Getting Indigenous names right is important
Boozhoo ("hello" in Ojibwe) and miigwech ("thank you") for reading the First Nations Wisconsin newsletter.
First Nations Wisconsin returns this week after I was on vacation last week and spent much of my time hiking in Wyoming, Nebraska and South Dakota.
In Wyoming, I hiked at what is now known as Devils Tower, the first national monument.
There I noticed bandanas and other colored pieces of cloth hanging from trees along the trail and a sign instructing visitors not to disturb the prayer cloths.
I know the Black Hills are sacred to the Indigenous Lakota people. It's their place of creation. But I wondered what other visitors, who may not know of the place’s significance, might think of a people who pray to a place incorrectly called Devils Tower.
The Lakota call the place Bear Lodge and “Devils Tower” comes from a mistranslation into English during the 19th century.
One of my favorite music videos is by Oglala Lakota artist Tee Iron Cloud for a song called “Good Voice Wolf.” In it, he has a verse describing how the Lakota don’t have the devil in their beliefs and calling Bear Lodge with that name is an offense. Iron Cloud also theorizes in the song that belief in the existence of the devil led to negativity, such as alcoholism for Indigenous people.
While visiting the gift shop, I saw for sale a large print of a painting depicting an enormous bear climbing Bear Lodge. A visitor saw it and asked the park ranger if the name will ever be officially changed. She responded that it’ll probably take more time and an act of Congress.
The experience reminded me that the names of places and words do matter. We have our own struggles with the misuse of Indigenous names and symbols, and even some derogatory words as names for places here in Wisconsin that are slowly being corrected.
Dozens of school districts in Wisconsin still use Indigenous-based mascots and several police departments still used Indigenous-based logos.
And the U.S. Department of the Interior is working with the state’s Department of Natural Resources to change the names of dozens of places in Wisconsin that are called a derogatory word for female Indigenous people.
The work continues and I hope my reporting can help create an understanding of cultures. Perhaps, we can finally make the words right.
If you like this newsletter, please invite a friend to subscribe to it. And if you have tips or suggestions for this newsletter, please email me at fvaisvilas@gannett.com.
About me
I'm Frank Vaisvilas, a Report For America corps member based at the Green Bay Press-Gazette covering Native American issues in Wisconsin. You can reach me at 920-228-0437 or fvaisvilas@gannett.com, or on Twitter at @vaisvilas_frank. Please consider supporting journalism that informs our democracy with a tax-deductible gift to this reporting effort at GreenBayPressGazette.com/RFA.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Getting Indigenous names right is important
