Monday, January 09, 2006
Insensitive Names
Near Carabelle, Florida, there is an impenetrable morass of murky swamp and briars called Tate's Hell. Local legend has it that the swamp is named for Cebe Tate, a farmer that lived next to the swamp and went into it looking to track and kill a panther that had been preying on his cattle. Cebe disappeared for nearly a week until finally he walked out of the swamp, bruised, battered, and near death. He lived long enough to utter to his discoverers, "My name is Cebe Tate, and I just came from Hell!".
It's legends like this that add color and life to history. No matter how accurate they may be, oral history like this creates a connectivity to the past that makes it more alive for people than the dry resuscitation of facts and dates. Nevertheless, that has not stopped the Florida Legislature, in conjunction with the Division of Historical Resources and the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, from enacting a law to change the name as it is 'potentially insensitive'. Other state landmarks deemed insensitive and deserving of renaming include Slave Canal in Jefferson County (dug by slaves to carry cotton), Bloody Bluff (named apparently for the number of duels fought there), Indian Swamp and Deadman's Slough in Gulf County, and Whiskey George Creek (named during Prohibition for its use by rumrunners).
While perhaps one could make a claim about slave canal, I sincerely doubt there are any rumrunners, Tates, or dead men out there who will be offended by their geographical namesakes. Even Slave Canal is iffy, as in and of itself, the word 'slave' is not insensitive, and the name actually acknowledges those who built it in a way that the proposed "Cotton Run Canal" does not (Cotton Run Canal sounds like a subdivision name). Can you think of any other pre-Civil War public works project or building in the South that identifies who was responsible for the labor?
Letting these name changes stand sets a terrible precedent for the future. Think how many national parks and geographic features across America use the word Devil. Devil's Racetrack. Devil's Gulch. Devil's Gate. Devil's Garden. Devil's Elbow.Devil's Hole.Devil's Fork.Devil's Icebox.Devil's Tower.Devil's Millhopper.Devil's Den.Devil's Hopyard.Devil's Lake. And, I'm sure, hundreds of others scattered far and wide. How hard is it to imagine a religious conservative in the future protesting these names because no 'God-fearing nation should honor the works of the Beast or his minions'? And how hard is it to imagine legislation banning these names passing, either because of a passive legislature that decides the political battle to fight it isn't worth the cost, or because the law was buried as an addendum to some gargantuan spending bill?
J guess I'll just have to get used to the idea that the Devil's Millhopper will soon become Big Possum Hole. Cul-de-sacs not included.
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