Sunday, August 23, 2020

Forgotten names

"Yet, while the rock itself is blameless, the cultural associations with it are enough for some to call for its removal."

The State Journal was unable to find a reference to the objectionable name that was more recent than 95 years ago--and certainly I've never heard it before. "The term itself appears to have fallen out of common usage by the 1950s."

That sounds, to first order, as though somebody dug long and hard to find something they could object to, at a university that seems to try hard to be welcoming to black students.

As far as I know for the past N decades it has been simply known as Chamberlin Rock and celebrated as a very large glacial erratic.

I suppose if someone were to find proof that it had been used by the Sioux to sacrifice immigrating Ho Chunk, the local Ho Chunk might be pleased to see it go away. But they might not care anymore--the Sioux lost and were driven west.

The old term--it wasn't even an official name--was long gone. It lost. This kind of demand resurrects it. Even if the rock goes away, the hole will remind everyone of the old name.

1 comment:

Korora said...

And must that one type of butterfly in (IIRC) Sweden be driven to extinction?