State of Rhode Island to Change it's Name

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PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The country's smallest state has the longest official name: "State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations."

A push to drop "Providence Plantations" from that name advanced farther than ever on Thursday when House lawmakers voted 70-3 to let residents decide whether their home should simply be called the "State of Rhode Island." It's an encouraging sign for those who believe the formal name conjures up images of slavery, while opponents argue it's an unnecessary rewriting of history that ignores Rhode Island's tradition of religious liberty and tolerance.

"It's high time for us to recognize that slavery happened on plantations in Rhode Island and decide that we don't want that chapter of our history to be a proud part of our name," said Rep. Joseph Almeida, an African-American lawmaker who sponsored the bill..

Banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for his unorthodox religious views, minister Roger Williams set out in 1636 and settled at the northern tip of Narragansett Bay, which he called Providence Plantations. Williams founded the first Baptist church in America and became famous for embracing the separation of church and state, a legal principle enshrined in the Bill of Rights a century later.

1 - How many people in this country even know that the full title of Rhode Island is The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations? How many actually use it?

2 - The full title refers to a plantation that was on the very northern tip of Narragansett Bay. SO WHAT? It's part of the history of the state.

3 - This is moronic.

[url;=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_of_Rhode_Island_and_Providence_Plantations] Information on the place known as Providence Plantations [/url]

The colony was very progressive for its time, and passing laws abolishing witchcraft trials, imprisonment for debt, most capital punishment, and on March 18, 1652, chattel slavery of both blacks and whites. Most religious groups were welcomed, with only some restrictions on Catholicism.

It looks to me like this black law maker who wants to be rid of that part of the state name - 'Providence Plantations' - has no freak'n clue that Providence Plantations OUTLAWED SLAVERY in 1652.

This is a slap in the face to educated people and just some strange form of attempt at political correctness.

[edit on 6/26/2009 by FlyersFan]

Awesome...

Cause yea, that's the way to move past slavery, just remove it from memory..

What a moron.

Originally posted by midnightbrigade
Awesome...

Cause yea, that's the way to move past slavery, just remove it from memory..

What a moron.

yeah dude, i don't get it . . . i spoke to some one recently who has been brainwashed by her politically correct college schooling. She genuinely believed that race doesn't and never did exist; thanks to her professor who convinced her that race doesn't exist, hence racism doesn't exist. Or maybe it was the other way around; needless to say, i was flabbergasted.

It seems the new way of dealing with things is to sweep them under the rug.

sad sad sad.

[edit on 6/26/2009 by JPhish]

reply to post by JPhish


Man, I am beginning to hate "higher education" I have a good, caring, decent, and intelligent friend that I can't even talk to anymore after he went to OU. All the left leaning PC crap just completely turns me away.

Years ago, I lived and worked in Hilton Head Island, SC. Hilton Head was developed as a resort destination, seasonal get away for snow birds and a retirement location.

The majority of the private homes and condos are contained within private and secure "plantations". During my time in HHI, the state of SC was under a NAACP boycott (and still is) because the confederate flag was still flown at the capital in Columbia. The plantation concept throughout HHI and the entire region was also under fire for its connection to the past.

The boycott has been in effect since July 1999, when the state NAACP called for it as a protest of to the flags flag atop the State House and inside the House and Senate chambers. The boycott called on groups and individuals to avoid traveling to the state for business or pleasure and discouraged residents from visiting South Carolina beaches or patronizing restaurants and motels.

The compromise that resulted in moving the flag to the Confederate Soldier's Monument did not satisfy the NAACP, which has continued the boycott.

www.targetmarketnews.com...

After all of these years the boycott has been ineffective.

History is history. We learn from our history because it cannot be erased.
Leave Rhode Island's name as is. It is part of their history.

I have watched Georgia's state flag change 3 times because of the same issue. It's ridiculous to change the name of the state. But I guess if the residents vote on it and want to change it then it's their choice I just hope they are changing it for the right reason (presumably because it's really long?) and not just because someone told them to.

I've lived here almost my whole life and it's embarrassing how the schools barely gloss over the whole slavery history here. I read Per capita we had the highest amount of slaves in the country at one time. I was an adult before I even heard of the all black cemetery we have. things like this need not be hidden. Yeah our state had a dark history of slavery, yes it was wrong as we look back, but it was an accepted thing at the time and no laws were broken so it should remain in our history lessons.

In New England we are not really known for our PC so it surprises me a bit to see how far this has gone. The name of our state should be left alone. This is a waste of our tax dollars. As it is we as a state are in a very poor way and need not to find new ways to waste our money.

I may have to write a letter now.

FUNNY

I hate offended people and I love offending them

hate offended people. They come in two flavours - huffy and whiny - and it's hard to know which is worst. The huffy ones are self-important, narcissistic authoritarians in love with the sound of their own booming disapproval, while the whiny, sparrowlike ones are so annoying and sickly and ill-equipped for life on Earth you just want to smack them round the head until they stop crying and grow up. Combined, they're the very worst people on the planet - 20 times worse than child molesters, and I say that not because it's true (it isn't), but because it'll upset them unnecessarily, and these readers deserve to be upset unnecessarily, morning, noon and night, every sodding day, for the rest of their wheedling lives.

Plantation?!?!?! Why what horrible connotations that word has!

Into the memory hole with it. It doesn’t fit the plan.

Originally posted by resistor
Plantation?!?!?! Why what horrible connotations that word has!
Into the memory hole with it. It doesn’t fit the plan.

I"m not sure I'm following you. Are you being sarcastic or serious?

'Plantation' is just another name for a large farm.
In this case, the plantation referenced had outlawed slavery in 1652.

Originally posted by FlyersFan
FUNNY

I hate offended people and I love offending them

hate offended people. They come in two flavours - huffy and whiny - and it's hard to know which is worst. The huffy ones are self-important, narcissistic authoritarians in love with the sound of their own booming disapproval, while the whiny, sparrowlike ones are so annoying and sickly and ill-equipped for life on Earth you just want to smack them round the head until they stop crying and grow up. Combined, they're the very worst people on the planet - 20 times worse than child molesters, and I say that not because it's true (it isn't), but because it'll upset them unnecessarily, and these readers deserve to be upset unnecessarily, morning, noon and night, every sodding day, for the rest of their wheedling lives.

Uhhh... so which one are you?

Huffy or whiny?

OH THE IRONY!!!

Originally posted by FlyersFan

Originally posted by resistor
Plantation?!?!?! Why what horrible connotations that word has!
Into the memory hole with it. It doesn’t fit the plan.

I"m not sure I'm following you. Are you being sarcastic or serious?

'Plantation' is just another name for a large farm.
In this case, the plantation referenced had outlawed slavery in 1652.

Both. The average dumbed down tube-gazer only knows that plantation = slavery. Therefore, it's time to get politically correct. After all, we can't expect to masses to have any depth of understanding in these matters, and we certainly don't want RI to be associated with slavery.

I had no idea that it was the full name of Rhode Island.
As I'm sure many didn't know.

Which makes me think if this isn't the first step in getting America used to the ultimate step of National change of name as some time in the future.
The slow boiling of the frog in the pan so he doesn't notice his ultimate doom, kind of thing.....