Residents of the East Calhoun neighborhood in Minneapolis have renewed their push to scrap the name "Calhoun" from their section of town in favor of East Bde Maka Ska to reflect the area's Dakota heritage.
Minneapolis' East Calhoun neighborhood to change name
Neighborhood leaders said East Bde Maka Ska will better reflect area's Dakota heritage.
July 22, 2021 at 11:50PM
The neighborhood's nonprofit association this month submitted a request to the Minneapolis City Council — which has the power to change neighborhood names — after a survey found that about 75% of 547 respondents voted in favor of changing the name.
"There's more sensitivity to racial issues and systemic racial issues as a result of the George Floyd incident and a lot of things that have happened in the last year or two," said Lee Todd, the association board's president. "That influenced the neighbors to take a look at this and say, 'You know, we ought to make sure this thing gets changed to a name that the neighborhood could be proud of.' "
On Wednesday, a council committee gave its unanimous approval of the name change. The full council is expected to pass the issue Friday.
"The neighborhood did a good job at engaging the residents and they were able to make the case of why it needed to be changed and what it should be changed to," said Steven Gallagher, the city's neighborhoods manager and policy specialist.
Many neighborhood organizations moved to change their names after the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board in 2017 changed the name of Lake Calhoun to Bde Maka Ska, its original Dakota name. John C. Calhoun, the seventh vice president of the United States, was an ardent supporter of slavery. The Minnesota Supreme Court earlier this year upheld the Park Board's decision to remove Calhoun's name from the lake after a court challenge.
Last year, the West Calhoun neighborhood name was changed to West Maka Ska. That same year, resident leaders of the East Calhoun neighborhood changed their association name from East Calhoun Community Organization to ECCO Neighborhood Association. But the association later decided that using an acronym "was not appropriate," Gallagher said. So the neighborhood leaders will be changing their association name to include the Dakota words.
Todd said after giving it more thought and discussing the issue further, the association realized that there were still perceptions that "ECCO" had implications of Calhoun in the name.
"It felt like that needed to be rectified," he said.
In their request letter for a neighborhood name change, association leaders said they want the new neighborhood name to be reflected on all city maps and documents after council approval.
Gallagher said the city will make those updates in the coming months if the measure is passed Friday.
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