Adriana Hinojosa 8th Pd. - Mt. McKinley has finally been renamed Mt. Denali, thanks Obama.

Here in the United States we are very proud of our highest peak, Mount McKinley. With an elevation of 20,322' it is among the highest in the world, only 9,000' lower than that of Everest's elevation. Although this mountain has been officially called Mt. McKinley since 1917, honoring ex-president William McKinley, most Alaskans have been calling it by its original name "Denali" all along. The word "Denali" is an Athabascan word, the language of Alaska's indigenous people, meaning "the high one." 

Why is this such a big deal?

Well, when the mountain went under the name change the first time, from Denali to McKinley, it was a sign of disrespect toward the Native Americans, as if they needed to be shown more hostility. In 2008 when President Barack Obama was running for his current position he advocated better relations with Native Americans. Many say it was a cowardly move on his part to wait until the end of his presidency to do this name change but in my opinion it was the smart thing to do because he is indeed receiving a lot of criticism and hate for the decision he made, especially from Ohioans. The Ohioans are saying that it is a major sign of disrespect toward ex-POTUS William McKinley but in reality it was an even bigger sign of disrespect in completely disregarding the name that had been placed there by these Native Americans. In a statement the White House released the following was said, "the sacred statues of Denali to generations of Alaska natives," which is reinforcing that the mountain ultimately belongs to these Alaskans just as much as the Statue of Liberty belongs to New York. Regardless of what I or many people who agree with  me think, many Republican government officials are bashing on Obama and his decision saying that he "has decided to ignore an act of congress in unilaterally renaming Mt. McKinley in order to promote his job-killing war on energy." Secretary of Interior, Sally Jewell has come up with a good argument stating that William McKinley really didn't have anything to do with the mountain itself at all nor with the state of Alaska, which he never even visited. I think that if these people who are tearing Obama to shreds really care this much about William McKinley, they don't need a mountain to prove it. If the mountain's original name had been Mt. McKinley I would completely understand their anger but that's not the case. 

The purpose of President Obama's trip to Alaska in the first place was to call attention to the serious matter taking over the state which is that of climate change. Because of that and the name change, Barack Obama will be receiving a lot of love from Alaska natives in these days.

I think that changing the name back was the right thing to do, Native Americans deserve to take pride in the little they have even if that just means naming a mountain. Donald Trump has of course promised to change in back to Mount McKinley if he is made president so here is another reason to not vote for Mr. Trump.

#DumpTrump #Denali 

CNN citing

NBC news citing

Live long and prosper,

Adriana Hinojosa