California removes slur targeting Indigenous women from location names

Officials have approved the removal of the derogatory term “squaw” from more than 30 geographic features and place names on California lands, according to an announcement Friday by the state Natural Resources Agency. Gavin Newsom signed into law in 2022, and follows a similar move by the U.S. Department of the Interior, which said “the term has historically been used as an offensive ethnic, racial, and sexist slur, particularly for Indigenous women.” The California law, Assembly Bill 2022, banned use of the word in future location names and ordered the resources agency to begin renaming all places that used the term, including streets, bridges, public buildings, forest fire fuel breaks and cemeteries. “The Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation has led the effort to change demeaning mascot imagery of Native people, and we support replacing derogatory names locally and across state lands,” said Anthony Roberts, tribal chairman of the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation, in a statement announcing the name changes. The word “denigrates Native American women and dehumanizes them,” Ramos said in a statement announcing the name changes.