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Name change coming for Alpena-area bay

ALPENA -- An Alpena place name contains a word many view as derogatory and must be changed, the federal government says.

Residents can have a say in the new name for the bay south of Partridge Point, currently titled with a word many view as an ethnic, racial, and sexist slur, particularly toward Native American women.

Residents have mixed feelings about the impending change, weighing the bay name's long history against the potential of causing offense.

For Native Americans, the change will right a wrong, said Gwen Savard-Porritt, an Atlanta resident and member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians.

The word hurts people, Savard-Porritt said, and "it needs to be done away with."

With authority granted in federal statutes, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland -- a member of the Laguna Pueblo tribe and the first Native American cabinet secretary -- in November officially declared the word a derogatory term and ordered the U.S. Board on Geographic Names to replace it in all geographic references.

In coming months, the board will rename more than 660 locations whose names contain the word -- including the bay south of Alpena and 22 other locations in Michigan.

The board will draw on resident suggestions or nearby geographic features to create the new names.

The Alpena bay's new name could include a derivative of Lake Huron, Partridge Point, Devil's Lake, or Bare Point, based on a list of suggestions provided to the board by the U.S. Geological Survey.

Residents with ideas they like better can share them with the board by visiting the website regulations.gov.

The change follows other comprehensive name changes, including in the 1960s and 1970s, when the board identified and replaced pejorative terms for Black or Japanese people, according to the Interior Department.

Some states, including Montana, Oregon, Maine, and Minnesota, have passed legislation prohibiting the use of the word the federal board now references as "sq___" in all official communications.

Some sources attribute the Alpena bay's current name to a Native American woman who died near the bay while mourning a man she loved, or to the story of a man frightening a Native American woman as she fished on the bay.

The Michigan Department of Transportation does not include the bay's current name on its maps, according to an MDOT spokesman. The name does appear on Google Maps.

Denise Russell, like some of her neighbors on South Partridge Point Road, thinks the government ought to leave the name alone.

The bay has gone by its current name for as long as local residents can remember, she said, and nobody intends offense by it.

The word used to be an honorable word, not a derogatory one, Russell said.

"Now, it's considered that because people decided that," she said. "People are misconstruing the whole thing."

A few houses down the road, David Pelleran was surprised to learn that some Native American people find the word degrading.

"I've seen it in history books, right?" Pelleran said. "I just thought it meant wife."

People who use the bay's name don't think about it as words that could offend someone, he said.

"You don't even think of the name," Pelleran said. "It's like Long Lake. It's just the name."

If someone was hurt by the name, though, it should be changed, his wife, Lori Pelleran, said.

"If it was called 'White Girl Lake,' or something like that, I wouldn't be offended," she said. "But, if it is offensive, I certainly wouldn't want to be offensive to anybody. If they change it, so be it."

Savard-Porritt said her mother taught her not to say "the s-word."

Raised in St. Ignace, Porritt didn't know her heritage until she was a teenager, her parents hiding it from her because to be Native American was to be mistreated and looked down upon, she said.

Resembling words that might be found in crude locker room-talk, the word to be removed has no place in polite society, she said, comparing it to "the n-word," recognized by many as unacceptably hurtful.

"It's right there with it," Savard-Porritt said. "Neck and neck."

Not every word associated with a culture, even negatively, has to be banished, she said.

Her maiden name, Savard, translates in French to "savage," a word that made her uncomfortable when she was younger but that she has now embraced and finds "kind of cool."

Some dislike the term "American Indian," but, while she prefers Native American as more accurate, she thinks fighting the alternate title is not worth the battle.

If people learn that their words hurt people and choose to use them anyway, they should be ashamed of using those words, Savard-Porritt said.

"But if you gain more knowledge and then change, you should be proud," she said. "Because change is hard."

Julie Riddle can be reached at 989-358-5693 or jriddle@thealpenanews.com. Follow her on Twitter @jriddleX.

To suggest a name

Residents may suggest new names for the bay south of Partridge Point in Alpena to the Derogatory Geographic Names Task Force through April 25.

∫ Visit regulations.gov. Enter DOI-2022-0001 in the search bar and click "Search."

∫ Click" Comment" under Reconciliation of Derogatory Geographic Names.

∫ Share suggested names in the Comment box. Also include the following:

"Agency name: Geological Survey; Feature ID: 638662; Docket number: GX22EF00COM000."

∫ Commenters may include explanations of their name suggestions and may attach photos or documents if desired.