The U.S. Navy's newest combat ship, the USS Jackson, is facing some scrutiny from activists who don't want to see President Andrew Jackson honored.
The ship, also designated LCS 6, was commissioned last weekend, and, according to The Navy, is named for Jackson, Miss. However, the city itself is named after the former president, which is what has activists fuming, according to FOX Indiana affiliate WSJV-TV.
Jackson, along with being the seventh president of the United States, was also known for his questionable treatment of African-Americans and Native Americans - a fact that has come under nationwide review in the past year. This review has already led to Connecticut's Democratic Party removing both his and Thomas Jefferson's names from its annual fundraising dinner after being pressured by the NAACP.
Just like with the dinner, the NAACP has chimed in about the USS Jackson, with Connecticut NAACP President Scot X. Esdaile saying, "This is totally appalling. [It's] Amazing how we have an African-American president and the U.S. Navy slipped this thing through. I think it should be reconsidered."
Esdaile's sentiments were echoed by secretary of state for the Cherokee Nation, Chuck Hoskin Jr., according to CNN.
"For our government to hold Andrew Jackson up to some reverence today, given our nation's better appreciation of American history today than generations ago, is very troubling," he said. "For the Cherokee people, Andrew Jackson represents the period of Indian removal, a legacy of 'trauma' and the 'brutal act' of evicting people from their lands."
Hoskin went on to suggest that if the government consulted with Cherokees about the name then "we would have perhaps steered the government to name that ship differently."
"We're going to look at this as an opportunity for the federal government to step up in the future," he concluded.
