An L.A. Times article discussed a proposal to rename 42 San Francisco schools named after people with alleged associations with slaveholding, colonization, or oppression. Included on the list is the Dianne Feinstein Elementary School. Senator Feinstein is accused of repeatedly raising the Confederate flag in front of S.F. City Hall, and for helping to destroy a Pilipino neighborhood through mass evictions. Her insistence that the Confederate flag continue to be flown at City Hall is detailed in a 2019 San Francisco Bay View article. (see link below). The evictions occurred in 1977, following a decade-long struggle over the International Hotel in San Francisco, home to 150 elderly Chinese and Pilipino tenants. The evictions were preceded by one of the most violent street battles in San Francisco history. Approximately 400 police in full riot gear broke through the 3,000 people barricading the hotel with their bodies. In what could be interpreted as an attempt to distance Feinstein from the accusation, the article pointed out that Feinstein did not become mayor of San Francisco until the following year. However, it left out the fact that she had been a member of San Francisco’s powerful Board of Supervisors from 1969 -1978 and continued to support the demolition after she became mayor. Many posters were produced during the years of protests to save the International Hotel. At least one of them, shown here, includes a cartoon figure of then Mayor Feinstein, working with the courts, police, and the Four Seas Investment Corporation to demolish the hotel, while hotel residents and supporters organize resistance against them. Haven’t yet seen any posters showing Feinstein and Lindsey Graham hugging – both were maskless – during the Amy Coney Barrett hearing in October, but we’ll share them. Sources: San Francisco examines renaming 42 of its schools I-Hotel, 30 years later - Manilatown legacy honored It’s true: As San Francisco mayor, Dianne Feinstein did repeatedly fly a Confederate flag in front of City Hall To read more about the International Hotel, visit poster #19 in CSPG’s online exhibition, “Reclaim! Remain! Rebuild! Posters on Affordable Housing, Gentrification & Resistance."
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