Peter Burnett, California's first Governor. (Photo: public domain)
Ignorant Cancel Culture Comes for 3 Sacramento City Schools
Renaming Sacramento ‘schools after individuals must align with the District’s mission and vision’
By Katy Grimes, June 27, 2023 8:20 am
In June 2020, CBS13 reported on a Sacramento woman who announced that she wanted to change the name of Sutter Middle School, named after John Sutter, famous for the discovery of gold on the American River, after reports that he owned slaves.
“It always kind of bothered me when my kids went to school here,” said Emily Mizokami. “This is supposed to be the pride of the city. There is no pride in John Sutter. There is no pride in enslaving hundreds of indigenous people,” she said.
Jumping on the bandwagon to rename Sutter Middle School took place at the same time as the violent and destructive George Floyd protests, and as historic figures’ statues and monuments were being toppled across the country.
In June 2020, California Democratic Senate and Assembly leaders in Sacramento also announced that the statue of Christopher Columbus and Queen Isabella in the State Capitol Rotunda would be removed.
The statue, “‘Columbus’ Last Appeal to Queen Isabella,” was gifted to California by gold rush banker Darius Ogden Mills in 1883. It sat almost entirely uninterrupted in the Capitol rotunda since then.
If Columbus had not discovered America, none of us would be here today.
The cancel culture ignores the context and the era in which events happened. John Sutter should only be judged according to the culture and traditions of his times, not by uneducated, ignorant grievance hustlers in 2020-2023, who were taught social justice instead of Social Studies.
But apparently the urge to destroy what they disagree with is stronger than learning more about history.
Now Sacramento City Unified School District grievance hustlers, are attempting to wipe out Sutter’s history. This is from their announcement:
“As part of Sac City Unified’s commitment to confront and interrupt racism and create safe learning environments that are welcoming, inclusive, and inspiring places for all students and staff, the SCUSD Board of Education voted at the June 22, 2023 meeting to rename three schools as Miwok Middle School (formerly Sutter Middle School), Suy:u Elementary School (formerly Peter Burnett Elementary School), and Umoja International Academy (formerly Kit Carson International Academy). The work to rebrand these school facilities will begin this summer and students will return in the fall to schools with these new names.”
“A School Renaming Committee was appointed by the SCUSD Board of Education in the Fall of 2020 and was composed of one-third Native American voices, one-third administrators and staff, and one-third of Board-appointed community members.”
“The Committee was specifically designed to incorporate community voices from throughout the District and to uplift the native voice since Peter Burnett, John Sutter and Kit Carson led the systematic killing and enslavement of large numbers of California native peoples.”
And Emily Mizokami was named “SCUSD School Renaming Committee Member.”
Renaming these schools will cost an estimated $550,000. Yet more than half of SCUSD students do not meet basic state English standards, and nearly three quarters fail to meet basic state math standards.
This is what ignorant grievance hustlers do to signal their virtue and make themselves feel better, rather than teaching the history – all history – to teach school children about the times and customs of the past, and show how much we as a society have learned and changed. Apparently it’s easier to erase history than to teach it.
Peter Burnett was California’s first Governor.
Kit Carson was a famous frontiersmen, fur trapper, wilderness guide, Indian agent, and U.S. Army officer who took part in the expansion of the American west.
The Sac City school district says in their renaming schools policy explanation, “This policy allows for the naming for facilities after individuals whose “primary legacy” aligns with the District’s mission and vision.”
Now history must align with the District’s mission and vision. Notably, the SCUSD Board President says in his bio that he is a community organizer.
History must be preserved and taught accurately to understand the full context at that time. Wiping out the names and memorials of our forefathers, explorers, and early politicians teaches nothing except ignorant intolerance.
“Social justice,” as it is used by the left, means nothing. History is a continuous, systematic narrative of past events and people, countries, time periods, usually written as a chronological account.
Just imagine what will be written about this time in history.
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Was it Genghis Khan that said destroy the history and you destroy the society?
Dear Katy, please put a link in your article that puts faces and bios to these well intentioned, over-educated, administrators.
Thanks
George Santayana: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
It seems that is the plan.
That’s what books are for. Unfortunately there’s a segment of the US population banning books.
It’s mostly the unhinged left, Marxist Democrats and their BLM/Antifa thugs who are banning books, toppling statues, and renaming schools, roads, government buildings. The Democrat party has an ugly history of racism and discrimination being the party of slavery, segregation, Jim Crow laws, lynchings and the KKK. It seems that Emily Mizokami, “SCUSD School Renaming Committee Member,” is continuing in that tradition?
History belongs in books and museums. Not plastered on flags to display ignorance. I’ve visited Germany. It’s against the law to display Nazi memorabilia there. There’s displays at holocaust sites that displays that ignorance. I commend SCUSD on the name changes.
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” said George Santayana the American philosopher/Historian.
Put 4 pride flags along the extra colors that form like a sideways triangle together and you get the nazi symbol
American Taliban (Taliban destroyed Buddhists monuments In Afghanistan)
These fools are apparently products of the educational system they are destroying. Not deep thinkers, any of them. History is a very simple concept. It tells us how to avoid pitfalls in the future. Don’t destroy it, embrace it for its educational value. That said, these inept ‘only me’ crowd members should be spending their time improving the disastrous educational system they’ve built but are too stupid to recognize as a failure, rather than worrying about the name on a building.
Fine comprehensive piece about a vital topic that seems to be rarely discussed as we go from manufactured crisis to crisis in this state, which leave us little time or mental space to reflect on its importance.
Our own CA brand of Marxists and Wannabe-Marxists (community organizers), with their focus on the material, apparently cannot see that our state’s history — or history in general — provides a richness and a sense of belonging to the past, present, and future that nothing else can offer. But because it is intangible, not material, the ruinous automatons only see a statue or name or place that some other ruinous automatons told them needs to be destroyed, or removed, or vandalized with red paint. They have no clue of what the hated statue, place or name even symbolizes, never mind its own inherent beauty.
This subject is more important than perhaps it seems. Thanks to Katy Grimes for covering it and reminding us of how vital it is that we take a stand against the destruction of these mindless termites who never stop working to undermine our foundations.
So true, as Katy said: “Just imagine what will be written about this time in history.”
Change is sensible when it is NEEDED. The renaming of these three public schools is absolutely pointless. Will it improve student performance? Hardly. It’s almost as if the Board needs a diversion to distract us? itself? from its primary mission – educating students.
Over the past, decade SCUSD has been on the brink of financial collapse because of mismanagement and waste. Now $550, 000 on this nonsense. This should not be permitted to happen.
This will not “interrupt” racism.
“John Sutter should only be judged according to the culture and traditions of his times, not by uneducated, ignorant grievance hustlers in 2020-2023…”
You do know that John Sutter ABANDONED HIS WIFE AND FIVE CHILDREN. TO EVADE JAIL TIME, AND FLED TO AMERICA?
Pretty bad dude, even back then. Basic human morality stuff. He was a coward who pillaged and took every chance to exploit absolutely everything and everyone. The only true justice is the fact he died absolutely broke.