Greyson Sale

RESPECT OUR NAMES. Names are important– they represent who we are. Although Trump’s actions may have been politically motivated attention grabs, they have harmful consequences. (Made with Canva using images from Kamchatka and Christine_Kohler)

On his first day in office, Jan. 20, President Trump issued an executive order to “[restore] names that honor American greatness.”

The order included renaming Denali to Mount McKinley and renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. Three days later, the order went into effect when the Department of the Interior officially changed the names.

Denali is the tallest mountain in North America and its name has been a point of controversy ever since 1975 when the state legislature of Alaska requested that the federal government officially recognize it as Denali instead of Mount McKinley. This is what the mountain had been known as colloquially by Alaskan residents for many years and derives from the Koyukon, a native Alaskan group, name for the mountain, fittingly meaning “the high one” or “the great one.”

However, the federal government did not follow the Alaskan request. Instead, it remained Mount McKinley, named for the 25th president of the United States, an Ohio native. In 2015, though, President Obama announced the renaming of the mountain to Denali, which would continue to be the official name until, unfortunately, now.

There is no valid reason for Denali to be named after President McKinley, a man with zero ties to the state of Alaska. Though Trump justified his decision by arguing that McKinley deserves the recognition, this should not come at the expense of Alaskans who prefer the name Denali.

Alaska’s Republican senators Murkowski and Sullivan voiced their disagreement over Trump’s decision. Frankly, the renaming is an infringement on the ideology of dual sovereignty considering the widespread preference for Denali on the state level. By imposing an unwanted name on a faraway state, Trump is breaking the trust of local citizens.

Moreover, the decision is disrespectful to Native Americans who have called the mountain Denali for hundreds of years. The least the government can do to show respect for native communities, whose land was forcefully taken, is to recognize their nomenclature.

To even more fanfare, Trump also renamed the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. The origins of this decision seem less clear, but the dramatic change is characteristic of Trump’s “America First” foreign policy agenda.

This renaming is especially problematic in the nationalistic philosophy it promotes. Erasing Mexico from maps and federal documents is an attempt at recognizing “American greatness” and, some believe, advancing oil interests in the region. According to the American Petroleum Institute, the Gulf currently accounts for about 15% of total U.S. crude oil production.

The renaming harbors the same racist ideologies of manifest destiny, promoting the idea that America is destined to expand. It clearly fits into Trump’s bigger picture of international relations where the U.S. should continually expand its cultural and geopolitical power without concern for dissent.

It’s important to remember that this renaming is only applicable domestically and has no bearing on non-American citizens. However, these actions discourage international collaboration and only serve to isolate the U.S. from the rest of the world. These waters have been recognized by international organizations as the Gulf of Mexico for hundreds of years, and arbitrarily changing this signals a childish unwillingness to accept Mexican influence in the Western Hemisphere.

Renaming Denali and the Gulf of Mexico can accurately be described as political stunts, designed to strengthen the association between Trump and patriotism. However, this is an exclusive, narrow view of patriotism that ignores the diversity of America and reinforces biases of white American supremacy.

What’s truly disturbing about these actions is the lack of respect for tradition and local communities. Although the actions may have been politically motivated attention grabs, they have harmful consequences. Names are important– they represent who we are. Not only are these decisions breaking trust internationally, but they are also setting an exclusionary tone about what it means to be American.

So fight back. Give the right kind of attention to Trump’s political games by calling them out for what they are— childish moves with real, harmful impacts. And, remember, names matter.

It is the Gulf of Mexico and it is Denali.