No Honor in Genocide: A Case Study of Street Renaming and Community Organizing in the Wake of National Decolonization Efforts

The United States hosts countless streets, structures, and cities named after colonial and military leaders. Although many of these white historical figures, like Robert E. Lee, were revered in their own eras, modern history now acknowledges their involvement in immoral acts such as slavery and geno...

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Autor principal:	Margo Hill
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Gonzaga Library Publishing 2021
Materias:	Political science (General) JA1-92 Social sciences (General) H1-99
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/ac65804b8f1142718ab39aaced2728c3
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:ac65804b8f1142718ab39aaced2728c32021-11-08T08:10:53ZNo Honor in Genocide: A Case Study of Street Renaming and Community Organizing in the Wake of National Decolonization Efforts2169-744210.33972/jhs.200https://doaj.org/article/ac65804b8f1142718ab39aaced2728c32021-10-01T00:00:00Zhttps://jhs.press.gonzaga.edu/articles/200https://doaj.org/toc/2169-7442The United States hosts countless streets, structures, and cities named after colonial and military leaders. Although many of these white historical figures, like Robert E. Lee, were revered in their own eras, modern history now acknowledges their involvement in immoral acts such as slavery and genocide. As they recognize that individuals responsible for such traumatic events should no longer be honored, the citizens of many towns and cities across the nation are attempting to rename their public properties. These efforts, however, rarely prove straightforward; the process of renaming a single road, for example, requires a thorough understanding of city ordinances and codes, coordination between various government entities, strong public support, and collaboration between multiple community stakeholders. This case study highlights and examines such critical components of the renaming of a road in the City of Spokane, Washington. Named after a mid-1800s U.S. military leader who contributed to the genocide of Native Americans and the slaughter of hundreds of their horses, Fort George Wright Drive had served as a mile-long arterial in Spokane for more than 34 years. Although both local Native Americans and other Spokane community members had attempted several times since the 1990s to change the name of the road, their efforts did not finally lead to success until December of 2020. This report also elucidates how Tribal community activism remains uniquely tied to Native culture. Tribal members from the surrounding reservations and Natives living in the City utilized Tribal art, oral history, as well as Tribal songs to advocate for change. These Indigenous songs have been passed down for the 168 years since the hanging of Tribal warriors by Colonel Wright in 1858. To change the name of the road, Natives and white allies also took more tangible actions: projecting messages on buildings, writing letters, organizing meetings, coordinating teach-ins, and staging rallies/marches. This study documents how extensive organizing between the Spokane Tribe, other local Tribes, the Spokane City Council, the Spokane City Plan Commission, and community activists ultimately led to the renaming of Fort George Wright Drive to “Whistalks Way.” Whis-talks was the daughter of Chief Polatkin and wife of Qualchan. She rode alongside her husband into battle and carried the medicine eagle feather staff into the U.S. military post to parley. The Spokane Tribe selected Whis-talks, later adapted to “Whistalks” without the hyphen, to not only honor women warriors of the battlefields of the 1800s, but to also honor the Spokane Tribal women of our families today. With this new name, the Spokane Tribe honors the female warriors who daily fight to protect and preserve our culture, our lifeways, our families, our lands, our environment, and our Tribe. Further, this report will illustrate the critical role that timing of elections and nationwide events can play in such efforts, particularly when coinciding with nationwide events.Margo HillGonzaga Library PublishingarticlePolitical science (General)JA1-92Social sciences (General)H1-99ENJournal of Hate Studies, Vol 17, Iss 1 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Political science (General) JA1-92 Social sciences (General) H1-99
spellingShingle	Political science (General) JA1-92 Social sciences (General) H1-99 Margo Hill No Honor in Genocide: A Case Study of Street Renaming and Community Organizing in the Wake of National Decolonization Efforts
description	The United States hosts countless streets, structures, and cities named after colonial and military leaders. Although many of these white historical figures, like Robert E. Lee, were revered in their own eras, modern history now acknowledges their involvement in immoral acts such as slavery and genocide. As they recognize that individuals responsible for such traumatic events should no longer be honored, the citizens of many towns and cities across the nation are attempting to rename their public properties. These efforts, however, rarely prove straightforward; the process of renaming a single road, for example, requires a thorough understanding of city ordinances and codes, coordination between various government entities, strong public support, and collaboration between multiple community stakeholders. This case study highlights and examines such critical components of the renaming of a road in the City of Spokane, Washington. Named after a mid-1800s U.S. military leader who contributed to the genocide of Native Americans and the slaughter of hundreds of their horses, Fort George Wright Drive had served as a mile-long arterial in Spokane for more than 34 years. Although both local Native Americans and other Spokane community members had attempted several times since the 1990s to change the name of the road, their efforts did not finally lead to success until December of 2020. This report also elucidates how Tribal community activism remains uniquely tied to Native culture. Tribal members from the surrounding reservations and Natives living in the City utilized Tribal art, oral history, as well as Tribal songs to advocate for change. These Indigenous songs have been passed down for the 168 years since the hanging of Tribal warriors by Colonel Wright in 1858. To change the name of the road, Natives and white allies also took more tangible actions: projecting messages on buildings, writing letters, organizing meetings, coordinating teach-ins, and staging rallies/marches. This study documents how extensive organizing between the Spokane Tribe, other local Tribes, the Spokane City Council, the Spokane City Plan Commission, and community activists ultimately led to the renaming of Fort George Wright Drive to “Whistalks Way.” Whis-talks was the daughter of Chief Polatkin and wife of Qualchan. She rode alongside her husband into battle and carried the medicine eagle feather staff into the U.S. military post to parley. The Spokane Tribe selected Whis-talks, later adapted to “Whistalks” without the hyphen, to not only honor women warriors of the battlefields of the 1800s, but to also honor the Spokane Tribal women of our families today. With this new name, the Spokane Tribe honors the female warriors who daily fight to protect and preserve our culture, our lifeways, our families, our lands, our environment, and our Tribe. Further, this report will illustrate the critical role that timing of elections and nationwide events can play in such efforts, particularly when coinciding with nationwide events.
format	article
author	Margo Hill
author_facet	Margo Hill
author_sort	Margo Hill
title	No Honor in Genocide: A Case Study of Street Renaming and Community Organizing in the Wake of National Decolonization Efforts
title_short	No Honor in Genocide: A Case Study of Street Renaming and Community Organizing in the Wake of National Decolonization Efforts
title_full	No Honor in Genocide: A Case Study of Street Renaming and Community Organizing in the Wake of National Decolonization Efforts
title_fullStr	No Honor in Genocide: A Case Study of Street Renaming and Community Organizing in the Wake of National Decolonization Efforts
title_full_unstemmed	No Honor in Genocide: A Case Study of Street Renaming and Community Organizing in the Wake of National Decolonization Efforts
title_sort	no honor in genocide: a case study of street renaming and community organizing in the wake of national decolonization efforts
publisher	Gonzaga Library Publishing
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/ac65804b8f1142718ab39aaced2728c3
work_keys_str_mv	AT margohill nohonoringenocideacasestudyofstreetrenamingandcommunityorganizinginthewakeofnationaldecolonizationefforts
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No Honor in Genocide: A Case Study of Street Renaming and Community Organizing in the Wake of National Decolonization Efforts

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