Arizona Mountain Renamed for Fallen Native American Servicewoman (Feminazis: it's done deal)

Feminist Daily News Wire ^ | April 18, 2003

[Timesink]

Arizona Mountain Renamed for Fallen Native American Servicewoman

Feminist Daily News Wire
April 18, 2003

In the hopes of righting a historical wrong while honoring the first American servicewoman killed in Iraq, Squaw Peak in Arizona-- named for the derogatory term for Native American woman-- will now be called Piestewa Peak, after Private Lori Piestewa.

Piestewa, a member of the Hopi Tribe from Arizona, also was the first Native American servicewoman ever to be killed in the line of duty, according to the Associated Press. "I'm wondering if during her short life Army Pfc. Lori Piestewa was ever referred to as a squaw." It will never happen now. She has earned that much. Not just for herself, but for every woman like her," wrote Arizona Republic columnist E.J. Montini.

Despite charges of political posturing by Republicans, Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano pushed for the mountain name change and encouraged the State Board on Geographic and Historic Names to waive its five-year waiting period. In a 5-1 vote yesterday, the board also recommended that Squaw Peak Freeway be renamed Lori Piestewa Freeway-- the State Board of Transportation could approve that change by the end of May.

Piestewa, 23, was a single mother raising a 4-year-old boy and a 3-year-old girl. She was among the members of the Army?s 507th Maintenance Company, attacked March 23 when it made a wrong turn near Nasiriyah. Piestewa?s remains were recovered along with the bodies of seven other members of the 507th Company when Pfc. Jessica Lynch was rescued from an Iraqi hospital. Lynch and Piestewa were good friends and roommates, according to the AP.

Piestewa was one of 12,800 Native Americans and 56 Hopis serving in the US military-- it is unknown how many of those are women. Information on female Native American servicewomen is scarce, Brenda Finnicum, a retired career Army nurse and member of the Lumbee tribe who has spent the past five years trying to gather data on Native American women veterans, told the AP. "The men bring their military home with them and the women don't," Finnicum said. "Indian women are what I call the invisible warrior. You don't see them."

[OneVike]

Even if it was called "Heaven Mountain", I have no problem with this.

A name is only a name, if they want to honor a fallen soldier in this way then let them.

All mountains, rivers, highways, and woods have a name given to them wether it be by native americans or fur trappers. I beleve that this is one time that the name change is for an honorable person and we should all except it and go on.

[chiller]

Gov. Janet was one of the lead attorneys in the Clarence Thomas hearings.

Guilty here of political pandering, since Indian reservations helped get her in a close election v. Salmon.

Worse. She's basically accused most of us of being racist. Typical divisive politics.

I, and probably most, thought Pocahantos was an Indian squaw, not some vagina. BS.

And finally, this Dem circumvented the law, which was put in place to prevent EX-FRIGGIN-ACTLY this kind of emotional response.

Hats of pfc. Piestewa

[DoorGunner]

This one is interesting, FWIW.

 

http://www.nativeweb.org/pages/legal/squaw.html

 

DG

[Verginius Rufus]

I think the feminist claim that "squaw" means "vagina" has been shown to be totally bogus and a recent invention.

I think it's a bad idea to name things for people who are still alive, since you can't be sure what they are going to do in the remainder of their lives, but we have a long history of doing so in this country: Washington, D.C., for example, was named while George Washington was still alive. Many counties named after heroes of the American Revolution received those names while their namesake was still alive.

[SamAdams76]

I'm not speaking to the name change at all. I couldn't care less about that. They could name it Candy Rock Mountain for all I care. I just wanted to know how squaw came to be an offensive term and I'm not getting any straight answers. The term "squaw" was used in some Westerns years ago and it did not seem to be used in a derisive way. Does anybody out there know the history of this term?

[madfly]

If you read the Tribune, front page, it shows we have a governor who thinks she is above the law. The article did not mention it but the Board on Geographic and Historic names is composed of the six people plus a number of community members according to KFYI. The community members were not invited to the meeting and were not allowed to vote which is illegal.

[HungarianGypsy]

>That Arizona Republic was intrumental in trashing her opponent in the last election, then they have the gall to call me on the phone and try to get me to subcribe. I don't ask to be taken off of their list though, as I love giving the sales people an earful when they call.<

I once told one of their salespeople that it doesn't matter how many times they change the pretty pictures (they change print format every few months) I will not subscribe to a horribly biased newspaper. The salesperson said he understood and knew what I was talking about.
For some reason I found the paper delivered to my driveway a few days in a row and there was no record of my address being subscribed. A week after I took care of that it ended up on my driveway again.

[DLfromthedesert]

Yes, I know. Butch strikes again.

And in this case, I don't think it wise to fight her; we'll just look petty.

Piestewa's family is happy with this, and I certainly would not want to do anything to cause them more pain.

[Tancredo Fan]

Napolitano is a disgrace.

[OneVike]

We all know how the word "Squaw" became derogetory, the question is why should we as " Constitutionall beleving Freepers" stand in the way of a name change of a mountain for any reason.

I do believe the facts stand that most Arizonians agree with the name change. Regardless of the reason let them have what they want.

Besides why should it take Five Years For a stupid mountain to have a name changed, are not we all against Bureaucracy and it's red tape?

[madfly]

Piestewa's family is happy with this, and I certainly would not want to do anything to cause them more pain.

I agree with this and I'm sure Napo was counting on Mr. Norton to be sympathetic and dispense with the 5 year wait.

I heard a man at the meeting, who was against the name change, mention Barry Goldwater, and I have a feeling that Mr. Norton's office has had a request in the works to change the name of SP to Goldwater Peak. Barry will have been dead 5 years on May 29, 2003, a little over a month from now and if that's the case, there would be a lot upheaval if he scrapped any such plans so close to the 5 year mark.

[rabidralph]

I have heard from a credible source that squaw is a derrogutory term for a part of the female anatomy. There's an english word that starts with "c" that is similar.

"Delores!"

[SamAdams76]

You are using a straw man argument. I do not speak to the issue of the naming of mountains of Arizona. The people of Arizona can name their mountains after the members of the Dave Clark Five for all I care. I am speaking of the term "squaw." There was once a Cher song called "Half-Breed" in which the term squaw was used. When that song was popular and on the radio, I was only about 11 years old. I used to ask my mother what "squaw" meant but like the posters in this thread, she never answered me. And while the question has not occupied me all that much in the 30 years since, the answer has always eluded me.

Now I looked up squaw in the dictionary and it was defined as "Indian girl." Since there is nothing bad about being an "Indian girl", I now wonder why the term is considered derogatory. Is it legitimately considered an insult by Indian girls or is it just another pet project of the PC police to mess with our vocabulary? Such as trying to change the word "handicapped" to "handy-capable." This I would like to know and if it is agreed by my fellow Freepers that the word is indeed offensive, then I will continue to never use it. If it is agreed by my fellow Freepers that the word is not offensive, then I will still not use it on account that I do not know any Indian women with which to apply it to.

[DLfromthedesert]

Nope .... runt!!!

[MARTIAL MONK]

The five year requirement is to let time put things in perspective. We can all salute Lori Piestewa but this isn't just a mountain. It is one of the premier landmarks in Phoenix. It is like changing the name of Mount Rushmore to Mount Joe Smith.

Joe Foss died in Arizona recently. His contributions are without doubt the stuff of heros. There is no mountain named for him. Without dishonoring her sacrifice, Piestewa Peak is a slap in the face. It is, however, likely to remain.

[MARTIAL MONK]

You're right, this is probably going to stick. JN has us backed into a corner. We can be as imaginative ourselves. I propose we change the name of Nigger's Well to Janet's Hole. We can play too.

[Cowboy Bob]

Speaking of Napolitano, my father seems to recall that she was somehow involved in trying to undermine the nomination of Justice Thomas to the Supreme Court.

Does anyone recall whether she was involved?