Beware Beware
PreferredByPete.com Enthusiast
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Americans redraw the map to erase 'offensive' names
California says goodbye to Negrohead mountain, but Intercourse, Pennsylvania
survives – for now
For more than a century, Negrohead Mountain has towered over the countryside
north of Malibu, offering unrivalled views of the Pacific to generations of
hikers. But this week, at the stroke of a bureaucrat's pen, the striking
landmark's time-honoured name disappeared from local maps.
The 2,031ft summit will henceforth be known as Ballard Mountain, a name deemed
to be more in keeping with the modern era. The new title honours a blacksmith
and former slave called John Ballard, who was among the first men to settle in
its foothills in 1880, after fleeing Los Angeles to escape persecution by
segregationist police officers.
A hundred people attended the renaming ceremony for the peak, including
Ballard's great-grandson Reggie, a retired fireman, who told reporters that the
US Geological Survey's decision to approve the altered name "means a lot to me",
adding: "It's not often you get the chance to right a historical wrong."
But while few at the event begrudged well-meaning locals the chance to remove a
racial slur from their footpath signs, the move wasn't universally well
received. Behind the scenes, the renaming of Negrohead Mountain marked the
latest step in a controversial trend. After years of blithely ignoring the often
unfortunate derivation of many of the nation's place names, America is slowly
rebranding its landmarks. And historians fear that the push to replace colourful
words or phrases with "acceptable" alternatives is seeing the nation's heritage
sacrificed at the altar of political correctness.
In San Francisco, the county board of supervisors debated a bizarre-sounding
proposal to change the name of the Mount Diablo State Park to Mount Reagan State
Park. The move was eventually rejected, but not before a group of right-wing
Christian activists had advanced a case to the effect that the park's historic
name, which is Spanish for "devil", is profane and highly offensive to religious
people.
"This is about the spiritual climate of our county. It begins a discussion,"
said one of their number, Arthur Mijares, whose argument for change partly
rested on the contention that the Mount Diablo name was against state law
because the devil is a "living" being. "Look at problems in Richmond, Oakland,
Pittsburg. All that is driven by evil, demonic spirits."
More than 70,000 locals joined a Facebook group opposing the change, although Mr
Mijares told the Contra Costa Times that the group's members were "communists".
That provided a taste of wider tensions. For Christians and the black community
aren't the only pressure groups attempting to redraw the nation's map. In the
past two decades, nine US states have passed laws against place names deemed
"offensive" to Native Americans. When South Dakota banned place names offensive
to minorities, in 2001, Squaw Lake became Serenity Lake. In 2007 in Minnesota,
left-wing politicians attempted to change the name of Rum River because of the
damage the drink did to the Native American community.
Areas mapped during the gold rush were often given names that reflected the
no-nonsense argot of prospectors. Generations of students have giggled at a
river in California that enjoys the name Shitbritches Creek. That somewhat
lavatorial name has survived, so far. As have a place called Hell in Michigan,
and Intercourse in Pennsylvania, and a town called Crappo, in Maryland.
Will Whitey Lake in WI be renamed next?
How about Whitey Hollow in TN?
Or maybe Cracker City in OR?
Possibly Cracker Canyon in CA?
Kraut Lake in MN?
Chinaman Bayou in LA?
Polack Mountain in NY?
Wop Draw in WY?
Dago Hill in IL?
Chinks Point in MD?
Dink Ridge in KY?
Gringo Gulch, AZ?
Guido Canyon, NM?
Injun Joe Court, VT?
Nip Hollow, UT?
and on and on it goes.
Americans redraw the map to erase 'offensive' names
California says goodbye to Negrohead mountain, but Intercourse, Pennsylvania
survives – for now
For more than a century, Negrohead Mountain has towered over the countryside
north of Malibu, offering unrivalled views of the Pacific to generations of
hikers. But this week, at the stroke of a bureaucrat's pen, the striking
landmark's time-honoured name disappeared from local maps.
The 2,031ft summit will henceforth be known as Ballard Mountain, a name deemed
to be more in keeping with the modern era. The new title honours a blacksmith
and former slave called John Ballard, who was among the first men to settle in
its foothills in 1880, after fleeing Los Angeles to escape persecution by
segregationist police officers.
A hundred people attended the renaming ceremony for the peak, including
Ballard's great-grandson Reggie, a retired fireman, who told reporters that the
US Geological Survey's decision to approve the altered name "means a lot to me",
adding: "It's not often you get the chance to right a historical wrong."
But while few at the event begrudged well-meaning locals the chance to remove a
racial slur from their footpath signs, the move wasn't universally well
received. Behind the scenes, the renaming of Negrohead Mountain marked the
latest step in a controversial trend. After years of blithely ignoring the often
unfortunate derivation of many of the nation's place names, America is slowly
rebranding its landmarks. And historians fear that the push to replace colourful
words or phrases with "acceptable" alternatives is seeing the nation's heritage
sacrificed at the altar of political correctness.
In San Francisco, the county board of supervisors debated a bizarre-sounding
proposal to change the name of the Mount Diablo State Park to Mount Reagan State
Park. The move was eventually rejected, but not before a group of right-wing
Christian activists had advanced a case to the effect that the park's historic
name, which is Spanish for "devil", is profane and highly offensive to religious
people.
"This is about the spiritual climate of our county. It begins a discussion,"
said one of their number, Arthur Mijares, whose argument for change partly
rested on the contention that the Mount Diablo name was against state law
because the devil is a "living" being. "Look at problems in Richmond, Oakland,
Pittsburg. All that is driven by evil, demonic spirits."
More than 70,000 locals joined a Facebook group opposing the change, although Mr
Mijares told the Contra Costa Times that the group's members were "communists".
That provided a taste of wider tensions. For Christians and the black community
aren't the only pressure groups attempting to redraw the nation's map. In the
past two decades, nine US states have passed laws against place names deemed
"offensive" to Native Americans. When South Dakota banned place names offensive
to minorities, in 2001, Squaw Lake became Serenity Lake. In 2007 in Minnesota,
left-wing politicians attempted to change the name of Rum River because of the
damage the drink did to the Native American community.
Areas mapped during the gold rush were often given names that reflected the
no-nonsense argot of prospectors. Generations of students have giggled at a
river in California that enjoys the name Shitbritches Creek. That somewhat
lavatorial name has survived, so far. As have a place called Hell in Michigan,
and Intercourse in Pennsylvania, and a town called Crappo, in Maryland.
Will Whitey Lake in WI be renamed next?
How about Whitey Hollow in TN?
Or maybe Cracker City in OR?
Possibly Cracker Canyon in CA?
Kraut Lake in MN?
Chinaman Bayou in LA?
Polack Mountain in NY?
Wop Draw in WY?
Dago Hill in IL?
Chinks Point in MD?
Dink Ridge in KY?
Gringo Gulch, AZ?
Guido Canyon, NM?
Injun Joe Court, VT?
Nip Hollow, UT?
and on and on it goes.
