Activists search elimination of Sir Francis Drake’s identify in Marin
The British explorer Sir Francis Drake landed on a beach in what is now Point Reyes National Seashore in the spring of 1579 and claimed the land for England.
That was 28 years before an English colony was founded in the United States.
But some people in Marin County wish he had never stopped visiting, regardless of its historical significance.
As the Black Lives Matter movement gained momentum after the death of George Floyd, calls for the deletion of monuments and memorials to racist figures have multiplied in the United States
Drake was a slave trader. ABC7 reported that activists want its 10 meter high statue next to the Larkspur Ferry Terminal removed and renamed Sir Francis Drake Boulevard.
Lauren Brown told a reporter that the statue “disgusted” her.
“This is about moving that tale of white supremacy,” she said.
As is to be expected, the sculptor disagrees.
“That was not a sculpture of him, but the event!” Dennis Patton from San Rafael told the broadcaster.
A petition to remove Drake statues in Plymouth and Tavistock, England has garnered 14.00 signatures, the Guardian reported.
Drake was the most famous captain of his day, a pirate hired by Queen Elizabeth to ambush and pillage the Spaniards, and a vice admiral in the fleet that defeated the Spanish Armada, a turning point in English history.
But two decades before the naval battle, he made three trips to Guinea and Sierra Leone, during which 1,200 to 1,400 Africans were enslaved. Historians estimate that another 4,000 likely died in the process.
In addition to the statue and the boulevard, Drake’s name can be found throughout Marin County and the Bay Area, including San Anselmo High School and a famous hotel in Union Square, San Francisco.
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Mike Moffitt is an SFGATE digital reporter. Email: moffitt@sfgate.com. Twitter: @Mike_at_SFGate
