Dialogue. Why not have a mural class at George Washington high school. It is possible to do individual murals. I would like George WashingtonHigh School Students doing their murals. You can make them about the size, and they can do response murals and these can be exhibited. If one of our young adults feels the need to respond personally to one of these barrels to empower themselves, they can do a response mural. There is many ways we can empower our youth, but simply covering up a factual truth, about history, is not empowering. In fact, this gives the mural power over them. It hides it, buries it and therefore gives it unconscious power over someone. This does not empower our young adults. [applause] before you get started, sir. Im going to allot, we are at the last 16 seconds, im going to allot five additional minutes. If the people in line want to coordinate whos going to use the five last minutes, it is up to you. Im not going to stop anyones time, i will let you organize amongst yourself around the last five minutes. Were going to start it, before you get started can you put the timer back to five minutes, please . Again, before you get started listen, you get a chance to speak. Im not going to end it one minute. If you take off i minutes, you just took off i minutes, sir. Continue. This issue has become too controversial. Too many people are getting upset. It is clear that we are going to have to cover the mural somehow. The only question is, what images we decide to cover them with . My design firm has come up with two alternatives and i want to see with the feedback is. Show of hands, who wants this . Can you please let the time continue . Thank you very much. Please continue the time. When i think of educators promoting this divisive atmosphere, in the school where there is an atmosphere that was a beacon of light when i went there in the 50s and early 60s. We were propagandize for values all the time, they did not talk about tolerance brotherhood, they taught us we are all one, we are together, we are the best at school that we are perfect, together. Do something useful like the department of defense doesnt. During those special months they bring in people to talk. They can bring in people all the time to talk about special subjects that are not in their books, you know . He said indians were not being massacred in the 1830s, people were moving into their lands, destroying their economy and they had to move west or starve to death. This is showing what was really happening. One last thing im going to say, once at washington a teacher brought in a speaker who talked about palestinians, and spain where everybody was, it was a Perfect Society of integrated people. I have never forgotten it. I made the greatest difference to me to do that. I am the founder and project scholar of the living new deal at uc berkeley. I just wanted to say that the inability, or unwillingness to learn, is a very poor qualification for an educator. Which is why we dont consider you to be educators. What i would recommend is that you take an elementary course in visual literacy so you know what you are looking at, and want to destroy. I would recommend the audience, the san franciscans, take Willie Browns suggestion, recall the school board. [applause] president of George Washington high school. The mural controversy is now being observed nationally and internationally. Briefly there is no doubt that there is overwhelming support to preserve the washington mural. Locally, including matt gonzales, reverend brown, former mayors willie brown, and many others. We support the sfusd staff recommendation not to whitewash, or destroy the historic arnautoff mural at George Washington high school. The board must now go further and abandon its plan to cover or censor any of the mural panels. The Association Members stand ready to help develop a curriculum and Interpretive Program to educate current students and future generations about these important murals, and the history they portray. Thank you for your time. I am an elder of the we heard all of this controversy. I believe those murals are our evidence that genocide happened. That is why they should stay up. Without in mind, as an elder, i just want to suggest to you. You did this for other people, why not do this for our people. Have a native counselor there, because one of the issues im hearing is that it is affecting our native people in the safe space. We have ceremonies for that. Why not use that . Why not bring in a native, spiritual guide, to help our people. They are going to face this every day of their life. After school. Where is their safe than . We need to train i was accused of being a colonialist. If we start thinking these doctors, who are coming in, yelling at the top of their lungs at one of the meetings, is saying the way that we calm our kids down, put them on drugs. That is what they did to us, on reservations. They gave us medicine, laced with alcohol to calm us down. That is colonialism. That is what i see is happening here. Just a suggestion, put a native counselor to help those native people who are offended. I am sure, my relatives would agree with that. That is needed. My name is steve, united Public Workers for action. What we are seeing here is a real exposure of the lack of education in San Francisco. The fact the superintendent said he was shocked by the mural. You grew up here. If you are shocked by them, why didnt you put signage up to explain what they were. I support the people here who are angry about their murals not being knowledgeable about them. Thank you. I concludes a Public Comment that concludes Public Comment thank you. Thank you. That concludes Public Comment for the other side. Im going to call names for the people who want to cover the mural. When you hear your name called please make your way to the podium. Im also going to ask staff, and security to move any hecklers from the audience, so we can conduct this meeting accordingly. [no audio] when you hear your name called make your way to the podium. Im going to allow 20 minutes as i did for the first group. [reading names] [reading names] again, we are going to allow a total of 20 minutes. Good evening. My name is mary travis allen. I am from seneca nation prayed im not going to insult you. Im going to use my words, not quotes from other people. Why are we here again for another vote . We went through a process with a vote, and decision, right . Prior to the vote we participated in public meetings, and provided education, on our historical trauma to promote education and understanding, we participated in good faith, and believed there was integrity and trust. But here we are with the alltoofamiliar feelings of broken promises. Do the alleged lessons to not forget remind anyone about the treaty. We know where compromise has gotten us for centuries. Compromise is just another surrender. We do not surrender. Murals dont teach a lesson to not forget. If the people that have seen them do not have a conscious to begin with. They lay a silent images on walls, possessions, not for learning or teaching. Why is it that the people of color have been used to say that those images must stay up to remind and teach, to not repeat the Lessons Learned in history. Who needs to be reminded, that be reminded . Not us. Maybe because they felt the pain of their ancestors, that state in those images. Only remarked about the value, not the messages. Do reminders work . Look at this country today. Full of racism and oppression. The supporters to keep their murals have made threats and rallied politicians. And the troops to show their dominance to control and step over the fallen. But we have not fallen. It is deplorable to use an weapon eyes people of color against each other. It is a tactic to deflect, of the true offenders on the mall intention. Look at the people that want to preserve the murals, especially the alumni. Definitive action, creating the opportunity students of color to attend at their school. How welcoming they were. They were taught their history, you heard it earlier, white dominance, and superiority over black slaves, and conquest of indians using do you think theyve change their beliefs . Do you remember who helped the blacks escape slavery . It was our people. Let me also remind this board that you have an obligation to provide a healthy and safe environment for our children to learn. You receive federal funds for our students to attend your schools. You have an obligation under the every Student Succeeds act. To ensure that our Indian Students are provided an environment to support their culture, values and moods. This is not about the art that the media and others have trivialized. It is about the pain and trauma, experienced by the Students Affected by the images in those murals. I am amy anderson. I would like to once more, over these three years, have been asking various commissioners to be actively involved in changing what is on the walls of the high school and the main lobby of the school that my kid goes to school at. I would like to make sure that you listen to indigenous voices that have been saying, take it down for over 50 years. Being Student Senate is one of the core values. There may all must be permanently removed from the high school, take it down. We cannot keep wasting our time arguing about this. There is so much more to work on and do and to colonizing our schools. It is very harmful to the students, we need to paint it down. Hi. I am an of coming junior George Washington high school. I believe that the school mural must be permanently removed from this high school. We should grant all of our students wishes and feelings about the school mural. It is hurtful and harmful to many Indigenous Students, including myself, and even parents. I understand this is a historical mural, but it tells the history from the viewpoint of white people. Students need to learn the history of their own ancestors, not only told by whites. As a community, we should listen to indigenous and black student voices that have been saying take it down for over 50 years. Over 2,000 students have to go to the school every day. Students should never have to hear, i will meet you at the dead indian. We deserve respect. We deserve to feel safe and supportive. I do not want this mural in our school. Honor the vote. Paint it down. [applause] good evening board commissioners. I am virginia marshall, longtime educator. I was pleased to be on the committee, until we started this mural. We voted to take it down. We gave our recommendation to you, you voted to take it down. Here we are again. This week, teachers should be planning for our students to arrive next monday. We are here, for this controversial issue. I ask that the board bring back this issue to the committee, the Community Maybe six weeks from now. We live in San Francisco. I grew up in a small town. Things were hard to get. In San Francisco, you can get whatever you want, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There are great museums here in the city. The african museum, the asia museum. There are great museums around the world. Surely this board can bring back ideas of how we can cover up and take down that mural. I am a great great granddaughter, of a slave. I do not need in a mural in my school or office to remind me im a slave. I want to apologize to the parents and students. We did not give them what they wanted. They wanted us to take down that mural. We serve our students. Im going to apologize to my 2yearold granddaughter. It is my regret that perhaps we will not make a decision to cover up that mural. Hopefully the millennials, 50 years from now, well do what we said we wanted to do in 2019. Please cover up the mural. Thank you. [applause] please turn on your microphone. Good evening, my name is Thomas Reding i am in english and social studies teacher a lot of the discourse around the mural has ignored and overlooked our actual students. I have come to speak in solidarity with my students who have deserved and asked for the heat dehumanizing imagery on the walls, covering this mural will not erase the history of this mural, the covering will become a part of its history. This will provide a powerful lesson to our students that their emotional lives are important and sacred. Our students should not have to walk by traumatizing a dehumanizing images of genocide on a daily basis. Please support our students and cover the mural. Good evening superintendent matthews, deputy superintendent, and all of the members of the board. I am here, i am an alumni parent of a George WashingtonHigh School Student from 20132016 and i will have a ninth grader going into George Washington high school, on monday. The fact that we even have to stand here, before you, once again on this issue is ridiculous. Our students have already spoken and we know what we want. Once again, we do not need a reminder of the history, of the genocide that we faced, of the slavery that we went through. We know what it was, and we fight every day to continue to be free. The Justice System is fighting against us constantly. Why cant we have something that reminds our baby of how brilliant they are, and that speaks to the excellence that flows throughout within them . Why do they have to have these images as a representation of history. That is one aspect of our history. We came from kings and queens. The Indian Tribes were glorious. Why cant we celebrate that . Why do we have to have a mural to tell us what George Washington was . Google can tell us that. We do not need a mural that depicts us as a week, and fallen every single day. Half of this people in these rooms do not have children going to the school, but you want to speak to what the children want. About you speak to the children . How about you have a child in the school . Have a vested interest in it, then you can tell us, as parents and students, what is best for us. Until you do, i think you should have a seat. [applause] i am an advocate. You, the school board, fighting for our students to have a safe and supportive school. We cannot keep wasting our time and arguing about this anymore. There is so much more work to do in our School District. We have to agree, this has to permanently end today. Also, it is a school, not a museum. Our youth want to be there so they feel safe, and that mural does not make them safe. Thank you. First off, i wanted to say thank you all for listening to students for over 50 years. According to in may of 1968, half a century ago, one month after 250 students from the black Student Union marched through the halls, take it down. Students other history, and they want to see our elders wishing respect upon us. It hurts me, when i came back from learning that you guys didnt go through the plan that we were going there before. I cried, he messed with my head. It made me feel like what is the whole plan . Why am i even fighting for something that wont change . It hurts, every single day to know that you will keep something up that is history, that is going to traumatize the students. Were going to help them and give them support. You can give them support, but deep down inside, in their own hearts, you know it hurts. It hurts every single day. I hope that you guys are all listening to me. I want to cry right now, that is how much i feel about this. I dont want to take no one elses time right now. Thank you for listening to me. [applause] good evening, i am a member of the nation, i currently sit on the board of the American Cultural Center of San Francisco. Im here to employ the board of education to paint it down. I am encouraging the board of education to listen to the native and black students who have been advocating for this removal over 50 years. They must be permanently removed from the school. In the future, those could potentially be taken down we are going to be right back where we are today to argue having it taken down again. This entire debate is stressful for our community, but most of all stressful for black and brown students starting school next week. They have so many other things to worry about. American and and have one of the highest dropout rates. Seeing this marrow, seeing their historical trauma used as a decoration will only contribute to this. There are so many factors that make it hard for us to its honestly a miracle that a lot of us make it to high school. This mural does not have to be one of those factors that makes it hard for us to graduate. Student should never ever have to hear i will meet you by the dead indian. Thus, i encourage the school board to make a decision that shows black, brown and Indigenous Students that they value their humanity and psychological wellbeing more than anything else. Paint it down. [applause] my name is ms. Brackett. Im an alumni. Ive been through this process a lot and i would just like to say the fight two is not about art, it is about the california education code. Promising in chapter two, educational equity. It article 5. 5, a safe place to learn. This article shall be known and may be cited as a safe place to learn at. This mural does not provide a safe space for students. More than that, i just would like to say in the period of time, 90 of the people in this room. [inaudible] it disturbs me to the deepest depth of my soul that we have adults on this room that show zero empathy for black, native american and for over 50 years the pride and concerns of the most vulnerable students have been ignored and dismissed. The pains that are trivialized, and now we have adults who have more concern for inanimate objects than they have for actual living children of color. This argument this marrow is about preserving history, its an absolute farce. None of the persons here today that want to preserve