NEW YORK CITY — A petition is calling for New York’s Roosevelt Island to be renamed, claiming that President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s decision to send Japanese-Americans to internment camps during World War II was “racist.”
As first reported by the New York Post the petition, posted on Care2 Petitions, calls for the island’s dedication to the Democratic president to be removed, and the name to be reverted back to its native American name of Minnehanonck.
“Roosevelt Island was originally called Minnehanonck & subsequently named after Franklin Delano Roosevelt who was a racist,” the petition says.
“He signed Executive Order 9066 which put the Japanese into internment camps. To add injury to insult, the name was taken away from the Native American people who were slaughtered by the American settlers.”
“Change the name back & serve justice,” the author adds.
Roosevelt Island, situated between Queens and Manhattan on the East River, was used by Hillary Clinton to launch her bid for the presidency in 2015. Speaking from the island’s “Four Freedoms Park,” Clinton praised Roosevelt’s “enduring vision of America”:
“You know, President Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms are a testament to our nation’s unmatched aspirations and a reminder of our unfinished work at home and abroad. His legacy lifted up a nation and inspired presidents who followed,” she said.
So far, the petition appears to have little support. As of Tuesday, it had only 69 supporters, with one commentator saying: “I just signed this so it could get more attention as to how absurd this leftist movement is.”
Adam Shaw is a Breitbart News politics reporter based in New York. Follow Adam on Twitter: @AdamShawNY
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