Senator: Underwater Landmark Has Racially Offensive Name
HARTFORD, Conn. (CBSNewYork/AP) -- U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal is adding his name to the push to change the racially offensive names that have been attached for more than a century to an underwater rock formation and navigational buoy in the Long Island Sound.
State Sen. Ted Kennedy Jr. reached out earlier this month to request state and federal help to change the name of the features off Branford known as "Negro Heads Rocks'' and "Negro's Head Buoy.''
Blumenthal, a fellow Democrat, asked in a letter Wednesday for the U.S. Geological Survey to change the names. He said the names could encourage prejudice especially because their official designation implies government endorsement.
A spokesman for the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection has said the state will do what it can to help change the name.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has also been vocal about renaming landmarks or buildings with racially offensive undertones. On Monday, de Blasio made a statement saying that Calhoun College at Yale, where his son Dante attends, should be renamed because of Calhoun's historic ties to slavery and white supremacy.
(TM and © Copyright 2015 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2015 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
