Symbolic name-change ideas can lead to strange decisions

There are teachable moments that brighten our lives and represent the best of us. Amanda Gorman’s poetic recitation at the Inauguration is an example. There are others that are instructive about our darker sides and the present herd mentality driving the cancel culture is one of those.

When I first read about a San Francisco Board of Education proposal to change the names of 44 schools, I was appalled because it’s so absurd. The Board put the proposal on hold when newspapers around the country had responses similar to mine. In the name of Black Lives Matter, campuses like George Washington High School would lose their names.

In Marin, the proposal to give different names to Sir Francis Drake Boulevard as it passes through varied towns is equally absurd. As Fairfax considers doing this, I join IJ political columnist Dick Spotswood in wondering if the Town Council looked at the history of Charles Snowden Fairfax, who grew up on a plantation with slaves before he came to California. I’m highlighting sloppy research and emotionally driven decisionmaking.

This appears to have begun with Black Lives Matter. Understand that I very actively support Black Lives Matter and equality for all people of all races. This should be one of our highest priorities.

I’m also aware that there are people of all races and ethnicities who justifiably find that honoring people whose race-related behavior was at the least problematic, is offensive.

What troubles me are habits of mind that have taken these serious and important issues and challenges in the wrong direction and simultaneously drawn energy away from working on important institutional changes that are desperately needed because of how much those lives matter.

I fully recognize the symbolic importance of school names, street names and statues. But I think the analysis needed to fully understand the strengths and weaknesses of individual historical figures has been almost totally absent. Owning slaves during a period when that was normative for Southern landowners needs to be weighed against the other acts of each leader.

Should we also eliminate reminders of Woodrow Wilson, who owned no slaves but was clearly a racist? How about Franklin Roosevelt who was responsible for turning away a ship of Jewish refugees from Nazi, Germany? I’m not qualified to judge these men as presidents. My point is to underscore the absence of careful research, analysis and productive dialog in making important decisions.

If we were to truly be faithful to honoring those who’ve come before us by renaming schools and streets, shouldn’t almost all of them have Native American names? This was their land.

We stole it. This won’t happen of course. It’s substantively defensible, but pragmatically impossible.

As for Black Lives Matter, honor these lives by putting money, time and energy into changing racial attitudes. Make the elimination of institutional racism a top priority. Create affordable housing and eliminate barriers to it for people of color. Improve equity in the schools. And have our leaders combat racism and actions that display religious and ethnic intolerance.

Marin District Attorney Lori Frugoli’s stonewalling through inaction in a case in which an individual posted anti-Semitic images is an example of the failure of leaders. It should be about actions we are taking that alter our society now not purely symbolic actions.

There are so many lessons here to use as teachers and parents. Are a town’s decisions made by the town council or the residents? What factors influence those decisions? What can students learn about rushing to judgements, actions based on incomplete research, the absence of critical thinking and the emotional pressures that flare in a time of turmoil? We need to help our kids understand this.

I know many who think renaming their school is offensive. They’re, at the least, partially right. Presenting the racist attitudes and actions of historical figures in teaching American history is perhaps more important than eliminating them from school and street names.

Let’s help them distinguish between symbolic acts and institutional change. Let’s help them understand and develop the skills needed to bring about change through research, careful deliberation, political savvy, and rational respectful dialog. And let’s help them learn to resist the emotional pull of mass behavior.