An advisory committee’s plan to reconsider "problematic" names for 44 San Francisco schools has caught the attention of President Donald Trump, specifically remarks made about the 16th U.S. president’s compassion for Black people.
This part of the controversy stems from last weekend, when the advisory committee’s chairman, Jeremiah Jeffries, discussed various reasons for wanting to remove President Abraham Lincoln’s name with the San Francisco Chronicle: "The history of Lincoln and Native Americans is complicated, not nearly as well-known as that of the Civil War and slavery. Lincoln, like the presidents before him and most after, did not show through policy or rhetoric that Black lives ever mattered to them outside of human capital and as casualties of wealth building."
The remarks made headlines around the world, drawing backlash from conservative circles in particular.
Several U.S. lawmakers have since weighed in, including Senator Ted Cruz and Congressman Lee Zeldin of New York. The occupant of the White House, as he often does, chimed in on Twitter early Wednesday.
Mayor London Breed has previously voiced her opposition to the San Francisco Unified School District’s plan, labeling it a waste of time during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Her statement on the plan was released in October.
"It’s offensive to me as someone who went to our public schools, who loves our public schools, and who knows how those years in the classroom are what lifted me out of poverty and into college," the mayor said. "It’s offensive to our kids who are staring at screens day after day instead of learning and growing with their classmates and friends."
Other recommendations by the committee were surprising, including changing the title of Senator Dianne Feinstein’s namesake school in the Outer Sunset. John Muir, Junipero Serra, Herbert Hoover, Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe were also among names under discussion for removal from SFUSD sites.
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