3 schools in Sacramento may be renamed to shed ‘legacy of racism’

The Sacramento City Unified School District has started the process of potentially renaming three schools named after controversial California leaders with racist legacies.

The district will form a community advisory committee to consider renaming Sutter Middle School in East Sacramento, a high-profile campus serving more than 1,200 students; Peter Burnett Elementary and Kit Carson International Academy.

The district “strives to create a warm and welcoming environment for all students, staff, and community members,” read documents from Thursday’s school board meeting. “The renaming of school sites is part of the district’s work in dismantling racism from within our system. School names, structures and symbols that upholds a legacy of racism, oppression, and exclusion shall not be tolerated. The names of our schools are a powerful symbol of our community values.”

If changed, renaming the schools could cost between $100,000 to $150,000 per site, according to the district. School signage, murals, marquees and gym floors would need to be removed and replaced.

While the district’s policy for naming a facility considers individuals who have made contributions to the state, the district acknowledged it had various school sites named after people who “perpetuated or condoned racism, oppression and exclusion.”

Peter Burnett was the first elected governor of California in 1849 and helped develop Sacramento. He also pushed for the exclusion of Blacks. He resigned after two years in office when he was widely criticized for his racist policies, according to the Oregon Historical Society.

Kit Carson arrived in the West as a fur trapper, but killed many indigenous people, terrorized the Navajo lands, burned their crops, destroyed villages and slaughtered livestock.

As of early Friday morning, more than 1,100 people signed an online petition to rename Sutter Middle School.

“It is shameful that our children are expected to express pride in association with a man who terrorized so many,” said petition organizer Emily Mizokami. “The statue is gone, let his name be erased from the halls of such a successful and treasured school.”

Sutter Middle School, which is one of the oldest in the middle schools in Sacramento and named after John Sutter, a Swiss immigrant credited with building Sutter’s Fort and founding New Helvetia, an early settlement near the confluence of the Sacramento and American rivers. His son, John Sutter Jr., later founded Sacramento.

But Sutter has been a controversial figure for decades. An article by the History Channel described Sutter as a “shrewd businessman” who “enslaved hundreds of Native Americans and used them as a free source of labor and a makeshift militia with which he defended his territory.”

In early June, a statue of Sutter was removed from Sutter Medical Center.

The school district committee will be comprised of no more than 27 members and will include district staff, principals, students and community members. A formal resolution for proposal will be brought to the school board in October. The committee will bring forward a recommendation during a February 2021 school board meeting.

Several communities across the country have called for their local schools to rename their K-12 and college campuses, including several named after past presidents, including Thomas Jefferson and George Washington.

The California Department of Education provides some guidance for districts who choose to rename their schools.

This story was originally published September 4, 2020 at 7:31 AM.