Kickapoo Coffee to change name due to cultural appropriation concerns

Matthew Clark by Matthew Clark

FreeImages.com/Razief Adlie

A Wisconsin coffee company has decided to change its name due to concerns over cultural appropriation.

Kickapoo Coffee announced Wednesday the decision to change the name after 14 years of business.

A release from the company said the founders had “claimed a name that was never ours to take.”

While Kickapoo is the name of a 126-mile river in Wisconsin, it comes from the name of the Native American Kickapoo Nation, which is composed of tribes in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Mexico.

According to the Wisconsin Historical Society, many Kickapoo Indians moved to Wisconsin in the 17th century, when the Iroquois pressured them to move after the arrival of Europeans on the East Coast.

The coffee company has yet to announce a new name but plans to announce the new name in 2020. According to the release, the new name will continue to reflect Wisconsin.

Kickapoo Coffee’s founders have apologized to the three U.S.-based Kickapoo Tribes. Representatives with those tribes said they were unaware of the company’s name until last fall when the company reached out.

“It was surprising in this modern day that they didn’t know about the Kickapoo Tribe, and not just us, but also in Kansas and Texas,” said David Pacheco, chairman of the Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma.

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