If you’re driving through northwest California and the road on your GPS suddenly changes names and then changes back, you can thank racial justice.
Last summer’s Black Lives Matter moment spawned a lot of reform proposals aimed at improving communities. It also spawned countless empty (and empty-headed) gestures by white liberals who wanted to feel like they were contributing. In the latter category, consider the town council of Fairfax, California, that just unanimously voted to change the name of Sir Francis Drake Boulevard.
Drake was the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe. He was branded as a pirate by Spain as he terrorized its ports across the globe. His exploits included teaming up with a group of escaped Spanish slaves in a raid on a Spanish mule train that was so successful they had to bury 15 tons of silver that they were unable to carry with them.
But before he rose to fame, Drake had a darker episode in his seafaring career, taking a couple of runs in the slave trade. That a famed explorer had little-known sins in his past was enough for the town council to throw him overboard.
Nearby towns Larkspur and Ross will not be renaming their stretch of road, meaning travelers will see at least two name changes if they are driving through Fairfax. Two other local governments will be making a decision on the name as well, meaning it could jump up to four name changes for about 40 miles of road.
Drake is known for being a prolific explorer, one who is believed to have landed in Marin County. He’s not famous as a slave trader. He became famous as an ex-slave trader. Sir Francis Drake Boulevard is more akin to the George Washington Parkway than it is to the Jefferson Davis Highway — honoring a large historical figure despite his sins.
You would be hard-pressed to find someone in Fairfax who is actually upset about the street name. No one is actually offended to be driving on Sir Francis Drake Boulevard.
What’s at play here is a phenomenon called WokoFOMO. If you’re a white liberal in a place with no issues of police violence or racial violence, you have a fear of missing out on the “racial justice” moment.
Perhaps Drake wishes he had chosen somewhere besides Marin County to land.
