Performative altruism and purity pageantry of the woke left. The horse manure
gets richer by the minute. Audubon was a plagiarist and a stringer. A highly
proficient huckster, and no conservationist whatsoever. There are any number of
reasons to disavow him. This high profile breast beating doesn't build one
house on Pine Ridge Reservation, doesn't send one underprivileged person to
college. The beneficiaries of white privilege feel great over this
self-indulgent ,sacrifice free act that costs next to nothing, changes nothing,
aboveall doesn't threaten white privilege. Sent from my Verizon, Samsung Galaxy
smartphone
-------- Original message --------From: Harry Fuller <atowhee@xxxxxxxxx> Date:
2/28/23 4:50 PM (GMT-08:00) To: Harry Fuller <atowhee@xxxxxxxxx>, BOO List
<boo@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Subject: [boo] Audubon societies to re-name themselves From
Portland "Audubon":Over the last few years, coinciding with a time of racial
reckoning, the birding community has been rethinking its relationship with the
John James Audubon name. Many know him as a wildlife artist whose illustrations
helped shape the field of ornithology. Some associate the name with fond
memories of birding trips, summer camps, and environmental advocacy from
organizations like ours. What has been dismissed, ignored, or overlooked until
the last few years by both Portland Audubon and the larger Audubon community is
the fact that John James Audubon enslaved and sold Black people, opposed the
abolition of slavery, and dug up and stole the human remains of Native
Americans from their graves. After a great deal of discussion within our board,
staff, and with other Audubon chapters, Portland Audubon’s board voted in
January to move away from the name Audubon. In order to best achieve our
mission as an organization committed to racial equity and the environment, we
cannot continue to condone bearing a name that celebrates a slaveholder who
embraced white supremacist systems.Portland Audubon isn’t alone in having these
discussions. Already Seattle Audubon, Madison Audubon, Chicago Audubon, and the
Audubon Naturalist Society have decided to drop the name. In addition, National
Audubon Society has spent the last year undergoing a process to examine whether
they will continue with the Audubon name. While National Audubon Society hasn’t
made a final decision, their board is currently discussing whether National
Audubon should embark on a name change. We strongly urge National Audubon
Society’s board to do the right thing and move forward with a collaborative
renaming process. There are more than 450 Audubon chapters across the country,
including Portland Audubon. National Audubon Society should remove the name
Audubon as this would make a strong statement toward the network’s commitment
to racial equity. It would allow the Audubon network to stay intact and help
chapters move forward together with a unified voice. If National Audubon
decides not to remove the Audubon name, Portland Audubon will begin its own
collaborative name change process, which will include input from our members,
partners, sister chapters around the state, and the larger community. No matter
what our name, our mission remains the same: to inspire people to love and
protect birds, wildlife, and the natural environment upon which life depends.
While a name change is never easy, we believe that it’s vital to our work if we
want to make sure that Portland Audubon is a place of belonging for everyone
and every community.-- Harry Fullerauthor of: San Francisco's Natural History:
Sand Dunes to Streetcars:https://ecowise.wordpress.com/2017/04/20/sfnh/author ;
of Great Gray Owls of CA-OR-WA:
https://ecowise.wordpress.com/2015/05/08/the-great-gray-owl-book/author of ;
Freeway Birding: freewaybirding.combirding website: http://www.towhee.netmy ;
birding blog: atowhee.wordpress.com
