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Federal plan to quickly rename 18 places across WA clashes with slower state process

File:USA_Washington_relief_location_map.jpg
Carport
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CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
The U.S. Department of the Interior has identified 18 places in Washington State named with a slur against Indigenous women. The rivers, ridges, lakes, canyons and other places across the state will eventually receive new names as part of a renaming initiative.

The U.S. Department of the Interior has identified 18 places in Washington State named with a slur for Indigenous women.

The plan is to swap them for more descriptive names based on location and geography, as part of a larger initiative to replace this derogatory term in 660 geographical areas and landmarks nationwide, with an emphasis on speed.

But the federal plan clashes with the state's slower, more deliberate process for renaming places.

Olympia correspondent Austin Jenkins joined KNKX Morning Edition host Kirsten Kendrick to break it all down.

Kirsten Kendrick hosts Morning Edition on KNKX and the sports interview series "Going Deep," talking with folks tied to sports in our region about what drives them — as professionals and people.
Vivian McCall is a former KNKX reporter, producer and host. She previously spent eight years as a reporter in Chicago, where she wrote for the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times and WBEZ public radio.