Another great way to pass away money. How about fixig my street next. We need more space on the street for parking boats and campers too. I spelled pass wrong too.

Do we have schools named after these US Presidents who owned slaves?

Here's how many slaves each owned:

George Washington 250-350 Thomas Jefferson 200 James Madison 100+ James Monroe 75

Schools named after President Andrew ("Trail of Tears") Jackson should also be renamed. Jackson was not only a slave owner, but fostered the Indian Removal Act of 1830 and was responsible for the massacre of thousands of Native Americans. His policies were genocidal, and reprehensible.

When traveling in the South, and especially in Virginia, it does get tiresome to see the name Lee attached to all sorts of things. In fact, a radio station in Richmond had the call letters WLEE, and I'll bet it still does. But there's a facet to history that these folks may not fully grasp, and if they can read Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address they might get some of the idea from that. At the end of the Civil War there was an attempt of sorts at reconciliation, and an acceptance that in spite of all the bloodshed and destruction, the victors and vanquished were still going to have to see themselves as Americans. In order to avoid keeping much of the enmity alive, certain things were done to reconcile. You might think of it as being ecumenical about the relations. And so the South was allowed to celebrate its heroes. The US did not look upon the Confederacy as a "foreign nation making war", but as a sort of aberration that was corrected. That's how/why some partisans of the southern way of life would have wanted a school named for the beloved (in the South) Robert E. Lee. If the name were to be changed to something else, perhaps Lee's great foe and savior of the nation, U. S. Grant could be so honored. Oops, SDUSD already has a Grant school. How about Grant's great second-in-command, Sherman? Uh, there's a school already named for him, too.

Should Archie Buggs have a school named in his honor? Certainly. But does it have to come about this way?

Finally, Harris' comment of "We will see the name change, or else we're coming for you" could be seen as a threat to the school board, or at least an attempt at intimidation. I wonder if some board members might be considering a request for a restraining order. That sort of language isn't what the city or the schools need in their debate of the question.

I agree that Lorena Gonzalez is a pandering politician and deserves very little respect. The offense of using a traitor's name on the school is an offense against everyone, not just certain children. We should not name schools or in any other way honor the Civil War traitors or slaveholders or genocidal racists like those mentioned by Visduh. Correcting these mistakes is a good thing to do because it demonstrates our commitment to elevating everyone by rejecting those whose actions are so despicable to our principles of freedom and equality.

Bob and dwbat: Confusing people with the facts are we?

Lets change Gonzalez name to ex- assemblymember. What a waste of air.

Like Gonzalez, I "can't imagine any black child having to attend a school with the namesake of somebody who hoped that their ancestors would stay enslaved." I also can't imagine any white or brown child having to attend such a school.

It should be noted that George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe never took up arms against the United States. In the early days of the United States, they may have participated in the shameful institution of slavery, but when the time came to get rid of that stain on our national honor, it was Robert E. Lee and his associates who went so far as to kill Americans in their desperate attempt to prevent progress. Hundreds of thousands of Union and Confederate soldiers died in the most deadly war in our history.

publicgood, it's time you find your imagination. You and the other left wing bleeding hearts need to understand the real world and your world are not the same. Grow up!