‘’’: Turner’s Falls’
In the past we have “lost” the mascot Frontier Red Skins. Recently we have “lost” the Turner’s Falls Indians. We stand to lose the Mohawk Warriors. We have lost all of these “offensive” names because certain people have been deeply hurt by hearing these terrible names.
Why haven’t these deeply hurt individuals been pressing to re-name the village of Turner’s Falls? The town is named after a mass murderer! Why haven’t we made the site of this horrific genocide a national monument? Why I ask? Well, because the site is under water. The site of this early morning raid is now what we call Barton’s Cove.
If we were really interested in preserving this historical area, the Vernon dam and the Turner’s dam should be dismantled and the water levels should be dropped to once again make this site visible. Route 2 should be re-routed away from this historical area. All the houses in Riverside Gill should be dismantled and moved off this historical area.
All of this modern developments should be removed and the relationship with the Native people of this land can start to be healed.
All of this sounds like a daunting task. But if renaming local team’s mascot’s makes everybody feel warm and fuzzy inside, keep up the good work!
Eric Markol
Montague