Las Cruces seeks to rename street containing slur

Squaw Mountain Drive is derogatory to Indigenous people, city councilor says

LAS CRUCES — The city is looking at changing the name of a street in the Foothills neighborhood because it uses a term that’s offensive to Native Americans.

The idea to change the name of Squaw Mountain Drive was recently proposed by City Councilor Johana Bencomo when she brought the issue up during a council discussion on an Indigenous land acknowledgement resolution earlier this month.

But she said she first learned of the derogatory name when the council was looking at a zoning issue in the area this past winter.

“The reason I brought it up was because I was so shocked that we had this name in one of our streets,” Bencomo told the Sun-News.

“Squaw” is considered an ethnic slur, particularly against Native American women. Last week, U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the first Indigenous person to lead a Cabinet agency, declared “squaw” a derogatory term and announced steps to remove it and other terms like it from federal geographic place names.

Haaland issued an order Nov. 19 which, in addition to formally labeling “squaw” a slur, creates a federal task force which will find replacement names for geographic features that currently use the word.

Another order issued by Haaland that same day creates a federal advisory committee that will evaluate and recommend changes to other derogatory federal geographic names. The committee will feature tribal representation and civil rights, anthropology, and history experts.

Larry Nichols, director of the city’s Community Development Department — the department charged with overseeing the potential street name change — said the process to consider a name change has been initiated.

Since the process was begun by the city, Nichols said, the name change proposal requires the consent of 75% of residents who live on or live adjacent to Squaw Mountain Drive. They will receive notification of the proposal by mail, Nichols said, and will have about 30 days to respond.

If fewer than 75% agree, Nichols said the municipality must wait a year before it suggests a name change again. If enough residents agree, Nichols said the name change would still be subject to city council approval.

“I know that people will see (the name change) as trivial,” Bencomo said. “I know people will say there’s more important things to be done. But again, there is something simple about doing the right thing.”

Bencomo said she hopes a new name could be created with input from current Squaw Mountain Drive residents and from the local Indigenous community, since those are the two groups most impacted.

“You may not see yourself reflected in these words (or) in these terms, but there’s a lot of people in our community that are,” Bencomo added.

The road sits in District 6, represented by City Councilor Yvonne Flores. During a recent council meeting, Flores indicated she supported the change.