Go read this story on why it’s time to get rid of racist bird names

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Some 150 birds named after people linked to slavery and white supremacy could potentially get new nicknames as part of an ongoing consideration of racism in the birdwatching world. This includes Jameson’s firefinch, named after a British naturalist who bought a young girl while in Africa “as a joke” and then drew pictures of her being brutally killed. In a new story this week, Washington Post reporter Darryl Fears describes the horrific tale of ornithology that has managed to get cleaned up from many history books.

Indigenous peoples understood animals long before white settlers supposedly “discovered” them.

The fears also describe the names these birds already had, given to them by indigenous people who understood animals long before white settlers were supposed to “discover” the creatures. There is now pressure to revert to some of these names or use new ones in local languages, which continue to be mocked by an elite ornithological cadre who are still largely white. Last year, the American Ornithological Society apologized for “inappropriate comments” its members made nearly 10 years ago about a proposal to rename the Maui parrot to the Hawaiian name Kiwikiu .

I can’t do the Fears reporting here justice; you will have to read it yourself. But I can tell you that while the movement to end systemic racism in environmental science and conservation has gained momentum, it is far from new – and there is still a long way to go. Browse.

The Audubon Society, the leading nonprofit bird conservation organization in the United States, still bears the name of a man who enslaved black people and criticized the emancipation of enslaved people in the Caribbean . In April, Audubon Society CEO David Yarnold resigned after employees shared their experiences with racism and sexism.

“Environmental organizations cannot operate with impunity”

“Environmental organizations cannot operate with impunity… For too long, boards of directors have looked away because executive leaders have ignored or directly perpetuated racism,” said Andrés Jimenez, executive director of the association. nonprofit Green 2.0, in a statement responding to the Leadership Shuffle. Jimenez’s organization has published an annual report that has been tracking diversity in environmental organizations and foundations since 2017. This year’s report found a slight increase in the average number of people of color and women on staff. It was a demonstration of some progress – but it was far from having fully taken into account the legacy of racism and discrimination against blacks, Indigenous people and other people of color within science and society. environmentalism.

Fears’ recent reporting follows black bird watchers and bird watchers making forays into spaces that have often pushed people of color to the fringes. It tells the story of Corina Newsome, one of the early organizers of Black Birders Week which began last year following a now notorious episode of a white woman calling the police on a black bird watcher in Central. Park in New York. (It’s Black Birders Week again this week.)

“Often when you think of black people in nature, a lot of people associate it with a threat – that black people cannot exist in nature without being threatened,” Anna Gifty Opoku-Agyeman, another organizer of the first Black Birders Week , told The Verge last year. “So this idea that black people thrive in nature – they embrace nature, they are incredibly happy and excited to introduce the natural world to the rest of us – is a perspective we desperately need.”

Still, navigating the world of birding while Black is loaded, writes Fears. Newsome, ornithologist and community engagement manager for Georgia Audubon, tells Fears about the stereotypes she faces in the field. And she’s candid about what it’s like to work under the name “Audubon”.

But if a new and more diverse generation of bird watchers succeed in renaming both birds and institutions, many titles could eventually change, including several birds named after John James Audubon. Check out Fears’ full story: it shows just how great a name is.

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