660 U.S. Place Names Include a Slur for Native Women. Change Is Coming.

March 10, 2022

“Words matter, particularly in our work to make our nation’s public lands and waters accessible and welcoming to people of all backgrounds,”

—Deb Haaland, US Secty. of the Interior

The gist:

The move to remove the word “squaw” which is a“term Native Americans regard as a racist and misogynistic slur,” is being led by the Interior Department’s Deb Haaland, who is a woman + the first Native American cabinet secretary in the US history, who is also soliciting the advice of US tribes on potential “new names for the landmarks.”

It follows, “private companies and professional sports teams” who are also “shedding names and imagery that many Native Americans find offensive amid a broader national reckoning over systemic racism.”

Her task force “will submit the new names for final approval from the Board on Geographic Names, the federal body that standardizes American place names.” And it’s noted that, “the National Park Service was ordered to take similar steps.”

The slur’s continued use perpetuated demeaning stereotypes of Native American women.

—Vanessa Esquivido, member of the Nor Rel Muk Wintu Nation in Northern California

In Addition, this year, The National Association of Tribal Historic Preservation Officers published a report that said “national efforts to rename geographic locations in the United States that still bear racist or sexual slurs against Native Americans and African Americans were not ‘canceling history’…it is an opportunity to provide a more honest accounting of America’s past and a gesture toward healing historic wounds.”

Connect with the NYT post here.