Written by T. Logan Dayne
The United States has been swept up in the cultural trend of renaming cities, schools, and parks along with removing any statues that may have a touch of controversy attached to it. For the past few years, statues depicting historical American figures have been either destroyed or removed. This is not limited to confederate leaders but has seeped over to figures such as Lincoln. This has been true for schools as well. In 2016, San Diego Unified School District changed the name of it’s Robert E. Lee Elementary School. San Francisco attempted to follow suit a few years later but were met with resistance as they attempted to change the names of several schools named, not after confederate leaders but rather, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln; their decision had to be rescinded.
California may be beginning to mature out of this trend as the town of Fort Bragg has voted on keeping its name. Fort Bragg was named after Braxton Bragg in 1857, before the Civil War. Bragg was a Confederate General and slave owner who also served in the Mexican-American war. Originally created as a military outpost as a defensive measure against the native tribes at the time, the small coastal California town has been in debate for over a year as to whether to change the name. A commission was made to discuss the possibility of a name change. After a year, 60 hours of meetings, and an informal survey of the town, no change is currently being made. Despite 60% of the commission wanting to change the name, the informal survey of the town yielded a different opinion, with the majority wanting to keep the name. The division has left no unanimous decision to be made. The commission instead issued a list of recommendations to “correct historical wrongs in the area,” as a way of compromise since no name change would be occurring. The consensus of people wanting to keep the name stands against activists who claim the names of such places as a form of “violence” saying that “the name acts as a grim reminder to the atrocities indigenous people have suffered,” which has become a popular form of coercion in an attempt to affect change.
Despite Fort Bragg choosing to keep its name, other California city name changes have been successful such as Lake Tahoe’s Squaw Valley changing its name to Palisades Tahoe.
Photo Cred: Marinas.com
