The Jacoby Building plaque has been removed from its place on the plaza two weeks after the Arcata City Council voted unanimously that a replacement was needed.
City Manager Karen Diemer said crews were able to remove the marker that denotes the structure’s status as a California Registered Historic Landmark, which includes the affronting wording that “it served periodically as a refuge in time of Indian troubles.”
Because there were concerns that the plaque — dedicated in 1963 — might not come off easily, city workers had considered moving the entire
boulder from the plaza yesterday to complete the task but that wasn’t necessary in the end.
“It all just went really smooth,” Diemer said, adding there had been fears the rock would need to be cracked to remove the metal plate.
The building’s current owner Bill Chino has volunteered to help pay for the replacement’s estimated $4,000 price tag and work with a group to come up with new wording that will need State Office of Historic Preservation approval.
Now, the boulder is back and prepped and ready to go whenever the new plaque is
complete, Diemer said.
More controversial was the council’s decision at the same meeting to take down the statue of President William McKinley from the granite pedestal where the tribute to the slain president has stood at the plaza’s center since 1906.
Editor’s note: This story has been updates to note the boulder’s removal was not needed in the end.
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A Monumental Decision
This article appears in ‘Queen City of the Ultimate West’.
It is both strange and infuriating to hear people constantly telling those of us that support our Native allies request for removal of the McKinley statue and plaque that we “can’t change the past”. This mantra is delusional. No one has suggested we are trying to change history. If only the removal of symbols and reminders of past offenses such as genocide and slavery could change what was done. Wouldn’t you want that magic wand to erase the blood and tears and turn back time so our nation could be re-founded with love, peace and justice for all, without the exceptions white people made in our decisions to enslave and eradicate black and brown people – those we considered inferior. Oh! how I wish to be relieved of the pictures in my head and sounds in my ears as I imagine the terror of the children and parents and the blood that stained the Plaza… where does your imagination go? How would you want the past to be re-lived, if you were able to make this happen. But, back to 2018 and reality. We cannot change or erase past; we can only try to make amends and reparative actions in the here and now and work to change future behaviors. What remains to remind us of how we traumatized other human beings? How do we, as white people continue to profit by means of the structural racism which capitalism feeds on like a cancer in this nations soul? What can we do about these matters now? Tomorrow? So, please stop your nonsensical chatter about what can’t be done and begin to think about what can and must be done. Try to come to a place of compassion for the ancestors of the slaughtered and enslaved who merely ask now that a statue of a white imperialist and colonist and a plaque be removed. How can you compare the weight of these requests for action to what was done? How do you want your children and grandchildren to think of you, knowing that you had a chance to make a small reparation and you not only failed, but did so with mockery and disrespect of those so tragically harmed by our ancestors?