SOAP LAKE NAME CHANGE

Reader supports change

I am writing to address the issue of the renaming of Soap Lake to Lake Smokiam and the apparent lack of support the initiative is generating among the residents of Soap Lake. I would like to take this opportunity to remind community members of the long history of Indian and white relations and the importance of the original names to the tribes of the region. I would also like to add that the repatriation or reclaiming by local tribes of the name Lake Smokiam is in keeping with larger trends of recent decades in which Indian people have been recovering elements of their cultures that had been severely suppressed if not lost during the era of assimilation. While the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (1990) has recently dealt with the return to tribes of human remains as well as funerary and sacred objects, Indian people have also been kneely interested in restoring traditional names to cultural spaces and landmarks. The naming of Lake Smokiam fits into this latter classification. I urge my fellow community members to consider the issue from the standpoint of tribal people and the history of the tribes and non-Indians both in our area and throughout the nation.

Robert Ruby

Moses Lake