Tribes seek to change name of Devils Tower - Washington Times
But before the spiritual leader with the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota Great Sioux Nation can focus on prayer, he must first pass through the national monument’s entrance gate, where park rangers welcome him to Devils Tower. That name is offensive, the chief says, and invokes anxiety and anger among American Indians who consider the site sacred. People need to pray with a good heart and mind - free of drugs and alcohol, with purity, holiness, reverence, respect and no ill will against others, he says. He is leading the effort, backed by spiritual leaders of 20 tribes and two interfaith groups, to change the name of Devils Tower to Bear Lodge, a place where Sioux have prayed and gathered for spiritual ceremonies for 19 generations, and where... Devils Tower is not the name any of the tribes use for the area, he says. A tribal resolution in support of the change argues the Devils Tower moniker “equates cultural and faith traditions practiced at this site to ‘devil worship,’ in essence equating indigenous people to ‘devils. Although tribes have petitioned the government to change the name since the 1920s, it is now urgent: Sioux prophecies of environmental destruction are coming to fruition, he says. “This is a very important time in our history,” says the chief, who lives on the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota. Source: www.washingtontimes.com
