Effort to change name over slavery stalls
Published: June 30, 2009
PROVIDENCE—An effort to change Rhode Island’s formal name over slavery appears to have stalled for the moment in the State House.
Senate lawmakers were not planning to vote Tuesday afternoon on whether to permit a constitutional referendum next year allowing residents to decide whether to shorten the state’s formal name, the “State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.“
African-American lawmakers have argued the word “plantations” conjures up painful images of slavery.
House and Senate lawmakers have separately adopted identical bills permitting the referendum. One of those bills must be adopted by both chambers to authorize a statewide referendum.
Although lawmakers have finished the bulk of their annual work, they plan to meet later this summer. Exact dates have not been set.
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Reader Reactions
Nah…not all crops….They gave the OK for the pot crop.
Let’s not forget, a plantation does not mean “slave dwelling”. It actually means an area where crops are grown. Do these law-makers have something against growing crops???
I would like to know what the COST of this vote is…How about doing a article on that…COST to the tax payers…
African-American lawmakers have argued the word “plantations” conjures up painful images of slavery.
How many of these idiots were slaves?
How many of them remember what it was like to be a slave?
How many of them deserve their jobs?
NONE OF THEM
Do we actually PAY politicians to address this issue? Who determines that “plantation” is a racist issue? If you can point him out, I’ll bet you’ll recognize him as being listed in the dictionary under “lame brain”. Ridiculous! We have so much more to be concerned about!
i agree—dropping “providence plantations” from the name of the state will accomplish absolutely zero in terms of bettering so much as one person’s life.
furthermore it would essentially be stating that only residents of newport portsmouth and middletown are citizens of the state, as “rhode island” properly refers only to the island commonly (but not officially) known as aquidneck.
meanwhile the senate has the chance to pass an open records bill which WILL better the lives of thousands of rhode islanders who are currently barred by law from knowing their own identities.
There are far more important issues to be considered than the fate of a name. Lets worry about the financial well being of the state first—and whether or not to pander to special interest groups later.
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