President Barack Obama will today officially restore the name “Denali” to Mt. McKinley, restoring the traditional Athabascan name for Alaska’s and North America’s highest peak. Some Republicans are already complaining that the President is once again going around Congress (just as you will go around little old ladies doing fifty on I-90).
Should South Dakota imperialists worry that the President’s next executive action will take imperialist killer General William Harney’s name off South Dakota’s highest peak and replace it with a Lakota name like Hinhan Kaga or Black Elk?
The Denali/McKinley question differs in several ways from the Hinhan Kaga/Black Elk/Harney question. As Interior Secretary Sally Jewell’s Order #3337 notes, Alaska’s governor and legislature approved this change back in 1975. Alaska’s Congressional delegation has sought recognition of the change from the federal Board of Geographic Names, but Ohio keeps saying no way:
Every year, the same story plays out in Washington, D.C.: Alaska legislators sometimes file bills to change the name from Mount McKinley to Denali, and every year, someone in the Ohio congressional delegation — the home state of the 25th President William McKinley — files legislation to block a name change [Erica Martinson, “McKinley No More: America’s Tallest Peak to Be Renamed Denali,” Alaska Dispatch News, 2015.08.30].
Secretary Jewell cites federal law authorizing the Interior Secretary to act on name changes “in any matter wherein the Board does not act within a reasonable time.” Forty years seems more than reasonable time for Congress to find a solution. Having failed to act, Congress by law must defer to Interior, which is approving the change desired by the people most directly affected.
The name Denali was known and used by locals long before 1896, when prospector William A. Dickey affixed “McKinley” to the mountain in celebration of the Republican Party’s nomination of gold-standard advocate William McKinley for President in 1896. President William McKinley never visited the mountain or the District of Alaska (not a territory until 1912). The European name thus didn’t recognize any personal association between McKinley and the mountain; at best, it celebrated a single political position that McKinley adopted to win elections.
The Hinhan Kaga/Black Elk/Harney question is also before the Board of Geographic Names, but the history and circumstances don’t match Denali’s. General William Harney played a more direct role in South Dakota history, making war on the Sioux whose descendants live here, conducting early explorations of the Black Hills, and making treaties with the Indians. Unlike Alaska, South Dakota has not come to a firm consensus on renaming Harney Peak. South Dakota’s Board on Geographic Names has flip-flopped, recommending the traditional Lakota name last May, then reversing itself at the end of June after South Dakota’s executive branch intervened on behalf of keeping Harney’s name on the mountain. Our Congressional delegation has not blocked the federal Board of Geographic Names from hearing the matter, and BGN will take up a proposal to rename our highest mountain Black Elk Peak on September 10 (see Quarterly Review List 419, 2015.01.26).
President Obama’s recognition of Denali is a positive intervention on behalf of Native and white Alaskans, whose will has been blocked by Ohio politicians imposing their preferences across the continent. Much as I would like the President to intervene on behalf of Lakota people who would prefer the name of a white imperialist be removed from their spiritually significant Black Hills, I suspect he will wait until South Dakotans can come to a consensus as Alaskans have on honoring Native tradition.
So, I’m leaning toward Heȟáka Sápa Paha as a compromise on the Black Hills peak.
Now that this dead horse is being drug out for another good beating, let’s just change Harney Peak to the newly available name: Mt. McKinley.
Although it may no longer be galloping or even trotting, that Horse With No Name ain’t dead yet. In the Badlands, they can remember the name, cause there ain’t no Wrede for to give them no pain. After this summer, it feels good to be out of the rain. And the story it told of the Cheyenne that flowed made me sad to think it was dead. La, laaa, laaa, la la la la la, la, la, laaa, laaa, la…
Obie breathes-wingnut’s heads ‘splode.
That’s funny El Rayo X. Speaking of names, what’s the story behind your pseudonym? Just curious because it’s more creative than the usual.
Naturally the local rednecks think Denali is a Muslim word and proves that President Obama is a Muslim. No Kidding.
SEND POSITIVE COMMENTS TO:
Mr. Lou Yost, Exec. Secretary
U.S. Board on Geographic Names/Domestic Names Committee
523 National Center
Reston VA 20192-0523
by mail or email:
BGNEXEC@usgs.gov
or fax:
(703) 648-4549
or call (703) 648-4552
It is thought that written, addressed, signed comments directed at a COMPELLING reason to change the name, would be most persuasive.
It is compelling that Indian people are forced to pray in the shadow of a sacred and holy church in the heart of the Great Sioux Nation’s highest peak that was co-opted in name by their military captors in 1865.
That war-general Harney’s unrestrained dawn attack on Little Thunder’s Brule’ village on Blue Water creek, 1855 was putative in response to a mis-named 1854 “MASSACRE” of Lieutenant Grattan and his 30 troops over an emaciated Morman cow. This began a military campaign against plains Indians culminating in the Wounded Knee Massacre, 1890.
General Harney may not deserve recognition, and at their expense, under the circumstances.
COMMENTS DUE 9.30.2015
Leslie, has the federal Board of Geographic Names posted any of the comments submitted so far? I’d be curious to see how much interest the issue has generated at that level and whether the yes/no balance is any different from our own process.
this is a BLACK ELK PEAK proposal at the federal level. the state board was remonstrated by the federal board for bringing HINNAN KAGA PAHA into the process creating confusion and diluting the original proposal.
i will investigate and report back on Basil Brave Heart’s proposal to change the name of Harney Peak to Black Elk Peak. The state board has only been in business a few years while the federal board celebrates 125 years service. many of the negative local comments were extremeley personal, abrasive attacks on the state board members and staff.
Hinhan
So we have a Federal agency suggesting to change the name to Black Elk Peak, yet the tribe has indicated that isn’t something they are entirely comfortable with since they don’t often name things after themselves or specific individuals. However – with this aside surely the name is preferable to Harney Peak in their eyes correct?
How about we call it Black Elk Peak, but the logo design will feature a silhouette of an Elk in front of the stylized outline of the peak… thus inferring “black elk” refers to an animal rather than a specific person. In truth since native tribes named themselves after animals and locations this seems fitting… but I’d still prefer to hear from the tribe in a formal manner rather than individuals who cannot speak on behalf of the tribe.
el rayo x’s “dead horse” seeks again to “fake-out” positive supporters from making crucial comments necessary at the federal level. “horse w/no name” and even cory’s early coverage mock’s the seriousness of this racial/social/cultural issue for the survival of a whole race of people we are intimately neighbors with in the Black Hills.
CRAIG-Most tribes in SD and perhaps some nationally have submitted resolutions of support.
pretty sure “3/4s Adult Indian males” DID NOT sign on to seizure of the black hills. one spokesman for tribes is unrealistic.
Basil Brave Heart has mentioned both concepts of Black Elk/black elk.
Quit picking at grains of sand, climb out of white privilege, and support these people’s request, Craig. Ask everyone you know to do the same. An email is a simple thing. Thank you.
Today Wapo has an article about other landmarks that ought to be renamed. Mt. Rushmore is on the list.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/08/31/beyond-denali-5-renamed-american-landmarks/?wpmm=1&wpisrc=nl_p1most
tsitrian’s blog today tackles commander harney’s tactical trapping, taking hostage and killing Lakota women and children in 1855.
the name change is simple yet the devil is in the details. a local 80s something Lakota elder (with a masters in ed) made a letter request-the recently commissioned state board agreed with it based on positive comments, but changed the name. their approval garnered press, white and administrative hostility, more comments, the board flip-flopped, denied the request, and packed up their file with Custer Chronicle and SD newspaper assn. front page dissents, and sent it to the 125 year old federal board.
The federal board now reviews the original proposal: BlACK ELK PEAK.
The Indian’s voluminous grass roots petition signatures in support may not count for much, in comparison to full comments. Hard to identify the signers, apparently. So please get in this second round of comments as summarized in an earlier post to this thread.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/denali-america-history-using-indian-nomenclature-180956497/?no-ist