Should Washington's memory not be expunged? (irony)

There is a public high school (secondary school) in San Francisco that is named for George Washington.  A stairway therein features  a large and IMO rather poorly painted mural executed by a Soviet Communist artist during the WPA period of FDR's attempt to spend the US out of the Great Depression.  It is reminiscent of Orozco or Diego Rivera in a sadly inferior way.  It focuses on the real or imagined defects of Washington's character and life.  Some of it is nonsense.  An example is the bit that shows Washington sending colonials to the West to settle the land over the bodies of slain aboriginals.  Someone provide me a citation for G. Washington having created a program for that.  The Left in San Francisco are divided over the issue of eradicating the mural.  A white woman with a child of color screamed in a meeting at those who opposed her when she said that her child is traumatized by seeing the mural with its reminders of cruelty (irony) to people of color.  Others want the mural to remain visible as a reminder of America's Original Sin (irony).  Willy Brown, the former African American (AA) mayor of San Francisco is one of those.  Brown himself is ironic in his insistence on his life of political oppression.

Pilgrims, Washington owned slaves.  Slavery was a bad thing, much worse than living in Africa would have been (irony).  Does this not make Washington a bad man (irony)?

If you peruse the lists below you will see that the evil (irony) descendants of the evil men (irony) who created the US named a multitude of places for the evil (irony) George Washington.

And then sadly, so many people of color bear the surname of the evil (irony) Washington.  Actually I can recall having met only one White (evil) person with the surname Washington.  But, sadly, senility (evil) may account for that. 

Surely the memory of this evil (irony) man should be erased from any mention other than a list of history's villains (irony)

We should begin with the names of the state of Washington and the District of Columbia.  Suitable names could be devised from among the stars in the pantheon of heroes revered by the Left.  We could then proceed to eradicate the tyrant's (irony) name from American memory wherever it rears its unlovely head.  pl

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington_and_slavery

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_(name)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_memorials_to_George_Washington

Comments

[edding]

Why not just admit that both populations were screwed, and that the complexity of determining appropriate remedies, and the potential cost of such remedies, have made the problem easier to ignore than to correct. In more recent years we are seeing the same with the Palestinians- with their rights forgotten, ignored, and/or rationalized away.

IMHO, the murals by Arnautoff (and Refregier - at the Rincon Annex) and are worth preserving, whether or not one agrees with their political message or historical narrative. They reflect the discourse of an artistic and political movement that existed at an important time of crisis in our nation - i.e., during the Great Depression. (People forget that the progressive movement was so strong at that time, that even the Republican Tom Dewey was courting the communist vote in the 1930's when he was running for District Attorney, whether or not he bashed them 15 or 20 years later.) In the same way, it is ludicrous to remove statues of leaders like General Lee and others because they operated under a different set laws or societal norms.

[Eric Newhill]

Hi Tidewater,
Yes, I receive the Historic Christ Church news letter. I'm a donor in my will. My mother and Aunt were in on the ground floor. They were a couple of the folks that helped start the renovations back in 70s (late 70s I think it was). That's when we all got our plots there. My parents, grandparents, Aunt +Uncle are all interred there. As well as a few generations before them.

I was there in 2012 and, yes, the place is looking fantastic. So much history.

btw - Mrs Lang would probably enjoy the wealth of genealogical resources available at the Mary Ball Museum and at Historic Christ Church.

[catherine]

''What should we call DC?''

Greater Israel

[Tidewater]

What! Babak has come back! That's wonderful! We've needed you, man, and now more than ever!

[Fred]

Yes, and plenty of slave sellers on the African continent and in the new world before 1492. Welcome back, your insights have been missed. .

[Balint Somkuti]

Sir,

so it should be done, since we all know 'that Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia'.

[walrus]

“Remorseful” DC. sounds a good name that won’t trigger anyone and it sounds like it’s a safe space.

What needs to be done but I think won’t be done, is to confront the past head on. The Germans and Poles have, I think done this at Auschwitz.

However to do this for Washington, Jefferson, etc. doesn’t work for the political agenda of the SJWs. They want breast beating, and reparations (aka money) all to be under their control of course, as they wish to dictate history.

My own, untutored guess is that an objective analysis of the behavior of Jefferson and Washington in the context of their times would show that the objections of the SJWs are baseless. The manufactured outrage would vanish like snow in summer..

[walrus]

Not a good reason not to go metric? Do you also wish to do away with arabic numerals for the same reason? What about Isaac Newton of laws of motion fame? He worked for the Government and tortured people. I guess we could go back to Roman numerals, but they crucified Jesus. Maybe scratches on clay tablets like Egyptians? Oh wait! Moses.

To be fair, once you have learned the AN system for aviation fasteners, sixteenths and thirty seconds of an inch make some sense.

[walrus]

I guess we could also go back to rods, perches, stadions, cubits and ells for measurements if we had to, but I’m not sure they are politically correct either.

[PRC90]

Shhh ! No, no. Only the virtuous and pure examples, as I described.

[Arei]

This thread may be a bit old, but if anyone is still interested the school board reversed the vote to destroy the murals and will cover them....for now.