Hundreds of geographic features across the U.S. are getting a long overdue update . AsThe New York Timesreports , the United States Department of the Interior ( DOI)is go ahead with plansto rebrand 660 landmarks that presently include a aspersion in their name .
Squaw , a anti-Semite and misogynist word for Indigenous women , was label a disparaging term by the DOI inNovember 2021 . After move to supersede the word in all official communications , the department is now move forward with an opening move to dispatch it from the names of hatful , rivers , lakes , islands , and other web site handle by the federal authorities .
To come up with the new name hypothesis , the task force out first looked at other geographic features in the area . The first nominee for rename Squaw Creek in Washington , for example , is Olympic Mountains after the Olympic Valley . The first suggested alternative for a unlike Squaw Creek near the Pawnee Springs Ranch in Nebraska is the Pawnee Springs Ranch Reservoir [ PDF ] .
“ Words thing , particularly in our oeuvre to make our body politic ’s public lands and Ethel Waters approachable and welcoming to people of all background , ” Secretary Haaland said in a DOI press sacking . “ Throughout this mental process , broad engagement with kinship group , stakeholders and the general public will help us advance our goals of equity and inclusion . ”
The slur being targeted by the DOI is one model of an outdated term whose unworthy meaning has been forgotten by parts of the population . home names are n’t the only examples of such language seem in workaday context . Many of thecommon phraseswe use in normal conversation have been disassociate from their antiblack origins .
[ h / tThe New York Times ]
