In Lewis County, the cities of Winlock and Morton are each home to their own Coon Creek. As it turns out though, that name is not the preferred nomenclature.
A map recently released by the Washington State Democrats lists at least 36 locations across the state, including the Lewis County creeks, that are outfitted with names deemed to be either racially or culturally offensive.
That list was compiled thanks to the efforts of Washington State Sen. Pramila Jayapal, a Seattle resident who represents the 37th Legislative District. Jayapal, who is a candidate for the U.S. Senate this year, says she became committed to the effort to identify and ultimately change the derogatory place names after a citizen reached out to her for help in getting the name of a creek in Chelan County changed.
The location in Chelan was previously named Coon Lake. The concerned citizen who contacted Jayapal said he had been working for eight years to get the name changed, with no success. With Jayapal’s help, though, the tide was turned on the lake name, and as of November 2015 it was renamed Howard Lake, in honor of the pioneer who helped settle the area.
The process to change the name of a place is not a quick one. First, the name must make it on a list to be reviewed by the State Committee on Geographic Names. Once the committee deems the name to be offensive, the public is given an opportunity to weigh in on ideas for a new name, which is often the most difficult part of the process.
Ideas for new names are often plentiful, and colorful, but they must meet a certain criteria. For instance, the new name must carry a historical significance to the area, and if named after a person, that person must be deceased for at least five years.
Once the new name is chosen, it is kicked back to the State Board of Geographic Names for final approval. Both of the Geographic Names groups are tasked by the Department of Natural Resources.
“Any citizen can propose a change,” noted Jayapal, who encouraged citizens to contact her with concerns or the locations of inappropriately named places that did not make the first incarnation of the list.
Jayapal said that the list is by no means considered to be comprehensive. Rather, it is a starting point compiled by searching a federal database by keyword. The senator added that she has already received a good deal of feedback from citizens who support the effort, including citizens with tips on offensively named places that should be added to the list.
Some of the names, like the trio Jim Crow Point, hill and creek in Wahkiakum County, Chinaman’s Hat in Kittitas County and a slough of Negro- and Squaw-themed places across the state are obviously, and irrefutably offensive, said Jayapal, so they will likely be addressed first. Other places, however, like those dubbed with the monicker Coon, may be up for debate.
Jayapal noted that “Coon” is a bit of a gray area that could refer to either a person’s surname or raccoons. “The Coons could be more complicated if they are in places with lots of raccoons for instance,” said Jayapal. “We’ll make sure that they are not named after an animal as part of the process.”
When asked about the renaming of Lewis County’s Coon creeks, County Commissioner Bill Schulte was incredulous, noting that, “Where I’m from in Kentucky a coon is a raccoon. I would not have thought of that as an insult at all.” The commissioner added, “All of my family back there goes coon hunting.”
Schulte said that he had not heard of Jayapal’s effort until questioned by The Chronicle, but it reminded him of his time in Florida, where all of the old U.S. Coast Guard maps used racially insensitive names for many of the islands that make up The Keys. Schulte noted that the last time he looked at a map of Florida it appeared that all of the names had been changed.
“I would support that type of effort,” said the commissioner.
To Jayapal, the need to change the names is not one of if, but when.
“We’re taking this as we are going to change the names,” said the senator.
How long that process takes is another story entirely.
“It’s going to take a while,” said Jayapal, but she is hopeful that the first round of changes could happen this year, beginning with a Coon Creek in King County. From there she is hopeful that Washington’s map will see multiple name changes per year until the issue is resolved.
Jayapal said there are two primary reasons that the names must be changed. For starters, she says it is obvious that the issue is important to a lot of Washingtonians based on the dialogues that she has had with citizens. The second reason is that the names inherently make many visitors and Washingtonians alike “feel disrespected and isolated.”
“Nobody should name a place after something horrible. They name them after somebody or something they want to honor,” said Jayapal. She added, “Particularly, our state needs to show that we don’t tolerate racism.”
Jayapal is certain that she is going to experience some pushback from locals who are attached to the historic names for a variety of reasons, but she insists that moving forward with more honorable names is the right move for Washington, saying, “Keeping the names is not honoring history.”
In a press release on the name changing effort, Jayapal said, “We can’t change the past, but we can change our course so as not to repeat our past mistakes.”
Nationally, there are more than 1,400 places with names deemed to contain racial slurs. Some counts have put the tally in Washington alone as high as 48.
A map of the offensively named places in Washington can be viewed online at http://sdc.wastateleg.org/map-2/. Senator Jayapal can be reached by email at Pramila.Jayapal@leg.wa.gov, or by phone at (360) 786-7688.
