Reporters Chronicle Racist story behind West’s ‘twilight towns’

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In many small towns, a howling siren has often been heard as a disturbing warning to people of color.

A new series from Mountain West News Bureau reporter Robyn Vincent and KUNR reporter Paul Boger investigates the legacy of so-called twilight towns.

Minden and neighboring Gardnerville, outside of Carson City, were two such towns, where members of the local Washoe tribe had to leave town by the time the siren sounded every night at 6 a.m.

There were probably more than 50 sunset towns in the region, Vincent said. These were towns that forcibly evicted ethnic minorities, or they had signs posted warning them to leave before sunset, or in some cases, they even had ordinances on the books as in Minden.

A new Nevada law prohibits municipalities from sounding sirens that historically have been used to alert tribesmen and other people of color to leave town at a certain time.

Tribe and city officials agreed to move the mermaid at 5 p.m. to Minden, which has an ordinance saying the mermaid is a tribute to first responders.

Boger said the mermaids were yet another affront to the tribe members in addition to the hostility, forced assimilation and loss of traditions and language.

I want to be very careful and not put words in the mouths of the tribesmen, he said, but I think there are a lot of injuries, a lot of traumas associated with the racist policies that have been put in place.

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