A Republican county commissioner in Wyoming has argued that Swastika Lake, a body of water in the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest, should retain its name despite multiple proposals to rename it. Terri Jones, an Albany County commissioner, said changing the name would remove a 'teaching opportunity' to explain the swastika's history, both good and bad.
'The bad was very bad. However, the good predated the bad by eons. And the good is truly good and represents hope and goodwill,' Jones said at a council meeting, as reported by the Laramie Reporter. She also described the push to rename the lake as a 'communist' ploy, adding that 'an educated person should be able to speak to both sides of the issue.'
The origin of the lake's name is unknown, but it predates the Nazi party's appropriation of the swastika symbol from its ancient roots in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. Other commissioners have proposed renaming it Fortune Lake, referencing the symbol's original Sanskrit meaning of 'good fortune', while the Albany County Historical Society favours naming it after Samuel Howell Knight, a local geologist and paleontologist.
Because the lake is within a national forest, any name change would require federal approval. The debate comes amid broader efforts across the United States to remove place names associated with white supremacy and settler colonialism, including the recent renaming of Swastika Mountain in Oregon to Mount Halo, and the removal of the word 'squaw' from 42 Wyoming locations last year.
