At the beginning of January, this is how the front page of the Denali National Park & Preserve website appeared:
Sometime after January 28, 2025, it was changed to this:
I can hear the justification now: It’s just a name; it’s such a small thing; if we give them that, maybe they’ll stop breathing down our necks.
Compromise, when it comes to choosing a restaurant or picking what color to repaint the kitchen, is healthy.
When we are talking about an unconstitutional attempt at a power grab, we should all be reciting the mantra: don’t give a damn inch.
I visited friends in Alaska in 2003, and then, years before any official change had taken place, I was kindly corrected about what the mountain’s name was, information that hadn’t trickled down to me in Connecticut. It wasn’t hard to call the mountain Denali. It didn’t feel like some bruise to a fragile ego. It was logical and respectful to use the original name — one that brings to mind awesomeness, greatness. Now, over twenty years later, the thought of calling it Mt. McKinley feels like defacing a mountain.
I don’t know all of the internal politics of those operating Denali National Park & Preserve, including who is responsible for their website. But, I was surprised to see this change of name take place.
While someone rolled over, not everyone did.
Alaskan lawmakers by-and-large have chosen to defend Denali. The state legislature passed House Joint Resolution 4 yesterday: 19-0 in the Senate and 31-8 in the House. It reads:
Alaska is a red state at the surface, but 14 of its state house reps are Democrats and five are unaffiliated or Independent, and nine of its state senate members are Democrats. This resolution does not need to go to the governor. (Side note: much appreciation for the realest headshots ever, people wearing weather-appropriate clothing; when you live in Utqiagvik where today’s temperature is -19°F and that’s not abnormal, you maintain the right to dress like you respect your ears.)
Before the inauguration, Senator Lisa Murkowski said: “You can’t improve upon the name that Alaska’s Koyukon Athabascans bestowed on North America’s tallest peak, Denali – the Great One.” Murkowski, a Republican, has been in office forever — specifically, since 2002.
Too often I hear an uninformed chorus of “nobody cares, nobody is doing anything,” usually from those who themselves are doing nothing except griping on social media. Fifty state reps and senators voted to preserve diversity and inclusion by standing up for a mountain’s name. Republicans were among those who supported this resolution.
Another thing people like to say: we have never been more divided.
The division is not Democrat versus Republican, as those saying such things would have us believe. It goes deeper than that. Next year is the United States’ Semiquincentennial, the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. The division is between those who celebrate our purposeful and flawed democracy, and those who are doing everything possible to destroy and replace it with an authoritarian oligarchy. We can choose to fight so that there is any America left in July 2026.
Place names are political, whether we are talking about Denali or the Gulf of Mexico.
A few days ago, a visit to the Denali National Park online store showed that Denali shirts and hats were flying off the shelves, at first with only the very smallest and largest sizes remaining. Now, some of those items are sold out.
Denali State Park is half the size of Rhode Island and just east of Denali National Park. They have not reverted to the other name in their information about the park:
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It’s important to acknowledge who is doing the work and where there are wins. The Alt National Park Service is doing the work. Non-profits like 5 Calls help you to do the work.
Don’t be the person who says “that’s sad” or “what a shame” but never actually does anything. Having your heart in the right place means nothing if you are submissive when the shit hits the fan. If you are a people pleaser to the point that you aren’t sure you could decline unethical and/or unconstitutional requests or orders, it is on you to put in the practice before a situation arises. There are resources in abundance that help people to learn how to set boundaries– seek them out. If nothing else, ask a trusted friend to roleplay scenarios with you ranging from declining social plans to not taking down a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion statement from the company website to refusing to buzz ICE agents into your school or synagogue. Not every scenario can be planned for, and that’s not the point anyway. This is about not waiting until you are under pressure to have an idea of how you might respond. Sometimes, declining will be a complete sentence: no. Sometimes, it will look like dragging your feet, playing with your food, feigning incompetence. Sometimes, it will sound like clearly calling a mountain by its correct name: Denali.
Top photo was taken in Denali National Park in August 2003 by moi.
