Name Changes to Wisconsin Features Removing Slur for Indigenous Women

Thursday, September 15th, 2022 -- 12:00 PM

(By Gaby Vinick, Wisconsin Public Radio) The U.S. Department of the Interior released the new names of nearly 650 sites nationwide to remove a derogatory slur for Indigenous women from federal use.

According to Gaby Vinick of Wisconsin Public Radio, these include 28 lakes, valleys and other geographic features in Wisconsin, a change many believe is long overdue. "I thought, 'It's about time,"' said Bobbi Webster, public relations director for the Oneida Nation.

"And I thought it takes (a) Native or an Indigenous woman to make that move to really push it when she's in a position of the authority to do that," referring to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland.  The word, which originated as an Algonquin term for "woman," has evolved into a racist and sexist slur.

The Board on Geographic Names, a federal body founded in 1890, voted on the final replacement names last Thursday. In November, Haaland, the nation's first Native American cabinet secretary, signed a federal order declaring the term derogatory.

That launched a nearly year-long effort including the creation of a federal task force to hear name change recommendations. Webster applauded the change but said it will take time and resources for people to start using the new names.

"I don't think there's going to be much of a change immediately, but in terms of looking to the future, I would hope that we begin to raise a new generation of people, citizens in Wisconsin, that care more deeply about one another," she said.

Webster continued: "Mutual respect is something that we really have to lay as a foundation in the state in our school system as well as in our home socially and educationally."

Like Webster, Kris Goodwill of the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin commended the change. "I was very happy about it," Goodwill, who is a tribal liaison for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, said. "They are permanent changes with the federal government publishing this list."

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