Rhode Island Becomes First State to Change Its Name

The tiny state of Rhode Island announced that because some people are too stupid and too dense to understand that some words have several meanings, they will move to change the official name of their state.

The “official” name of the state is “The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.” But to those choosing to be ignorant — or those who really are — “plantations” means “a usually large farm or estate, especially in a tropical or semitropical country, on which cotton, tobacco, coffee, sugar cane, or the like is cultivated, usually by resident laborers.”

But in the context as it was originally intended, “plantations” referred to a new colony. But what does context matter when there are dragons to slay? It has been decided that we should choose to remove context and substitute personal interpretation of meaning.

RI.gov:

Rhode Island General Treasurer Seth Magaziner today made the following announcement about his office’s use of the state’s name:

“Today, I am announcing that the Office of the General Treasurer will remove the words “and Providence Plantations” from the state’s checks. We will also remove those words from our letterhead, citations, and other Office correspondence.

The Rhode Island treasurer says he talked to African American leaders who complain the word makes them uncomfortable.

For African-Americans and other People of Color, ‘plantations’ are synonymous with centuries of race-based slavery and violence. In my discussions with African-American leaders in recent weeks, they have explained the chilling feeling they have when seeing the word “plantations” on Rhode Island government letters, citations, and checks.

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