FOREVER PLANTATIONS
Nothing has invoked more passion in me, as of late, as the General Assembly's decision to ask Rhode Island voters to decide whether they want to change the states official name from "The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations" to just plain Rhode Island. Don't get me wrong, I applaud the fact that the majority of citizens will have their say on the issue, instead of politicians just passing things in the cover of darkness. I just don't understand why this issue is important. I don't want to sound like I'm insensitive to the feelings of African Americans, I just don't think that changing the official name of the state is going to correct injustices that were inflicted 100 years ago. When the state was given it's name, the term Providence Plantations referred to the areas of the state that were settled, like the Plymouth Plantations. This happened 316 years ago, before slavery in the United States even existed. It has nothing to do with slavery. But Rep. Joe Almeida claims that the "word" plantation referenced an offensive reminder of slavery. So my question is, what's next? Remove the word cotton from the dictionary? No, how about removing the direction south from the compass because it references where slavery endured? Give me a break! Who finds the word offensive? Is it the young kids in the African-American communities who use the "N" word with no regard for the negative connotation the word conjures up? Are the white people in the state, who will no doubt vote against this referendum, racist or prejudice even after they overwhelmingly voted for the first African-American President of the United States? Or maybe the state politicians are just concentrating all their efforts on meaningless legislation instead of trying to dig the state out of the worst financial mess since the great depression. You be the judge!
