I blogged a few weeks ago (January 8) about the efforts going on in Berkeley to rid ourselves of names on buildings that honor historic figures traditionally viewed as heroic, but who were also slave holders.
It's not just Berkeley. It's the whole Bay Area, and I suspect, if I checked into it seriously, I'd find it's going on way beyond just my local lefty region. The understated German expression, "Das ist gut so!" comes to mind - "I think that's a damn good thing!"
Sometimes, though, they go too far, in my view, like when they want to shed the names of George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Fortunately, a decision to chuck Washington, Jefferson, Paul Revere and others onto the trash heap of history in San Francisco got reversed, in the end.
Somewhere, between the efforts of right-wing white supremacists like Tucker Carlson, who want to disparage any effort to raise the consciousness of future generations about our slave-holding past, and those who would rename the State of Washington, a compromise will be found, I suspect.
Meanwhile, for any of you who know San Francisco, to "Bye Bye Berkeley" (hypothetical, very tentative) we can now add "Bye Bye Sir Francis Drake" (actually happening).
I love it that I'm still alive to watch the world (my little part of it, at least) come awake. I'm a big fan of that famous Santayana quote, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it!"
And while we're at it, I highly recommend listening to John Oliver's rant on the right's effort to mask their white supremacy by manufacturing fake facts in connection with Critical Race Theory.
We are living the Chinese curse. These are indeed interesting times.
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