Resources for Further Action

To reach the offices of your representatives and senators, call the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121.

"Hello, my name is [your name] and I'm a resident of [city, state]. I am calling to support H.R. 8455, introduced by Representatives Deb Haaland and Al Green, which will expedite the process of renaming geographic features with offensive names. I believe that our public lands are for everyone, and that symbols of racism and oppression must be removed to ensure that our public lands are welcoming to those who have historically experienced discrimination and violence. Will you stand with Rep.s Haaland and Green and communities of color around the United States by supporting H.R. 8455?"

"To the office of [your representative],

My name is [your name] and I am a resident of [city, state]. I am reaching out to urge your support for H.R. 8455, a bill introduced by Representatives Deb Haaland and Al Green to expedite the process of renaming geographic features with offensive names. Public lands and features represent so much that is good about the United States, and yet geographic features in the thousands have racist and offensive names. These public lands must be welcoming to everyone, and this necessitates removing symbols of racism and oppression which inherently makes public lands less welcoming to those who have historically experienced discrimination and violence. I hope that you will stand with Rep.s Haaland and Green, as well as communities of color around the United States, and publicly support H.R. 8455.

Thank you so much for your time,

[your name]"

"Dear [department],

I am writing to let you know about a campaign begun by geoscientists at MIT to support a new bill that will expedite the changing of racist and offensive names on public lands and features. A recent survey found that around 1,500 natural features in the United States have racist names, and unfortunately the process now of changing them is slow and inadequate. Rep.s Deb Haaland and Al Green have introduced a bill, H.R. 8455, that will expedite the process of renaming geographic features with offensive names.

As geoscientists, we are in a unique position to support this bill, since many of us make natural features in the United States our life's work. Maintaining offensive and racist names on natural features not only makes public lands unwelcome for many communities of color, but also acts as an active barrier for geoscientists of color, who may be forced to contend with demeaning names and attitudes just in the course of conducting scientific research.

I encourage all of you to support this campaign, which you can do by going to https://sites.google.com/view/geonamesact/home and signing the open letter. As a community, we are in a position to make a huge difference across the country.

Sincerely,

[your name]

Hashtags for Social Media Sharing

When sharing on social media, feel free to use the following hashtags: #GeoscientistsForHR8455, #GeoAgainstRacistNames. This will allow people to follow the campaign and its support on social media platforms!

Sample Tweet for Sharing

Please feel free to use this sample as a template or create your own. If you choose not to use this sample, we request that you do not use offensive language in your tweet.

Geoscientists, please contribute to this campaign to raise awareness and support for bill H.R. 8455, which will create a formal process to rename natural features that have racist names #GeoscientistsForHR8455 #GeoAgainstRacistNames

Instagram Picture

These photos can be put on Instagram to raise awareness about the campaign. Feel free to use the following caption:

More than 1,000 natural features in the United States have racist and/or offensive names, and these names have persisted for decades due to the bureaucracy of changing them and, in many cases, an insistence on preserving 'history'. The act of enshrining symbols of racism and violence in our public lands makes a very deliberate choice about whose history is preserved and alienates many communities of color, including Indigenous peoples from whom these lands were stolen and geoscientists of color who work on these lands. A new bill has been introduced to expedite the changing of these names, and an open letter campaign has been launched to support this bill. I wholeheartedly support the changing of these names and the making of public lands and the geosciences welcoming to all. #GeoscientistsForHR8455 #GeoAgainstRacistNames

If you come across a racist place name in a PDF that you intend to use for personal purposes and/or intend to pass onto someone else in an informal manner, we suggest you redact all racial slurs or racist language using a program such as Adobe Acrobat.

If you wish to use a published map or figure that contains racist language in a paper, presentation, poster, lecture, website, etc., we suggest you remove the offensive word(s) in a modified version of the map/figure. You can then cite the figure as "modified from [original reference]" and include a statement explaining how and why you redacted the racist term(s).

We also suggest reaching out to your institutional or departmental librarian (if applicable) to discuss further steps.

These small individual actions will help prevent other Earth scientists from encountering harmful, offensive terms in their work.

About the U.S. Board on Geographic Names (BGN)

Process through which you can request a name change