Naming the Sacred

Letter to the Editor of the Arizona Daily Sun

Hello Flagstaff Community,

I am writing in response to Marian Moore’s letter of June 20, 2021. As a 28-year resident of Flagstaff and ninth-generation settler descended from Celtic and Germanic peoples, I support the Diné youth and Indigenous community members who are working to rename “Agassiz Peak.” Louis Agassiz’ complex legacy includes both racist pseudo-science and valuable contributions as a naturalist.

For too long, settler colonialism has displaced and erased the First Peoples of this continent. Massacres, stolen land and boarding schools generated severe trauma. There is an ongoing pattern of exploiting sacred sites for corporate profit and renaming these places after European men, some of whom advanced racist ideologies and perpetrated horrific acts. On many occasions, I have heard Indigenous neighbors share that they feel unwelcome, unsafe and invisibilized here in Flagstaff, on their own ancestral land.

I’m friends with people who worked across historic divides in the Black Hills of South Dakota. A mountain formerly named after a general who perpetrated a massacre of Lakota people is now called Black Elk Peak, in honor of the Lakota holy man Nicholas Black Elk. Such a change is possible and would be vital for our entire community.

We cannot deny our difficult history, but we can take steps to acknowledge, repair and heal together, with compassion and respect. Let’s honor this special place we call home by supporting Indigenous youth to restore culturally appropriate name(s) to the mountain that is central to their identities and well-being.