Squaw Valley gets a new name…

A few weeks ago, Squaw Valley and its sister ski resort Alpine Meadows, in California, were renamed as “Palisades Tahoe”, following criticism of the “Squaw” reference that was said to be derogatory and offensive to American Indian women. 

Changing that name was a good move that made a lot of sense and probably was “too little, too late”. 

For me who never saw or used that name disrespectfully, things were fine as they stood, but again, it was my sole viewpoint. “Palisades Tahoe” is thus the new name that was picked to replace both Alpine Meadows and Squaw Valley and, too me, at least, this choice appears artificially concocted just like Nissan from Datsun and Navistar from International Harverster. 

Literally, the new name’s “Palisade” means “A fence or defensive wall made from iron or wooden stakes, or tree trunks, and used as a defensive structure or enclosure”. Well, that moniker doesn’t sound too inviting to me. In essence it’s more excluding and forbidding than anything guests and visitors would like to see. 

Allegedly, the new name was inspired by the sheer granite faces and chutes that make up the terrain affected by the name change. In addition, Dee Byrne, the ski resort general manager, made up a convoluted list of other reasons to support that name, to seemingly persuade anyone would wouldn’t be convinced or wouldn’t understand. 

Well to me it does nothing and sounds 100% artificial and “made in unimaginative marketing”. We’ll see what happens with that bland name, but for the time being, I’ll probably be not politically correct by using the word “palisade”. 

Since I have no replacement name to suggest, I’ll continue to call the places Squaw or Alpine, while still respecting, in my mind, the native women the original name stood for...