Rural(ish) folks, from New York to California, resist letting go of Native American names and symbols

Two recent stories, one from New York and the other from California, tell of rural-ish communities who are resisting letting go of Native American names and symbols in the face of state-wide mandates that such names and symbols be relinquished.  

The first story was this one by Jesse McKinley reporting from upstate New York for the New York Times under the headline, "Native American Mascots Are on Their Way Out. Some Schools Aren’t Happy."  This excerpt regards Salamanca, population 5,529, which lies within the Seneca nation in the western part of the state: 

Mark Beehler, the superintendent, said that school officials and the Senecas were in discussions to keep their mascot — also the Warriors. He noted that the school had both a link to tribal traditions and a large number of Native children enrolled.

Indeed, Dr. Beehler said that an informal survey of the student body had found that “the preponderance of students” wanted to keep the logo and mascot. He said that some Native parents and students had suggested that getting rid of the Warriors was an act of eliminating Native American symbols and Native American heritage.

Here's a direct quote from Beehler:

They clearly articulated at one point that, ‘We’ve been pushed off our land, our history has been changed, and now we’re faced with having even symbols and identity pushed out of the school that we send our children to.’”

This could very well be one of those baby-with-the-bath-water-type circumstances.

Beehler added, "that while he understands the Education Department’s position, he understood sentiment inside his school, too." He continues, 

If our district decides that we want to continue to keep the logo and the Seneca Nation agrees and is comfortable with that then we wholeheartedly believe that we should have that option.

On the other hand, Rickey Armstrong, Sr., President of the Seneca Nation "hailed the [New York Education] department's letter in November, calling it 'a positive step whose time has long since come.'"

The second story, from Fresno Bee, is about the efforts of some in the community formerly known as Squaw Valley, in Fresno County, to reverse its recent renaming as Yokuts Valley.  Melissa Montalvo reports: 

[T]he Fresno County Board of Supervisors has filed a lawsuit against California as part of their latest effort to preserve the name of a foothill community now called Yokuts Valley.

In the lawsuit, Fresno County alleges that a new state law violates the community’s right to free speech. Some Fresno County and Yokuts Valley residents criticized as “frivolous.”

At the heart of the conflict is a new state law that removes the term “squaw” from over 100 geographic features and place names in the state because it’s widely considered a racist and sexist slur. The community, which had been called Squaw Valley for over 150 years, had its name formally changed to Yokuts Valley by the federal government in January. In 2021, the U.S. Department of the Interior declared the term as derogatory.

The lawsuit, filed earlier this month in Fresno County Superior Court, also alleges the state has no authority to order the name change.

In an interview with The Bee/Fresnoland last month, Supervisor Nathan Magsig, who represents the foothill community, said the board decided to sue the state, rather than the federal government, due to the specific requirements the state law places on counties. The law requires local agencies and governing bodies to ensure that map updates and sign replacements use the new name.