Renaming Sawnee Mountain Isn’t About Honor — It’s About Erasure

Let’s be honest about what Georgia lawmakers are doing here.

The proposal to rename Sawnee Mountain in Forsyth County after former President Donald Trump is not about honoring history, community pride, or even civic symbolism. It is about political dominance — about replacing a layered, uncomfortable past with a loud, modern brand.

Sawnee Mountain’s name traces back to Indigenous history, rooted in the region’s Cherokee past. That history is complicated, imperfect, and inseparable from Georgia’s story. Replacing it with the name of a living, polarizing political figure does not add meaning — it strips it away.

Supporters of the change argue that Trump’s influence on conservative politics justifies the honor. But if political relevance alone is the standard, then public landmarks become billboards for whichever faction holds power at the moment. That is not legacy-building. That is conquest.

Even more telling is who wasn’t consulted. Local officials. Community leaders. Families who fought to preserve the mountain itself. This wasn’t grassroots. It was parachuted in — a symbolic flex designed for headlines and primary voters, not residents.

Georgia has real issues demanding legislative attention: infrastructure, education, healthcare, housing. Yet lawmakers are spending political capital on renaming a mountain — not to unify, but to provoke.

This isn’t reverence. It’s replacement.

And when politics begins renaming geography to reflect loyalty rather than history, it’s not just a mountain that gets erased — it’s the idea that public spaces belong to everyone.