Laura: OPEN A MAP AND READ THE PLACE NAMES LISTED ACROSS THE LANDSCAPE.

THOSE WORDS, THE PLACE NAMES ON THE MAP, THEY ARE DECIDED BY THE U.S. BOARD ON GEOGRAPHIC NAMES.

THE FEDERAL AGENCY WAS CREATED MORE THAN A CENTURY AGO TO STANDARDIZED PLACE NAMES THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES, SO WE ALL CALL PLACES BY THE SAME NAME.

BUT THE WORLD OUTSIDE IS DIFFERENT FROM WHAT YOU FIND ON PAPER OR A SCREEN.

JUST THINK OF HOW YOU DESCRIBE PLACES.

AT THE MALPAIS AND THE SANDSTONE.

MEET ME WHERE THE PORCUPINES ARE.

LET'S HIKE THE TRAIL WHERE YOU SAW THE HUMMINGBIRD.

HERE IN NEW MEXICO AND ACROSS THE UNITED STATES, INDIGENOUS PEOPLE HAVE MOVED ACROSS THIS LANDSCAPE FOR A MILLENNIA.

AND NAMING A PLACE DIDN'T MEAN CLAIMING OWNERSHIP.

THERESA PASQUAL WITH THE PUEBLO OF ACOMA TALKS ABOUT THIS.

Pasqual: OUR TRADITION LIES IN CONNECTING THOSE VALUES, THE THINGS THAT WE SEE, OUR CORE VALUES OF WHO WE ARE THAT ARE ASSOCIATED WITH PLACE, THAT ARE ASSOCIATED WITH INDIVIDUALS AND THEN TRANSFERRING OUR HOPES, OUR PRAYERS FOR THAT PERSON OR THAT PLACE BY GIVING THAT SAME NAME.

SO, AS OUR PEOPLE MOVED ON THIS LANDSCAPE THROUGHOUT TIME, THEN IT ALSO BECAME IMPORTANT THAT OUR PEOPLE, AS THEY MOVE THROUGH THEIR MIGRATIONS ACROSS THE SOUTHWEST CONTINUED TO NOT ONLY REMAIN CONNECTED TO PLACE BUT ALSO KEEP WITH THEM THOSE VALUES OF PLACE, THOSE GIFTS OF PLACE, THAT CREATOR IMBUED WITH THOSE LOCATIONS TO TAKE THOSE WITH US AS PART OF OUR COLLECTIVE MEMORY AND CARRY THOSE NAMES FORWARD WITH US AS WE SETTLED INTO WHAT IS NOW THE ACOMA VALLEY.

Laura: CARRYING NAMES FORWARD IS A SIGN OF RESPECT, A SIGN OF CONNECTION.

A WAY TO GUIDE PEOPLE FROM THE PAST THROUGH TODAY AND INTO THE FUTURE.

Pasqual: THIS CONNECTION IS LAYERED BECAUSE OF TIME BUT IT IS ALSO COMPLEX BECAUSE IT CONNECTS US NOT JUST TO THE PHYSICAL LANDSCAPE THAT WE HAVE THAT SURROUNDS US BUT TO EVERYTHING THAT IS ASSOCIATED WITHIN THAT LANDSCAPE.

Laura: MORE THAN A DECADE AGO TRIBES CAME TOGETHER TO PROTECT WHAT IS CALLED MT.

TAYLOR WEST OF ALBUQUERQUE FROM NEW URANIUM MINES.

EACH TRIBE HAS THEIR OWN NAME FOR THE MOUNTAIN, THEIR OWN STORIES, THEIR OWN CONNECTION.

Pasqual: I HAD ONE ELDER WHO EXPLAINED TO THE U.S. FOREST SERVICE THAT THE MOUNTAIN IN A SENSE WAS ALMOST AS IF THERE WAS A BLANKET SPREAD OUT FROM THE TOP, THAT THIS COVERED NOT JUST THE PEAK OF THE MOUNTAIN WHICH MANY OUTSIDERS BELIEVE THAT THE MOUNTAIN WAS LITERALLY JUST ITS PEAK.

FROM A TRADITIONAL PERSPECTIVE IT ALSO ENCOMPASSED THE MESAS AND THE VALLEYS AND THE VALLEY FLOOR AND THAT CONNECTION BEGAN TO BE AS FAR AS THE EYE COULD SEE.

WHEN YOU ARE THINKING FROM A PERSPECTIVE THAT FORCES YOU TO DEFINE BOUNDARY.

Laura: THAT MEANS NOT SEEING A PLACE AS A SINGLE POINT BUT LOOKING AT A MOUNTAIN AND SEEING THE MESAS THAT SWELL FROM ITS HIPS, ACKNOWLEDGING THE SNOWS THAT FALL AND IN THE SPRING FLOW TO GARDENS AND ORCHARDS.

TO APPRECIATE THE WATERS PEOPLE DRINK AND USE AS CEREMONY.

ALL OF THESE THINGS ARE CONNECTED EVEN IF WE SEEM TO FORGET THAT TODAY.

ACROSS OUR MAPS THERE ARE ALSO PLACES WITH NAMES THAT ARE RACIST THAT MAKE PEOPLE FEEL UNWELCOME LIKE THEIR STORIES DON'T MATTER.

LAST YEAR, REPRESENTATIVE DEB HAALAND AND TEXAS REPRESENTATIVE AL GREEN INTRODUCED THE RECONCILIATION IN PLACE NAMES ACT.

Haaland: THESE PLACES BELONG TO ALL OF US.

THEY DON'T JUST BELONG TO ONE PERSON OR ONE GROUP OF PEOPLE.

WE FELT VERY STRONGLY THAT ALL VISITORS TO OUR PUBLIC LANDS AND OUR PUBLIC SPACES, THEY DESERVE TO FEEL WELCOME AND COMFORTABLE WHILE ENJOYING THOSE PLACES.

THESE OFFENSIVE AND RACIST PLACE NAMES, THOSE ARE SORT OF RELICS OF THE PAST.

Laura: HAALAND AND GREEN FEEL IT IS TIME TO RECONCILE THAT.

IF PASSED, THIS BILL WOULD BRING PEOPLE FROM ALL DIFFERENT COMMUNITIES TO MAKE RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE BOARD ON GEOGRAPHIC NAMES TO MAKE CHANGES THAT ARE RESPECTFUL OF ONE ANOTHER.

Haaland: HOW SOME OF OUR PUEBLOS HAVE CHANGED THEIR NAME BACK TO THE ORIGINATIVE AMERICAN NATIVE NAMES.

I THINK IT MATTERS TO A COMMUNITY OF PEOPLE WHAT THINGS ARE CALLED.

EACH COMMUNITY SHOULD BE ABLE TO DECIDE.

Laura: A REPORT LAST YEAR FOUND HUNDREDS OF FEDERALLY RECOGNIZED PLACES WITH RACIAL SLURS.

Haaland: SOME OF THOSE IN NEW MEXICO, SOME LANDMARKS THAT ARE BEING TALKED ABOUT FOR RENAMING IN THE BILL, SQUAW PEAK, CHINAMAN HILL, JIM CROW SHAFT.

THOSE ARE PLACES I DON'T THINK THAT HAVE ANY RELEVANCE ESSENTIALLY TO MAYBE THOSE NEW MEXICO LANDMARKS.

THOSE BRING UP A RACIST PAST.

Laura: LIKE MT.

TAYLOR NAMED FOR THE 12TH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, PLENTY OF PLACES BEAR THE NAMES OF PEOPLE WHO NEVER LOVED OR RESPECTED THEM, OR THE PEOPLE LIVING NEARBY.

Haaland: WHEN I WAS IN COLLEGE I HAD A PROFESSOR WHO USED TO SAY, YOU CAN TELL A COUNTRY BY WHO THEIR HEROS ARE.

WHO ARE OUR HEROS, RIGHT?

ARE THEY FOLKS WHO HAVE STOOD UP FOR UNDER-REPRESENTED COMMUNITIES?

ARE THEY FOLKS WHO STOOD UP AND WORKED HARD FOR VULNERABLE COMMUNITIES?

Laura: PASQUAL EXPLAINS THAT WHEN WE MOVE THROUGH LANDSCAPE, WE CREATE OUR OWN STORIES AND MEMORIES.

AND THOSE ARE LAYERS ON THE COUNTLESS STORIES THAT CAME BEFORE.

Pasqual: WHEN WE GO OUT IN PLACES, WE CARRY A RESPONSIBILITY TO KNOW MORE, TO KNOW ABOUT THE PLACES THAT SURROUND US SO THAT WE CAN PROTECT THEM, SO THAT WE CAN CONSERVE THEM AND SO THAT WE CAN ALSO GIVE THAT GIFT TO OTHERS AND SAY, YOU KNOW, THERE WAS A GREAT PLACE I HIKED, YOU KNOW, ON SUCH AND SUCH A DAY AND THIS IS ITS STORY.

AND I THINK YOU SHOULD GO THERE.

SO WE PASS THOSE GIFTS ON TO OTHER PEOPLE.

Laura: FOR OUR LAND AND NEW MEXICO IN FOCUS, I AM LAURA PASKUS.