U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland addresses the Tribal Nations Summit from an auditorium on the White House campus in Washington, D.C., November 15, 2021.
Jonathan Ernst | Reuters
U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland announced Friday that the federal agency will establish a process to review and replace racially derogatory terms used in place names.
Haaland, the nation’s first Native American Cabinet secretary, said a newly-created federal advisory committee will review and recommend changes to derogatory federal land names, according to a U.S. Department of Interior press release.
The committee, through a new Derogatory Geographic Names Task Force, will consult with the public and tribal representatives on potential place name changes.
Haaland also declared the term “squaw,” a pejorative for Indigenous women, to be derogatory, the press release said. She ordered the Board Geographic Names, the federal body tasked with naming geographic places, to develop procedures that would remove the term from federal usage.
“Squaw” currently appears in the names of more than 650 federal land units, according to Board Geographic Names data.
“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 said in the press release.
“Today’s actions will accelerate an important process to reconcile derogatory place...
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