The D.C. Mayor's office
assigned a working group
to identify and
recommend a removal
or renaming of monuments,
memorials, schools,
or parks which are named
after historical figures
if the figure had a history
of owning slaves or
participating in
acts of oppression.
This group was
formed as a part of
the Black Lives Matter movement.
The committee, named DCFACES,
just released their list of
recommendations and in it
they recommended that
the Bell Multicultural High
School, which is named after
Alexander Graham Bell,
to be renamed.
The DCFACES group considered
certain questions to lead
their decision making, and
those questions centered on
the public figures' treatment
of African Americans, women,
and/or persons of color.
For example, if they were slave
owners or wrote and/or supported
laws that suppressed persons
of color and/or women,
then they should be disqualified
from being honored.
The Bell Multicultural
High School is located in
the Columbia Heights
neighborhood,
which is right by
the National Zoo (DC Zoo).
It is not clear what
"disqualifying" factor was
considered when
the DCFACES group looked
at Alexander Graham Bell to
recommend the school be renamed,
but two Deaf people
on Twitter,
Sean Maiwald and
Matthew Sampson,
pointed out Bell's history of
oppressing signing deaf people
and his work with eugenics
(trying to prevent deaf people
from marrying each other
and having deaf children).
So, this is something
that's notable for the signing
deaf community today - to see
that a D.C. committee has
recommended a school named
after Bell to be renamed.
How will the process work?
The DC Public Schools must
make a recommendation to
the D.C. Mayor and
get an approval from
the D.C. Council.
That's something to look for.
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