Rhode Island may change its official state name over slavery connotations

[mystery-ak]

 Rhode Island may change its official state name over slavery connotations

By Zachary Folk

June 23, 2020 | 2:25am | Updated

Island, years of acrimony over an official designation with connotations of slavery.

But change is brewing in the union’s smallest state, as Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo signed an executive order Monday taking the “first steps” to change the state’s full name: “The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.”

The “plantations” portion has come under increased scrutiny following widespread protests after the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
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Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo speaks at a news conference announcing her executive order.Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo speaks at a news conference announcing her executive order.AP

The order, Executive Order 20-48, will change the name to just “Rhode Island” in official communications from the governor’s office — including future executive orders, citations and letterhead. It also calls on all state executive agencies to remove “plantations” from their websites.

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https://nypost.com/2020/06/23/rhode-island-may-change-its-name-over-slavery-connotations/

[XenaLee]

The lunatics truly are running the asylums.  But then...

it IS an election year.   

[Cyber Liberty]

This is the first I've heard of the "Full Name" of Rhode Island.  Is the full name of the left-coast state "California, Land of Fruits and Nuts?"  Some States insist they are really Commonwealths, but isn't that a distinction minus a difference?

[PeteS in CA]

AFAIK, RI was never a "slave state" or "slave colony", though when it was legally forbidden I do not know.

That said, in the context of the 17th century, "Plantation" referred to a colony or pioneering settlement, not a large-scale farm dependent on slavery. See, for example the book Of Plimoth Plantation, William Bradford's book about the early history of Plymouth Colony (which at the time was separate from the Massachusetts Bay Colony).

Not that facts matter to modern Proggies.