As Twitchy recently reported, the San Francisco United School District recently decided to change the names of 44 schools, including ones named after George Washington and Abraham Lincoln (who didn’t “demonstrate that black lives mattered to him”).
In the introduction to his interview with Gabriela López, the head of the San Francisco Board of Education, New Yorker writer Isaac Chotiner notes that the committee put together to decide which schools should be renamed targeted Paul Revere Elementary School “because of his role in the Penobscot Expedition of 1779, an assault on a British fort that the committee claimed, incorrectly, was intended to colonize the Penobscot people.”
“I was curious if historians had testified,” Chotiner sneaks in. “And it seems like they hadn’t.” And they weren’t. He tries again a little later, bringing up “factual things like Paul Revere’s name being removed for the Penobscot Expedition, which was not actually about the colonization of Native American lands. And so there were questions about whether historians should have been involved to check these things.”
I see what you’re saying. So, for me, I guess it’s just the criteria was created to show if there were ties to these specific themes, right? White supremacy, racism, colonization, ties to slavery, the killing of indigenous people, or any symbols that embodied that. And the committee shared that these are the names that have these ties. And so, for me, at this moment, I have the understanding we have to do the teaching, but also I do agree that we shouldn’t have these ties, and this is a way of showing it.
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That makes perfect sense. All they’re really trying to do, López explained, is uplift that which “isn’t being uplifted in our time and our public-school system that we’ve seen throughout history.”
As you read this interview with the less-than-cogent head of the San Francisco Board of Education, keep in mind that her responses were edited for clarity. https://t.co/Vf0RjOauAc
— Christina Sommers (@CHSommers) February 7, 2021
She is also a teacher.
— Erika Sanzi (@esanzi) February 7, 2021
Cannot wait until the next school board election.
— Kathy Castro (@kathycastro) February 6, 2021
I realize this piece may be abbreviated, but she only perfunctorily answered your questions, and there was little follow up. From what's presented here, SF children are learning no one gets honored unless they are perfect. And the definition of perfect is extremely fluid.
— Steve Goldstein (@SteveGoldstein1) February 6, 2021
Her responses are full of embarrassing platitudes.
— Sridhar (@SridharMocherla) February 6, 2021
Is "moving away from the idea" a phrasing you've encountered before? I think a "my bad" might be more suitable here. pic.twitter.com/DcFlTomxtp
— Sean Baxter (@seanbax) February 6, 2021
“… what I keep hearing is you’re trying to undermine the work that has been done through this process.” No, what you’re hearing is facts.
Your dark powers can be remarkably ineffective when you're interviewing people with absolutely no sense of shame.
— Jack Walsh (@JackWaltimore) February 6, 2021
Anyone who reads this and still thinks @lopez4schools is capable of being in charge of a bake sale, let alone a entire school system needs to have their head examined.
— Furious Styles (@NovaLDiamond) February 6, 2021
"You’re talking about the learning of history and its importance. Did the committee want historians to testify? And why or why not?"
"So, it’s hard for me to answer that question without just pointing to [committee statements that] “they did not want to include historians.”
— Reality Czar SWiM (@22REEFI) February 7, 2021
Why would they consult historians? They have no interest in history.
— Lobster Birch (@BirchLobster) February 7, 2021
“And it’s also to show that the school district has provided so many resources to really contribute to the parent-as-teacher model, so that they’re not feeling like they’re alone during this time.” I’m curious what she meant. As a parent, I’m not aware of these resources.
— Debra Solomon (@debrasol) February 7, 2021
What a mess this school district is.
this is so incredibly embarrassing my god https://t.co/ZgcNKPgsE5 pic.twitter.com/luX3BnHPGM
— Sonny Bunch (@SonnyBunch) February 6, 2021
imagine being this woman just imagine it https://t.co/ZgcNKPgsE5 pic.twitter.com/8GVoC1qiil
— Sonny Bunch (@SonnyBunch) February 6, 2021
I mean, this is the thing: these are just *remarkably dumb people* who have traded critical thinking for, I dunno, idiotic platitudes. https://t.co/f8idkAZvkA
— Sonny Bunch (@SonnyBunch) February 6, 2021
"I’m not quite sure what that means when we are talking about things that did or didn’t happen.”
dead
i am dead https://t.co/ZgcNKPgsE5 pic.twitter.com/djSRShHGLE
— Sonny Bunch (@SonnyBunch) February 7, 2021
The president of the SF school board was elected @ 27yrs old
her experience in the school system was as an elementary school teacher.
what ticked off the boxes was 'activist cred'https://t.co/k5IZzyhC4e
— Brogue Subsidies Now (@Bugs_Meany) February 7, 2021
Related:
Wait … WUT?! San Francisco to rename Abraham Lincoln High School because he didn’t ‘demonstrate that black lives mattered to him’ https://t.co/HIxk01VzTR
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) December 15, 2020
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