# Racist names of towns, etc. that still exist

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racist-names-of-towns-etc-that-still-exist/603178>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 16, 2011, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racist-names-of-towns-etc-that-still-exist/603178 "2011-11-16T22:57:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\
**Post date:** [November 19, 2011, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racist-names-of-towns-etc-that-still-exist/603178/61 "2011-11-19T23:57:42Z")

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It is fine to work to get derogatory or inflammatory terms off of public sites but as mentioned before you have to be careful to not trample upon legitimate historic background and to not give in to renaming things just because someone may possibly, remotely imagine one person ever taking offense (e.g. Basco, Oregon).

And I’m another one who only heard the old Winter Games site referred to as Squaw Valley and Squaw Creek during the time I visited there. Then again maybe there is a situation like with “Negro/Negress”, where though not originally as pejorative as the “Ni-” versions, they end up being so archaic and evocative of the Bad Old Days that people seek to avoid them out of caution, unless the historic/literary context is absolutely clear (as in United Negro College Fund).

> [@Leo\_Bloom](#):
>
> I thought of this too, especially with that caricature of a screaming generic American Indian.

You mean screaming_ly_ generic, as the picture of the Washington “redskin” only screams “somebody copied this logo off of an old nickel”.

> [@](#):
>
> I’d like to think a NYC football or baseball team would be called The New York Jews.
> 
> I’d root for them for that alone.

Next we send you to name that league’s new San Francisco team…

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**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\
**Post date:** [November 20, 2011, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/racist-names-of-towns-etc-that-still-exist/603178/62 "2011-11-20T00:20:24Z")

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> [@JRDelirious](#):
>
> … Next we send you to name that league’s new San Francisco team…

🙂

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