Did the San Francisco Board of Ed Almost Get One Right Excising Lincoln?
Lincoln and the Dakota War of 1862
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Three members of the San Francisco Board of Education were recalled by a vastly greater number of votes than put them into office in the first place. They inflamed their constituency by horsing around with school names—and using sloppy historic rationales in the process—instead of working to get kids back behind their desks.
Their idea was to strike out the names of those who “engaged in the subjugation and enslavement of human beings; or who oppressed women, inhibiting societal progress; or whose actions led to genocide; or who otherwise significantly diminished the opportunities of those among us to the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”.
Among the names chosen for exclusion were Paul Revere, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Alamo, Dianne Feinstein, and Abraham Lincoln. Washington and Jefferson you could see coming: They were slave owners, after all. Paul Revere gets thumbs down for having forcibly colonized the Penobscot Indians—when actually he took part in an attack on Fort Penobscot during the War of Independence. As mayor, Feinstein allegedly replaced a Confederate flag in front of City Hall after the previous one was torn down by a protestor (she later had it replaced with a Union flag). Alamo Elementary warrants a name change because we don’t want to celebrate the men who fought to the death for Texan independence, and the right to buy and sell human beings—does it matter that SF’s “Alamo” was named for the Spanish for word “poplar” having nothing to do with events in South Texas?
Then there’s Lincoln.
His name on the board’s list prompted a great deal of ire. Perhaps rightfully so. Isn’t Lincoln regarded as the greatest of US Presidents, savior of the Union, and liberator of slaves?
The board chose Lincoln because he presided over the 26 December 1862 execution of 38 Santee Sioux in Mankato, Minnesota. The condemned sang their death songs as hoods were placed over their heads and hangmen grasped the levers that would send them into the next world. Some stood close enough to clasp the hand of the man standing next to him as the trap doors swung open.
