The historic names of Anchorage’s streets, parks, lakes and buildings will soon be under renewed scrutiny after the Anchorage Assembly approved a new commission to name and/or rename the city’s landmarks.
Under the new process, which was approved on Sept. 12, the nine-member naming commission must include a “diversity, equity and inclusion” activist. The other members must consist of someone who has a background in history, anthropology or archaeology, a Native culture advisor, a member of Eklutna Village, someone with historic preservation experience, and four at-large residents.
While the goal of the commission is to choose names that reflect “community values,” the Assembly clearly intends for the groups to deemphasize place names that are based on prominent individuals and focus more on indigenous names.
Critics of this movement argue that it would be better to update plaques and erect new monuments rather than seek to erase the awareness of key historic moments and figures from the public square.
Nationally, the push to rename prominent streets and landmarks across the nation picked up steam with the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020. Around the country, angry mobs pulled down or defaced statues of Abraham Lincoln, Christopher Columbus, past presidents and the Founding Fathers. The unifying theme is that all these men represented European and American history, which many on the left despise as racist, misogynistic, colonial and white.
What began with the toppling of historic statues and monuments, has now morphed into myriad official renaming committees aimed at rectifying historical injustices.
This movement is often tied to controversial critical race theory ideology, which holds that modern American society is fundamentally marred by systemic racism, imperialism and colonialism. Over the past few years, numerous sports teams, mascots, and other symbols have been changed or entirely removed.
Critics of this movement argue that it would be better to update plaques and erect new monuments rather than seek to erase the awareness of key historic moments and figures from the public square because they somehow failed to adhere to modern notions of diversity, equity and inclusion.
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In Alaska, there have been calls to take down statues in Juneau and Anchorage which celebrate William Seward, Captain James Cook – both of whom left a monumental mark on Alaska. In 2020, the Sitka Assembly voted to remove a statue of Alexander Baranov from the front of the city’s Harrigan Centennial Hall.
Those interested in helping to shape Anchorage’s new naming commission can apply to serve on the board by emailing wwmasls@anchorageak.gov to learn more.
13 Comments
Here we go! Rewriting Alaska’s history out in the open!
Wow, I never thought it would hit, here we are! Utterly stupid!
sad to think Anchorage has become so heavy with fools that they are succumbing to the woke BS.
Go back to the Lower 48, or wherever you came from, if you don’t like it.
This is called “nativism”, and if appropriately applied, would mean the Assembly stepping down and appointing natives to their seats of power……….an act you won’t see, since they’re just using it to destroy, not build.
To qualify for the committee you probably have to have the death shot, have had one of your private parts mutilated, and believe Dunleavy’s been a great governor!
They want to erase all history good or bad and write this new woke-history bull cra@.
Evil vil books in our library’s. You have to be LGBT-whatever you want to be. Your born a boy now your a girl how stupid is that.
It’s so ridiculous our children are not going to know. Where we came from or how America was founded and built.
This began with the Obama and their stinking “fundamental change” agenda. It is a very small component of a whole that fulfills a biblical prophecy about the Antichrist, who will seek to change times and seasons (laws) as per Daniel 7:25. Resist their constant reordering of tradition. Communists hate the past (except when it benefits them) because communism has a bloody history of failure. And make no mistake, these leftist are just an iteration of communist.
NO!! I’m so against this! Do not erase Alaska history. Add new but do not take away the old!!
When you want to destroy a nation, state, or community, you first destroy the history. Then you alter the present. Meanwhile you also destroy the family. This is happening all over the lower 48 as well as in Alaska. Alaskans just seem to be more aware of it.
This is the beginning of their communist revolution, which will end in massive civil war, millions tortured and murdered, and millions in government internment camps.
Communist tactics. Why do they have to rename it? They can just add names. It’s all a part of having people forget their history like Shelia said. This movie is worth watching about the takeover that is trying to be done to our country and it’s origins.
https://rumble.com/v2s0gp8-plandemic-3-the-great-awakening-full-unedited-movie.html
Here’s one of my favorite Paul Kingsnorth quotes:
The swirling chaos around me only started to make sense when I understood that it has not come about because new things are loved, but because old things are despised. … It explains why people would topple statues of long-dead slave traders whilst filming the whole thing on smartphones made by actual, living slaves. It explains taking the knee and decolonising the curriculum and cisheteronormativity and stale pale males and diversity training. All of this is not so much a desire for actual meaningful change as a giant rolling statement by those who control the levers of power in the post-Western West, a statement that says: We are the opposite of what we once were. We reject our ancestors and our history. We are now something entirely new — even if, as of this moment, we have no idea what.