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They say Abe was no racist — honest!
Thousands of San Francisco residents are banning together to stop the city from renaming 44 schools that honor so-called “racist” historical leaders — including Abraham Lincoln, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, critics told the Post.
More than 7,200 people have signed an online petition slamming the school board’s controversial vote to scrap the names of former US presidents and war heroes with ties to racism or oppression.
The goal is to drum up enough public criticism to convince board members not to strip away the names during an April 19 meeting — where they plan to decide how specifically to rename the schools, said Lope Yap Jr, vice president of San Francisco’s George Washington high school alumni association.
“Public pressure could influence their process,” Yap said. “If they get enough backlash they might reconsider.”
Along with the petition, hundreds of school alumni have written letters to the school board bashing the choice to yank down the names of figures ranging from Revolutionary War hero Paul Revere to US Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.).
“We feel that whether socialist, conservative or independent, if you honor truth in history, politics needs to be put to the side,” Yap said. “We don’t want to erase things.”
He also bashed the school board’s claim that Lincoln was discriminatory and damaging to Native Americans.
“His accomplishments overwhelm any dark history,” he said. “They forget that abolitionists praised Abraham Lincoln.”
He added, “To me, this issue is nutty.”
Others lambasted the board for everything from promoting “cancel culture” to frivolous spending — citing the more than $400,000 it will cost to replace signage, sports uniforms and gym floors in schools.
But Yap said he’s aware of no current plans to take legal action against the school board to reverse the measure. “If there is going to be a lawsuit it’s not gonna happen before [April] 19th,” he said.
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