Racism Against Natives Dooms Mark Twain Honor
Indian Country Today
A state panel in Nevada has opted to not name a Lake Tahoe cove for Mark Twain, saying the author was racist against Native Americans.
The request to rename a cove on the lakeās northeast shore for Samuel ClemensāTwain was a pen nameāhas been indefinitely tabled by the Nevada State Board on Geographic Names.
āSamuel Clemens had racist views on the Native people of this country and has captured those views in his literature,ā Darrel Cruz wrote in a letter to the board, reported the Associated Press. āTherefore, we cannot support the notion of giving a place name in Lake Tahoe to Samuel Clemens.ā
Cruz, is head of the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and Californiaās cultural resource department, also said Twain doesnāt deserve the honor because he was against naming the lake Tahoe, a word derived from Washoe word āda owā for lake.
Cruz also mentioned a particular quote from Twain: āPeople say that Tahoe means āSilver LakeāāāLimpid WaterāāāFalling Leaf.ā Bosh! It means grasshopper soup, the favorite dish of the digger tribeāand of the Pi-utes as well.ā
The term ādiggerā is derogatory and refers to western tribes who dug roots for food.
Thomas Quirk, an English professor emeritus at the University of Missouri and leading Twain scholar, told the Associated Press that Twain did get over his racism toward blacks but Quirk hasnāt found any evidence that the authorās views on Native Americans ever changed.
Quirk told the Associated Press that Twain did not embrace idolizing who he called the ānoble red man,ā which was Twainās way of picking on James Fenimore Cooper.
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āWhen it comes to African Americans, he was ahead of his time substantially,ā Quirk told the Associated Press. āWhen it comes to Native Americans, his record is not very good. If he were alive today, he would sing a different tune.ā
Robert Stewart, a member of the Nevada State Board on Geographic Names, actually dropped his support of the renaming even though he initiated it.
āI have a great deal of respect for the Washoe Tribe. And if their cultural committee is unhappy with naming the cove for Mark Twain, Iām not going to fight them,ā Stewart told the Associated Press. āWe need to show sensitivity to the tribe.ā