Duluth City Leaders to Replace “Chief” Job Title so Indians Aren’t Offended

Oh boy, has it ever been a month for overwrought, politically correct pandering. From corporations removing Aunt Jemima and Uncle Ben from the store shelves to HBO affixing “Gone With The Wind” with an all-new, racially-conscious introduction, liberals are falling all over themselves to show black people that they – THEY – are the good white people. Don’t burn down my business, racial protesters! Look how gracefully I can kneel!

Apparently just pandering to black people isn’t enough for some politicians, though. Following what we can only imagine were long nights spent searching high and low for a bright virtue signal they could shine into the starless sky, Duluth city leaders came up with a brilliant idea: No longer will they use the word “chief” in their job titles. In this way, they can avoid being “offensive to indigenous people.”

From the Minneapolis Star-Tribune:

At a news conference Wednesday, Duluth Mayor Emily Larson implored City Council members to vote to approve the change next week “so that we have more inclusive leadership and less language that is rooted in hurt and offensive, intentional marginalization.”

The measure, slated to go before the council Monday night, would change Chief Administrative Officer Noah Schuchman’s title to city administrator and Chief Financial Officer Wayne Parson’s title to finance director.

“I think that there are other titles that we have the opportunity to use to steer away from language that may put people down based off their race or culture,” said Alicia Kozlowski, Duluth’s community relations officer and member of the Grand Portage and Fond du Lac Bands of Lake Superior Chippewa.

Kozlowski said “chief” is used as “a racial epithet, and it turns into a microaggression.” She added that the city is trying to be proactive by addressing the issue before residents ask.

Sigh.

The Online Etymology Dictionary’s entry for Chief (noun):

c. 1300, “head, leader, captain; the principal or most important part of anything;” from Old French chief “leader, ruler, head” of something, “capital city” (10c., Modern French chef), from Vulgar Latin *capum, from Latin caput “head,” also “leader, chief person; summit; capital city” (from PIE root *kaput- “head”).

As you have now learned within the span of ten seconds, the word “chief” did not originate with Native Americans, and there is certainly no evidence that Native Americans actually used the word “chief” to describe their tribal leaders. This was a name imposed on them by New World settlers, and they used that word because that’s what the word already meant. A leader. The head of a clan. To pretend now that it’s some Indian-specific term that we have to avoid–

Oh, what’s the point? This stupidity speaks for itself.