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California/Nevada Squaw Valley to discuss removing slur against Native Americans from California resort’s name.

Philpug

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Excerpt:
(Sacbee) The owners of Squaw Valley near Lake Tahoe are inviting Native American leaders to discuss the use of the ethnic and sexist slur in its name, as the movement to remove symbols of colonialism and indigenous oppression has grown throughout the country.

Christine Horvath, a representative from Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows, said in an email that the business is currently creating a plan to review the use of the term “squaw” and invite regional tribal leaders to provide guidance.

“Of course, what’s going on right now prompted us to say, ‘Look, we really need to take a look at this, and we need to get everyone involved,’ ” Horvath said. She emphasized that this was just the start of a conversation about the use of the word.

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Wasatchman

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Interesting. I had no idea it was an ethnic or sexist slur. Good on them for reaching out to the Native American community.
 

Slide of Hans

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Similar name change happened up in Maine in the late 90s. The State changed the name of Squaw Mountain , home of Big Squaw ski area , to Big Moose Mountain but the ski resort still retains the squaw name.
 
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Philpug

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IF they choose to go down this path, I would be interested here what the options could be. Any thoughts?
 

Wasatchman

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IF they choose to go down this path, I would be interested here what the options could be. Any thoughts?
If it is a slur (Wikipedia says it is) and the native American community opposes it, I don't know how in good conscience they can keep the name. To me, name should change if the Native American community opposes it. No options to consider.

Crazy. I had no idea it was a slur.

Edit: think about it. If this were any other minority community would we be even having this discussion? I think Native Americans really get the shaft. As I said, I didn't even know it was a slur.
 
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Tony

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Olympic Valley is the name of the Post Office and shows up at the end of the road on my iPhone. Would they have to change a lot more such as the name of the road and Squaw Peak, Squaw Valley Academy and Squaw Valley Bikes to name a few?
 
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Carl Kuck

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Interestingly enough, I was in Gallup once with my wife visiting her sister and brother-in-law. I asked Lorrin if the locals (Navajo, Hopi, Zuni) were offended by the Washington Redskins football team name, he just pointed out the number of Native Americans wearing Redskins hats, shirts, etc.
 

Slide of Hans

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Article about issue from 2002, was a national push for decades.
 

dbostedo

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Interestingly enough, I was in Gallup once with my wife visiting her sister and brother-in-law. I asked Lorrin if the locals (Navajo, Hopi, Zuni) were offended by the Washington Redskins football team name, he just pointed out the number of Native Americans wearing Redskins hats, shirts, etc.
In many polls of Native Americans, a large majority don't find the Washington Redskins name offensive. But some Native Americans find it very offensive. So the question has been for a while now, do you respond to the minority that's offended? Or do you let the majority decide?
 

VladSki

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A few years back SiriusXM in Canada banned Hank Thompson's 1950s country classic "Squaws along the Yukon" for exactly the same reason. It has been only a matter of time for the SV name change to be brought up in a serious discussion.
 

Andy Mink

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Years ago my Grandmother had two Native Americans working for her. They lived at the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony. I asked one if she preferred Native American or Indian. She said she didn't care; the sign at the colony said Indian and she was fine with that.

Discussion on the subject is good and the name may change. On the other hand it may not be as offensive as some people think it is or should be.
 

SBrown

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Talking (and listening) is always a good plan. My old high school established a relationship with the Arapaho Nation after there was some controversy over the school name and mascot (Arapahoe Warriors). The mascot was one of those silly cartoonish Indians, and they redrew it to reflect a true Arapaho warrior. Now there is an annual exchange with tribe members and students, mutual respect, and all that good stuff.


Some more info:
After complaints about the pejorative depiction of Native Americans, principal Ron Booth sought a direct relationship with the tribe by travelling to the tribe's location in Wyoming for a personal meeting with tribal elders. After an extensive process, the tribe and Chief Anthony Sitting Eagle approved a relationship between the school and the tribe, establishing relationship methodology through a specific declaration.[20]

The original logo of Arapahoe High School more closely depicted a Pawnee Indian. On September 17, 1993 the Arapaho Nation and Arapahoe High School held the Arapahoe Warrior Assembly. This assembly dedicated the school's new, and current, Warrior mascot, created by Northern Arapaho artist, Wilbur Antelope.

Since then, the Northern Arapaho tribe has endorsed the name of the high school (as spelled with an "e" at the end) and its use of the current warrior mascot, provided by the tribe. The large gym was refinished and renamed the Sitting Eagle Gymnasium (this is now the Main gym) on December 9, 1993.

According to the original agreement made by the school, the mascot is not to be put on the floor (where one could walk on it) or on any article of clothing.[20] However, whether through subsequent agreement or disregard on the part of the school, the mascot can be found on a wide variety of clothing. However, it is not found on any football uniform (where it may be rubbed into the ground), and the school does not portray a Native American Warrior at any sporting event.

Tribal members visit the school for important events, speaking every year at graduation, and every two years a larger group will visit the school to perform various traditional dances and speak about Native American culture.
 

raytseng

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IF they choose to go down this path, I would be interested here what the options could be. Any thoughts?
It's referred to as Olympic Valley, CA in terms of the town/area... that would work. "Olympine" for the combo.

I would agree Olympic valley or related would be the front runner. From the practical perspective, peoples google map locations, weather, hotels.com searches would now all come up correctly.

Name changes are not completely unknown, but usually they have been more minor and conpletely for branding.
I dont think guests/enthusiasts are going to put up too much opposition to the names they alreadly have very little attachment to names they just want to ski. When they rename runs or lifts people don't care. At most they refer to the old names just fo nostalgia or jokes like calling the lift hotter wheels rather than tlc. At kirkwood, i have no idea how it came to pass that the local mannerism is to refer to "chair #" (not lifts) rather than the names.

If the initiatives gets to something like they recolor black diamonds to like plaid or something, I think people also won't really care but begin to shake their heads that this is a misguided focus and effort. Like i mentioned in a different thread maybe nice to have but it is not really the most important problem and thing that needs improvement to improve diversity.

Perhaps even this renaming is also in the nicetohave performance category type of change avoiding tackling those much bigger hard areas of improvement .
Especially if this is getting so intense to take time to have meetings and discussions and not just a quick arbitrary change. I am sure the beneficiaries would rather discuss other practical things like why not more native americans skiing or provide jobs and career paths vs all this effort and resources around the name. Keep the name but start up 10 scholorships and learn to skiing programs and maybe an educational display at the base I imagine they may say.
 
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Philpug

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Olympic Valley is the name of the Post Office and shows up at the end of the road on my iPhone. Would they have to change a lot more such as the name of the road and Squaw Peak, Squaw Valley Academy and Squaw Valley Bikes to name a few?
IF they are to change it, Olympic Valley does make sense. I am sure there is going to be a ton of pushback from the locals, they will all have to replace their "Keep Squaw Valley True" bumper stickers....or..... :rolleyes:
 

noncrazycanuck

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when it's renamed to remove a slur against Native Americans wouldn't the logical choice be what they called the area ?
in B.C. and many other areas of Canada this is fairly common, usually the first step is joint signage then evolves completely to Aboriginal name over time.
 

David Chaus

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Whatever they change the name of the resort to, Squaw Peak is still there, as well as Squaw Creek. Is it OK to leave those named as is, even if the resort is renamed? That would likely require a legislative process, or Forest Service process.
 

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