The Audubon Naturalist Society based out of DC has decided to rebrand itself and drop the name Audubon altogether because of the famed naturalist's slaveholding practice.
Yep, you read that right. The Audubon Naturalist Society is canceling its namesake.
They've decided that the name Audubon is for the birds.
According to an interview with The Guardian, the Society has put a lot of thought into the name change:
"The mission and vision of the organisation have not changed," said Lisa Alexander, executive director of ANS.
"The deliberate and thoughtful decision to change our name is part of our ongoing commitment to creating a larger and more diverse community of people who treasure the natural world and work to preserve it. It has become clear that this will never be fully possible with the current name."
It's important to note that Audubon wasn't exactly an outlier in his time. He was a man that lived in the 1800s and believed things that most everyone in the 1800s believed.
He was not a Confederate general, or anything similar either. He is almost exclusively known for drawing birds. That's it.
But according to the ANS executive director, it will be impossible to become satisfactorily diverse if they don't change the name.
I wonder if they've considered that the reason they're having trouble achieving diversity isn't that minorities see the name Audubon, research it, and decide to not join because they think it's a pro-slavery group.
Maybe people just know bird watching is an activity reserved for bored, retired, old people.
(I'll prepare for the hate, now.)
The incoming board president had this to say about the decision:
"We can and must do better to address equity and racial justice in everything we do," said Diane Wood, incoming board president of ANS. "We are deeply invested in breaking down barriers and acknowledging our part in an exclusionary past."
They want to acknowledge their part in an exclusionary past?
Has the program ever been actually exclusionary?
Of course not. At least not in recent history. They just haven't been woke.
