Initially, I figured The News was going to say that there are not enough racial minorities in birding, as typically pushed by uber-white liberals who think everyone not their pasty color is a minority and needs help. And calling it raaaaacist because those minorities aren’t interested in birding. Bud, no, they went a different route
Does birding need a racial reckoning?
Last week, the American Ornithological Society said it would change the name of any bird whose name referenced a historical figure: Cooper’s Hawk, for example, or Townsend’s warbler. Birds will no longer be named after people but, instead, after each one’s physical traits or native habitats.
The change is intended to reflect the fact that some of those birds are named for people who owned slaves, supported the Confederacy or partook in anti-Indigenous campaigns. Bird names “deemed offensive and exclusionary” will also be changed.
Audubon’s shearwater, named after John James Audubon, the famed 19th century naturalist who owned slaves, will soon have a new name. So will Scott’s oriole, named after Winfield Scott, responsible for the violent displacement and dispossession of Native American people in the 19th century.
“Exclusionary naming conventions developed in the 1800s, clouded by racism and misogyny, don’t work for us today, and the time has come for us to transform this process and redirect the focus to the birds, where it belongs,” said American Ornithological Society executive director Judith Scarl.
First they came for the statues, then street names, then buildings, then military bases. It’s all just one racial grievance after another. Seriously, how many people even know the names of most birds? When they see a Scott’s oriole, do they know the name, or just say “oriole”? Will they be forcing the Audubon Society, one of the biggest naturalism groups, which often takes the side of stopping drilling and ‘climate change’ adherence, to change it’s name? Actually, they tried earlier in the year, and one group in Maryland did change.
Why is there a debate?
The announcement about bird names comes at a time of a broader racial reckoning across industries and at many prominent institutions, with fierce debates taking place about which historical figures should be cast aside views on slavery and other topics that are widely considered offensive today. Statues have been taken down and buildings renamed, meeting resistance along the way.
Pretty much because some people can only think in terms of raaaaacism, and, their world revolves around racial grievance.
“Racism is so pervasive in every aspect of American society that we can feel its effects even when taking a stroll and observing a Townsend warbler, a tiny bird named for John Kirk Townsend, known for his collection of skulls stolen from indigenous gravesites in the 1800s. He and many others like him believed in the racial inferiority of native peoples. Removing Townsend’s name is a beginning step in making the world of birding more welcoming to birders of color.” — Christina Greer, the Grio
Some people are just so hooked they cannot see anything except in terms of race. Even bird names. It’s not healthy mentally. Are there any birds named for the tribal elders in Africa who captured their countrymen and sold them to the slave traders?