YubaNet Op-Ed | Swimming with Jim Crow in Negro Creek, Nevada County It matters how we name places on current maps Published on Dec 4, 2011 - 5:01:40 PM
NEVADA CITY, Calif. December 6, 2011 - After covering the Nevada County BOS meetings for more than a decade, you'd think that not much surprises us anymore. You'd think.
It's the tale about the laudable efforts of a local property owner -- who happens to be a county employee -- with an offensively named creek on her land to drag Nevada County government kicking and screaming into the 21st century by renaming it on current maps -- like the Assessors parcel maps (APN maps). Emphasis on the word current.
No one is asking that the appellation Nigger/Negro Creek be expunged/deleted/edited in any way, shape, or form from any Nevada County historical maps or documentation.
For now, the name Negro Creek will remain on federal maps since it was the federal government that removed the word Nigger on all its maps in 1964 and replaced it with Negro. In 1983 (during the Reagan administration) the Board of Names enacted the following: "The Board will not adopt a name proposal that includes the word "Jap" or the word "Nigger" whether or not it is in current local usage and regardless of by whom proposed." That directive, signed by the Secretary of the Interior, whizzed right by Nevada County.
It's 2011 and Nevada County -- up until Nov. 9th, 2011 -- still had a Nigger Creek on its APN map (see map). The Assessor's Office used Wite-Out ® (no pun intended) to remove Nigger Creek from the map and now the APN map just says "Creek" while the BOS dawdles and scratches its collectively thick skull wondering how anyone today could be offended by a Negro Creek flowing across their property and if they are, well that's just too damn bad. If it was a good enough name for the feds in the mid-1960s, it's good enough for Nevada County in the new millennium.
The property owner, Gail Smith, addressed the BOS at their last meeting on Nov. 15 and suggested they join together to give Nigger Creek a new name -- Black Miners Creek. She made that formal request to the USGS Board of Names last week.
The Nevada County BOS -- at least a majority of them -- seemed to have their minds already made up. Three of the supes made no bones before the meeting about putting "history" over Smith's request. Which begs the question about a potential Brown Act violation -- but that's another story.
The BOS then preferred to punt by delaying a decision on Smith's request. Now, it appears they propose to blithely ignore Smith's supremely sensible "Black Miners Creek" suggestion and stick with the fed's Negro Creek. Except for a tiny bit of wiggle room they left themselves in the proposed letter: However, if another proposal is formally submitted to you we would be happy to consider it.
Local Control Preferred, Except...
Nevada County's conservative Republican majority on the BOS is famous for declaring its disdain for government in general and its preference for local control over state or federal mandates. OK, so how does that work in this case? Let's see...
Local homeowner wants the feds to update their current maps.
Feds ask local homeowner for a suggestion.
Feds ask (not mandate, direct, or require) local BOS if that's fine with them.
Local BOS hides behind the fact that the state or national NAACP did not get back to them on time.
Local BOS hides behind a 1964 federal policy using the word "Negro" to deny a local homeowner's request.
Local BOS hides behind the Nevada County Historical Society's suggestion that history should be given its due, confusing current maps with historic parchment.
Want to Celebrate History? Here's How
The Nevada County Historical Society is right that Smith's original suggestion to change Nigger Creek to Butterfly Creek doesn't retain the historical reference to African-American mining history in Nevada County. But neither does calling it Negro Creek. The term Negro Creek makes no reference to mining history at all -- which Smith's proposed "Black Miners Creek" does. What is the casual observer to think if they ever come across Negro Creek on an APN map? Did a black person live there, or accidentally drown there, or go fishing there, or was buried there, or perhaps was lynched there? No way of knowing. Gail Smith is right. Negro Creek is not only offensive today, it says zip, zero, zilch about Nevada County mining history.
If the BOS was truly serious about safeguarding the sanctity of Nevada County history, then they would propose that the creek remain Nigger Creek -- as it was called just 2 weeks ago on the county APN and as it is referenced in Nevada County historical records. The BOS would challenge the federal government's name change in 1964 from Nigger Creek to Negro Creek.
Of course, it would be scandalous for the County of Nevada to try and change Negro Creek on federal maps back to the historically precise Nigger Creek on our county APN map as of just 2 weeks ago. But logically -- for the historical argument they are making to be consistent and actually make sense -- the BOS would insist on retaining Nigger Creek on county APN maps -- if they continue to erroneously insist that these APN maps are historical documents (which, of course, they are not and were never intended to be – they change all the time. Every single subdivision creates new names, for example.) But they won't ask the feds to do that, because the BOS does acknowledge that the word "nigger" is a racial slur.
What the BOS fails to acknowledge is that the word "Negro" – while hardly as odious as the word "nigger" -- is perceived by many people today of all races as offensive, and not just "outmoded" -- to use Supervisor Weston's inane adjective. "Outmoded" is a word more appropriate for describing unfashionable hairdos and clothing styles like mullets and go-go boots, not to describe what an entire generation of the biggest racial minority in the United States chooses to name itself in view of past discrimination. The term "Negro" is "outmoded" today precisely because it is offensive to many since it is reminiscent of the Jim Crow period. And, it is used by racists today as a replacement for the now "outmoded" term "nigger." Bottom line, the word "Negro" is still used today by people who don't have the guts to use the word "nigger." Does anybody remember the song "Barack The Magic Negro" played ad nauseam on the Rush Limbaugh show during the last campaign? Had he used the word "nigger" on the air, he would have lost his job. He was safe using "Negro," but we all heard the dog whistle.
The Nevada County BOS doesn't have to understand why the word "Negro" is viewed as offensive today. They simply have to acknowledge that it is because they are being told it is:
The property owner who wants it off her APN map says it's offensive.
For the BOS to deny that Negro Creek is offensive to many people today just because it isn't offensive to them personally, or to hide behind the bogus argument that APN maps are "historical" is just plain lame.
Here's an idea. If they really want more advice on the matter, why don't BOS members simply get off their butts and literally walk across the hall to the office of the most prominent African-American elected official in Nevada County who also has the most important job in Nevada County -- counting our votes. His name is Gregory J. Diaz and he is the Nevada County Clerk-Recorder. That they haven't bothered to ask his opinion on the importance of naming places on current maps speaks volumes about our current crop of supervisors and explains why they are making national headlines today.
Granting the property owner's request two weeks ago to rename the creek "Black Miners Creek" would have saved them – and all of us – the embarrassment of national news headlines, all the while celebrating African-American mining history in Nevada County.
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