Mari Villaluna just started [ [link removed] ]a petition to The San Francisco Board of
Education to:

Paint Down Washington High School's Racist Mural!

[ [link removed] ]Sign now
[ [link removed] ]George Washington High School is keeping its racist mural

Dear John,

I just started a petition titled "[ [link removed] ]Paint Down George Washington High
School's Racist Mural!"

In 1968, the San Francisco chapter of the Black Panther Party, along with
George Washington High School’s Black Student Union, initiated the ‘Take
It Down’ campaign to get the school’s racist “Life of Washington” mural
permanently removed. The large-scale painting, which students walk past to
get to class every day, depicts George Washington standing over the bodies
of dead Indigenous people with enslaved, Black people working in fields in
the background. After parents and students reignited the fight to have the
mural permanently removed more than three years ago, the San Francisco
school board finally voted to have it painted over and destroyed. Today,
after a month of being pressured by white nationalist publications like
Breitbart, who have bashed the decision using the same logic being used to
preserve Confederate statues across the nation, the board is going back on
its word and plans to submit a proposal to have the painting covered up by
wooden panels that can easily and eventually be removed, instead.

[ [link removed] ]White nationalists are pressuring the San Francisco School Board to
save Washington High School's racist mural. Tell them they have a duty to
stand up for what's right.

This isn’t right. The San Francisco Board of Education understands that it
has a responsibility to ensure that “every student who attends SFUSD
schools discover[s] his or her spark, along with a strong sense of self
and purpose.” When they voted to paint over the mural, the board
courageously listened to the voices of Black and Indigenous students who
have long said that the mural’s glorification of slavery and genocide has
had a deep impact on their sense of self and their ability to learn. Now,
when the school board has the opportunity to fulfill its stated values of
being “fearless,” “student-centered,” and a vessel for “social justice,”
it is about to reverse the positive impact of its decision by moving
forward with a temporary cover-up that can and will be reversed.

[ [link removed] ]Will you sign the petition and forward this email to make sure your
voice is heard? Add your name here.

For years, the students of Washington High School have used the phrase
“the dead Indian” as shorthand for a meeting spot under the mural. For
years, Black and Indigenous students have fought and organized to destroy
a painful, daily reminder of the devastation so many of them and their
families have suffered at the hands of slavery, genocide, and colonialism.
School should be a place where students are challenged to learn about
their history, but in a way that leaves them feeling confident about
themselves and their ability to shape the future for the better. This
mural normalizes the harmful logic that pervades so much of the world
around Washington High School’s students: that Black and Indigenous people
are subservient, inhuman, and less than. Let the San Francisco School
Board know that they have a responsibility to honor their vote and follow
the leadership of their Black and Indigenous students. Tell them to stand
up for what’s right by agreeing to move forward with the permanent mural
removal process today.

[ [link removed] ]Black and Indigenous students don't deserve to walk past a mural that
glorifies slavery and genocide. Sign now to show you stand with them.

Thank you,

Mari Villaluna

 

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[ [link removed] ]Sign now


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[ [link removed] ]Color Of Change is building a movement to elevate the voices of Black
folks and our allies, and win real social and political change. [ [link removed] ]Help
keep our movement strong.

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