text: I understand your strident reaction and from others who live elsewhere.  Barrow is easy to spell and that spelling connects with the place on the map outsiders are familiar with. Yes it is inconvenient. 
  
  However, there is a cultural reclamation taking place on the North Slope and an effort to re-identify with that connection. Remember the aboriginal people in America have been displaced and we are all familiar with the historical past of this country. That displacement needs no revisiting for the purposes of this reply. 
  
  The places and communities here were already named according to geographic features by those who have their generations documented since time immemorial. Outsiders came in and named them again according to their standards and traditions and that is how we learned them in grade school.
  
  I think the least that can be done is to acknowledge and understand the purpose for going back to the original naming. It will take patience and effort on everybody's behalf