SF School Board Cancels Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson...and Dianne Feinstein?

[thebeave]

https://abc7news.com/sfusd-board-meeting-san-francisco-unified-schools-district-school-name-changes/10076023/

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- The names of 44 schools in San Francisco will be eventually dropped and changed. The San Francisco School Board decided on Tuesday night that the people which have schools named after them have "ties to racism" or have "dishonorable legacies."

Junipero Serra Elementary, Washington High School, Dianne Feinstein Elementary, and Lowell High School are among the 44 San Francisco schools whose names are scheduled to be changed. The reason has sparked a lot of controversy.

The school board arrived at this decision after a special committee comprised of educators, students and former school board members came up with a list of people they believe supported oppression, slavery and were therefore racists. It's believed that no historians were asked to weigh in.

No historians were involved to provide context or fact checking? I'm shocked I tell you...Shocked!.

Kinda makes you wonder how far the "progressives" are going to take this. What about all the US President portraits in the classrooms (do they still have those?). Will Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson, et al have a blank space where their picture was, with a large, diagonally slanted "CANCELLED" in its place?

I find it amusing, but not really surprising, that the President of the SF chapter of the NAACP, doesn't like the change (with regard to Feinstein at least):

"I do not think we should make snap prejudicial judgements without the facts," said Reverend Amos Brown, the President of the San Francisco Chapter of the NAACP and someone who has known Senator Feinstein for more than 40 years.

 

[repoman]

Khmer Mauve

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Sounds like they are simply getting rid of controversial names.

 

[Rhea]

Er,

Can you explain a little more about how having a school no longer named after Washington "cancels" him?


Or is this manufactured drama?

 

[Shadowy Man]

Er,

Can you explain a little more about how having a school no longer named after Washington "cancels" him?


Or is this manufactured drama?

Soon kids will be taught that Adams was our first President, right? It’s a slippery slope....

 

[thebeave]

Er,

Can you explain a little more about how having a school no longer named after Washington "cancels" him?


Or is this manufactured drama?

The term "cancel" is slang and somewhat hyperbolic, of course. You have not heard of the term "cancel culture"?

https://www.dictionary.com/e/pop-culture/cancel-culture/#:~:text=Cancel%20culture%20refers%20to%20the,something%20considered%20objectionable%20or%20offensive.

 

[Shadowy Man]

The high school I went to was once called Warren G Harding high school.

 

[Trausti]

Year Zero.

 

[thebeave]

The high school I went to was once called Warren G Harding high school.

Yep. Its not limited to SF. Its happening all over. My cousins used to attend Dixie Elementary School in San Rafael. Last year it was renamed Miller Creek Elementary School.

 

[Elixir]

I went to Galileo High School in SF. Only for one year. Two years later I was living with the Galileo school psychologist lol.
The School Board didn't cancel Galileo; he was actually a scientist and was persecuted for it by the prevailing religious nutbars of the day.
AFAIK he didn't own any slaves, either. Both points would put him in opposition to today's GOP. But the school board probably couldn't agree.

The most important thing right now is UNITY of course.
It's a great sign that both the GOP and the SF School Board want to cancel George Washington.
Of course their reasons differ: the GOP wants the US to have a King, which Washington opposed. OTOH the School Board tried to make an anti-slavery statement, which the GOP would oppose.
But the important thing is UNITY. So we can all join hands, sing Kumbaya and revel in whichever attribute of George Washington we despise. Then we can move on.


* for those who may have missed it, the above is 100% facetious, sarcastic and mocking of the GOP and their hangers on, even though it is completely factual.

 

[Rhea]

Er,

Can you explain a little more about how having a school no longer named after Washington "cancels" him?


Or is this manufactured drama?

The term "cancel" is slang and somewhat hyperbolic, of course. You have not heard of the term "cancel culture"?

https://www.dictionary.com/e/pop-culture/cancel-culture/#:~:text=Cancel%20culture%20refers%20to%20the,something%20considered%20objectionable%20or%20offensive.

I have absolutely heard of it. It does not seem to fit with this situation, though, even "somewhat hyperbolically."

This is Pure-D Fabricated Outrage.

I graduated from [TownName] High School. My husband graduated from West High School. Neither of us lacks information about Washington, Jefferson or Feinstein. They are not cancelled or shamed in any way by not having schools named after them.

 

[Politesse]

Conservatives once again interpret "not being given special honors" as "erasure".

 

[Rhea]

Conservatives once again interpret "not being given special honors" as "erasure".

And I wonder sometimes, which of them are doing it to manipulate others into thinking something has happened that's bigger than reality was, and which of them are doing it because for the first time in their existence someone is talking back to them and it is excruciating to them. And which ones are feeling the latter and launching the former to try to make their pain felt by others.

 

[Politesse]

Eh, I dunno. There are no safe spaces, really. I do not believe anyone is so privileged as to never have been criticized by someone else. I think what's going on here is more the effect of propaganda being challenged. They were taught about Washington and Lincoln as though they were gods, not men; having their legacy challenged hurts personally, because they were taught that they share in the legacy of those "great men" who could do no wrong. They are upset at removals, sure, but also inclusions. All these folks raging at the school renamings would are just as outraged to learn that schoolchildren are being taught that Father Serra was an enslaver, and Washington was a perpetrator of genocide, even though both statements are historical facts beyond any shadow of a doubt.

 

[thebeave]

Conservatives once again interpret "not being given special honors" as "erasure".

As I pointed out, the President of the SF NAACP doesn't like it. Mayor London Breed is pissed off about it. She's certainly not conservative. A lot of the pushback is coming from the liberal citizens of SF.

 

[Politesse]

Conservatives once again interpret "not being given special honors" as "erasure".

As I pointed out, the President of the SF NAACP doesn't like it. Mayor London Breed is pissed off about it. She's certainly not conservative. A lot of the pushback is coming from the liberal citizens of SF.

I'm aware. They are specifically upset about Feinstein's inclusion though, not the general principle that school distrists should have the right to name their schools as they please.

 

[Shadowy Man]

Conservatives once again interpret "not being given special honors" as "erasure".

But in this case it actually is taking away something that had been given.

I’m sure the GOP will say that liberals will next ask to have George chiseled off of Mount Rushmore. And maybe they will.

Purity tests for any honors at all?

 

[J842P]

Conservatives once again interpret "not being given special honors" as "erasure".

Most of those people should be honored.

 

[Rhea]

Conservatives once again interpret "not being given special honors" as "erasure".

Most of those people should be honored.

They are. In history books, paintings, busts...

 

[repoman]

Take all of the historical white colonizer names off in trade for ending all affirmative action programs. That would be an excellent deal.