MAVERICKY

Google Maps Puts McCain’s Name on Senate Building Named After Racist

Efforts to honor the war hero by replacing a segregationist with him are stalled in the Senate, but not on Google apparently.

The Russell Senate Office Building has already been renamed after the late Senator John McCain, according to Google Maps.

Efforts to honor McCain by ditching the building’s current namesake, the late Georgia senator and white supremacist Richard B. Russell Jr., have already stalled in the Senate. Even though it’s not official, though, Google Maps searches on Wednesday already listed the congressional office building as the “McCain Senate Office Building.”

Searches for the “McCain Senate Office Building” list pictures and the current location of the Russell building. Meanwhile, a Google Maps search for the “Russell Senate Office Building” was answered with a page for the nonexistent “McCain Senate Office Building.”

It’s not clear whether Google itself renamed the building in its system, or whether the results have been skewed by some user trolling. Google didn’t respond to a request for comment.

After McCain’s death on Saturday, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer pushed for the Senate to rename the Russell building after McCain. Russell, a Democrat who died in 1971, was a self-described white supremacist and segregationist who filibustered the passage of civil-rights legislation.

Top Republicans have been reluctant to join Schumer’s push to rename the building, with Majority Leader Mitch McConnell calling instead for a bipartisan commission to decide on how to honor McCain.

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Will SommerPolitics Reporter

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