00                      HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 15                                                                     
01 Urging the United States Congress to change the name of Mount McKinley to Denali.                                       
02 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
03       WHEREAS the Athabaskan name "Denali" for Alaska's highest mountain has been in                                  
04 use for thousands of years before the renaming of the mountain to McKinley in 1896, is still                            
05 widely used across the state, and is recognized throughout the world as synonymous with                                 
06 Mount McKinley; and                                                                                                     
07       WHEREAS "Denali" means "The High One" in the Athabaskan language and the                                        
08 name Denali is indicative of its worldwide recognition as the highest mountain on the                                   
09 continent of North America, standing at 20,320 feet; and                                                                
10       WHEREAS, in 1896, when prospector William A. Dickey christened the mountain                                   
11 "Mt. McKinley," William McKinley of Ohio had recently been named the Republican                                         
12 candidate for President of the United States but had not yet assumed the office of President;                           
13 and                                                                                                                     
14       WHEREAS President McKinley never visited the territory of Alaska; and                                           
15       WHEREAS officially recognizing the Athabaskan name of Denali may help to rectify                                
16 past injustices toward Alaska Native peoples; and                                                                       

01       WHEREAS the State of Alaska recognizes the Denali name as it applies to the                                     
02 mountain; and                                                                                                           
03       WHEREAS members of Congress have blocked any attempt by Alaska officials to                                     
04 rename the mountain Denali since 1975, effectively revoking the right of the people of the                              
05 State of Alaska to name their own geographical landmarks;                                                               
06       BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature urges the United States                                        
07 Congress to pass legislation to change the name of Mount McKinley to Denali.                                            
08       COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Barack Obama, President of                             
09 the United States; the Honorable Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Vice-President of the United States and                          
10 President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Ken Salazar, United States Secretary of the                                 
11 Interior; the Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives; the                                 
12 Honorable John Boehner, Minority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives; the                                       
13 Honorable Harry Reid, Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Mitch McConnell,                                
14 Minority Leader of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Jeff Bingaman, Chair of the Energy and                                
15 Natural Resources Committee of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Lisa Murkowski and the                                    
16 Honorable Mark Begich, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative,                                 
17 members of the Alaska delegation in Congress; and all other members of the 111th United                                 
18 States Congress.