Is It Time To Rename DC’s Reagan National Airport?
Because I Have Three Really Great Suggestions
Should Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (referred to as Reagan National) be renamed?
I pose this question after pondering the fact that America’s airports tend to honor someone from the local community. DC’s airport should do the same.
But there’s more to this story.
Most (if not all) longtime Black residents in the DC area do not, never have, and never will refer to the city’s airport as Reagan National. We prefer to simply call it National Airport — its name before being christened in honor of the 40th president of the United States.
For all of the accolades that have been bestowed upon Ronald Reagan, I’m among the many people who find it difficult to overlook his harmful language and policies. As a presidential candidate, he became well-known for his “welfare queen” rhetoric intended to demonize single Black mothers.
Not to mention he wanted to “Make America Great Again” way before the orange guy.
And who can forget how he championed the ‘War on Drugs.’ Along with Republican strategist Lee Atwater, Reagan upped the ante on criminalizing drug use, systematically targeting communities of color.
He oversaw a surge in incarcerations for non-violent drug offenses that disproportionately affected Black and Brown youth. These young people were ten times as likely to face prison time than White youth who were arrested for drug possession. A line was drawn between crack cocaine and powder cocaine, with crack use garnering the harshest sentences.
It was also rumored that Reagan didn’t much care for DC or its residents. During his two terms as president, you were hard pressed to find him around town or visiting the local communities, as other presidents have done.
Reagan spent numerous weekends at Camp David (more than any other president in modern history). One count puts his visits to the mountain retreat at over 300 times in the eight years he was in office.
I’m old enough to remember all of this.
So, how was it that the former president had DC’s airport named after him? Well, it’s complicated.
A Republican member of Congress proposed that the airport be named after Reagan in the late 1990s, and Bill Clinton, who was president at the time, signed on, most likely because he wanted to curry favor on the Hill and further his agenda.
Because Washington, DC is the seat of national politics, there are those who feel entitled to direct how things operate around here. Powerful individuals sashay into town daily with personal agendas that, quite frankly, have nothing to do with the average hardworking citizen.
Those who are not from the DMV (the District, and the surrounding Maryland and Virginia suburbs), tend to forget that this is a community filled with generations of families who’ve lived here for decades and will always call the DMV home, even as presidents, members of their administrations, and members of Congress come and go.
Outside of politics, the city has a rich history and an amazing culture filled heroes and heroines. And for many years, Washington, DC was predominately Black. In the 1980s, Black residents made up over 80 percent of the city’s population.
Hence, the city’s alternative name: Chocolate City.
However, these days, DC is not as chocolate-ty as it once was. Gentrification has done its thing and the city presently resembles a chocolate, vanilla, butterscotch swirl.
Swirl City.
Honestly, I’m not mad at that. I love the different cultures and ethnic communities that have blossomed here over the years. It’s pretty awesome and the restaurant scene is fire!
The downside, of course, has been the displacement of so many lifelong residents. That’s another whole story that, unfortunately, conjures up issues with no easy solutions.
But I digress.
There are plenty of people around here who would not be upset if the former president’s name was removed from the airport and it was re-christened. But not by members of Congress.
The honor should go to established residents; those who’ve been in the trenches through the city’s ups and downs. That description probably doesn’t even apply to me, since I haven’t always lived in the city or its suburbs.
However, I do have three suggestions to start the process:
Mary Church Terrell National Airport. An educator, social activist, and founding member of the NAACP, Terrell was a teacher at the M Street High School (now Dunbar High School) in the late 1880s. Her victory in the Supreme Court ( District of Columbia v. John R. Thompson Co., Inc.) resulted in the desegregation of DC’s eating facilities and was the precursor to Brown vs. Board of Education.
And isn’t it time that America had a major airport named after a woman?
General Benjamin O. Davis, Sr. National Airport. General Davis was a DC native and America’s first Black general in the US Army. You may be familiar with his son, General Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., who was commander of the famed Tuskegee Airmen. While both generals made incredible contributions to the country, deference should be given to the elder Davis, who, among many things, served in WWI and commanded the Buffalo Soldiers.
Duke Ellington National Airport. Born and raised in DC, Ellington is by far one of jazz music’s greatest icons. Nurtured in a musical home, Ellington began performing around town as a teen before finding fame in Harlem, New York with his performances at the prestigious Cotton Club. He and his band tore down racial barriers, and his music continues to inspire.
So, there you have it.
And for those of you who are totally against all of this, I’d like to call your attention to the massive government building that sits at 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center.
Does his name need to be on the airport, too?
Kelly’s debut book, THE WEATHER OFFICER, will be available in Summer/Fall 2024.
