The Wahkiakum County Eagle - Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891

To the Eagle:

We don’t need to memorialize “Jim Crow” with a place name in Wahkiakum County. Removing artifacts of racism is a way to acknowledge that we are moving on from the racist history that Oregon (and this country) is still living down. See the Oregon Historical Society’s Encyclopedia of Oregon for a summary of exclusion laws, and the complicated history regarding slavery. Until 1926, it was illegal for black people to move into the state. How we talk and what words we use convey our attitudes to our children and grandchildren. If names or symbols had no meaning, we wouldn’t use them.

I give Southerners and rural people some space regarding symbols of the past. What I mean is, I understand Southerners and rural people are devalued, stereotyped and dismissed. I get that. I’ve lived in Wahkiakum County long enough to see the paternalistic view that some educated/liberal urban people (of which I am one) hold about rural people. That said, holding racist symbols close is mistaken.

When I came to Cathlamet I asked where Jim Crow Sands got its name. It’s a place name that implies ugly history. It’s time to change it. The other question I asked when I came to Wahkiakum County was where the Native people were. We should ask our Chinook neighbors to give us a proper place name.

Ruby Hansen Murray

Cathlamet