I went to watch the dog races last weekend and thankfully google maps still uses Calhoun.
Not any more, it’s Lake Bde Maka Ska on Google now, and I’m guessing it will end up as Lake B for linguistic reasons for some and will stay Lake Calhoun to a large # of people.
Why is there a lake Calhoun sailing school on lake Bde Maka Ska? 
Just think though, metro reports 30yrs from now when some youngin asks for a good lake to try out us old timers can say Calhoun, and noone will know WTF we’re talking about, except us.
That’ll be a good chuckle. Something to look forward to, of course you old timers now will be dead so too bad for you 
Did these people not see the irony renaming the lake? It goes from being named after John Calhoun, a proponent of slavery (white supremacist), to Bde Maka Ska, White Earth Lake.
What makes them… (Whoever they are without being racist) have the power over the state or DNR or whoever to have the political savvy to change the name of a lake that has has the same name for who knows how long?
The lake has been here since the beginning of time. The U.S./State of MN owns the lake. The U.S./State of MN Citizens live and fish and pay all the taxes for repairs, maintenance and cleanup on the lake. who are we trying to grease here by changing the name of the lake? Is it because those who have moved into the the area over the last X amount of years that fish it mainly are Not of traditional American heritage so we need to change the name of a lake based on the nationality who fishes it most?
This is absurd, and getting out of hand.
IE: If i was German (let’s say) which I’m not, and invite all my German friends to fish a certain body of water on a regular basis until the resource is depleted, can we change the name of that body of water to “Hitlers’ slough or “Barrons” lake?
Guess I don’t get where you’re going with that bullcans, but there has been tequila tonight….
Two things I take from it.
It doesn’t take that large of a group to change things if conditions are right. That goes well beyond the realm of fishing, lake names ,etc. Be a part of it.
And two, it’s a spit in the face of Natives. I haven’t spoke with any of the family yet about so I won’t put words in anyone’s mouth. I will admit if I was wrong when I do. But there was a tiny mention awhile back from a tiny group of black people who were butthurt on the whole southern racist slavery thing with Calhoun, and you get a few hippie white people involved kabam, here’s a new name year later. Forget the whole natives caring, forget their troubles, forget the tragedies brought upon their peoples and justify changing a name back to what it was for them, no, it had to be bc blacks felt hurt on it. Don’t get me wrong this ain’t no red on brown or whatever color, it’s just what some may perceive it to be.
I’m absolutely all for change, good change, with good intentions, this was a superficial change that makes no sense at all when it boils down. Way better things that could’ve been done as posters already mentioned with the time and money spent on this.
Need to go find another beer…..
Guess I don’t get where you’re going with that bullcans, but there has been tequila tonight….
Need to go find another beer…..
Blame it on the worm…
Or Another beer? 
tequila-worm-social.jpg
Urban Dictionary says ‘BDE MAKA SKA’ = ‘Lake Snowflake’.
Yet, we still have Great Slave Lake in Canada.
And here I thought people this far north wouldn’t mind trying to remove memorials to white supremacists.
You guys get this worked up over a lake’s name changing? I’m starting to think anything that ‘gives’ something to native americans and not white people is the root of the problem for you guys.
Maybe someday someone will invent a time machine and you guys can all travel back to the glory days together?
IE: If i was German (let’s say) which I’m not, and invite all my German friends to fish a certain body of water on a regular basis until the resource is depleted, can we change the name of that body of water to “Hitlers’ slough or “Barrons” lake?
Huh?
Huh
Apparently my comment went over your head…
Think about it,its not that difficult to comprehend
Huh
Apparently my comment went over your head…
Think about it,its not that difficult to comprehend
Oh I think he comprehends it. He’s feeding you a little more rope to see just how intent you are on hanging yourself with that ridiculous argument.
Cmon fellas, it’s Friday. Crack one open.
I’m about to go enjoy a couple greenies!! 
Cmon fellas, it’s Friday. Crack one open.
I’m about to go enjoy a couple greenies!!
Hey man, stupid arguments never seem to take a day off around here, so why should wise-a$$ responses? 
Greenies!
Now you have my attention. Did you steel a bunch of magic powder packages from T. Jarros?
C heers
Greenies!
Now you have my attention. Did you steel a bunch of magic powder packages from T. Jarros?
No, but I think they sell that cheap a$$ white eagle vodka and those packets across the street, now I have a mission…. 
A city or state should be named after Calhoun because if it was not for guys like him we wouldn’t have the NFL,NBA or (C)rap music.
Maybe someday someone will invent a time machine and you guys can all travel back to the glory days together?
A time machine would be awesome because then we could go back 100 years and try to avoid the tri-hull boat design.
Would all you guys be bitching if the lake was originally called Hilter, Goebbels or Himler Lake? I doubt it very much. Slavery was a god awful thing, why memorialize a proponent of it. On top of that, I hope you all realize that a bunch of yuppie white people from Minneapolis were the ones pushing for the change, not the native Americans. Why would they care about slavery…just think about it. Had the lake been called Custer lake, your assertion that this is all native’s doing, might make sense.
Would all you guys be bitching if the lake was originally called Hilter, Goebbels or Himler Lake? I doubt it very much. Slavery was a god awful thing, why memorialize a proponent of it. On top of that, I hope you all realize that a bunch of yuppie white people from Minneapolis were the ones pushing for the change, not the native Americans. Why would they care about slavery…just think about it. Had the lake been called Custer lake, your assertion that this is all native’s doing, might make sense.
Would all you guys be bitching if the lake was originally called Hilter, Goebbels or Himler Lake?
But they weren’t, so let’s not look at the “what ifs”.
Slavery was awful, but if you recall our nation in a large part was built on it and eventually went to war over it, so there were plenty of people who believed in it…(insert here states right argument).
If you want to stick your head in the sand of our past go for it, but I’d rather fish on a lake I can give my kids a history lesson.
nhamm,
I think you are confusing remembering history and memorializing history. Two totally different things.
p.s. – you can still teach your kids a lesson while fishing the lake…explain the history and why the named changed.
I heard they’re bitin over on Mussolini today.
I heard they’re bitin over on Mussolini today.
Eyevision you’re confusing murderous people with people who were just part of the crowd during their time. Slaves were a part of Calhoun’s time.
Look up how many of our forefathers had slaves or servants, should we start clearing their names from our landscape? Our Capital in DC would look like post WW2 Europe.
Yeah, it is a slippery slope no doubt.
I will say this though. Just because slavery was a thing during Calhoun’s time, it doesn’t make it right. It is one thing to be alive and living in a country/state during an era of slavery, ethnic cleansing, etc. It is another to support it like Calhoun did.
And lets be real, Minnesota and slavery don’t go hand in hand, we aren’t living it dixie, we did fight against it in the civil war after all.
Would you rather tell your kid: This lake we’re fishing in used to be named after a man who was a supporter of owning other people, making said people perform manual labor with no chance of freedom till their deaths, and beating them if they didn’t work hard enough. All because they were born with darker skin. However, the name was changed because he is not worthy of the honor of having the lake named after him.
OR
This is Lake Calhoun, named after a man who supported enslaving black men, women and children. Who would work their entire lives for no pay, no freedom and if they didn’t work hard enough they would be beaten with whips and tortured. Now let’s catch some crappies!
Just playing devil’s advocate.
Agree to disagree
Sounds good. Nice chatting with you btw.
Why is a name given a few hundred years ago “memorializing” or “honoring”? The people at the time gave the name, they are all long gone. How many people look at a name and research what the origin is in stead of just using it for a reference and getting on with their lives. People who raise these protests bring much more attention to people who were dead long ago than anyone else.
If it were a statue and plaque in a park, that is one thing. But the name of something? Come on. Once we go down that path it will never end. I am sure some natives who were assholes too! None of us our pure. Our former president has photos taken with Louis Farrakhan, should we take his name of schools around here?
If it were a statue and plaque in a park, that is one thing. But the name of something? Come on. Once we go down that path it will never end. I am sure some natives who were assholes too! None of us our pure. Our former president has photos taken with Louis Farrakhan, should we take his name of schools around here?
For arguments sake, how would you feel if you were a black kid going to Robert E. Lee High School? Wouldn’t you feel a little bit offended…or not at all because it’s just a name?
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>DaveB wrote:</div>
If it were a statue and plaque in a park, that is one thing. But the name of something? Come on. Once we go down that path it will never end. I am sure some natives who were assholes too! None of us our pure. Our former president has photos taken with Louis Farrakhan, should we take his name of schools around here?For arguments sake, how would you feel if you were a black kid going to Robert E. Lee High School? Wouldn’t you feel a little bit offended…or not at all because it’s just a name?
Oh boy, this is quite the slippery slope.
Racial slurs criss-cross the United States, appearing in placenames in every single state in America, a Vocativ data analysis of millions of records has found. From Dead Negro Hollow, Tennessee, to Wetback Tank, New Mexico, to Dead Injun Creek, at least 1,441 federally recognized places across the nation include slurs in their official name.
Those placenames are gradually disappearing, but hundreds remain, mostly tied to geographical features in rural areas. The largest clusters are in the West and the South. California has at least 159 place names that are offensive to Native Americans, African Americans, Chinese people and Italians.
Heck, we have Coon Rapids.
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