More places to be renamed

4 Other Mountains Native Americans Would Like to Rename

Beyond Denali, will these famous peaks have their indigenous names restored?

By Brian Clark HowardSome Native Americans have asked that the indigenous names of these peaks also be officially restored:

Devil’s Tower
Harney Peak
Mt. Rainier
Mt. St. HelensBeyond Denali: 5 renamable American landmarks

By Nick KirkpatrickThe White House took an important step toward improving relations with Native Americans, who are used to having their mountains and lakes renamed. Here are five more well-known American landmarks that theoretically could be rechristened.

Mount Rushmore
Block Island
Mount St. Helens
Mount Rainier
Lake Superior6 More Landmarks That Should Have Their Indigenous Names Restored

Admittedly, some of them might be a bit harder to pronounce than "Denali."

By Julian Brave NoiseCat[W]hat if the president used his executive power to restore the indigenous names of other monuments, parks and places?

Here are six places across the country ready to get the Denali treatment.

Devil’s Tower
Yosemite
Grand Canyon
Mount St. Helens
Mount Rainier
Harney PeakAnd some of the history and philosophy behind the name changes:

Denali and America's Long History of Using (or Not Using) Indian Names

In restoring the Athabaskan name to the country’s highest mountain, President Obama is among those who have wrestled with the issue

By Doug HermanThe romantic Indian of yore may never go away from American culture. But in the 21st century, the American search for identity has a postmodern instability that includes an increasing recognition that Indians are alive and well and often want their land back. Scholarship on Indians that does not involve Indians is now problematic. The use of Indians as sports mascots is being replaced. Most importantly, Indians themselves are going through old records and using GIS to remap lost place names. A new conversation on Indian place names is taking place, one that may see another resurgence of native toponymy.Comment:  For more on the subject, see Time to Rename Mt. Rainier? and Conservative Freakout Over Denali = Racism.

Time to rename Mt. Rainier?

After McKinley, it’s time to consider renaming RainierThe name game is serious business. One that merits serious consideration is Mount Rainier. Unlike McKinley, Rainier wasn’t a U.S. president or even an American, for that matter. Peter Rainier Jr. was a British naval officer who spent part of his military career fighting in the American Revolution for you-know-who.

Yet nearly all of Capt. George Vancouver’s imperial naming—usually after friends while he was exploring the Salish Sea in 1792—remains intact. Do these sound familiar? Peter Puget. Joseph Whidbey. Vancouver. It’s the branding equivalent of invading Japan and renaming Mount Fuji after a Navy buddy.

Landscapes are sacred, and names embroider meaning. The Northwest would be a poorer place if the Skagit or Puyallup rivers honored the first prospector to publish a map.

There are limits. No one advocates changing Vasiliki Ridge near Washington Pass simply because climber Fred Beckey wanted to name something after his girlfriend. And if we changed Seattle back to its native moniker, “Duwamps,” we’d spur a riot.

Unlike McKinley, changing Rainier’s name hasn’t generated a passionate groundswell, and some argue that “Tahoma” is only one of several authentic native names. The first step is to begin the conversation.One Challenge to Renaming Rainier: Getting the New Name Right

By Daniel PersonIt’s unclear what political constituency would come to stick up for Admiral Peter Rainier, the British naval officer for whom our local giant mountain is named—though perhaps the people of his hometown of Sandwich would raise alarm. Rainier never visited the Pacific Northwest, he fought against American privateers during the American revolution, and his countrymen were shoed off to the cold side of the Strait of Juan De Fuca when this area became American territory.

But while Admiral Peter lacks a natural fan club, there’s reason to doubt Rainier will be scrubbed from local maps anytime soon, if for no other reason than there’s no consensus on what the mountain’s name should be changed to.

“It’s always been the tribe’s desire to get the name Tahoma recognized,” said Puyallup Tribe spokesman John Weymer. “For God’s sake, Mt. Rainier is named for a guy who’s never been to the country.”

However, Weymer acknowledges, “there are several names” for the mountain. “That is part of the issue.”

This has long been a sticking point.

“Tahoma, Tacobeh, Pooskaus, Tacoma ... There are all these different names,” Puyallup tribal member Robert Satiacum told KPLU in 2012. To pick one risks dishonoring the others.Is it time to rename Mount Rainier to its former native name?

Comment:  For more on the subject, see Renaming Mt. Rainier.

Conservative freakout over Denali = racism

What's behind the conservative crying over the Denali name change?

For starters, it obviously is not about giving Alaskans what they want. Because they want the original name restored.

An Alaskan On What The Lower 48 Don't Get About Denali

By Julia O'MalleyAlaska is a conservative state. Registered Republicans outnumber Democrats by a wide margin, but the state’s brand of conservatism has a pro-development, anti-government, libertarian flavor. Most people don’t see the mountain’s name change along partisan lines. Instead, some see it as a victory in the state’s long public lands tug-of-war with the federal government, while others, especially in the Alaska Native community, see it as a victory for indigenous rights. And pretty much everybody has been calling the mountain Denali for years.

There’s also something worth explaining about the culture here. We put Alaska-ness before all else, and tend to view outsiders with suspicion. In Alaska, nobody really cares if you went to Harvard, but if your grandmother was buried here, you should say so because it gives you cred. I think this is because there are only 700,000 people in this state and a whole lot of dangerous country, animals and weather. People from very different backgrounds tend to find themselves relying on each other, so we care most about stuff like whether you are the type to carry a tow strap in your truck and would be willing to pull us out of a ditch in a snowstorm. Politics come way second. Our loyalty to Denali over McKinley is driven by the same impulse. Denali is ours, it comes from here, it carries a tow strap. McKinley isn’t and doesn’t.Playing politics with Denali

So why are non-Alaskan conservatives ignoring the wishes of Alaskan conservatives?

The GOP’s ludicrous “Mt. Denali” freakout: What this latest “scandal” reveals about the right-wing outrage machine

Trump was the highest profile critic of the Obama administration decision to restore a mountain's original name

By Bob CescaOkay, several points on this ridiculousness—the latest in a series of non-scandal scandals:

• McKinley was originally named Denali until 1917 when it was changed in honor of President William McKinley. If the GOP is concerned with, say, the traditional definition of marriage, shouldn’t they also be interested in the traditional name of a mountain?

• The Alaska Geographic Board has actually used “Denali” as Alaska’s official name for the mountain since 1975.But:None of this is relevant to the far-right, of course, nor will there be any retractions issued given the myriad facts surrounding the name change. Knowing the long list of trivial and not-so-trivial “gates” that have each induced relapsing outrage comas among googly-eyed Obama haters, this could be one of the most trivial. It’ll never top the reaction to Obama’s use of teleprompters (which are used by every other public figure) or the baffling indignation over Obama’s choice of a tan suit for his press conference wardrobe, but it’s way up there.

In the effort to level the odds for 2016, not to mention all previous Obama-era elections for that matter, the GOP has been engaged in a shotgun strategy, framing nearly every White House decision as those of a legion of super-villains, motivated by the president’s so-called radical agenda to “fundamentally transform” America (an agenda that really doesn’t exist). It works well as red meat for the base, and it’s maybe successfully shaved a few points off Obama’s approval numbers by sheer attrition, but outside of the conservative entertainment complex, it’s easy to see exactly what the GOP is up to. It’s a scam and bears little similarity to reality. And this particular Denali issue is maybe the finest example of the GOP’s desperate scandal-mongering.Alaska's Great White Mountain

In renaming a peak that honored a Republican hero, President Obama stepped into the center of a fray over political correctness, American culture, and partisanship.

By David A. GrahamFor non-Rovians, what makes Obama’s “Denali” decision sting is the symbolism. One of the key stories of the Obama presidency is the sense among white, conservative Americans that their country is disappearing. Though seldom couched in directly racial terms, the issue of racial identity always lurks beneath the surface. The sense that white America is fading is not irrational, and it’s not just about the black president in the White House. Census projections have Caucasians becoming not a majority, but merely a plurality, of the population within a couple decades.

The reaction to Dylann Roof's massacre in Charleston is an example of how this plays out. Even some people who were horrified by the shooting and supported South Carolina’s decision to remove the Confederate battle flag from the state-capitol grounds felt uncomfortable with the sudden rise of demands to erase other symbols of the Confederacy or of white-supremacist leaders of yore—statues of Jefferson Davis, college buildings named for racists, and the like. These changes are just and overdue, but they’re also understandably disorienting, and for people who already feel their heritage and way of life are under siege, they seem a step (or several) too far. Conservatives complain, using a phrase Obama himself employed in October 2008, that the president is in the process of “fundamentally transforming the United States of America.”

Still, much of the reaction to Obama’s decision is almost comic. “Mt. McKinley is still there,” Erick Erickson proclaims, vowing to keep calling it by that name. “I will still call the mountain Mt. McKinley in the same way I will call Turin, Turin, instead of Turino like the idiots at NBC decided to do during that city’s time hosting the Olympics,” he writes.

The “Turin” comparison is instructive—after all, just as with Denali, the people who actually live there call it “Torino.” More generally, the thrust of the reaction seems to be, You can’t rename Mount McKinley! It’s had that name for a very long time. This argument might seem more than a bit ironic to Athabascans, in whose tongue “Denali” means “the Great One,” and who called it by that name for far longer than the “McKinley” label has stuck. Alaska Natives have been pushing to rename the mountain for years, saying that the official name, among other things, conveyed a “fundamental disrespect” for their culture.Conservatives = racists, again

No need to hint that racism is lurking in the background. The conservative crying is explicitly racist.

Conservative Reaction to ‘Denali’ Proves It: They Don’t Care About Native Americans

By John Paul BrammerOf course, millions of Natives died in the process of colonization. But that’s an uncomfortable truth conservatives have chosen to ignore.

And they ignore it because they’re afraid to open that can of worms.

If they did, they would have to acknowledge that Native Alaskans have been fighting to reclaim one of their sacred sites for a long time and that this is not simply an opportunity for them to hit Obama.

No, instead, Native voices are pushed out of the debate entirely. Just like Native voices have been pushed out of nearly every facet of American society.

It’s no wonder Natives who do choose to participate in United States’ elections skew Democratic. Especially when you have Republicans like John McCain selling out sacred Native lands to foreign mining companies.What's in a Name? Restoring Denali's Name Should Just Be the First in a Long List

By Doug KielGOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee commented, “I’m wondering what’s next—the renaming of the Washington Monument to the ‘Obama Monument’?” Huckabee’s “what’s next” remark is in part a critique of what he perceives to be an abuse of executive power, but it is also a common, paranoid refrain in the face of white privilege being challenged.

Restoring the name of North America’s highest peak does not signal the erosion of white supremacy as some conservative Republicans seem to worry. Unfortunately, their white supremacy remains firmly intact. But the name restoration does reflect that President Obama is willing to pay respect to Indigenous nations. As the debate over Indian mascots and logos in professional sports has shown, names do in fact matter, and non-Natives quite often clutch to their colonial naming rights as firmly as they can.How one mountain proved claims of “principled conservatism” are just racism

By Amanda MarcotteSo what exactly is the great conservative principle at stake here? State’s rights? Alaska already calls it Denali. Preservation of existing norms and standards? Well, the name is going back to what it was before, which is the restoration of tradition, which conservatives should theoretically support. What about Donald Trump and his ongoing belief that allowing people of different cultures to come in to yours will dramatically alter and eventually destroy your existing culture? If that’s so, then he should be applauding the government for rejecting the way that outsiders came to Alaska and just started renaming stuff without asking the people who were there first.

Clearly, the only real principle here is the belief that white people are better than everyone else, and that the names of things like mountains should reflect this belief in white supremacy.

That’s where we’re at, folks: 2015, and the right wing is having an openly racist fit that doesn’t even bother to pretend to be about anything but believing white people are better than everyone else.Renaming = white power

The truth about right-wing Denali outrage: Destroying the tenacious colonialist “right” to re-name is long overdue

The mountain has always had a name—and so has every other place in Alaska, before white explorers made their marks

By Paula Young LeeEarlier this year, the blog, “Athabascan Woman,” run by Angela Gonzalez, featured a round-up of Facebook comments regarding the “Denali” question. Vera Schafer affirmed: “That’s the real name. The people who came and changed every name didn’t know each place had a name. The people who wrote about Alaska said it was ‘vast wastelands.’ It wasn’t because people were already living here and everything had a name. Every hill, knoll, river bends, slough had a native name.” Another commentator, Darlene Reena Herbert, wrote: “There is a word for everything on earth and beyond in Dinjii zhuh ginjik” (Native people language).”

That language, however, is not American English. Worse, the word itself, meaning “great one,” refers to the physical properties of the mountain, and not to the achievements of mortal men who become immortal through great deeds. “Alaska is full of glaciers and other places named for white male explorers,” Alaska transplant Amy Price McCord wrote in an email to me. These places include Prince William Sound and Mt. Edgecumbe (thought to be named after George, earl of Edgecumbe; its original Tlingit name is L’ux).

The names systematically affirm a colonialist mentality that subjugates rather than respects the land, exploiting a theologically-informed attitude to nature that has enriched coffers for centuries. Now, that model is beginning to crumble in the face of overwhelming evidence of climate change. The president’s trip to Alaska is partly driven by the widespread recognition that it’s one of the places in the world most vulnerable to its immediate effects.

The partisan refusal to recognize climate change is driving its own set of memes linking “Denali” to “Denial.” Hence there is political peril in restoring the names of people, places, and things using the names originally bestowed on them. Return the names to their original forms, return the land to the people? For some Conservatives, renaming is a sign that the world is run amok with political correctness, but also something more when the President of the U.S. endorses it. To restore a name symbolically acknowledges that other cultural systems have legitimacy and merit, which correspondingly confirms that the landmarks of my thoughts are not the same as the landmarks of your thoughts.The Long History Behind Renaming Mt. McKinley

By Ben RailtonQuirky details aside, this renaming controversy echoes far deeper and more longstanding American historical and cultural issues. After all, whatever Dickey’s intentions in choosing McKinley, it was that 1890s choice which represented the original renaming of the mountain, a change in the name of a sacred place for generations of Alaskan Native Americans (particularly members of the Koyukon Athabaskan nation). Alaska has acknowledged that sacred heritage for decades, and the mountain has been known as Denali within the state since the 1970s. But every time Congress has tried to formalize the change, Ohio has protested and stalled the process, arguing that the name McKinley is an important part of their state’s history and heritage.

Yet that name exists at the explicit expense of another foundational American cultural heritage and identity. As a result, in maintaining the name McKinley over Denali on the national level, as in the original act of renaming the mountain, mainstream European American culture has extended the acts of settler colonialism and imperialism that have stolen and occupied Native lands for centuries—a process illustrated in William Dickey’s own era by the 1893 military coup in and 1898 annexation (by the McKinley administration!) of Hawaii.

Such imperial renamings have been part of the European colonial enterprise from literally its first moments: In a 1493 letter describing his first voyage to Spanish financial backer Luis de Santangel, Christopher Columbus writes, “To the first island I discovered I gave the name of San Salvador, in commemoration of His Divine Majesty, who has wonderfully granted all this. The Indians call it Guanaham.” And they have certainly continued into our postcolonial American existence—many of our prominent spaces and places, from Mt. Rushmore to Lake Superior, were similarly renamed by European settlers and officials from their original Native designations.

In her 1834 poem “Indian Names,” Lydia Sigourney imagined a far different process and effect, one in which the continued use of Native American names such as Massachusetts and Connecticut might lead to better collective memories of these peoples and the American histories (both proud and tragic) to which they connect. “Their name in on your waters,” she writes, “Ye may not wash it out.” Yet it seems to me that we have been able to maintain these Native names without engaging with those histories—perhaps because we can do so without controversy or even attention to what the names signify. It is precisely changes such as the renaming of Denali that will be required, to force our collective engagement with these names and their contested contexts.If it isn't clear how racist and wrong it is to go around renaming people's homelands, consider this scenario (via Twitter):F. N. Caring Society ‏@IndigenousXca
We should all travel across the world and name sacred sites in europe after random ndnsSo Mt. Olympus is now Wakan Tanka. Stonehenge is now the Great Medicine Wheel. The Matterhorn is now Mt. Deloria. Etc.

For more on Denali, see Let's Rename Ohio's Tallest Mountain and Denali Name Change = Political Attack?

Let's rename Ohio's tallest mountain

In response to Ohioans and Republicans crying over the Denali name change, I tweeted the following:

To Ohioans who want to honor President McKinley, name your own damn mountain, hill, or bump in the road after him. ‪#‎Denali‬ ‪#‎whiteprivilege‬

This led to the following discussion:I had to look at this twice. I saw "damn mountain or pimple."It was a tough choice between landfill, pitcher's mound, and bump in the road. I figure one of these may be the tallest place in Ohio.

I think they're jealous because the West has real mountains.It's a weird reaction. You would think somebody literally came waltzing into their backyard and started carving up one of their sacred mountains. Oh wait, nevermind, that would have been different.

Maybe they should build themselves a new mountain and call it Sour Grapes Hill.Does Ohio need a capital named for Columbus? Change the name of something, anything, in your own stupid state if you seriously want to honor McKinley. Stop imposing your white privilege on people who don't want it.Right? And six billion high schools named after the guy isn't enough?The first 40 presidents may be the most memorialized people in America. Maybe the world if you exclude a few icons such as Jesus and Mary, Columbus, and Mao (?).

That white Americans need their mountains, mascots, and flags to validate themselves tells us how weak and needy they are. They're exactly like spoiled toddlers when their baby toys are taken away.

P.S. In response to this tweet:Melody McKiver ‏@IndigenousXca
We should all travel across the world and name sacred sites in europe after random ndnsI wrote:

Mt. Olympus is now Wakan Tanka. Stonehenge is now the Great Medicine Wheel. The Matterhorn is now Mt. Deloria. Etc.

For more on Denali, see Denali Name Change = Political Attack? and Trump Vows to Restore "McKinley".

Denali name change = political attack?

A conservative friend wondered why liberals didn't demand a name change for Yukon's Mt. Kennedy. Thereby implying that changing "Mt. McKinley" to Denali was a liberal attack on conservatives. In a Facebook debate, I took a few minutes to rip this claim to shreds:

You are aware that this move was led by two Republicans, right? You've actually read an article on the subject and aren't simply repeating something stupid you heard on Faux News...right?Have you ever heard of something called "regional pride"?Have you heard of the word "nonresponsive"? Try addressing my point about this change being led by Republicans if you're not too afraid of getting your butt kicked.

You mean the regional pride Alaska Natives feel for Denali? What other regional pride is more relevant than that in Alaska?

If Ohioans want to rename their highest mountain, no one's stopping them. Why aren't you proposing that solution if "regional pride" is your concern?

This is yet another example of why we correctly label Republicans "racists." Because you have no argument that doesn't amount to "white people are more important than others."I don't have any strong feelings about this one way or the other. But, then again, I am from California. Alaska Republicans would favor the change as it plays up their local history, Ohio Democrats would oppose it as it messes with their local history.Again, nonresponsive. Republicans are the ones who responded to Alaskan regional pride and restored the name they've used for their mountain for decades. This has nothing to do with Obama or liberal politics.

Your comments are also nonresponsive to the issue of why Alaskans or anyone should care about Ohio's regional pride. Ohioans can change a name in their own backyard if they want to honor someone. Otherwise, they can shut up. What Alaskans do in Alaska is none of their business.

Meanwhile, you have no feelings...but you're trying to imply that Obama was targeting a "Republican" mountain for some reason. Regardless of your lack of feelings, your implication is stupid and ignorant. I suggest you educate yourself so I don't have to keep noting your stupidity.

For more on Denali, see Republicans Protest Denali Name Change and Ohioans Protest Denali Name Change.

Trump vows to restore "McKinley"

Trump, Kasich would dump native name ‘Denali,’ restore ‘McKinley’

By Joel ConnellyThe name of North America’s highest peak, 20,320-foot Denali in Alaska, has entered the 2016 presidential race.

“President Obama wants to change the name of Mount McKinley to Denali after more than 100 years. Great insult to Ohio, I will change back,” real estate mogul Donald Trump tweeted on Monday night, making the assumption that he will be America’s 45th president.John Kasich of Ohio said more and thus displayed more ignorance:“You know, I haven’t checked out the Constitution when it comes to naming mountain tops, but if I become president, I’m going to name it back to Mount McKinley,” Kasich said. “This is not something we (Ohioans) appreciate or agree with.”

When it comes to how Mt. McKinley got its name, however, Kasich demonstrated considerable ignorance.

As he understood it, said the governor, “a guy was out there climbing, he saw this big peak, and he wanted to celebrate the achievements of President McKinley, so he named it Mount McKinley.”

The reality was that a prospector attached name to mountain when he learned that McKinley had won the 1896 Republican nomination. The 25th president had not yet been elected or served a day in office.Trump pledges to reverse Obama’s mountain renaming

Comment:  For more on Denali, see Republicans Protest Denali Name Change and Ohioans Protest Denali Name Change.

Republicans protest Denali name change

I accompanied the news about the Denali name change with a sarcastic comment: Why does Obama hate America so much? Because it was obvious that's how brain-dead conservatives would react. And because they're as predictable as crybabies without their bottles, they did.

Conservative Heads Explode After Obama Renames Nation’s Tallest Mountain

Karl Rove was the first contender for stupidest white-man response to the Denali name change:

Karl Rove: Obama Wouldn't Be President If McKinley Hadn't Annexed HawaiiRepublican strategist Karl Rove said Monday that President Obama should be "more gracious" to the man whose name he just stripped from North America's tallest peak.

After all, Rove told Time magazine, it was President McKinley's administration that annexed Hawaii, making it possible for Obama to be President.In related news, an infinite number of other events also made it possible for Obama to become president. Like a speck of dust caused Obama's father to blink and miss seeing Obama's mother. Pay more respect to that speck of dust, President Obama!

Sheesh. What's the "gracious" way to rename a mountain, pray tell? Give us some examples of name changes that were done "graciously" even though you didn't like them.

Obama hates Republicans?

But with all the bigots in today's Republican Party, Rove's mild complaint about graciousness couldn't stand as the most extreme:

Conservative Radio Host Says Obama Changed Mt. McKinley's Name Because He Hates White Republicans

American Family Radio host Bryan Fischer complained on Monday that President Obama thinks "America is bad and everybody else is good."

By Justin BaragonaThe former American Family Association spokesman said the following on his show:

“Why would Obama do this? Well, there’s a very simple reason: President McKinley was a Republican and he was American and he was white. So he was all the things that President Obama has such a visceral distaste for. In his worldview, America is bad and everybody else is good, Republican is bad, everybody else is good and so forth.”

It should be noted that Republicans from Alaska have not only commended Obama for his decision but were key in pushing forward legislation to make the change. The state’s two Republican Senators, Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, sponsored a bill to change the federal designation. Meanwhile, the state’s governor, another GOPer, applauded the President for officially changing the mountain’s name.

But, none of that matters to right-wingers like Fischer. Any chance to whine about the current black usurper of the White House, you take it! In fact, he loved his line so much about Obummer hatin’ ‘Murica that he also tweeted it out.

Name change = "assassination"?

Unfortunately for Fischer and Rove, Laura Ingraham--or at least her website--took the prize for extremism:

Laura Ingraham's Website: 'McKinley Assassinated Again' By Obama Decision

By Sara JerdeThe post carried the headline "McKinley Assassinated Again" and the subhead "Obama changes mountain's name as erasure of our history continues." It included a bad photoshop image of Obama crossing out a sign that read "Mt. McKinley (American Heritage)" with red spray paint.

Jon Conradi, Lifezette's director of audience engagement, whose LinkedIn page also identifies him as a former communications director for the U.S. House as well as a Republican operative, wrote the post.And:Conradi continued:The forces of political correctness wish to return America to a blank slate from which they can color the canvass of the future with their progressive vision of society defined by sexuality, secularism, and government dependence. But first they need to get all that pesky history, and proud American heritage, out of the way. President McKinley is their latest victim.

The peak was named after McKinley during his first candidacy for the presidency in 1896 and was officially minted Mount McKinley by President Wilson in 1917 to memorialize the president and his historic administration. The president has found greater cause with politically correct forces who believe the peak’s moniker was offensive to Native Americans, who knew the summit as Denali.Actually, Natives still know the mountain as Denali. As do most Alaskans, including its Republican senators. Which is why they all wanted the original name restored. It had nothing to do with McKinley or Obama's wishes and everything to do with Alaska's heritage.

Which is something Republicans supposedly believe in--states' rights, local control, etc.--when they're not raving hypocrites. Unfortunately, they're raving hypocrites all the time, as this issue proves.

I assume someone posted the following as a spoof of right-wing ignorance. But I gather some right-wing ignoramuses took it seriously. Enough so that Snopes had to post an explanation, believe it or not.



Good God...right-wingers are stupid.

For more on Denali, see Ohioans Protest Denali Name Change and Obama Renames Mount McKinley.

Ohioans protest Denali name change

Ohio lawmakers slam Obama plans to rename Mt. McKinley 'Denali' during Alaska tripOhio lawmakers reacted angrily Sunday to the White House's announcement that President Obama would formally rename Alaska's Mt. McKinley—North America's highest peak—"Denali" during his trip to The Last Frontier this week.

"Mount McKinley ... has held the name of our nation's 25th President for over 100 years," Rep. Bob Gibbs, R-Ohio, said in a statement. "This landmark is a testament to his countless years of service to our country." Gibbs also described Obama's action as "constitutional overreach," saying that an act of Congress was required to rename the mountain, because a law formally naming it after Ohio's William McKinley was passed in 1917.

"This political stunt is insulting to all Ohioans, and I will be working with the House Committee on Natural Resources to determine what can be done to prevent this action," Gibbs said.

The Ohio delegation's disappointment at the decision cut across party lines.

"We must retain this national landmark's name in order to honor the legacy of this great American president and patriot," Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan, whose district includes McKinley's hometown of Niles, in eastern Ohio.

Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, also blasted the decision as "yet another example of the President going around Congress", while House Speaker John Boehner said the naming of the mountain after McKinley was "a testament to [the 25th president's] great legacy .. I am deeply disappointed in this decision."3,000 Miles From Denali, Ohio Fumes Over Renaming of Mount McKinley

Oops: Rob Portman Got Mt. McKinley History Wrong While Slamming Obama

By Caitlin CruzSen. Rob Portman joined his fellow Ohio Republican politicians in their collective outrage about President Barack Obama’s decision to revert Mt. McKinley to its Alaska Native name of Denali—but he got some of his history wrong.

Portman tweeted Sunday night the mountain was named to remember McKinley’s “rich legacy after his assassination.”

But according to the U.S. Department of the Interior, Portman's timeline is off.

The mountain was first named for McKinley by a prospector in 1896 when the Ohioan was his party's nominee for President, according to a timeline published by the National Park Service.

By 1897, the federal government started referring to it as such in publications, according to the Interior Department. McKinley was assassinated in 1901.

For more on Denali, see Obama Renames Mount McKinley and Murkowski Proposes Renaming Mt. McKinley.

Obama renames Mount McKinley

McKinley no more: North America's tallest peak to be renamed Denali

By Erica MartinsonIt’s official: Denali is now the mountain formerly known as Mount McKinley.

With the approval of President Barack Obama, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell has signed a “secretarial order” to officially change the name, the White House and Interior Department announced Sunday. The announcement comes roughly 24 hours before Obama touches down in Anchorage for a whirlwind tour of Alaska.

Talk of the name change has swirled in Alaska this year since the National Park Service officially registered no objection in a congressional hearing in Washington, D.C.

The tallest mountain in North America has long been known to Alaskans as Denali, its Koyukon Athabascan name, but its official name was not changed with the creation of Denali National Park and Preserve in 1980, 6 million acres carved out for federal protection under the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act. The state changed the name of the park’s tallest mountain to Denali at that time, but the federal government did not.President Obama Renames North America's Tallest Mountain

By Josh Lederman, Mark ThiessenPresident Barack Obama says he's changing the name of the tallest mountain in North America from Mount McKinley to Denali.

He's giving the mountain its traditional Alaska Native name on the eve of a historic presidential visit to Alaska.

Denali is an Athabascan word meaning "the high one." The name has long been a sore spot for Alaskans, who have informally called the 20,320-foot mountain Denali for years.

The mountain was named after former President William McKinley. There have been several efforts by Alaska politicians change it to Denali. But politicians from McKinley's home state of Ohio have opposed changing the name.Mount McKinley to Be Renamed Denali: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know

Comment:  For more on Denali, see Athabascan First to Climb Denali and Murkowski Proposes Renaming Mt. McKinley.

Indigenous Mapping Day

Google asks tribes to map their lands

Members can add roads, stores, services

By Dalton WalkerGoogle is inviting indigenous people across the world to take time today to add local geographic and commercial features to its online maps.

The company, in partnership with the National Congress of American Indians, is making today its first-ever Indigenous Mapping Day.

Participants must have a Google account to edit or add to maps represented on the popular Google Maps and Google Earth. Participants also must be affiliated with the tribe whose community they plan to map.

Many U.S. tribal communities lack accurate mapping of roads, buildings and other services available to tribal members or the general public, said Sarah Beccio, a spokeswoman for the National Congress of American Indians.Comment:  For more on the subject, see Google Street View in Nunavut and Google Maps in Cherokee.

Saanich people want mountain renamed

It's Pkols, not Mount Douglas, marchers proclaim

By Judith LavoieA large sign with the word Pkols carved into it was firmly cemented into the ground Wednesday evening as First Nations people, accompanied by hundreds of supporters, proclaimed a return to the traditional name for a place that has been known as Mount Douglas.

To the beat of drums, as an eagle drifted overhead, the mixed aboriginal and non-aboriginal crowd cheered the name reclamation after carrying the sign to the summit of Pkols.

“I think people are hungry for the history of indigenous people in this area,” said Tsawout hereditary chief Eric Pelkey, who led the move to rename the Saanich mountain.

“They ask why there’s no reflection of the injustices that have happened here in the past,” he said as people streamed up the mountain, many carrying placards saying “Reclaim, Rename, Reoccupy.”

Saanich police Const. Petra Dornblut estimated the event drew between 600 and 700 people.

“It has been very peaceful. It’s unique for us and very enjoyable,” she said.

The mountain is sacred to the Saanich people because it represents their nation’s birthplace.

While First Nations took direct action Wednesday to restore the original name of the mountain, they have also made an official application to the province for a name change.

“We request that the province of B.C. officially recognize the traditional name Pkols to replace the colonial name Mount Douglas in the Geographic Names Registry,” says a letter from Pelkey to the Geographical Names Office.Comment:  To me this is much like renaming a school mascot. As in, "Who cares? It's just a name."

It wouldn't bother me if you renamed my home street, school, town, etc. I could still remember and cherish the old name if I wished. A new name would simply be a new talking point, not something that affects my identity or self-image.

It would be similar to your mother, ex-wife, sister, or daughter marrying someone and changing her last name. Would the loss of your last name really hurt you? How?

Changing a name is a trivial matter that doesn't affect the underlying person, school, or mountain. It's stupid and illogical to oppose such a change.

For more on geographic name changes, see Murkowski Proposes Renmaing Mt. McKinley and "Negro" and "Squaw" Place Names.

Below:  "About 600 First Nations people and their supporters march to the top of Mount Douglas Wednesday evening for an emotional renaming ceremony. They want the Saanich mountain to once again be known by its original name, Pkols. Helping to carry a new sign for the summit is Maori Paul Tangira (black and white T-shirt), a Gordon Head resident." (Bruce Stotesbury/Times Colonist)

Google Street View in Nunavut

Google Street View braves Canadian Arctic to chart little-known territory

Iqaluit mapping expedition sees Google staff hike along remote city's snow-covered trails and risk wrath of polar bears

By Allan WoodsIt has charted the world's highest peaks, the ocean floor, the Amazon rainforest and even provided a glimpse into the hermit state of North Korea. But Google's mission to map the world has largely steered clear of the inhospitable Arctic.

Now, however, the search-engine firm is embarking on what might be the most significant update to centuries of polar cartography–and one it hopes will foster a better understanding of life on the permafrost for millions of web users. Google has flown a small team to Iqaluit, the largest town in the Canadian territory of Nunavut, armed with their warmest winter gear, a stack of laptop computers and a 18kg (40lb) backpack-mounted telescopic camera.

Helped by an Inuit mapping expert, and stalked by curious locals, the team spent four days trudging through the terrain and collecting the images and information that will give the isolated community on the tundra of Baffin Island what urbanites across the globe now take for granted.

The town of 7,000 people will go on display via Google's popular Street View application in July.Comment:  For more on Google Maps, see Google Maps in Cheorkee and Unidentified Reservations in Google Maps.

Below:  "Google Street View's Karin Tuxen-Bettman treks across the Arctic tundra in Iqaluit."

Murkowski proposes renaming Mt. McKinley

Alaska senator again proposes renaming Mount McKinley to Denali; name widely used in AlaskaAlaska’s senior senator has once again introduced legislation to rename Mount McKinley, Denali.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski said in an interview Tuesday that Denali might not be the name that people in the Midwest recognize “but it has long been the name in really the place that matters, which is the state that this incredible mountain sits.”

“I have nothing against President McKinley whatsoever, but I would rather have this peak be called by the name it has gone by for centuries by Alaskans than a man who never set foot in our state,” Murkowski said in a release. “This is the tallest mountain in North America and we deserve to have this Alaskan landmark bear an Alaskan name.”

Ohio is the birthplace of President William McKinley, and for years, members of that state’s congressional delegation have filed measures or included language in bills to retain the name Mount McKinley. One such bill was introduced last week by Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, who said in a release Tuesday that the name must be retained “in order to honor the legacy of this great American President and patriot.”Comment:  Ryan's reason for keeping the name "McKinley" is ridiculous. President McKinley probably has thousands of towns, buildings, schools, and so forth named for him. He doesn't need one more "honor."

Also, few people know anything about Mt. McKinley. Of those few, even fewer associate it with President McKinley. All told, we're talking about something like 1% of 1%.

In other words, only 1 in 10,000 people thinks, "It's so wonderful that they named Mt. McKinley after William McKinley, our 25th president, who 'led the nation to victory in the Spanish–American War, raised protective tariffs to promote American industry, and maintained the nation on the gold standard in a rejection of inflationary proposals'" (source: Wikipedia). To everyone else, the name is just some anonymous old name.

As usual, debates over geographic name changes show America's white privilege in action. Why should the thousandth use of the name "McKinley" trump the first and only use of the name "Denali"? Why don't the local people with historical ties to the mountain have the primary say? Because white people feel they deserve to get everything they want, no matter how unreasonable it is.

For more on the subject, see Renaming Mt. Rainier and Restoring Traditional Indian Names.

Ferries named Samish and Tokitae

SamishChosen as New Name for Washington State FerryBy a unanimous decision, Samish and Tokitae were selected as the names of the two new Washington state 144-car ferries under construction at the Washington State Transportation Commission meeting November 12.

The meaning of the name Samish is the “giving people, the people who stand up and give” in proto-Salish origins. The Samish Indian Nation has always held a deep-rooted respect for the traditions of sharing with its neighbors and chooses to carry on this tradition by contributing to the local community’s thirst for knowledge of the first people. The Tribe’s historic lands have been inhabited for thousands of years by the ancestors of the Samish and their Coast Salish neighbors. These waterways were the original highways as travel by canoe among the first people connected people with family, friends, and opportunities to trade goods and food supplies; just like the modern day ferry brings people and products together.

“This is a true blessing and a great honor for our people. The people of our beautiful state will all share in this blessing, on their travels through our traditional waters and territories, known as “The Salish Sea.” The Native peoples’ highways and byways connect the past and present, uniting and strengthening families and communities on the Islands and Peninsula. This new ferry named Samish will be allowing all who travel the enjoyment and knowledge of what the First Peoples here have always known. What a special place we live in, this jewel known as the San Juan Island and the Salish Sea,” said Samish Tribal Chairman Thomas Wooten.

“We feel that it is really fitting that our name is placed on one of the ferries since these waterways were traveled by canoes among the Samish people just like the greater community will be traveling the same waters by ferry. We value Washington State and its commitment to honor Indian Tribes in this manner,” said Chairman Wooten.

The name Tokitae was also selected. Tokitae is a Coast Salish greeting meaning “nice day, pretty colors,” and is the name of an orca captured in 1970 at Whidbey Island’s Penn Cove and better known as Lolita at the Miami Seaquarium. The name was suggested by the Orca Network.

“So honored to have a ferry named after Tokitae/Lolita—let’s hope it will help raise awareness of the lasting damage done by the orca captures of the 60s and 70s, and of Tokitae’s life in Miami—and be another step toward bringing her home, so she can swim with her family, next to the new ferry named after her,” said Susan Berta and Howard Garrett of the Orca Network.

Names that were not selected were Cowlitz, Hoquiam, Muckleshoot, Sammamish, and Ivar Haglund.Comment:  Curiously, the Samish tribe doesn't have a casino, while the Cowlitz and Muckleshoot tribes do. Coincidence? Or did the white decision-makers send a subtle message?

Namely, that Indians are okay if they're safely imagined in a romanticized past of peace and brotherhood. But not if they're competing ferociously with non-Indian businesses and governments today? Hmm.

The same thinking might've been going on when officials decided to name ferries for Native places but not tribal leaders. A place name is abstract and nonthreatening. A person forces you to consider Indians as individuals with histories and rights.

As we've seen with place-name battles, anything that strikes too close to home causes non-Indians to feel threatened and victimized. Even though they have the vast majority of the power and wealth in the country. This may be another case of that.

For more on the subject, see Ferries Named for Native Places and Ferries Won't Be Named for Indians.

Chickasaw map wins geography award

Chickasaw Nation Wins People’s Choice Award at Olympics of Mapmaking EventCombining old world style map design—hand-drawn images that tell a story about the data on the map—with new technology led the Chickasaw Nation’s GeoSpatial Information Department to a People’s Choice award at what was described by a member of the team as the Olympics of geography and cartography.

The award was presented in July at the Environmental Systems Research Institute (ESRI) International User Conference where more than 15,000 attended representing 130 countries.

“That award represented every map in every category for the people who attended to vote on,” John Ellis, director of GeoSpatial Information said in a release. “It really was like our Olympics for the geography and cartography world. These are the top geographers and cartographers in the country, so it was an honor.”

He said the map, titled “The Historic Map of the Unconquered and Unconquerable Chickasaw People,” was so popular he spent most of his free time at the event answering questions, passing out brochures about the map and talking to other map professionals about it.Comment:  For more on Indians and maps, see Google Maps in Cherokee and "Mapping America" Excludes Indians.

Indian place names = mascots

Stephen Bridenstine connects Indian places names and Indian mascots in his Drawing on Indians blog:

Lenawee, Tecumseh, Indians: Drawing Three Deep in MichiganAmericans have always been obsessed with giving things Indian names. At least twenty-one states draw their names from Indian origins and the list of counties, cities, and towns that do likewise goes on forever.

I believe that this process of Indian place-naming ties into broader issues of myth-making and identity in American history. From the earliest days of our young Republic, Americans have used the Indian as a proxy to authenticate their claim to this landscape and define themselves as Americans. Indian place names inherently bring with them all the popular notions and qualities of "Indianness"--the same qualities we want in ourselves and our land.

The same is true with mascots. People choose Indian mascots not because they are "honoring Native Americans" but rather to invoke that very essence of Indianness (or at least one version of it). That means strength, honor, pride, and a "savage" nature perfectly suited for the football field. The problem with these mascots is that they perpetuate one-dimensional stereotypes and undermine the ability of American Indian Nations to portray accurate and respectful images of their culture, spirituality, and traditions.Comment:  For more on the subject, see Mythical Indian = "National Mascot" and Americans = Wandering Strangers.

Lots of Lover's Leaps

Days Gone By:  The story of Lover’s LeapNearly every cliffed town, along nearly every river has a Lover’s Leap, and the legend behind the name of the high-topped bluff is nearly always the same. Hannibal is no exception.

The myth or legend of Hannibal’s Lover’s Leap was written by a man named Aurthur O. Garrison, who claimed that he obtained the details from “ancient inscriptions and a birch bark manuscript.”

No one seems to know who Garrison was. The clipping of his story has vanished and none know what newspaper or book it was taken from or when it was published.The article's conclusion:Such quaint but tragic legends are known up and down the Mississippi, and probably have at least slight basis in fact, but Indians are as expert at fairy tales as the whites that followed them into the land. Only the least romantic of men would question their legends, however. And only the most cruel would attempt to prove or disprove the existence of such unrecorded tribes as the Kirgluou and the Holrois.Comment:  This article confirms what I thought: that multitudes of lover's leaps exist. You'd have to be a fool or a racist to believe any of them are real. Indians commit suicide en masse when their loves are thwarted and hearts broken? Yeah, right.

These myths aren't as harmless as the author thinks. Rather, they're stereotypical and as harmful as other Native stereotypes. They convey the idea that Indians were weak, impulsive creatures of passion. That everything about them was romantic, sad, and tragic. That they were destined to vanish because of their own failures--not because of America's genocidal policies against them.

And most of all, that they're primitive people of the past. You'll never hear that someone leapt after graduating from a university, translating the Bible into a Native language, or winning a court case. Like Indian mascots, hipster headdresses, and Thanksgiving pageants, these stories are about keeping Indians in the past. If we can make everyone forget our crimes against them, we don't have to redress their ongoing grievances.

For more on the subject, see Debating Frog Woman Rock and Legend of Lovers Leap.

"Negro" and "Squaw" place names

Race-Based Names Dot the Landscape

By Kim SeversonThe onetime name of Gov. Rick Perry’s Texas hunting camp is currently the most famous example of an egregious race-based place name, but it is not the only one.

Consider Runaway Negro Creek, which flows near a state park outside Savannah, Ga. The name is printed on nautical charts, but park rangers find it so uncomfortable to use, they try to avoid saying it.

It is one of several hundred places that have the word “Negro” in their names and still exist on government maps and in the local vernacular in dozens of states.

They are vestiges of racial attitudes that not that long ago made it acceptable to label a piece of property once leased by Gov. Rick Perry’s family as Niggerhead, which had been painted in block letters on a large rock at the entrance to the rural northern Texas hunting camp. The word was once so common it was used as a brand name for everyday items like soap, canned shrimp and tobacco.

Although it would be hard to find anyone willing to argue that the term or its variants should still be on any maps or signs, many people now also say that Negro—a government-approved alternative to the harsher epithet used in the past to name mountains, rivers and other places—should also be removed.The article goes on and on about "Negro," but has only this to say about "Squaw":One person’s offensive name may be another’s point of pride, as communities are learning as they grapple with requests to change sites that use the term “Squaw.”Comment:  I don't know if "Squaw" is a bigger problem than "Negro" in terms of number of places. But it's a bigger problem in terms of offensiveness. The article should've devoted more space to "Squaw" and less to "Negro."

For more on the subject, see "Niggerhead" Out, "Redskins" In and Debating Frog Woman Rock.

Debating Frog Woman Rock

I thought renaming Squaw Rock as Frog Woman Rock was unremarkable--a change barely worth mentioning. Judging by the comments on the original article, though, local residents are angry. Below are some of their remarks and my responses.

Note that no one is claiming the name change will affect them personally. It's all about who's in control. "We don't want our (white) name changed to their (Indian) name. We don't want the state spending our (white) money on those people (Indians). Even if the name change doesn't hurt anyone, it's our (white) decision, not theirs. We're the deciders because it's our (white) country now."

Let the debate beginI am afraid that I have to agree with Robert Bradford owner of the property. It will always be Squaw Rock to me. You would think that the state would have more pressing issues to deal with other than this trivial crap.You'd think all the people whining about the name change would have more pressing issues to deal with than their whiny hurt feelings.Gimme a break....Might as well name it "River Rock" and have the casino sponsor it.Have the casino sponsor it? There it is...the racism underlying the opposition to the name change.That article is really bad. Renaming because of its roots in questionable Indian lore and derogatory to women so we'll call it frog woman based on Indian lore. lolz.The Indian lore is questionable but the umpteenth "lovers leap" story isn't? Try the other way around.Seriously? This is the most stupidest thing/name I've heard! I'm w/ everyone else, it'll ALWAYS be Squaw Rock!The old name will be gone and forgotten in a generation or so. Good-bye and good riddance.Is the tribe funding the name change or is it more tax dollars being wasted? Either way it's a waste of time and money.

A fifth generation Sonoma county resident...it will always be Squaw Rock.

Saddened by the name change and appalled that Hopland Rancheria tribal members felt they needed to spend their energy in this totally worthless endeavor...a minor point won perhaps but the ensuing confusion will guarantee that Squaw Rock will always be Squaw Rock.

The real issues is that Squaw is not a PC term and we now have to pander and cater to everyone in this country.You mean you have to pander and cater to people whom you've traditionally oppressed and ignored? Boo-hoo!Ridiculous! Apparently these esteemed "historians" have too much time on their hands.What exactly do you expect the California State Historical Resource Commission to do instead?Let's name it "Just lost my paycheck at the casino rock."Or "white people won so they can name the rock whatever they want" rock.

New name is educationalSquaw, squaw, squaw and mother freakin squaw freakin rock!!!

I have NEVER heard the name or story about the frog woman! There are alot of traditional names, that might somehow be designated as not being politically correct. But how about keeping names and stories traditional? Does everything have to be "politically correct," so afraid of offending anybody/everybody? Come on. Squaw Rock will always be known, especially by locals and EVERYBODY native to the area as "Squaw Rock," regardless of whatever pc label might be attached.You never heard the story about Frog Woman? Sounds like a good reason to change the name. That is, to educate latecomers like you about the 10,000-year-old history of the land.What a joke....It is Squaw Rock and will always be Squaw Rock. It is a great legend. Not at all condescending or racial. Part of our local history. What a waste of time and money. What is it going to be changed to next year?It's condescending and racial because it's one of dozens of phony legends around the country of Indian maidens leaping to their deaths. It's part of the stereotypical belief that Indians had to die tragically because they were doomed to vanish. I.e., that they had no recourse other than to commit suicide.

White people invented these legends to explain where the Indians went. Whites didn't remove or kill the Indians, according to the spurious legends. Indians "vanished" themselves by leaping off rocks.

If anyone actually thinks this legend has a basis in fact...go ahead and provide the evidence for it. Make sure it's original source material, not romantic rumors passed down from one white man to another. Good luck with your answer...you'll need it.OH PLEASE can we stop with the PC bullsh#t???? First, ask the Native Americans if they feel disrespected by the name of that damn rock. If so, ask them why they haven't done anything about it for the last 50 years, if it's so f'ing offensive? Why spend time and TAXPAYER MONEY on such a stupid project? No wonder California is so screwed up....Ask them...and if they explain their reasoning, ignore it. In other words, you don't care what stupid Indians think. So noted.

As for the PC claim, "political correctness" = silencing criticism.I hope all the frog women out there don't get offended, cause then they'll have to change the name again...LOLI hope all the white people don't cry themselves to death over this simple name change.

What about the cost?I only want to know one thing, how much did this cost, during a recession.To issue a proclamation authorizing the name change on future maps and documents? A very small amount, I suspect. Not enough to justify all this whining, certainly.Always will be Squaw Rock to me...this was a milestone all of my life and this is a JOKE that they would try to rename this to a mythical "frog women" come on people...think about this when we vote for our local representatives and county officials...let's keep some history and culture here!Let's keep some white history, you mean.

Yeah, white people have stolen and renamed "only" 99% of the Indians' land. We want that last 1%, dammit. God gave America to the Europeans, not the Indians!Talk about some bull the locals have known Squaw Rock's majestic lore and learn at a young age the lessons from the story get off your high horse Cali and back off Squaw Rock.What lessons...that Indians committed suicide for no good reason? That they, not white men, were responsible for their deaths?

Why would anyone teach an obviously phony legend? Do you really think a young woman could lift a stone large enough to crush two people? Wow.Technically I'm a "squaw." What's so impolitically (unpolitically?) correct about it? All it means is an indigenous woman, i.e. an American Indian woman.squaw [skwaw]
noun

1. Often Offensive. a North American Indian woman, especially a wife.

2. Slang: Disparaging and Offensive.
a. a wife.
b. any woman or girl.I guess I am an idiot....I always thought "squaw" was a woman Indian, not a derogatory word.Now you know better. Most Natives consider it offensive these days. For more on the subject, see Squelching the S-Word.I've always called it "Progressive Slots Rock" and I will always call it that!

Always will be Squaw Rock...next there's going to be a lighted venue sign with directions to the casino built on it....

Wow! This is big news. It's just what we need, frog rock. Now where do I go for food stamps?You gotta love the implicit racism here. These people think the only reason this is happening is because the tribe's paying for it. And it's doing so to advertise its casino. Not because the government has listened to Indians and heard them say "squaw" is offensive and inappropriate for a place in Pomo country.

No, Indians and the people who support them can't have sincere motives. Because of their "savage" background, they must have some hidden agenda. That's what "those people" do: threaten to take what's ours with their tomahawks and name changes.

And the final comment implies the state is catering to Indians with this decision just like it does with food stamps and other government benefits. Nice.

A few voices of reason

There were a few supportive comments--other than mine, that is:You are all fools it has only been called Squaw Rock for 50 years WOW. 1st generation or 5th generation it dosent matter how long you people been here you still just got here we been here for THOUSANDS of years and it has always been Matha Kawo Kabe.

Apparently a lot of people disagree with the name change, but I applaud it. A derogatory term is a derogatory term.

Why complain now? It's a done deal and it was the right thing to. I noticed none of you were motivated to go to Auburn during public comment to oppose the name change. Hutray, I'm glad! I'm going to party like it's 1491. Signed Shawn Padi, Chairman of Hopland Band of Pomo Indians and Tribal Historic Preservation Officer.

I will probably always call it Squaw Rock but I couldn't care less if they change it. It's neat to read some new stories on it, though. On the other hand, if it was called Nigger Rock I bet nobody would object to changing the name would they? I can totally see where the demand for change is coming from. It's a cultural thing.And in response to "That's B.S.--how do we protest?"You could kill the Indians, take over their land, and re-name it.

Wait a minute....That wins the prize for the best comment on this thread.

For more on geographic place names, see Explorers Didn't Consider "Squaw" Offensive and Changing Park Name = Guilt Trip?

P.S. As usual, I edited the comments slightly to make them more readable.

Below:  Don't you dare take away our white power Squaw Rock Indian mascot!

Squaw Rock renamed Frog Woman Rock

Say hello to Frog Woman Rock

By Glenda AndersonA landmark rock formation towering over the Russian River and Highway 101 in southern Mendocino County is about to get a new—and more politically correct—name.

The California State Historical Resource Commission today is expected to re-designate what for more than 50 years has been known as Squaw Rock.

Henceforth, it officially will be known as Frog Woman Rock, reflecting a Pomo Indian legend of a man-eating creature, part frog and part woman, who lived in a cave in the face of the rock.

Squaw Rock is being jettisoned as the name of California Landmark No. 549 because of its questionable roots in local Indian lore and also to eliminate the word squaw, originally an East Coast Indian word that has taken on a derogatory connotation, said tribal representatives and state historians.The origins of the dueling names:The moniker is believed to stem from a Lovers Leap tale cited in the 1880 “History of Mendocino County,” said William Burg, a state historian.

As that story goes, a young chief named Cachow from a Cloverdale tribe promised to marry Sotuka, daughter of the chief of the Sanel tribe in Hopland. But he instead married another woman. In anger and despair, Sotuka, holding a great stone, threw herself from the cliff, killing herself along with Cachow and his new wife, who were camping at the base of the cliff.And:State officials said further research by the Hopland Band of Pomo Indians and historians has determined that the Lover's Leap account was never adequately verified as legitimate local Pomo lore and that an altogether different story is a better fit.

In central Pomo dialect, the name for the rock is Maatha kawao qhabe, which translates as frog woman rock, according to a study by linguist Victoria Patterson in 1985. And in local Pomo legend, the giant rock north of Cloverdale was home to Frog Woman, a mythological figure often portrayed as the clever and powerful wife of Coyote, who makes many appearances in Pomo lore as a trickster. She also makes appearances as the wife of Obsidian Man.Comment:  Is there any question that the new name is better? The old name has several problems beyond the offensive "squaw." For starters, the legend is obviously bogus.

1) Most young Native women can't lift a "great stone" big enough to crush two people.

2) It's a cone-shaped rock, not a sheer cliff. A woman couldn't leap to her "death" because she'd bounce down the incline a few times before coming to a rest. If she were lucky, she might not even injure herself.

3) Given the rock's shape, there's no way a woman could hit two people at the bottom with her own body and a stone held in her grasp. The woman and the stone would fly in different directions. And it's unlikely the stone would land anywhere near the targets.

4) How could the legend's scenario have happened? The woman climbed laboriously to the top of the rock? And waited on the off-chance that the chief and his new lover would stop below her? Then found a conveniently sized rock on the bare hilltop and threw it and herself down the slope?

That's pretty damn ridiculous if you think about it. What happens if the chief and his new lover don't stop at the base of the rock? She climbs back down and climbs up another day? How many days in a row did she do this until the chief conveniently stopped directly below her?

Again, this isn't a cliff that people pass by on their way to the village every day. It's an isolated cone-shaped rock. There's no way anyone would climb it to commit homicide or suicide.

Romanticizing dead Indians

The name is flawed for other reasons as well:

1) Why emphasize the "squaw" portion of the legend? Why not Unfaithful Chief Rock, Suicide Rock, or Crushed Bodies Rock? Could it be to romanticize the "vanishing Indian"? Because thinking about star-crossed lovers is more comforting than thinking about ethnic cleansing?

2) Judging by the number of "Lovers Leap" place names based on Native legends, Indian maidens committed suicide at an enormous rate. Maybe this is the origin of the high suicide rates still prevalent on reservations.

That's a sarcastic way of saying most if not all of these legends are phony and derivative. We shouldn't encourage the false belief--a subset of the romantic- and vanishing-Indian tropes--that Indians killed themselves in tragic circumstances. Unless we have hard evidence that a legend is true, there's no reason to immortalize it with a place name. And every reason to use a culturally appropriate replacement.

For more on romanticized Indians, see Love/Hate Relationship with Indians, Lamenting Indians = Letting Indians Die, and Hollywood Loves Dying Indians.

Squaw Rock = Indian mascots

This issue is much like the renaming of sports team names and mascots. Basically, who the hell cares about something so trivial? No one's forcing you to think or saying something you don't want to. You still can call it Squaw Rock to yourself, or among your friends and family members. There's no penalty whatsoever for using the old name.

What you can't do, though, is control the agenda beyond your own sphere of influence. You can't tell the community or the world that your Anglo-American history and culture are the only ones that matter. Someone else gets to say how we name geographic places--and by extension, how we frame other issues and arguments.

That's what this is all about: the loss of white power and privilege. Euro-Americans can't stand losing the power they've exercised for the last 500 years. They don't want to share it; they want it all.

No "dirty redskin" is going to tell them they were wrong to steal this land. To rename it, develop it, or ruin it. Americans think they have a right to everything from the air and water to their "pet" Indian mascots. Anyone who disagrees is a threat to their centuries-old dominance.

In short, Indian place names and mascots are like a baby bottle or security blanket for childish Americans scared of the dark (people).

For more on geographic place names, see Explorers Didn't Consider "Squaw" Offensive and Changing Park Name = Guilt Trip?

Below:  "The above landmark rock formation towering over the Russian River and Highway 101 in southern Mendocino County will get a new name Friday: Frog Woman Rock." (John Burgess/The Press Democrat)