confederate flags, wherever they may fly, because they do tend to, I should say in public spaces, because they do get co-opted for some unfortunate point of views that I would put in. But the built environment is very complex. That's why we need to talk about it because, you know, the design of the environment is a complex design and I know that they carry different meanings and so my hope is that as we progress on how we treat our parks, our public spaces. It's the need for the citizens to feel comfortable in their public, the spaces that they own. Absolutely. How people like Kayla can control her public, her environment, her experience. No, absolutely. Well, that's... Or how we augment those spaces, like the space, I mean, we were in Travis Park, you know, there's no explanation or no context around who that dude is and... Right, exactly. And so, no, that's a great point. And I think that's a good example of how nuanced this can get because, you know, do we provide an explanation? Is that enough? Or do we completely remove it? How do we treat that space? Do we create a balance? How can we create the experience that is one that can be inclusive and doesn't make anybody feel left out or excluded from that? So... And ultimately, you know, for places like the Alamo, you know, I mean, that's a whole bigger question, but how do you then take that space and have it also embrace or at least honestly represent? And I think it's the same problem, but as I mentioned, very complex, but certainly that's the issue, right? The Alamo, as we know it, is an icon of San Antonio. It's mostly an icon because it's a mythology. And mythology is not history. And so, you know, I've said it over and over again, you know, certainly we'll keep the history because, you know, there's the mythology. Mythologies carry out throughout the world in different parts of the globe, but then there's the real history of what happened. And I think it's important that we embrace history. We embrace all histories in different points of view, just like you're bringing up. And so, that means if we're going to be strong about how we look at our history, we should... That means that includes the Alamo, that includes all our public spaces, that includes how... You know, this is what we do as a city. We represent everybody and we should tell all the stories, even the ones we may not like. Yeah, and it's funny, you should bring our history up, because actually, I was talking to Miss Charlotte about it, that like our next year textbooks, history textbooks, are going... I heard that are not going to be mentioning the KKK or Jim Crow laws. And they're going to be a... When they do address slavery, they're going to address slavery as a side issue. And I was just so... Because our history textbooks already kind of downplay some parts of history already, and now it's just... No, that's... Well, it certainly is sad that we cannot address our history in a more scientific, factual way. We tend to... Unfortunately, I've heard that, and it seems like creating that kind of filter is not good for anybody. The reality is that we've come a long way, that doesn't mean we've come all the way. We have to keep working at this. The most important thing we can do is to be inclusive and honest about our history. Most people don't even know this, by the way. Our city has its own archaeologist, and I think it's amazing that we have our own archaeologists. You know why it's amazing? Because she's a scientist. She's not a politician. She's not somebody who takes sides. She's here to tell facts, and she's taught me a lot, and I can appreciate that. And my hope is that those textbooks can somehow find their way back to telling facts, to going back to being... To listening to experts, scientific experts, historians, archaeologists. You know, a belief system, everyone's allowed to have that, but does not belong in our schools, does not belong in City Hall. These things we need to tell factually.