The California Natural Resources Agency on Friday said that a racist term for a Native American woman will be removed from more than 30 locations in 15 counties, according to a press release issued Friday.
The press release noted that Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.) in 2022 signed a bill that bans the term “squaw.” The agency was ordered to rename streets, bridges, public buildings, cemeteries and other places that use the slur.
“The ‘sq_’ is a word that denigrates Native American women and dehumanizes them,” California Assemblymember James Ramos (D), who spearheaded the bill, said in the release.
The release stated the California Advisory Committee on Geographic Names is set to implement the new names, which were selected in consultation with the state’s Native American tribes, by Jan. 1.
The announcement comes on the heels of a ski resort in California changing its name after facing criticism over its original name, which used the slur. The new name, Palisades Tahoe, was announced in September after the resort acknowledged its former name was a racist and sexist slur following an internal investigation from August 2020 into the term and its etymology.
The Interior Department had also announced in September that it removed the slur from federal place names after announcing a review in November.
The department said the federal Board on Geographic Names has voted on replacement names for more than 600 places that included the term. The department also issued a full map of places where names were replaced.
