>To the Editor:
The Cumberland Times-News Wed Feb 16, 2011, 08:00 AM EST
— I am writing concerning the name change of a mountain in Garrett County Negro Mountain. I wondered many years ago how long would it take before someone was offended and wanted to change the name. Well, it has finally happened. Someone is offended by the word Negro.
I was born in 1940 and I have heard all the names referring to blacks. Both “N” words, colored people, and now African American.
What I don’t understand is why some expressions offend people and others don’t. For example, the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) if the word Negro bothers you, why doesn’t the name colored people bother you? Why have you not changed that name to the (National Association for the Advancement of African American People?
I have another question. What about the United Negro College Fund. Is that not another racist expression? Why not rename it the United African American College Fund.
Slavery happened a long time ago. It was wrong I admit, but I had nothing to do with what happened before I was born, and personally I am tired of hearing all this.
Let us as a nation move forward and do what will make us the nation we once were.
We owe the American Indian as much of an apology as we owe blacks, but that is another subject.
I am against changing the name (Negro Mountain) but, I would suggest changing the marker to include naming the person with whom the marker was intended.
Can we not come to a simple solution without changing history?
Paul Williams
Cumberland
