Ally Action Project Week 27: Removing Microaggressions

Many racist memorials exist in the US, and there are successful removals or renaming every week. Virginia removed their statue of Robert E. Lee from the US Capitol building. It will be replaced by a statue of Barbara Rose Johns, who fought for civil rights instead of fighting for enslavement. The Loudoun County government voted this past month to change the name of John Mosby and Harry Byrd Highways. A list of county government named microaggressions was requested for renaming.

The US has 1400+ geographic features and places with Negro, Squaw, or Asia slurs in their name. Texas did pass a law in 1991 to ban using Negro in naming features, but the law was blocked at the federal level. New Mexico Representative Deb Haaland, the incoming Security of the Interior under President Biden, sponsored a bill in 2020, but it has not passed the House. Congress is ending the 2020 session, but we can start conversations now to promote this bill in 2021.