Sacramento Woman Starts Push To Rename Sutter Middle School After Statue Comes Down 

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) -- A Sacramento woman wants to change the name of a school named after John Sutter, the historical figure now called into question after reports he owned slaves.

"It always kind of bothered me when my kids went to school here," said Emily Mizokami.

Mizokami is working to change the name of Sutter Middle School.

"This is supposed to be the pride of the city. There is no pride in John Sutter. There is no pride in enslaving hundreds of indigenous people," she said.

She says she was inspired by the recent removal of the John Sutter statue and the impact Black Lives Matter has had to effect change.

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"I saw that statue coming down [and] I just got angry," Mizokami said.

Mizokami has approached the Sacramento City Unified School Board about the name change and says, so far, she has not gotten a response.

"If we are going to change the name of this school, now is the time," Mizokami said.

School families say not so fast.

"You can change the name and knock down the statues, and the next people in power change the name and knock down your statues," Catherine Horiuchi said. "So how do you keep a sense of continuity and who we are in an environment like that?"

Mizokami says we could change the names of many schools based on what history has now revealed, but says this school should take precedent because of its high visibility and the number of students.

She knows it will take money, that's why she is already hard at work.

"It does cost money to change signs and uniforms. That's why I started a GoFundMe page and have already gotten donations."