A proposal to change the name of the coastal community of Fort Bragg in Mendocino County sparked a heated debate Monday night.
A big crowd of residents gathered for the first in-person City Council meeting since the coronavirus pandemic started to discuss putting a measure on the ballot to change the city’s name.
The close-knit community of 7,000 dates back to 1857 and is named after the Confederal General and slaveowner Braxton Bragg, who has no ties to the area.
Merlin Larson opposed the change, in part because of the estimated $270,000 cost to the city.
“Prejudices and racism that exist in society aren’t caused by a statue, the name of a city, the name of a street or a person’s last name,” Larson said. “It comes from ignorance.”
“You’ve got angry, hate-filled Antifa-driven people outside who are threatening our city,” said one man, who asked the city not to listen to outside political influences. “And the people of Fort Bragg deserve a City Council that’ll stand up and say, ‘hell no’."
The issue of changing the name has come up several times before. One effort in 2015 was sparked by a letter from the Congressional Black Caucus.
While many residents argued the city should not discard the name it has borne for over 150 years, longtime resident Elias Henderson says the name bears an ugly history that does not deserve to be honored.
“What part of our history is represented by the name Fort Bragg?” Henderson asked. “Is it our nonexistent connection to a slave owning general who betrayed his country? Or is it civic pride in the moment a century and a half ago that our town was used to violently suppress Native Americans?”
“The name ‘Fort Bragg’ honors the fort and it honors Braxton Bragg,” he said. “And to pretend that that isn’t the case is a threadbare excuse to avoid a genuine reckoning with our history, both its ugliness and the possibility of redemption.”
City leaders ultimately decided to appoint a commission of residents to further study the issue of changing the name, likely running out the clock for a ballot measure this November.