Bill addresses racist landmarks on public lands
Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site, Colorado
Teri Jobe, NPS
Advisory committee to recommend new place names to Department of the Interior.
On Friday, July 16, 2021, Congressman Al Green and Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) introduced the Reconciliation in Place Names Act. Originally introduced last year with then-Congresswoman Deb Haaland (D-N.M.), this bill would address land units and geographic features with racist and bigoted names.
The Reconciliation in Place Names Act would set the stage for reviewing and potentially changing offensive names of mountains, rivers, and other geographic features as well as parks and other public lands.
The following quote is from Paul Spitler, senior legislative policy manager with The Wilderness Society:
"The Reconciliation in Place Names Act would help ensure that our parks and outdoor spaces are welcoming to all by removing names from public lands that are offensive, racist, and inappropriate. The bill—and the spirit of inclusion it carries for our public lands—is vitally important and long overdue. We support this important legislation and commend Congressman Green and Senator Warren for advancing it."
A 2015 survey found 1,441 federally recognized places whose names contained racial or other slurs; the bill would address such places as well as those honoring people who held racist views, committed atrocities against Native Americans or supported or enforced discriminatory policies. If passed, it will create an advisory committee that can recommend new names to the body within the Department of the Interior that’s in charge of decisions about naming geographical features. The committee would include tribal representatives and authorities on civil rights.
Contact: Paul Spitler, Senior Legislative Policy Manager, The Wilderness Society; (202) 360-1912, paul_spitler@tws.org
