This makes the Board on Geographic Names a microcosm of some of the best and worst tendencies of the federal government: conscientious attention to detail by public servants, and endless bureaucratic quagmire. The BGN is designed with process in mind, not justice or equity.īut paradoxically, the persistence of many of these racist names helps explain why a careful naming procedure is important: Slapping a demeaning name on a feature and having it stick was once very easy. Another is that any feature whose name is removed needs a new one, ideally one that is locally meaningful and that will age better than whatever it’s replacing. Names including a slur are easy, but others-such as Jew Valley, Oregon, named after a group of Jewish homesteaders-are less clear-cut. One challenge is that determining what’s offensive isn’t always straightforward. Removing all uses of “Squaw” is expected to take about a year, and that’s the simpler of the two orders. “Our nation’s lands and waters should be places to celebrate the outdoors and our shared cultural heritage-not to perpetuate the legacies of oppression.”īut even the expedited process will take time. “Racist terms have no place in our vernacular or on our federal lands,” Haaland said when announcing the orders. ![]() In 2020, when Haaland was a member of Congress, she introduced a bill that would also create such a committee, and although Green and Senator Elizabeth Warren reintroduced it this year, the bill is stuck in limbo. She issued a second order that will establish an advisory committee to identify other offensive names that might be proactively changed under a similar mechanism. In November, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the first Native American to hold that post, issued an order designed to wipe any mentions of “ Squaw,” probably the most frequently used slur in place names, off the map. In recent years, the BGN has spent more of its time reconsidering offensive names than doing anything else, but the process typically takes months and is reactive by design, with names considered case by case upon request.Ī different, faster process is possible. But the board now finds itself in the middle of the fiery national debate over racism and language. Usually, the public eye is far from the BGN, a member of the class of government bodies whose work you could go a lifetime without thinking about, even though it’s all around you. John McWhorter: Racist is a tough little word “It is known to few, has much power, and exercises that with a lot of deliberation.” “I think it is quite esoteric,” Representative Al Green of Texas told me over the summer. ![]() Founded in 1890, it is an Ocean’s 11 of civil servants: subject-matter experts from across the government-including the Pentagon and the Postal Service, the Commerce Department and the CIA-who have come together not to conduct a heist but to approve official names of lakes, mountains, and valleys on government documents. The new names are the work of the Board on Geographic Names, a little-known federal body with the remarkable power to literally remake the map. Mulatto Mountain, North Carolina, became Simone Mountain, honoring the great Black pianist and singer (and Old North State native) Nina Simone. Louisiana’s Dead Negro Branch was renamed Alexander Branch, after a late local civil-rights leader. Squaw Tits, a pair of pinnacles southwest of Phoenix, Arizona, has since last year been Isanaklesh Peaks. Some have been updated, but only recently. Hundreds of place names include “Negro” or “ Squaw,” among other, similarly offensive names. A half-dozen, from Florida to Colorado, include “Redskin” Oregon has a Dead Injun Creek. Mulatto Bayou, in Louisiana, is one of several places using that slur. ![]() A reservoir in New Mexico is named Wetback Tank. E xamine a detailed map of pretty much any part of the United States and you can find scars left by racism.
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