Former Nevada 'sundown town' stands by siren amid reckoning
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Source: ABC News
MINDEN, Nev. -- A red siren perched atop a small town’s volunteer fire department sounds every night at 6 p.m., sending a piercing noise echoing through the ranches and towns of northern Nevada’s Carson Valley including Dresslerville — a community governed by the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California. To Serrell Smokey, the tribe's chairman, the sound is a reminder of racism and violence inflicted upon Native Americans — a "living piece of historical trauma” with an enduring legacy. He requested officials in the town of Minden silence the region's last remaining siren last summer.
“It’s not just about the siren,” he said. “The siren is a reminder to a lot of people out here, especially in Dresslerville, of that past,” he said of the tribal community just 5 miles (8 kilometers) south, where stories of brutality have been passed down generations. Minden is one of what experts believe were thousands of American communities where discriminatory “sundown” laws were in effect, either through formal ordinances or unwritten rules enforced with intimidation and injury. The town siren has blared since 1921. Until 1974, it served as a warning to non-white people that they were required to leave town before the sun faded behind the rugged mountaintops of the Carson range.
To members of the Washoe Tribe, the siren is inextricably linked to the ordinance, Smokey said. Elders remember seeing law enforcement jailing Native Americans and residents attacking non-white people. "Those sirens are a reminder of that history, and the fact that they are still used indicates that our present is not so far removed from its past,” said Heather O’Connell, a Louisiana State University sociologist who has studied the correlation between historic sundown ordinances and contemporary inequality.
A nationwide reckoning over racism in the United States erupted last summer following George Floyd's murder and sparked protests in large cities across the country. And in small, mostly white towns like Minden, it revived a 15-year-old debate over the siren and whether it should be silenced. In 2006, county officials turned off the siren hoping to improve relations with the Washoe. But it was sounding again two months later following backlash from locals. As consolation, Minden passed an ordinance describing the siren’s intent as honoring first responders.
Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/Lifestyle/wireStory/nevada-sundown-town-stands-siren-amid-reckoning-79069261
Heard this story on the radio this morning.
The suburban town across the city line from where I live, has as volunteer fire department that has a siren - but that, along with similar sirens, were used as an air raid siren (during WW2 and later) and they usually test it once a month to confirm it is operational. I know other places around the country use similar for tornado warnings.
But they are sounding this one daily and according to the article after it was pointed out the historical reason why a few months ago, they only moved the time from 6 pm (the nationally-adopted "traditional" sundown town time) to 5 pm, but refused to shut it off.
It's interesting to see some of the residents whining about "cancel culture" yet it's odd that towns like that (and the town across from me that has a similar one and also has about the same population), also have churches that rang their bells on the hour that can be heard for miles, and were certainly more benign than a daily siren.
= new reply since forum marked as read
And a place didn't have to be designated a "sundown town". Just about anywhere in the U.S. might be considered that (as we see with this having happened in NV, where traditionallythe more notorious places were in the south and south central).
It was basically a "curfew" that only applied to certain demographics. This is what prompted what is called "The Green Book" ("The Negro Motorist Green Book" - https://www.history.com/news/the-green-book-the-black-travelers-guide-to-jim-crow-america
These were published regularly from the mid-30s to even now (I had seen where someone started publishing them again). It was sortof like a travel guide that included a list of businesses that were "safe" for blacks to patronize - including dining or staying overnight or for a few days while on vacation (restaurants, hotels/motels, etc).
until 'the movie.......'
I guess I'll never understand why it is so hard to stop hurting someone............ 
Human (and animal societies in general) have always instituted some kind of "hierarchy" within their ranks (basically a pyramid), whether by "class" or "caste" (both including an inherited status), where it encourages people to want to be in that "higher" rank (because it affords more privileges). But to get there, it often requires stepping over (and on) others to establish reaching what they believe is a more superior level than they currently reside in.
Thus many of the most hateful were descended from people who were treated badly in their native countries, so this was their convoluted way to "pay it forward" as they jockeyed for a better life, and POC were easy targets to establish superiority over.
(oh, wait, that didn't sound nice - "Thanks, BumRush!!!" ) 
Bill Moyers is still around and his getting that offhand remark while talking to/interviewing Johnson, was a lucky catch that sums it up.
Like in Hawai'i - for a Tsunami Warning -
What was interesting in the above was to hear the difference between the Tsunami Warning vs a Nuke Warning in Hawai'i.
