NASA will ditch the unofficial names of some space objects due to their offensive “cultural or historical connotations,” the agency said on August 5.
Thus, the planetary “Eskimo Nebula”, named so in 1787 because of its resemblance to the head of a man in a fur hood, will be called the official designation of the International Astronomical Union – NGC 2392.
This, according to the administration, is due to the fact that the word “Eskimo” has a racist history and was imposed on the indigenous peoples of the Arctic by colonialists.
In addition, the pair of spiral galaxies NGC 4567 and NGC 4568 will no longer be called the “Siamese twin galaxy,” the statement said.
“Our goal is to ensure that all titles are consistent with our values of diversity and inclusiveness, and we will actively work with the scientific community to achieve this. Science is for everyone, and every aspect of our work must reflect this value, ”the text says.
On July 3, it became known that the social network Twitter removed the words “slave”, “master”, “black list”, “white list” and a number of other words from the program codes due to possible associations with racist terminology.
And in Brussels and Berlin, the authorities intend to rename the streets and metro station named after the colonialists.
Clearing any hint of racial bias from television shows, feature films, social media and media publications has become a major topic in the cultural industry amid protests in the United States over the death of black George Floyd following a brutal arrest by police in Minneapolis on May 25.
After Floyd’s death and the outbreak of the Black Lives Matter protest movement, many brands have stated that they intend to change the images associated with ethnic stereotypes on their product packaging. Mars has announced that it is changing the Uncle Ben’s logo. Quaker Oats (owned by PepsiCo) will remove Aunt Jemima’s image from syrup packs. B&G Foods has also announced a change to the logo for Cream Of Wheat, which features a black chef on its packaging.