‘Washington High School’ Name Deemed Racist by San Francisco School Board President

Washington High School in San Francisco may soon get a new name. One that is less male and less white, if supporters get their way.

Matt Haney, the president of the San Francisco Unified School District Board of Education, was discussing Maya Angelou with friends on a lazy Sunday afternoon when he decided to tweet an idea he had been mulling over.

“We should rename Washington High School after San Francisco native, poet and author Maya Angelou. Maya Angelou High School. No schools named after slave owners,” Haney wrote, according to the Los Angeles Times. (His account has since been set to private.)

Haney, a white male, knew full well how this might be taken, but he says he only wanted to spark a debate. But he didn’t expect the outpouring of anger on social media.

Nor did he expect, after an appearance Wednesday on “The O’Reilly Factor” to receive a call from the San Francisco Police Department warning him of a threat against him.

In response, Haney made his Twitter and Facebook accounts private, but he spoke to The Washington Post early Friday morning about his intentions in sending the tweet, the fallout from it and his feelings about George Washington.

“I knew it would be provocative and start a debate,” he said, before pausing. “I should say, start a conversation.”

These are apparently the priorities of the nation’s educators — to “start a conversation” that denigrates the reputation of our nation’s founding fathers.

Source: Washington Post