Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.
A racial reckoning has arrived once again in the birding community. The American Ornithological Society has decided it will begin the process of changing the names of several birds whose monikers memorialize white men. The name changes are significant since it marks a clear shift stating that birds will no longer be named for racists, white supremacists and those who celebrated the genocide of indigenous peoples in North America.
Historic monuments continue to come down. U.S. military bases are rethinking the names that celebrate former white supremacists. And as racist mascots are being changed in high schools across the country, so too are the names of little warblers and scores of birds commonly found all over North America.
For many of us, it’s amazing how birding has crept into our lives these past few years. Many people were first introduced to the world of Black birding when Christian Cooper, a Black man and lifelong birder, was accosted in Central Park by Amy Cooper, a white woman who felt he did not belong in the park, or in his skin, and sought to have him arrested and removed from the park for merely birding while Black. Her fabricated story about him attacking her and her dog went viral and exposed many people, Black and non-Black, to the joys and the dangers of birding.
I became a birder during the lockdown portion of the pandemic. Feeling like a caged bird in the house for weeks on end, nothing made me happier than to watch beautifully colored birds live their lives, flirt, squabble, steal eggs, learn to fly, build nests and just exist in a world that was changing before my eyes. As I began to later join birding groups and various Audubon societies, I learned more about the storied history within the birding community and the ways race and racism permeate…
Read the full article here
