A Pose By Any Other Name ...

Hello Folks,

A little snow on the ground yesterday AM – and foggy.  No problem – by noon hour, it was clearing off and by mid-day another blue sky day.

Yesterday the objective was Negro Bill Canyon on the river road running SE from Moab.  This hike leads to Morning Glory Natural Bridge – the 6^th longest rock span in the US – right after Tommy Lee.

The hike was made more interesting by the ice and snow on some of the narrow trails – as well as mud and wet slick rock.

It was a great day – after which I roared up to Arches to catch the sunset – and then sped like a maniac to the Moab Brewery to catch wing night – just made it!!

There is a little bit of controversy over the name Negro Bill Canyon and some folks want it changed to Morning Glory Canyon.  The controversy is heightened a bit by the Bureau of Land Management studying the area to decide whether it should be declared a wilderness area – which means that the area would come under federal jurisdiction and their budget – off Utah’s books.

Now regarding the re-naming – I have an issue with that and let me try to articulate why.

There is a general movement – probably it’s been with us quietly for quite a while – now more strident; to rename what I will refer to as major brands, that have offensive names with regards to ethnicity, gender, race, etc.

For example – the baseball team the Atlanta Braves – remember Jane Fonda and Ted Turner with the ‘tomahawk chop’ a few years ago during the World Series?  There was a lot of commentary about the name ‘Braves’ and the ‘chop’ itself.  The same with the football team, the Kansas City Chiefs – and we can go through the list of sports franchises that may have names with which someone could take offence.

There are pros and cons here – but let me take up the con side in specific reference to Negro Bill Canyon. My concern in renaming the canyon would be this – we break a link with the historical record of the naming of the canyon – but more importantly, in a generation or two, we forget that we were offended by the term negro.  And if we forget we are offended by the term negro – are we not susceptible to the swinging pendulum of repeating the very circumstances that caused us to become offended by the term ‘negro’ in the first place?

I think we, as a society, are better served by preserving the name and always remembering why the name is offensive and the historical facts that made it so.

That said – let me segue to something else in a similar vein – that is going on right now as I write this. There are a number of right leaning folks who are incrementally changing historical and scientific references in educational text books. References with regard to the sciences of geology, archaeology, medicine/biology; references with regard to Martin Luther King, KKK, racial segregation and discrimination, religious thought; references with regard to the social movements of 60s counter culture, the gay - community, new age thinking, etc.

This is exactly the mentality of the church in the Middle Ages – change the words,‘re-educate’ the next generation, and all will be well.  For anybody who reads and is the least bit aware of history, this is a fool’s game – and I am being kind in using this phrase.

The human brain is a sponge for information – and information tested in the forum of everyday life is knowledge – and knowledge, combined with a natural curiosity, will always find the ‘truth’.

We see this everyday – what will ultimately change the political context of North Korea, Cuba, Iran, the former Soviet Union; and yes, the United States – is Google, CNN, Facebook, Twitter, etc. – information runs uphill – you simply can’t stop it – and as I said, information combined with everyday experience, is powerful enough force to bring down national governments, change borders, cause economic boom or bust, and to lift us all to a new consciousness and understanding – of ourselves, our surroundings, our neighbors and our environment.

So let’s keep the offensive names – and let’s never forget what made them offensive – so we never repeat the shameful and violent acts perpetrated against our fellow citizens in the name of what we thought was just and right.

Speaking of offensive – and violent – the charcoal winged menace was audible in Negro Bill Canyon but was undercover.  However in Arches, the flying plague could be seen careening across the landscape (with his friend) after another banner day at the Moab Brewery.  Something tells me this may all come down to a showdown at the brewery – over what I can only shudder .... I have a feeling wing night at the brewery could take on a whole new meaning ....

More later,

Phil