It starts with painting over murals and removing mission bells. Where does it end?

( Old Mission Dolores, the origin of the city of San Francisco, around mid 19th C.)

"UC Santa Cruz decided to remove a mission bell from its campus because it represented the Roman Catholic missions that imposed Western culture on California’s native people.

“It is shameful that these places where our ancestors were enslaved, whipped, raped, tortured and exposed to fatal diseases have been whitewashed and turned into tourist attractions,” said Valentine Lopez, chairman of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band.

The university removed the bell “in support of efforts to be more inclusive,” according to university Vice Chancellor Susan Latham.

Earlier this year, San Francisco took down a sculpture offensive to American Indians from the “Early Days” monument in Civic Center.

And this winter the Humboldt County college town of Arcata removed a statue of President William McKinley from the town square on grounds that McKinley was racist. His administration favored Western expansion, annexed Hawaii and colonized the Philippines.

If we follow these policies to their logical conclusion, UC Santa Cruz should change its name. Santa Cruz, which means “Holy Cross” in Spanish, was once a mission.

So was San Francisco. We should look into Mission Dolores. If a bell is offensive, what about Mission Street and the Mission District?"

Extract from "It starts with painting over murals and removing mission bells. Where does it end?" in San Francisco Chronicle, June 10th, 2019.

See full article (English)  here