Name change urged for Kahn playground

San Francisco has begun rethinking a nearly century-old decision to name a city playground after a congressman who fought to keep immigrants out of the United States.

Julius Kahn, who represented San Francisco in the House of Representatives for 12 terms from 1899 to 1903 and 1905 until his death in 1924, was respected as a patriot and staunch military supporter, known for introducing the draft in the lead-up to World War I. His service was memorialized in 1926 at Julius Kahn Playground, next to the Presidio at West Pacific Avenue and Spruce Street.

But Kahn’s nationalist agenda was offensive to many and clearly racist by today’s standards. He openly criticized Asians and authored a ban on Chinese immigration.

On Wednesday, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors’ Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee approved a resolution recommending that the playground’s name be changed.

“Julius Kahn’s antiAsian policies during the early 1900s did not espouse the values that San Francisco stands for today,” said San Francisco Supervisor Norman Yee.

The Recreation and Park Commission, which has final say over the playground’s name, has not scheduled any action on the issue, though the Recreation and Park Department has expressed support for a name change.

Critics of Kahn point to his introduction of legislation in 1902, known as the “Kahn bill,” that reauthorized a law preventing Chinese laborers from entering the country. On the House floor, Kahn called Chinese people “morally the most debased people on the face of the earth,” according to research done by the committee. The congressman similarly derided Japanese and Filipino immigrants.

Several Asian American groups and past and present supervisors, some of whom spoke at Wednesday’s committee meeting, support changing the playground’s name. The Jewish Community Relations Council is also on board. Kahn was Jewish.