Interior declares 'squaw' derogatory word, creates speedier process for renaming federal sites with racist names

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland declared "squaw" a derogatory term for Indigenous women and created a task force to find new names for sites on federal lands that use the word. "The order, which takes effect immediately, stands to affect more than 650 place names that use the term, according to figures from the U.S. Board on Geographic Names," Bill Chappell reports for NPR.

Haaland, a registered member of the Laguna Pueblo, said in a press release that "racist terms have no place in our vernacular or on our federal lands. Our nation's lands and waters should be places to celebrate the outdoors and our shared cultural heritage — not to perpetuate the legacies of oppression."

Haaland created two groups to facilitate name changes, Chappell reports. In a nutshell, the Advisory Committee on Reconciliation in Place Names will help identify other derogatory place names, and the Derogatory Geographic Names Task Force will help vet proposed replacement names. Both are required to have Native American representation. The new committees "will accelerate the process by which derogatory names are identified and replaced," Native News Online reports. "Currently, the Board on Geographic Names is structured, by design, to act on a case-by-case basis through a process that puts the onus on the proponents to identify the offensive name and to suggest a replacement. The process to secure review and approvals can be lengthy, often taking years to complete a name change. Currently, there are hundreds of name changes pending before the Board."

The move follows previous Interior moves to remove racist names from federal sites. "In the 1960s and '70s, the agency said, place names containing slurs for Black and Japanese people were replaced on a wholesale level," Chappell reports.