Birders
Related: About this forumA Bird Named for a Confederate General Sparks Calls for Change
McCowns longspur has launched a renewed reckoning over the troubling histories reflected in some species names.
ACROSS THE UNITED STATES, people are pushing for the removal of Confederate officers names from buildings, schools, and army bases, as protests against racial injustice continue in the wake of George Floyds death at the hands of Minneapolis police in May.
Something much smaller has also elicited debate over its Confederate name: McCowns longspur, a bird that lives in the Great Plains and looks a bit like a sparrow. It was named after John Porter McCown, who was involved in forcible relocations of Native Americans during the 1840s, and who left the United States Army to serve as a Confederate general during the Civil War.
By memorializing someone who fought to defend slavery, the longspurs name, some birders and scientists say, adds further barriers to inclusion in the world of bird researchers and enthusiasts an overwhelmingly White community where people of color have repeatedly reported feeling ignored, excluded, and even deeply unsafe.
https://undark.org/2020/07/17/mccowns-longspur-confederate-name-calls-for-change/
soothsayer
(38,601 posts)Beakybird
(3,333 posts)I bet that bird is going to be really happy when it no longer carries the burden of the Confederacy.
soothsayer
(38,601 posts)dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)or even if they know what the bird is, I don't think anyone would know. I didn't till now.
Now if you want to address racist behavior, take a look at Teddy Roosevelt's racist history, and he was not along in the Presidential line up.
Harker
(14,015 posts)CaptYossarian
(6,448 posts)rzemanfl
(29,557 posts)LunaSea
(2,893 posts)I don't have a problem with the convention of discoverer being granted naming rights.
Am I wrong to separate the discovery from the evil muckwit who happened to find it?
Although I occasionally struggle to separate art from artist when the artist says/does something
offensive or stupid.
Thanks for the conundrum.
I suppose trying to remember that no human being is one thing will help.
And the vast lava plains of dust, rocks and craters on the moon are still called "seas" and "oceans".
Anybody ask the bird?
Harker
(14,015 posts)whether from the Union or Confederate armies or from after the Civil War get their due.
I'm pretty sure there's a long list. This might go on a while.