Time to change the name of Jeff Davis Peak in Great Basin National Park
White supremacists incited deadly violence in Charlottesville, Va., last weekend in defense of a Confederate monument. We must show the country that Nevada gives no safe harbor to such hatred. We must rename Jeff Davis Peak in Great Basin National Park.
Confederate symbols on public land, in effect, endorse a movement founded on white supremacy. If our government continues to pay homage to the Confederacy, people of color can never be sure they will be treated fairly. And we will never solve our community’s problems if an entire group of citizens is alienated or feels targeted for discrimination.
Confederate symbols belong in museums and on private property. In museums, we can learn their full history. Citizens will always have the right to fly the Confederate flag. They can still erect monuments on their own property. That will not change.
But it is past time to remove a disgraced Confederate president’s name from a place of honor.