Should Apache change its name?

© iStock/Apache Software Foundation.

The Apache Software Foundation (ASF), famous for its HTTP server, is dealing with push-back on its name. A nonprofit that represents Indigenous people in tech has asked the foundation to give up the word “Apache”, which it says is culturally appropriative. With this request, the nonprofit calls on ASF to live up to its code of conduct in which it commits to “be careful in the words that [they] choose.” Brian Behlendorf, the first developer of the NCSA HTTPd-based server software, said he picked the name in 1995 after seeing a TV documentary on the life of Geronimo, the last Apache leader to keep fighting for the rights of Indigenous people against Mexico and the US in the 1880s. A spokesperson wrote that the Foundation acknowledges the concerns raised and is listening, but no decision has yet been reached.

The choice of names referring to Native American people has come under increasing scrutiny in the past years. Last year, the Cherokee Nation asked that Jeep change the name of its SUVs. Also recently, two pro sports teams, the Washington Redskins and the Cleveland Indians, actually changed their names and mascots after decades of resistance.

⇨ Ars Technica, Kevin Purdy, “Indigenous tech group asks Apache Foundation to change its name.”

2023-01-12