Naming buildings...
the unintended consequences of forgetting the past
I am driving through my own neighborhood and glance at the green street sign for “Sq—w Drive”, and I cringe. How could so many people be so unaware of a racial slur or are they just coldly indifferent to the harm it causes? I like to think it is the former.
Some names should just be replaced, and others are probably necessary to remember so we do not forget the past, or repeat it. Where you draw the line is at the heart of the controversy with naming places. Buildings are special built environments that can affect our outlook both now and in the future.
Sovereign nations have the power to name geographic places as well as buildings and with that power comes responsibility. In the U.S. we have a specially appointed board made up of government employees, responsible for naming geographical places in the U.S.. Place names have special meaning for Native Americans.
In 2022, Sec. Deb Haaland, Secretary of the Dept. of the Interior, announced a new advisory board to review place names where the federal government has failed in their responsibility to recognize the harm to generations that their naming may have caused. Names derogatory and slurs of Native Americans are targets for review and replacement. Just this week, the members of the new advisory board were announced.1
On Universities campuses, review of building names is underway. The University of New Mexico in 2018 removed the name of the Juan de Onate building, replacing it with a sign that read “Building 156”. Juan de Onate was famous for amputating the hands and feet of Acoma Pueblo who rebelled against his raiding their food supply and attacking the women. Yet, he has been glorified as contributing to the culture of the southwest, according to one contributor to the Juan deOnate statue that stands at the entrace to the El Paso International Airport. The Acoma Pueblo people who use that airport and attend the Univ of New Mexico likely have traumatized histories when they are reminded of how the dominant society ignores the pain this causes generations of Native Americans.2
On the University of California, Berkekley campus, the Kroeber Building was being renamed in 2021. Alfred Kroeber was a notable but not yet notorius anthropologist who captured Ishi, a Native American who had been living in isolation from western society in California and put him on display in his museum, without regard to his autonomy or even his personal safety from exposure to diseases. Kroeber built his career while Ishi had a painful life and died from contracting tuberculosis. The committee who recommended removal of Kroeber’s name, added that he had also been responsible for inaccurately declaring the Ohlone Tribe in California to be “extinct” preventing the present day members of that Tribe from receiving federal recognition.
Forgetting these historical characters or erasing them from our history is a mistake. We need to learn from our mistakes and never forget that this behavior can happen and could happen again, if we do not remember. Characters like Kroeber and Onate should be remembered and correctly depicted but not glorified. The fear that somehow the field they founded or the country they helped establish will be less respected should yield to truth.
Universities, especially public universities, have a sovereign responsibility to reflect on their histories and how they are affecting future generations. Some universities are thinking about temporarily naming buildings with a review every twenty years for honorific names; and seventy-five years for donor names. Some universities are using educational signage to explain why the building name is there and why the name has been changed or why it has stayed the same. If we try to tell our history and leave out these characters, it is like a gap in a resume, without explanation.
Sovereign governments possess power to control historical narratives and outcomes through their sovereign power to (1) name geographical places; (2) protect names as intellectual property; (3) use military naming protocols; and (4) name buildings. With this power comes responsibility and the federal government has a unique trust responsibility to Native Nations and Native Americans and should recognize and acknowledge harms that have negative generational impacts. Universities are urban spaces that are environments that are especially important in a spiritual way to Native people who live, work and attend classes there.
Once universities are on notice that there are buildings on their campuses may have names that are inappropriately glorifying those responsible for widespread human rights violations, they are at least ethically obligated to: (1) review the alleged harms; (2) remove and replace the name; (3) mitigate the harm by offering a prominently displayed permanent educational explanation or exhibit that is based on facts; or (4) if the committee determines the second and third mitigation steps are not warranted, then the University should seek other means of recognizing harms by alternate programs, museum exhibits or other educational strategies, e.g., establish an American Indian Studies degree program.
The Seven Generations principle says that we should consider how our actions impact three generations looking back, our current generation, and the three generations looking forward. It is too important to our future, and if we do not reflect on these harms that hurt the indigenous people of America, we will continue to harm future generations; and decisions made decades ago that now on reflection should be undone will otherwise have negative unintended consequences.
[If you want to know more about this topic, you can download and read my article at Native America: Universities as Quasi-Cities, Sovereignty and the Power to Name. A full length law review article will be forthcoming in the Journal of American Indian Law in 2023.]
https://www.doi.gov/pressreleases/secretary-haaland-takes-action-remove-derogatory-names-federal-lands .
Alison Fields, Visualizing Juan de Oñate’s Colonial Legacies in New Mexico, Journal of Genocide Research at https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14623528.2022.2066382 (Aug 2021).
Could not agree with you more! And sports teams are just as egregious. I can't believe it took Cleveland that long to get rid of the racist Indian logo!!