Posted on 06/26/2005 7:34:45 AM PDT by neverdem
If the majority of parents, teachers, and students of Jefferson Elementary School in Berkeley, Calif., has its way, the school will soon shed its name and its association with the nation's third president, who they say is not worthy of being honored because of the hundreds of slaves he owned at his Monticello plantation.
The city's board of education is expected to vote today on a proposal to change the school's name to Sequoia Elementary.
But even with that name, the school district cannot quite dodge the slavery connotations. Some community members have pointed out that under Chief Sequoia's leadership in the early 19th century, the Cherokee nation owned more than 1,500 black slaves.
A spokesman for the Berkeley Unified School District, Mark Coplan, acknowledged that Chief Sequoia "presumably owned slaves and was rather barbaric," but he emphasized that the proposed new name would honor the sequoia tree, not the Cherokee leader.
A petition to shed the name Jefferson from the school's title prompted an April vote in which parents, teachers, and students from kindergarten through fifth grade cast ballots to choose a new name. According to Mr. Coplan, Sequoia narrowly beat out the second-place candidate, Ohlone, which would have honored a California tribe. Other names rejected in the April vote would have paid tribute to the abolitionist Sojourner Truth, black diplomat Ralph Bunche, Mexican-American labor leader Cesar Chavez, and Berkeley's late rent-board commissioner, Florence McDonald.
In a second vote last month, the school community voted 239-177 to change the school's name to Sequoia, with students overwhelmingly supporting the proposal, while parents' votes were almost evenly split.
The issue now goes to the Berkeley school board.
At a June 8 meeting, two of the board's five members said they are leaning in favor of the name change, while two members...
(Excerpt) Read more at nysun.com ...
They could always change the name to the Bill Clinton Elementary School....and be associated with an adulterer and all-around sleazeball.
The PC Police strike again. :)
Why not ditch Jefferson completely? This is coming from the same area that ruled the Declaration of Independence was unconstitutional and barred from school curriculum.
/puke
I wouldn't mind seeing Bezerkeley shed its association with US Presidents - specificially the ones that it manages to get from my wallet!
But, but........
I thought that the school was named for that famous American.... George Jefferson, husband of Wheezie and neighbor to Archie Bunker
all kidding aside, I refuse to donate to my old college since they jumped onthe PC bandwagon and the name"Braves"
Since when is being a "Brave" a bad thing ??
No great loss.
The Joseph Stalin Polytech Institute Of Elementary Education
Like Sequoia, the name would be associated with an abundance of aging wood.
The Berzerkley Marxist-Leninist school board may want to consider the name, Saddam Hussein High School. He didn't own slaves, hates America and only murdered people who got in the way of his socialist Baath Party.
Hot off the press! The school has also decided to shed any association with education!
What a bunch of stupid people. Yes Jefferson owned slaves. That's what life was like back then. He also freed most of his his slaves, except Sally Hemmings (I guess he did want to let her go).
LOL Only in Kalifornicia!
And I have the same words for those who want to change the history of Robert E. Lee. Lee did A LOT to try to heal the wounds of the Civil War after he was broke and pennyless. And he freed his slaves BEFORE the war started. Black people need to learn and appreciate REAL history, not mythology, so we don't fall into the same trap as before.
"calling anyone else racist for calling an indian... barbaric"
Yeah, those indians were equal opportunity slavers. Black, white, chicano, or any other indian tribe made ok slaves.
Around where I live, a lot of buildings, roadways and schools were changed to King or Martin Luther King this or that after King's assassination in 1968. This included a few items that were originally named after Presidents.
Ok, so King was a great leader for his people, but he too had his flaws. It was alleged that the guy had more than a few mistresses.
So...why would one want to change the name of a building or whatever from one character-flawed hero to another?
Sorry, if you name it "Sequoia" the illegal immigrants will protest because they don't have sequoias growing in their homeland. Maybe Tumbleweed would be a good name. Maybe they need to stop using the term school because that word is too restrictive and implies regimentation. They could call it the "Tumbleweed Gathering Place for All Peoples Where All Politcal Points of View Will be Disseminated (Except Those Which Espose the Values of the Founders of the United States)and Wherea Few Tidbits of True Facts Will be Broadcast, for Those Who Wish to Learn, Along with Loving Thoughts of Worldwide Brotherhood and Repetitive Subliminal Messaging to Ensure That Attendees Will Become Socialists".
to match the students' overall attention span, intelligence and obesity?
"How about Porky Pig elementary"
No there were no black people in Porky Pig cartoons.
How about Fat Albert elementary.
Nothing new.
Liberals have been doing just that for decades.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.