Sorry, Forkner School graduates. Your Fresno campus must be renamed for Roger Tatarian

The Fresno Unified School District board will soon get a second chance to make good on a decision it should have reached last spring, and it appears that this time the trustees will do just that.

The board voted last May to name a new campus after a local couple who have been major benefactors of programs in the Roosevelt High area. That couple, Murray and Francine Farber, have been generous with their gifts and ideas over the years, donating more than $100,000 in college scholarships for Fresno Unified students.

However, in choosing the Farbers, the board turned down the idea to name the school after H. Roger Tatarian, a Fresno native and Armenian American who went on to lead the global news service, United Press International.

The Bee Editorial Board chided the trustees after their May 19 decision because of an obvious fact: Not one of the more than 100 campuses in Fresno Unified bears the name of an Armenian American. This is despite the long history of Armenians in Fresno and their many contributions to the city.

At the Oct. 13 meeting, the trustees could take up renaming Forkner Elementary School after Tatarian. There would be righteous irony in such a move. J.C. Forkner, who developed the Fig Garden area in the early 1900s, included restrictions in deeds that forbid homes from being occupied by “Asiatics, Mongolians, Hindus, Negroes, Armenians or any natives or descendants of the Turkish empire ... .”

The practice was a forerunner to red-lining, a discriminatory lending method that created poorer, blighted neighborhoods, such as west Fresno, that remain to this day.

The May vote upset Mark Arax, a Fresno author and journalist who campaigned for the new campus to be named after Tatarian. He has since been pushing for Forkner to be renamed after Tatarian, who after retiring from UPI launched a second career as a journalism teacher at Fresno State.

“You would think this is a no-brainer,” Arax said in an interview with The Bee’s Education Lab. “A school (Forkner) is named after one of the most powerful white supremacists in Fresno history. They (FUSD board members) reacted not just with silence, but with contempt.”

Trustees Veva Islas and Terry Slatic indicated support for Tatarian in the May vote, and colleagues Keshia Thomas and Claudia Cazares have recently said they could support renaming Forkner after Tatarian. Trustee Elizabeth Jonasson Rosas said renaming of Forkner is an opportunity for the board to establish a unified process for changing names. Board President Valerie Davis backs that idea, so presumably any renaming now would pass on a 4-2 vote. (The Fresno High area trustee post is currently vacant.)

Creating a naming process that would involve the public is a good step. But the attention paid to Tatarian already this year has been a more-than-adequate vetting — more than 900 people signed a petition supporting his being honored.

Polk Elementary naming controversy

A second school-naming issue has developed in the Fresno area, this time in the Central Unified School District. There, fifth-grader Malachi Suarez has been pushing to rename his campus, James Polk Elementary, because of the former president’s role in America’s westward expansion at the expense of indigenous people.

Malachi has pointed out to the school board that the majority of Central Unified’s enrollment is minority. According to publicschoolreview.com, 85% of Central’s 15,000 students are ethnic minorities, which is higher than the state average.

Malachi made posters that said “James K. Polk was a racist,” and started a change.org petition to gather support for a name change.

However, the school board voted start a committee with the task of recommending how to change school names and mascots.

Malachi and his parents were disappointed that the board did not accept his proposal straight away. But such is a lesson for him in democracy. Accomplishing important things is a process. Malachi should remain steadfast in his pursuit, and he will likely succeed in his worthwhile effort.

There are good reasons to pick mascots and name schools in the beginning, and there are valid ideas for changing them later on. Such a moment has been reached when it comes to Forkner Elementary. Change it to H. Roger Tatarian Elementary and honor Fresno’s Armenian community at last.

This story was originally published September 21, 2021 at 5:00 AM.