In Portland and many other cities, we’ve come to a time where it’s becoming commonplace to recognize the Native tribes whose land we stand on and from which we prosper.
It demonstrates the turning of a corner when we open space to remember the truth — rather than the version of American righteousness crafted by the powerful and monied in order to bake into future generations ideas about who the rich and powerful should be.
The process of dismantling white supremacy requires that we continuously question the history and systems that have been shoved down our throats since childhood.
Symbolic reinforcements of white dominance permeate our geography, our cities and houses of education so consistently, that we’ve long been apathetic to them. It’s time to look at them — all of them — again for the first time.
It’s hard to imagine that if Thomas Jefferson raped a white woman and enslaved the children she bore him, statues would stand in his honor and streets, parks, cities and schools would bear his name.
But he didn’t. He raped a Black woman and enslaved her Black children, and today you can drive down Jefferson Street in just about every American city. This makes it clear that brutalities against people of color matter not when it comes to whom we choose to memorialize.
And in Portland, hundreds of teenagers — nearly half of them Black — attend a high school named in his honor.
That Jefferson called slavery an “abomination” while also owning more than 600 people in his lifetime, only shows he understood the moral depravity of what he was doing and continued to do it until the day he died.
That monuments to Jefferson and so many others like him remain despite their slave-holding status sends a message to every Black American — and to every one of the Black students at Jefferson High School — that they are living in a society that does not recognize or value their humanity.
It’s a message echoed across our state in various ways, affecting every Black and Indigenous person, as well as other Oregonians of color.
More than a dozen of Oregon’s geographical features contain “Negro” in their name. Others contain slurs for Native Americans and Asians. The reason “Negro” is included so frequently is because it was inserted as a stand-in for the N-word across the nation’s maps in the 1960s, as our reporter Donovan Smith pointed out this past week. Many people alive today remember exactly how the “Negro” in Negro Ben Mountain got there.
In 2017, a proposal to change the name of Dead Indian Memorial Road in southwestern Oregon was denied because Jackson County commissioners thought 202 comments, mostly in favor of dropping the offensive name, was not a sufficient enough sample to warrant the change.
The name of the county the road runs through is named for President Andrew Jackson — a slaveholder known for signing the Indian Removal Act, which forced the relocation and death of thousands of Native Americans, also known as the Trail of Tears.
Oregon has other counties named after slaveholders and slavery supporters, including Jefferson, Joseph Lane and William Harney, who was charged with beating a woman who was enslaved to death with his cane.
On the Oregon Coast, a restaurant named after a children’s book that was widely banned for its racist illustrations, continues to do business in Lincoln City. It has even had copies of the infamous book, “The Story of Little Black Sambo,” in its gift shop.
Street Roots reporter Jessica Pollard wrote about a campaign to change the restaurant’s name. Underneath her article, one commenter wrote: “You cannot change history. Whats next? Cant have black. Clothes????”
Sadly, this commenter’s opinion and the ignorance it espouses are far from unique. Many people resistant to change claim removing monuments to racists and changing racist names would “erase history.” It’s an argument that defies logic.
To leave these symbols in place only glorifies common misperceptions about our past.
But let’s be honest: It isn’t “erasing history” that makes some people uncomfortable. It’s the deconstruction of white supremacy that scares them.
It can be difficult to discard long-held beliefs and acknowledge truths that contradict them, and that includes beliefs we hold about historical figures. But there is no excuse for willfully clinging to ignorance.
As long as we cling to the false narrative of white glory, we’re overlooking true heroes and their genuine courage, visionaries worthy of both remembrance and aspiration. People such as York, a slave on Lewis and Clark’s expedition who played a key role as diplomat, or Sarah Winnemucca, a Northern Paiute author who became an outspoken critic of the U.S. government following the rape of two Native girls in Southern Oregon. Portlanders should know the names Allen and Ford as well as they know Skidmore and Pittock.
In our city and in our state, there is much to change.
Unfortunately, the process of changing names is often mired in a bureaucracy, relying on long, intense processes that take into account and weigh equally, many and varying opinions.
Additionally, many harmful symbols of oppression are on private property, such as Lil’ Sambo’s restaurant and the statue of Capt. Robert Gray in Garibaldi.
In the parking lot of the Maritime Museum, Gray stands valiantly atop the traditional burial box of the Tillamook Coast Salish — a people he helped to decimate, as noted by Street Roots writer Helen Hill.
But these monuments to white dominance and racism only exist because Oregonians have passively allowed them.
We must consider the incoming students at Jackson Middle School this fall. Imagine a Black or Native student at the moment they learn about their school’s namesake. It’s a subtle lesson in the persistence of white supremacy and a reminder that systems were not constructed for them.
Oregonians must turn their lip service into action: Send the owner of Lil’ Sambo’s a message. And don’t eat there. A restaurant in Oregon that celebrates racism should not have a cumulative 3.9-star rating on Google with more than 1,500 reviews. Tell the management at the Garibaldi Maritime Museum to move the statue of Capt. Gray indoors and make it clear to visitors he was no hero.
Sign the petitions that demand name changes of schools within the Portland Public Schools district. If you’re an alumnus or a student, get involved.
Students at Wilson High School, Hui Hui Hutchinson and Casimiro Cox testified before the PPS Board of Education, explaining a name change doesn’t have to be complicated. The district could simply change the Wilson the name of the school represents.
Cox suggested Stephanie Wilson, an African American astronaut who has gone to space three times. Hutchinson suggested Harriet Wilson, the first African American to publish a novel on the North American continent.
Oregonians can also weigh in on active proposals to rename geographical features including Dead Indian Soda Springs, Dead Indian Mountain, Dead Indian Creek, Negro Ben Mountain and Chinaman Hat. Oregon Geographic Names Board President Bruch Fisher said he will pass any public input along with the board’s recommendation to the federal board, which will ultimately make the decision. He recommends emailing him with ideas about specific proposals under review before Sept. 14.
Portlanders can apply to change city street names.
Protesters across the nation are pushing for far more than the removal of racist symbols; they want to eradicate racist systems. We acknowledge the removal of monuments and the editing of maps falls far short of the end goal. But, it’s a step along the way, and it’s long overdue.
UPDATE: In an about-face, Portland Public Schools indicated on June 14 plans to rename Woodrow Wilson High School by spring 2021 and suggested other school renaming efforts would follow.