Poll of the Day > Apparently Rhode Island isnt just called Rhode Island and is racist

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/rhode-island-name-change-providence-plantations-slavery-connotations/

This isnt something that matters if it goes through because I highly doubt anyone knew its official name was :
"The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations"

In fact, I have been playing the Tropico series over the years, starting with Tropico 3 and currently am on Tropico 5. Great games by the way and I highly recommend it (but not 5 unless you get all the dlc bundled together on sale, which I did). Though the way you start off your economies is by making Tobacco, Sugar, Coffee and various fruit plantations.

So are not plantations still in existence today and serviced by paid workers? I had assumed the slave connotation was a thing of the past.

Modern Plantations:
https://www.alamy.com/plantation-of-coffee-plantation-of-coffee-and-farm-in-south-america-brazil-image333953796.html
http://www.traveltourxp.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Tea-Plantations.jpg
https://resourcefnd.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/CEADB-2008-02-1500x463.jpg

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I knew about this because I've lived there. Live in Massachusetts and it's officially the "Commonwealth of Massachusetts".

I wonder how many other states have more obscure "unknown" titles?

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Theyre just changing the name on government documents and everyone just calls it Rhode Island anyways so I dont really see how this even matters

personally when I hear the word plantation I the first thing that comes to mind is the old southern plantations where they had slaves as workers

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I, hereby, declare Rhode Island cancelled

OhhhJa posted...

I, hereby, declare Rhode Island cancelled

What happens if I drive there later today?

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Far-Queue posted...

What happens if I drive there later today?

You'll be officially declared a Rhode Island sympathizer

Funny enough theres neighborhood in my city called:
Providence Plantation

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Havent you heard? Literally everything is racist these days.

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deoxxys posted...

So are not plantations still in existence today and serviced by paid workers? I had assumed the slave connotation was a thing of the past.

You expect SJWs, a group with an already tenuous grasp on reality, to keep up with changes like that? >_>

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OhhhJa posted...

You'll be officially declared a Rhode Island sympathizer

I gotta go there for work... That pretty much makes me antifa, then. Guess I'm getting deported nice knowing ya'll

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Far-Queue posted...

What happens if I drive there later today?

You'll end up in an episode of Family Guy. Post-revival. Bottom tier.

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Well, at least the article states what I was going to...

This isn't the first time the state has attempted to change its name: When the state tried in 2010, 78% of voters opposed the removal of "Providence Plantations." But Metts said he has renewed hope.

This was attempted before and failed spectacularly.
It's a pretty stupid argument for changing the name. Its full name exists for a reason, historically. As wikipedia states:

Despite its name, most of Rhode Island is located on the mainland of the United States. Its official name is State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, which is derived from the merger of four Colonial settlements. The settlements of Newport and Portsmouth were situated on what is commonly called Aquidneck Island today but was called Rhode Island in Colonial times. Providence Plantation was the name of the colony founded by Roger Williams in the state's capital of Providence.

In other words, the "Plantation" was never named after a slave plantation and trying to remove it from the name shows a total lack of understanding of the state's history just because its name has a word with more than one meaning that triggers you.

Back to the article:

"A decade has passed since the public was asked this question. Attitudes may have changed substantially, even in the past few years and even in the past few weeks," Metts said in a statement. "Whatever the meaning of the term 'plantations' in the context of Rhode Island's history, it carries a horrific connotation when considering the tragic and racist history of our nation."

Dude outright admits he doesn't give a shit about why it's named that or the meaning behind it.
Hopefully this fails spectacularly once again.

deoxxys posted...

So are not plantations still in existence today and serviced by paid workers? I had assumed the slave connotation was a thing of the past.

Technically, the term "plantation" doesn't automatically equate to slavery, even if most plantations in the "New World" were mostly run via slavery (or indentured servitude contracts). The plantation aspect of Rhode Island has almost nothing to do with slavery, because slaves were never really used there. Rhode Island's actually generally led the colonies in general at being the most anti-slavery place, with slaves outlawed there before it was even a state.

There were plantations long before the African slave trade existed. There've been any number of plantations after it ended. "Plantation" doesn't automatically mean "Slavery".

BUT.

Rhode Island was majorly involved in fueling slavery because it was one of the largest corners of the Triangle Trade, helping funnel slave sales to the West Indies in exchange for molasses. They'd basically buy molasses from the Caribbean, turn it into rum, sell the rum, then use the money they made off the rum to buy more slaves in Africa, which they'd sell back to Caribbean colonies (where there WERE slave-run plantations) in exchange for more molasses.

Rhode Islanders were super strongly against having slaves in their own state. They just didn't much seem to care if slaves were somewhere else as long as they could profit from it.
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streamofthesky posted...

This was attempted before and failed spectacularly.

Wait, so they just tried TEN YEARS ago and lost by a number bigger than a super-majority? Seems like they're just trying to waste voters' time.

streamofthesky posted...

Dude outright admits he doesn't give a shit about why it's named that or the meaning behind it.

The SJW movement is hardly founded on sound reason.

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Zeus posted...

Wait, so they just tried TEN YEARS ago and lost by a number bigger than a super-majority? Seems like they're just trying to waste voters' time.

Thaaat'ss politics for ya! [Insert canned laughter and sitcom fanfare]

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Zeus posted...

Wait, so they just tried TEN YEARS ago and lost by a number bigger than a super-majority?

lol, when I saw this topic, I immediately thought, "Didn't 2/3 of the state already vote against that a while back?
Then I read the article and saw it was an even more overwhelming majority than I remembered! :D

The state should be renamed, because as someone who actually lives on an island, I am gatekeeping the world "Island" to strictly be applied to places only reachable from the continent's mainland by sea or air, such as Madagascar or Taiwan.

deoxxys posted...

I highly doubt anyone knew its official name

I learned this a few years ago.
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i feel like this is common enough knowledge that it deserves to be changed (if the people want it) but not important enough for anyone to fight one way or the other

Far-Queue posted...

I knew about this because I've lived there. Live in Massachusetts and it's officially the "Commonwealth of Massachusetts".

I wonder how many other states have more obscure "unknown" titles?

IIRC, the commonwealth of America are Massachusetts, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Virginia

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Far-Queue posted...

I wonder how many other states have more obscure "unknown" titles?

I don't know about states, but for cities there's "El Pueblo de Nuestra Seora la Reina de los ngeles"

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captpackrat posted...

I don't know about states, but for cities there's "El Pueblo de Nuestra Seora la Reina de los ngeles"

I had heard Cuidad rather than Pueblo, but eh... the things I used to hear from my hometown were often inaccurate at best.

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captpackrat posted...

I don't know about states, but for cities there's "El Pueblo de Nuestra Seora la Reina de los ngeles"

whaaaat

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captpackrat posted...

I don't know about states, but for cities there's "El Pueblo de Nuestra Seora la Reina de los ngeles"

Not quite. That was the name of the original settlement, but officially its called City of Los Angeles.

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https://youtu.be/fuLllNyfiHs

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acesxhigh posted...

The state should be renamed, because as someone who actually lives on an island, I am gatekeeping the world "Island" to strictly be applied to places only reachable from the continent's mainland by sea or air, such as Madagascar or Taiwan.

The Rhodesian Republic?

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https://www.dictionary.com/browse/plantation

Note 3A:

A colony or new settlement.

Pretty sure that is what it means in this context.

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Dikitain posted...

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/plantation

Note 3A:

A colony or new settlement.

Pretty sure that is what it means in this context.

Marked for racism

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Knew about the name for years. Picked it up doing bar trivia.

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what's the difference between a plantation and a, y'know, FARM

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Mead posted...

Theyre just changing the name on government documents and everyone just calls it Rhode Island anyways so I dont really see how this even matters

personally when I hear the word plantation I the first thing that comes to mind is the old southern plantations where they had slaves as workers

That says a lot about you then since plantations are just large farms basically. Very common in coffee growing areas.

Lokarin posted...

what's the difference between a plantation and a, y'know, FARM

Plantations are larger.
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Plantains are good.

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Lokarin posted...

what's the difference between a plantation and a, y'know, FARM

https://www.askdifference.com/farm-vs-plantation/


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So vineyards are plantations?

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