For @jiggyfly and whomever else was interested in me noticing an extreme left movement to rename schools in SF, it's now official, including removing the name of Lincoln. https://www.sfgate.com/education/article/San-Francisco-to-rename-44-schools-washington-15901689.php I know this is grist for the right-wing bubble, but I too find it incredibly stupid and a bad move overall. (And sorry, I haven't put much effort into finding where we were talking about this originally, but this thread on cancel culture seems fine enough.)
Lincoln and their sitting senior senator! These people are ludicrously stupid. They don't realize that by embodying such fringe believes they give ample fodder to the right wing media that profits from reacting to them. This is all so dumb.
Have always said that the Bay Area keeps my "inner gun rack" alive and well. So, so very stupid. It is an incredible privilege to have so few real problems to address that you can remove names from schools. Nevermind their poor performance, underpaid teachers, massive inefficiency, and gross school-to-school inequities.
SF's school system was a surprise to me when transferring from HISD mid year, we had an address listed that was like 2 blocks from Lowell, we came in totally blind to the lottery system, and being told that Lowell had a 2/3 year transfer wait time because it's the best school in the city, and that only 2 schools were available out of 15 or 20 in the city was very odd. Ended up going to O'Connell high located in the mission, which was 95% minority, 2/3rds economically disadvantaged, I'm not an expert...but that can't be ideal. But still, the school was a very nice experience, the teachers were good, the school very nice/clean, students were friendly and well mannered, much better than my experience with "good" Houston/Dallas schools.
San Francisco is extremist left wing. As for renaming schools named after Lincoln, well he thought black people were less intelligent than white people and supported sending them back to Africa. He was in short, a horrible bigot. So it shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone... when the decision was made to rename other schools and take down statues, this was the inevitable consequence.
I think Lincoln is a bit more complicated than that. He held personal beliefs--and political positions--that reflected different time periods in his life. Late in his presidency he held views that were substantially changed from those he held in the 1830s and 1840s. Yes, he held bigoted views that were commonly held; on the other hand he is also the president who had Frederick Douglass as his personal guest in the White House.
Sure, you can draw arbitrary lines or attempt to differentiate or claim that he was a man of his time. FWIW I agree that historical figures should be balanced in their appraisal based on the world they lived in.... however, once the door is open, it isn’t easily going to close... you start with Lee and then it filters down into Washington and Jefferson and Roosevelt... and when does it end? As for Lincoln, he is a complicated figure and is a product of a very flaw and complicated time. However, just like there are many admirable traits, there are flaws as well. There aren’t many Saints... and how do we balance it all? Can we all accept that a “great” or “memorable” person can also have done or believed terrible things? Do we no longer acknowledge the significance of Andrew Jackson? FDR with his internment camps? Ronald Reagan? He was caught saying racist things in private and largely didn’t have any empathy for gay men dying from AIDS... Bill Clinton mounting a teenager employee of his? We don’t have a solid line and as a result Lincoln is attacked and so will others... and I am not saying it is right or wrong. If someone Asian came to me and said FDR sent us to camps, he is terrible... how can I argue the opposite? If someone says Lincoln was a bigot, well that is largely true.
I don’t think there has to be an arbitrary line. To me it’s simple: why are they being honored? In lees case it was fighting for the slave side so no statue.
