Letters to the Editor: San Francisco, you have a lot to rename. Where to start?

To the editor: Congratulations to the San Francisco Unified School District Board of Education for always being ahead of the state and the nation. Its decision to remove Abraham Lincoln’s name and those of 41 other people from its schools couldn’t have happened at a better time in our nation’s history.

Thank goodness the board did not rename one of its schools after a Confederate figure. After all, fourth-grade kids are not taught in their California history class that San Francisco Democrats supported the secessionists before the Civil War.

Perhaps board members will now call on their city to change its name to Yerba Buena, which was the name of the settlement before the city called itself San Francisco, after the installations begun by the Catholic conquistadors.

Maybe some would like to hoist up the Mexican or Russian flag over the schools to honor the original national controls on the region and the city. Or, maybe they will start calling themselves the Ramaytush, which is what the Indigenous people in the area now named San Francisco called themselves.

David Tokofsky, Los Angeles

The writer is a former member of the L.A. Unified School District Board of Education.

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To the editor: George Washington and Lincoln were mortals, not angels. However, without the first we might have turned out as a country ruled by a king, because Washington had the wisdom and grace to step down voluntarily.

Without the second, we probably would have the Confederate States of America and continued slavery of African Americans. Enough said.

Ann C. Hayman, Westwood