Shelf Life for Heroes?

 Old NFO (a blog I read) recently commented on today's social propensity to tear down and destroy any symbol that the few find offensive. If at any time you, or your ancestors even thought about owning a fellow human being there will be someone who wants you removed from the social conscience. If you approve of naming a school, sports team or even a stream after something or someone that somebody feels offended by you are in trouble in todays society.

There is a small stream near us that is maybe three miles long and at its widest is perhaps two feet wide. No one knows officially the how or the why the stream got named, but anecdotally it was named  after an escaped slave back in the 1850's who killed himself beside the stream. Negro Creek is now the focus of a concerted effort to rename it, since "Negro" is offensive to some people. It's too bad that if the story is true the name of the poor guy who killed himself could be applied to the stream. Instead, if the complainers have their way the new name will be Freedom Creek. (I cringe, because the suggested name does nothing to recognize the history of the area other than make the perpetrators of this awful name more self satisfied)

If we take the logic of removing any recognition if someone objects to something from the past I guess we need to remove the writings of Elizabeth Barrett Browning from the shelves. She was a 19th century poet, best known for her "Sonnets from the Portuguese" and for her effort in promoting equality between races and the sexes. But her parents wealth came from owning plantations in Jamaica that used slave labor to grow and produce sugar. Despite a lifetime of good deeds, she is condemned for actions of her family and cast aside.

In some peoples eyes naming anything after a minority race is "expropriation" and we need to rename the object of this insult. So I guess we need to rename the city of Seattle Washington since it is named after a local indigenous leader (I can't use the word Indian Chief for fear of hurting somebodies feelings) who worked to bring two cultures and races together and who just wanted to get along and live a peaceful life. The present residents of Seattle who are busy tearing down statues, renaming schools, legalizing drugs and defunding the police will never notice.