SF to change name of street associated with anti-Asian politician

SCREEN CAPTURE / CBS

THE SINS of the son led to changing a San Francisco street named after his father.

Phelan Avenue, a nondescript street several blocks long bordering the City College of San Francisco’s Ocean Campus, will be renamed as Frida Kahlo Way following a unanimous vote by the Board of Supervisors June 19.

The half-mile long street was originally named after James Phelan, a 19th century real estate and wheat mogul, around 1906. But over the years it has become more closely associated with Phelan’s son, James Duval Phelan, who served as San Francisco’s mayor from 1897 to 1902 and later in the U.S. Senate.

The younger Phelan promoted racist and anti-Asian policies throughout his career, including the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the Immigration Act of 1924, which limited immigration from China and Japan to the U.S. 

In his unsuccessful campaign for a second term in the Senate, James Duval Phelan campaigned on the infamous racist slogan, "Keep California White," riling up the racist voters to stop or slow immigration from Asia.

Frida Kahlo is a Mexican artist who along with her husband, muralist Diego Rivera, was part of the post-revolutionary Mexicayotl movement, which sought to define a Mexican identity, Kahlo has been described as a surrealist or magical realist.

"This is part of an increased movement locally and nationally to honor figures who sought to oust racism and the increased movement nationally and globally to recognize women's role in history," said Supervisor Norman Yee, who led the effort to rename the offensive street name.

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