Donna’s change of heart evidence of her courage

I’m a captive of “The Crown,” the PBS mini-series on Britain’s royal family. The sheer opulence of their lives is mesmerizing. That, and their unhappiness in spite of it all. The show’s writers indulge us in Schadenfreude; feeling satisfaction at another’s misfortune. 

One segment sticks with me. 

Prince Philip persuades the Queen to allow a BBC film crew to invade the palace for a spell in order to curry public opinion. Elizabeth can’t see the point. “We’re just normal people,” she says as her lady-in-waiting brushes her hair. 

I MENTION this only because we all have blinders on to one thing or another.

Most recently, 17-year-old Allie Utley has helped us see how a waterway in town named Coon Creek is offensive, particularly to African Americans.

Some viewed Utley’s campaign to return the name to its original Small Creek as making a mountain out of a molehill. 

“I’ve lived here 10 years and I’ve never heard a complaint (about Coon Creek) once,” Iola Councilman Ron Ballard said at Council’s Nov. 25 meeting.

Donna Houser also said at the time that she viewed Utley’s request for city leaders to change the name as tampering with history and that she, too, had never heard a disparaging remark about the creek’s name. 

Two things have since changed Donna’s mind.

First, Donna recently attended the 80th birthday bash for Spencer Ambler, a respected African American leader in town. 

“I got the cold shoulder,” she said Thursday. “Hardly anyone would talk to me.”

Now Donna isn’t one to easily slight. “I speak my mind,” she said, and appreciates when others do likewise. 

But to be snubbed by some of her longtime friends was a wakeup call. 

Second, she delved into the history of why the waterway’s name was changed. And just as Allie had said, city fathers adopted the name because a preponderance of African Americans lived along its shores. The derogatory slur is derived from the 1800s when slaves were confined in pens, or barracoons. 

Truly, it couldn’t get much worse.

By Monday night’s meeting, Donna wholeheartedly supported changing the creek’s name. 

PRIVILEGE can insulate us from the truth. 

Most likely, no one had told Donna that the creek’s name offended them because they didn’t feel comfortable coming forth about racism in their hometown. Better to just shoulder the injustice than act like a “snowflake” — the trendy term that denotes being thin-skinned.

Also, if someone has the temerity to question whether you mind a racist slur, well, that’s insulting in itself. It’s like asking someone if they “mind” being denigrated. The answer is obvious.