Seattle Audubon Society chapter dropping “Audubon” from its name

The Seattle chapter of the Audubon Society introduced that it’s dropping “Audubon” from its identify due to its affiliation with white supremacy.

There are lots of of state and native chapters of the Nationwide Audubon Society, the nonprofit devoted to defending birds and their habitats, however Seattle Audubon is likely one of the largest within the nation.

Earlier this month, the board voted to vary the chapter’s identify as a result of the person the group is known as after – illustrator,, painter and chicken lover John James Audubon, writer of the seminal work “The Birds of America” – owned enslaved individuals and opposed abolition.

J. Drew Lanham, a former board member of the Nationwide Audubon Society and a wildlife ecology professor at Clemson College, referred to as the transfer brave.

Lanham, who has written about Audubon and left the nationwide chapter over considerations the nonprofit was not doing sufficient about racial fairness, says organizations have to grapple with what to do about monuments that symbolize the worst of humanity. Names are a part of that, Lanham mentioned.

Audubon was a “genius artist in some ways however a despicable human being,” Lanham mentioned.

“To excuse inhumane acts as simply being within the context of their time is, I believe, a lazy excuse,” Lanham continued. “These are the reasons the privileged are inclined to lean on after they don’t need to make modifications.”

Lanham added that it’s notably essential for conservation efforts to attempt towards range and inclusion as a result of environmental situations typically impression Black, Indigenous and different individuals of colour probably the most.

Chevon Powell, who 5 years in the past began King County’s Refuge Out of doors Pageant, which is particularly geared towards various communities, referred to as the choice to vary the chapter’s identify lengthy overdue.

Powell says those that take up birding will slowly study concerning the historical past after which would possibly assume to themselves “oh, truly, this house isn’t for me.”

Powell says with out vital modifications – such because the stripping of names of white supremacists – “ultimately, some people will probably be like ‘I’m going to step away from this.”

Final 12 months, the Audubon Naturalist Society, a Washington, D.C.-based environmental group, introduced it, too, can be eradicating “Audubon” from its identify, however it isn’t affiliated with the Nationwide Audubon Society. Seattle Audubon is the primary giant chapter of the Nationwide Audubon Society to sign its intention to vary its identify.

Claire Catania, government director of Seattle Audubon, mentioned discussions a couple of potential identify change on the group coincided with bigger questions concerning the function of racism in the USA that arose in 2020 as protests over police brutality erupted throughout the nation.

Quickly after, dozens of American birding consultants launched “Hen Names for Birds,” a marketing campaign to vary the names of birds named after white males who perpetuated colonialism and racism. For instance, the group has pointed to the necessity to change the identify Bachman’s Sparrow, a chicken named after the Reverend John Bachman, a former slave proprietor.

Catania says the biographies of Audubon and others whom birds are named after have taken their majority white membership without warning.

Nonetheless, she says she hopes different chapters will research the problem and make related modifications.

“It is our hope that by making this public declaration now we are able to blaze a path that hopefully will probably be simpler for others to comply with,” Catania mentioned.

In the long run, Seattle Audubon says its most important purpose is for extra individuals to really feel welcome in areas devoted to conservation.

Seattle Audubon plans to carry a listening session on Tuesday, and select a brand new identify by the tip of the 12 months.