Officials have renamed of a number of Maine islands that previously incorporated racial slurs in their titles, in violation of state law.
Three islands were renamed after the state’s Coastal Island registry was removed from the state website for review and correction. Amanda Beal, commissioner of the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, ordered the removal. Two other island owners had already requested a name change.
A spokesperson for the department says the failure to rename the islands in official records was likely a “chronic administrative oversight,” according to the Press Herald.
Commissioner Beal told the paper the department will work swiftly in the future to ensure any other offensive and racist place names are a changed.