San Francisco to remove names of Washington and Lincoln from schools | San Francisco

The San Francisco school board voted to remove the names of George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Dianne Feinstein and several other public school politicians, conquerors and historical figures after officials found them unworthy of the tribute.

After months of debate and national attention, the council voted 6-1 on Tuesday in favor of renaming 44 schools in San Francisco with new names with no connection to slavery, oppression, racism or similar criteria.

School board members have insisted that the name change is timely and important, due to the fact that the country has a racist past. They argued that the district is able to pursue multiple priorities at the same time, responding to criticisms that say more pressing issues deserve attention.

Families in some schools have been advocating a name change for years. James Denman High School, for example, was named after the first superintendent and a racist leader who denied Chinese students a public education.

Others complained that some current names mean that students are wearing school T-shirts with the names of slave owners, including Washington, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. “It is a message for our families, our students and our community,” said counselor Mark Sanchez. “It is not just symbolic. It is a moral message. “

But critics considered the renaming process to be careless, with little or no input from historians and a lack of information based on each recommendation. In one case, the committee did not know whether Roosevelt High School was named Theodore or Franklin Delano.

“I support some of the schools that are being renamed, but there are many schools that don’t need to be renamed,” said a high school sophomore in Lowell in a public comment.

“There was a lot of historical neglect for not having a historian on the advisory committee. On the Google sheet of the nominating committee, they cite Wikipedia as a source. As a high school student at Lowell, I am not even allowed to use Wikipedia as a source for my history articles, let alone spend millions of dollars to rename a school that may not even need to be renamed. “

“Lincoln is President Obama’s favorite president,” said Lope Yap Jr, vice president of the George Washington College alumni association, in public comments. “Abolitionist Frederick Douglass praised Lincoln. Several historians refuted the Lincoln Advisory Committee’s conclusion. Mount Vernon sent him a letter extolling Washington and its achievements in general, even after pointing out Washington’s dark history. “

Dianne Feinstein, senior senator from California and a native of San Francisco, who has fallen in popularity locally in recent years, was added to the list because, as mayor of San Francisco, she replaced a vandalized Confederate flag that was part of an old flag display in in front of the city hall. The name of the primary school Dianne Feinstein was mentioned several times during public comments, with many in favor and against changing the name of the school.

London Breed, the mayor of San Francisco, said that while she understands the meaning of school names and the importance of being proud of the school’s name, she feels that renaming these schools should not be a priority when students have not yet returned to class because of the pandemic.

“Our students are suffering, and we should talk about taking them to classrooms, getting mental health support and getting the resources they need at this challenging time,” she said in a statement. “Our families are frustrated by the lack of a plan, and especially frustrated by the fact that the discussion of those plans was not even on the agenda of the school council meeting last night.”