28 Colorado Landmarks With Indigenous Slur To Be Renamed

COLORADO — Twenty-eight geographic locations across Colorado will be renamed by a federal task force after Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland deemed a term used in each of the names to be derogatory. The specific term, which Patch won't publish, is an "offensive ethnic, racial, and sexist slur, particularly for Indigenous women."

More than 650 locations across the country have been identified as containing this derogatory term and are part of the secretary's review and name-replacement process led by her newly-created Derogatory Geographic Names Task Force.

The counties home to these soon-to-be renamed locations include Archuleta, Chaffee, Clear Creek, Eagle, Fremont, Gunnison, Hinsdale, Mesa, Montezuma, Ouray, Routt, Saguache, Summit, Teller, Weld, Yuma, Baca and Dolores.

"Racist terms have no place in our vernacular or on our federal lands. Our nation’s lands and waters should be places to celebrate the outdoors and our shared cultural heritage – not to perpetuate the legacies of oppression," Haaland said in a statement last November when the task force was officially started. "Today’s actions will accelerate an important process to reconcile derogatory place names and mark a significant step in honoring the ancestors who have stewarded our lands since time immemorial."

The word may once have been used to mean 'woman,' but it has since become a racist, misogynistic slur, ABC 7 reported.

In December, Colorado renamed one of its mountains — whose previous name contained the offensive word — to honor a local, historical indigenous woman, according to the Denver television channel.

The mountain is now called Mestaa’ėhehe Mountain.

Mestaa’ėhehe, also known as Owl Woman, helped manage relations between the Cheyenne, Arapaho and European settlers, according to the Colorado Hall of Fame.

"A derogatory name that is meant to diminish the sacredness and power of our women is no more," said Teanna Limpy, director of the Northern Cheyenne Tribal Historic Preservation Office, in a statement reacting to the name change. "Mestaa’ėhehe will be standing tall on that mountain for many generations to come, continuing to be a story of inspiration for all, and perhaps a story that also inspires others to continue to learn other Indigenous cultures and languages."

You can read the proposed names for the 28 locations here.