Nancy Friedman, writing at Fritinancy (on Substack, alas):

Stop naming things after people, living or dead. No schools. No streets. No courthouses. No fountains. Just quit it.

Friedman first wrote this in 2021 and updated it following recent reports accusing labor leader César Chávez of sexual assault and abuse. I was reminded to link to it after my friend Ron read Brian J. Johnson’s aforelinked piece on birthright citizenship, which included a damning paragraph describing California gubernatorial candidate Henry H. Haight’s anti-Chinese platform, and wondered if he was the “Haight” after whom the street in San Francisco is named.

(The answer to Ron’s question is complicated, but it’s now believed to be named after Weltha Haight, wife of banker Henry W. Haight, not the (eventual) governor. Perhaps a case of revisionist history, or another example of a woman’s erasure from history.)

Friedman, again:

Here is the point: Once we attach a human being’s name to an institution, we’re stuck with that human’s whole messy story. While it’s instructive to read about and learn from that story, we can (and should) do it without turning the person’s name into an object of civic reverence. […]

Public institutions should honor the public, not one inconsistently admirable individual.