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Saw this on the news today, very interesting.

BEAUMONT, Texas (Reuters)
A decade-long fight over a quiet country lane called "Jap Road" ended Monday when local officials voted to change the racially charged name.
After hours of often bitter testimony, the Jefferson County Commissioners voted 4-3 to do away with the name that once honored a Japanese family, but now is considered a racial slur.
Residents of the road, located on the outskirts of the southeast Texas town of Fannett, 55 miles east of Houston, were given until next week to propose a new name.
The four-mile road has been around about 100 years and was said to be named in honor of Yoshio Mayumi and his family, who introduced the region to rice farming.
Some have suggested the name be changed to Mayumi Road.
The name change was first suggested 10 years ago, but rejected. The idea picked up steam when civil rights groups filed a discrimination complaint with the U.S. government last year asking that federal funds to the county be cut off.
Name change opponents argued that Jap Road was a piece of history that must be preserved, while change supporters said it was an offensive relic of the racist past.
"It's our history, it's our heritage. I can remember when it was a dirt road, now it's being portrayed as a racial divide between us and the Japanese-Americans," Earl Callahan, born and raised on Jap Road, told the commissioners.

'Victory for for Japanese-Americans'
County Judge Carl Griffith said the change was necessary to improve the image of southeast Texas.
"People believe in this country that we're a bunch of racists. There's not a soul here that would call anybody a Jap," he said.
Sandra Nakata Tanamuchi, whose family settled in the area in the early 1900s and who first lobbied for the name change a decade ago, said the commissioners had finally done the right thing. "It's wonderful. It's exactly what we were wishing for," she said.
Martin Cominsky, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, one of the groups that filed a complaint against the name, praised the change.
"It's a victory for Japanese-Americans and for democracy and for what's respectful and dignified," he said. "It's a lot more than a name."
But road resident Jason Marshburn, 31, disagreed.
"It feels like we're in the middle of a George Orwell novel. It's like me suing Keebler or Nabisco because the word 'cracker' is offensive to us white people," he said.

Ok, I have issues with that last comment. His analogy is all wrong. First of all the word 'cracker' as seen on a box with the label Nabisco or Ritz 'cracker' is not referring to a person, it is referring to a food product. However, in this case in Beaumont, the road name 'Jap', was referring to a person or group of persons living on said road. The majority of white people I know would not be offended by a box of Ritz 'crackers'. I'm guessing that if you ask most Japanese what they think of a road called 'Jap' ,and, well, I don't think you'll have any fans of that name there.

I'm not Japanese, so maybe my feelings on this word don't mean much, but everytime I've heard it used, it's never been in a complimentary manner. It's used in an ugly way. Why would anyone want to honor that? Why are people wanting to hold on to this name?

Those who were against this name change say that the sign was a part of history and should be preserved. Are we supposed to embrace things just because they are tradition or part of our heritage, no matter the dark and ugly history behind it? How about segregration, that was "accepted" back then, why isn't that around anymore?

I'm all for remembering history, the things of the past, because we can learn from it. And when we learn from mistakes made in the past, we can make changes, for the better.

CJ at 7/19/2004

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