[Tweeters] Eponymous names, change, & race

[dottie at hevanet.com]

Your writing will hopefully be read my many.  Admittedly, it tears at my heart.

Dottie Belknap

SW Portland

 

From: Tweeters <tweeters-bounces at mailman11.u.washington.edu> On Behalf Of Glenn Nelson
Sent: Saturday, November 25, 2023 2:46 PM
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Subject: [Tweeters] Eponymous names, change, & race

 

Hello all,

I have subscribed to and contributed to this list-serve for a few decades, and appreciate (almost) all of the knowledge that has been shared. Even so, as a non-white person, I continue to struggle to feel a part of the world that is represented here. This conversation doesn't help, but it also probably shouldn't matter. The one thing all of us are powerless to stop is change. And the change in this context is the demographics of our region and nation and, reflected in a little bit of that, the growing lack of appetite for eponymous names. I wish more people would spend more time understanding these changes and what they mean and not feel like evolution is the product of being "erased" or "canceled." We all do things differently than those who came before us; most of the time, we don't feel threatened by that difference and adapt.


>From my perspective, naming things and places after humans (well, mostly men (and, well, mostly white men)) is so Western European. In many cultures of color, including mine and particularly the Indigenous people of these lands, things and places are named descriptively. What better way to pass on our knowledge and love for birds and other components of nature than to represent them in a many that is innately understood and cause to scamper to web searches only to discover that someone's name doesn't really contribute to the understanding of creatures, things, and places?


The legion of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color in the birding world is growing exponentially, here and across the country. It's an unstoppable force and shouldn't be feared because we have birds in common, among other things. It would be a shame to lack any crossover between old and new -- to maintain separate circles of bird lovers. The new will inevitably replace the old. Don't we want to influence the future security of the creatures that we love by sharing our knowledge and enthusiasm for them with people who are younger and browner than us?

Yes, things will change (and likely need to) before we're all gone. We will adapt, unless bitterness stops us. For a portion of my life, one of the main busy roads in south Seattle, where I grew up and still live, was called Empire Way. It's been Martin Luther King Jr. Way since all the signs got changed by 1984. I've never felt lost, then or now. It's only a name, after all. Let's hang on to things more useful and meaningful.

Best,
Glenn Nelson,
Seattle

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