Democracy Has Prevailed.

September 4, 2015

Denali, McKinley, And Obama.

Today, I start with this column from the P-G's Tony Norman:
Last month, Mr. Obama announced that Alaska’s Mount McKinley, the highest mountain peak in North America, would officially revert to the name it had been known by for many centuries prior to 1917 — “Denali.” Mr. Obama wanted to honor the request of indigenous Americans who resented the name imposed on their mountain in honor of the assassinated 25th president of the United States decades before Alaska was a state.

This was simply a “bridge to nowhere” too far for those who pretended to care about — or who had actually even heard of — President William McKinley prior to his demotion from mountain namesake by the tyrannical Obama. Within a day or two of the announcement, a Facebook meme was born about the president’s real motive for the change: “‘Denali’ is the Kenyan word for ‘Black Power.’ Like and share to spread awareness,” the post read.
The fact that that's not a fact hasn't swayed the truly ignorant.   As Tony points out, the meme "has been “liked” and shared on social media tens of thousands of times."

Tony does reference something I want to expand:
Alaskans had already reverted to using the mountain’s original name in official records as far back as 1975.
And Republicans in Congress have been trying to change the name since 1999. Take a look:
SECTION. 1. RENAMING MT. MCKINLEY AS DENALI.

Mount McKinley, located in the State of Alaska at 63 degrees 04 minutes 12 seconds north, by 151 degrees 00 minutes 18 seconds west shall hereafter be named, referred to, and known for all purposes as Denali. All references in law and regulation, and all references on any map, to ``Mt. McKinley'' or ``Mount McKinley'' shall hereafter be treated as references to ``Denali''
This was introduced in the House of Representatives in May, 1999 by Representative Don Young (who's hardly a political friend of the president).

Feel free to use this the next time your Fox News spewing, batshit-crazy conservative cousin tries to say it's yet another "tyrannical power-grab" by President Obama.

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