The United States Department of the Interior has replaced a derogatory term for Native women used for centuries in five regions of the country.
The Board on Geographic Names (BGN) has voted on alternate names to remove the word sq—, an “offensive ethnic, racial, and gender slur, especially to Native women,” from locations in California, Dakota North, Tennessee and Texas, the department said. in a statement Thursday.
“Words matter, especially in our work to ensure that our country’s public lands and waters are accessible and welcoming to people of all backgrounds,” said Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the first Native American to occupy the position of cabinet secretary, in a press release.
“I am grateful to the members of the Derogatory Geographic Names Task Force and the Geographic Names Board for their efforts to finalize the removal of this harmful word. Together, we are showing why representation matters and charting a path toward a including.”
In an effort to eliminate the word from all federal lands, Haaland issued an order in November 2021 that declared “sq—” derogatory and required that the term be removed from federal use.
“Names that still use pejorative terms are an embarrassing legacy of this country’s colonialist and racist past,” the Native American Rights Fund said in a statement following Haaland’s order. “It is high time for us, as a nation, to move forward, beyond these pejorative terms, and show Indigenous people – and all people – equal respect.”
The process to remove the term from federal use took more than a year. Haaland first created a 13-member task force to rename the features. The ministry then released a list of possible alternative names for the geographic sites and allowed public community comments on the proposed names. The agency said it also conducted tribal consultations.
In September 2022, the department renamed and removed the insult from nearly 650 other geographic locations, such as mountains, valleys, streams, islands, canyons and lakes, across the country. Many of the new names are indigenous terms, such as Shluxiksikswana, which means “the place of restoration”, and “Mat Puy Nah Achhuukaayp”, which in Kumeyaay Ipai translates to “the place over there where we go to trade “.
One of the newly named places in California is Loybas Hill. The name, which translates to “Young Woman,” was suggested by the Paskenta Band of Nomlaki Indians and “honors past, present and future Indigenous women of and living in the region,” according to the statement.
A second newly named location in California is Yokuts Valley, formerly Sq—Valley, where a community has spent two years fighting to remove the insult.
Roman Rain Tree, a member of the Dunlap Band of Mono Indians and Choinumi Tribes, the two tribes indigenous to the Valley, started a petition that garnered more than 36,000 votes to rename the location to Fresno County.
“What if I told you there was a common word used by sexual predators of Native American women?” Rain Tree wrote in the petition. “What if I told you that some people vehemently defend this term as a word of honor and respect? What if I told you that an entire community is named after this word? »
The word “sq—” was introduced by Lewis and Clark in 1805 and used by early fur traders and trappers, according to the University of Idaho. In today’s social context, Native Americans view the term as an insult.
Rain Tree said that “the historical roots of the term ‘squaw’ suggest that it emphasized sexual desires when the term was used; mean female genitalia; and to refer to a Native American woman who provides sexual satisfaction.
The insult is often seen as harmful, especially when it comes to the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women. Native American and Alaska Native women “constitute a significant portion of the missing and murdered,” according to the US Department of the Interior.
“According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the murder rate is ten times the national average for women living on reservations and the third leading cause of death among Indigenous women,” the department says. “Furthermore, this group was much more likely to experience rape in their lifetime than other women.”
Removing a slur that dehumanizes Native women is a critical step that must be taken “to respect our community, all grandmothers, mothers, daughters, future generations of Native American women, and Mother Earth,” Rain Tree said.
“This is the first of many necessary steps to preserve the truth about Native American history and facilitate healing between Indigenous communities and state and federal governments,” he said after the news broke. name change. “It’s not just a new name for a community. It is an acknowledgment of the first stewards of the earth and an acknowledgment that we are still here.
The other three well-known sites where the word has been eliminated are Partridgeberry, Tennessee; Lynn Creek, TX; and Homesteaders Gap, North Dakota.
Two other locations were removed from consideration for a name change because one is “now listed as private land” and the other is a “historic area that no longer serves as an unincorporated community”, depending on the department.
