The actual "Jim Crow"

To The Eagle:

Regarding Dan Cothren's idea of why we shouldn't take exception to the term "Jim Crow" as applied to local geographic sites, here's another take according to history.com:

Was Jim Crow a real person?

January 29, 2014 By Evan Andrews

(http://www.history.com/news/ask-history/was-jim-crow-a-real-person):

The term “Jim Crow” typically refers to repressive laws and customs once used to restrict black rights, but the origin of the name itself actually dates back to before the Civil War. In the early 1830s, the white actor Thomas Dartmouth “Daddy” Rice was propelled to stardom for performing minstrel routines as the fictional “Jim Crow,” a caricature of a clumsy, dimwitted black slave.

I personally like Dan a lot, but his remark "It (the name) is part of our heritage," (Rick Nelson's Opinion article of April 14) reminds me of the claim that too many southerners have extolled about the Confederate battle flag: "It's part of our heritage," as if that flag had nothing to do with maintaining slavery and the belief that maintaining cheap, enslaved labor was essential for survival of the southern economy.

Dan's excuse that the term might refer to a plethora of "birds that were there" is rather insensitive. I doubt that most folks would think that was the reason. Crows are not usually referred to as Jim.

As for Blair Brady's suggestion that those who care about this issue should "pony up the $5,000 and put it on the ballot." That's simply an avoidance of what the commissioners should be capable of doing.

Craig Brown

Cathlamet