Post by blackcrowheart on Jun 13, 2007 14:59:25 GMT -5
Native Americans seek to outlaw the 'S-word'
Ruby Bernal wasn't self-conscious about her American Indian heritage
until her adolescence, when a band of teenage boys called her "squaw"
during a drive-by heckling.
"It's like saying the 'N-word' to a black person," says Bernal, a member
of the Shoshone-Bannock, one of five tribes with reservations in Idaho.
"To me, it's a slap in the face. It belittles me and it belittles all
Indian women."
Bernal is among Native Americans across the West fighting to excise
"squaw" from the names of region's waterways, peaks and river valleys.
The 55 tribes of the Pacific Northwest say the "S-word," once commonly
used when referring to an American Indian woman, is demeaning and never
uttered on reservations.
They claim the term evokes the painful chapter in American history when
Indian lands were confiscated and native peoples were subjugated by
whites.
Yet the word litters the national map, with more than 800 place names
including the word "squaw" and some resistance from local officials who
object to what they say is a push to be politically correct.
Now one of the Northwest's most influential American Indian tribes is
campaigning to wipe the word off the names of 11 creeks, bluffs and
canyons in Idaho.
The gambling-rich Coeur d'Alene Tribe of northern Idaho argues the term
is unsuitable for some of the area's most stunning landmarks and is
asking the Idaho Geographic Names Advisory Council to recommend changing
it.
Tribal leaders want "squaw" to be replaced by Coeur d'Alene terms such
as "chimeash," which refers to a young woman of good character.
The ultimate decision will be in the hands of the US Board on Geographic
Names and it will take months for the renaming to happen - if it does.
A key criterion used by the national board is whether the proposed
changes have the backing of local governments. So far none of the Idaho
counties have endorsed the proposed changes.
Coeur d'Alene officials are proposing to strip "squaw" from four sites
in Shoshone County. Local governments say there are many more pressing
issues on their agendas than retooling place names.
"We're not prejudiced, I don't think, but what's the big deal?" said Lin
Hintze, a member of the Custer County Commission in central Idaho, home
to one of several "squaw peaks" in the state.
"We have better things to do than make a big stink about a name."
A string of states, including Montana and Oregon - with the most "squaw"
locations in the nation - have taken steps to remove the reference from
their landscapes.
The push to remove "squaw" echoes the years-long effort by Indian
activists to change what they say are the culturally insensitive titles
and mascots borne by popular professional and college sports teams.
Landmarks in the West were dubbed "squaw" in the mid-19th century at the
height of settlement driven by the discovery of gold.
The tension today between Indian advocates and diehard traditionalists
has its roots in that era of westward expansion, which signaled the end
of Indian autonomy, the forced adoption by tribes of Western European
culture and a period in which native women were considered just one more
commodity.
"Using the 'S-word' to refer to Indian women is just another reminder of
this country's history of oppression of its native people," said Rozina
George, a Lemhi Shoshone.
But Jeff Ford, former member of the Idaho names council, contends the
push by tribes to excise "squaw" diminishes a landmark's historical
significance.
"Just leave the names alone, for crying out loud," he said. "It's not
meant to be demeaning and that term's been there forever. There must
have been a reason for people of European descent to call places that.
It probably wasn't a nice reason but we can't keep whitewashing history.
A geographic name should reflect the story that brought it about."
While the US Board on Geographic Names has called the "N-word" and the
term "Jap" taboo for place names and mandated changes, it has said
"squaw" would be assessed on a case-by-case basis.
The Shoshone-Bannock's Bernal, for one, believes history is against
tribes when it comes to having their agenda promoted.
"I think the broader society isn't responsive to our concerns because
they never have been," she said.
"The native peoples have always been at the bottom of things and some
people in this country are determined to keep us down there."