A small town in upstate New York called Swastika will retain its name.
The four-member board for the Town of Black Brook, a town of approximately 1,500 residents that has jurisdiction over Swastika, unanimously voted to keep the name, saying that the place was named after the Sanskrit word meaning “well-being,” according to multiple outlets. The vote took place on Sept. 14 but was not widely reported until Wednesday.
“We regret that individuals, for out of the area, that lack the knowledge of the history of our community become offended when they see the name,” Jon Douglass, supervisor for the Town of Black Brook, told CNN. “To the members of our community, that the board represents, it is the name that their ancestors chose.”
The name of the town, like the Swastika symbol itself, predates World War II and Nazi Germany, which co-opted it for Nazism and anti-Semitism.
“There was concern that due to the Germans and everything that people may have a different outlook on the name. And some of the residents that were from that area actually fought in World War II and refused to change the name just because Hitler tried to tarnish the meaning of swastika,” Douglass told NPR. “I think that’s probably, maybe some viewpoint that it’s associated with hate. But then, I believe, there are others that do not associate it with hate. Did the Hindus and the [Buddhists] and all them, did they erase it from their religious history because of the Germans?”
Another town with “Swastika” in its name, Swastika Acres, in Colorado, voted to change its name to Old Cherry Hills in April 2019.
