US renames 5 places that used racial slurs for Indigenous woman

[ad_1]

The US Department of the Interior announced Thursday that it has renamed five locations that previously included a racist term for a Native American woman.

The renamed sites are in California, North Dakota, Tennessee and Texas, completing a year-long process to remove the historically offensive word squaw from geographic names across the country.

Words matter, especially in our work to ensure our country’s public lands and waters are accessible and welcoming to people of all backgrounds, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said in a statement. She called the word harmful.

Haaland, who took office in 2021, is the first Native American to lead a Cabinet agency.

In September, the Home Office announced its final vote on proposals to change the names of nearly 650 sites containing the word. The agency conducted an additional review of seven locations, all of which were considered unincorporated populated places. Five of them were changed in Thursday’s announcement.

In western North Dakota, the new name Homesteaders Gap was chosen by members of a small community as a nod to their local history.

Mark Fox, Tribal Chairman of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation, welcomed the change, telling the Bismarck Tribune that the insult does indeed cause some serious and strong emotions and resistance to the term. In a statement to The Associated Press, he said it’s long overdue and we’re glad the racially insensitive and offensive name has been removed.

But Joel Brown, a member of the McKenzie County Board of Commissioners, said many in the area were strongly opposed to the change. Brown, who is white, said he and others prefer as little interference as possible from the federal government because we generally find them disconnected from what the culture and economy is here.

Two other newly named locations are the Central California Valley communities of Loybas Hill, which translates to Young Lady, proposed by the Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians; and the Yokuts Valley.

The others are Partridgeberry, Tennessee and Lynn Creek, Texas.

The decision has a long precedent. The Home Office ordered the renaming of places with derogatory terms for blacks and Japanese in 1962 and 1974, respectively.

Last year alone, authorities renamed 28 Wisconsin sites to remove a racist word, a panel recommended renaming a Colorado mountain linked to a massacre, and the feds renamed hundreds of peaks , lakes, streams and other geographical features with racist and misogynistic terms.

Native attorney Roman C. Rain Tree and his 10-year-old daughter, Lola, in front of the town sign for ‘Squaw Valley’ in Fresno County. Rename Squaw Valley Fresno Count

[ad_2]