“My sense grew that the whole thing was rotten. It was an impossible journey for these kids. They were being systematically removed from their culture by this education and Christianization.”
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A social justice group from Chittenden County wants to rename Negro Brook, which runs through Townshend State Park in southern Vermont. But during a recent hearing with the state board in charge of considering name changes to natural areas, not everyone agreed the current name was problematic.
The Rename Negro Brook Alliance has been working for more than a year, doing research, gathering signatures, and getting ready to make their case before the seven-member Vermont Board of Libraries.
At the hearing earlier this month, Alex Hazzard, who identifies as a man of color and is one of the founders of the alliance, said he thought it was an open-and-shut case.