Feinstein canceled: San Francisco to rename elementary school

Dianne Feinstein Elementary School is 1 of 44 schools that will be renamed because the district deemed their namesakes “inappropriate.”

By Alex Nester, Washington Free Beacon

The San Francisco Unified School District has decided to rename an elementary school named after California Democratic senator Dianne Feinstein, the Daily Mail reported Tuesday.

Dianne Feinstein Elementary School is 1 of 44 schools that will be renamed because the district deemed their namesakes “inappropriate” in October. Feinstein’s cancellable offense was raising a Confederate flag in front of San Francisco City Hall while serving as mayor in 1984.

The district decided to reevaluate its school names following a summer of racial-justice protests. Among the schools it plans to rename are those whose namesakes owned slaves, perpetuated human-rights abuses, or oppressed minorities, women, and the LGBT community.

A 1984 copy of Workers Vanguard reported that “Dixie” Feinstein raised a Confederate flag over the San Francisco Civic Center and replaced the flag after racial-justice protesters tore it down.

Schools named after inventor Thomas Edison and Presidents George Washington, Herbert Hoover, and Abraham Lincoln will also be renamed. According to the district, Lincoln, who emancipated slaves, did not demonstrate that “black lives mattered to him.”

Other schools and local governments across the country have considered renaming buildings whose namesakes they deem problematic. Last week, a Virginia school district decided to rename schools named after President Thomas Jefferson and Founding Father George Mason, an action they called a “necessary part of our equity work.”

And Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D.) created a coalition that reviewed the names of buildings and landmarks and recommended renaming the Jefferson Memorial and the Washington Monument.