Denali Denali Denali
Come on, it’s a better name.
In a flurry of first-day-in-office activity, Donald Trump has signed an order to rename the 617,800 sq mile Gulf of Mexico and Alaska’s 20,000ft mountain Denali.
The Gulf of Mexico will be renamed the Gulf of America, and Denali, the highest peak in North America, will revert to Mount McKinley – the name it was called before Barack Obama changed it in 2015.
The renaming of the two natural features is to honor “American greatness”, according to a preview of the orders obtained by the New York Post.
Pffff – what’s so great about McKinley?
And anyway Denali is American. Alaska is an American state, thus Alaskans are Americans, thus their name for the mountain is an American name. Plus it means “great one” so there’s your American greatness right there.
Make America Denali Again. But that said, it has something of a Trumpian ring to it; so I dunno
Let the oligarchic whitewashing commence. Can’t have Mexico or the Athabaskan people featuring prominently in Trump’s global goal of Aryan-Patrician domination.
Sure, he knows what men and women are. So do most children. Yay for that, but there are more sinister undertones to his agenda.
I find it, and him, decidedly UnAmerican.
Yeah, but that not-the-dead-White-guy name emphasizes the fact that there were people there (and here*) before Europeans showed up. We don’t want to be reminded of that; we stole this continent fair and square. It’s ours now. Those old names don’t count.
Let’s hope nobody tells him about all the other not-the-dead-White-guy names that are still in use. He might start renaming them all.
Oh, and good luck with renaming the Gulf of Mexico.
*Where I live, London, (Ontario, Canada), got its name from the fact that a British White guy wandering through the region, who thought the forks of the river (which he imaginatively renamed the Thames) might make a good site for the regional capital. Thus “London”. The “capital” idea didn’t pan out, but the name of the river stuck. The First Nations peoples living in the area called the river some variation of “Forked River” or “Antler River”, each in their own language; Deshkan Ziibi in Ojibwe / Anishnaabemowin; Askunessippi in the language of the Neutrals. (Ojibwe also gave us Misi-ziibi, or Mississippi. )
I’ve lived in Alaska for 15 years. Hearing someone say “Mt McKinley” has been a sign that they’re a tourist for that entire time, and I’m positive it will remain that way.