Racist terms referring to Native American women will be removed from about 30 geographic features and place names on California lands, the state Department of Natural Resources announced Friday.
California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill in 2022 that bans the use of the word “squaw” in future place names, including roads, bridges, public buildings, cemeteries, and any other location where the slur is used. ordered authorities to change the name. Los Angeles Times It was reported on Friday.
New names were chosen in consultation with California's Native American tribes for more than 30 locations in 15 counties.
California's Geographical Names Advisory Committee will work to have approved alternative names in place by January 1st.
One example is the city of West Sacramento, where local officials worked with the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation to develop two new street names to replace the slurs.
The name recommended by the Tribal Council of the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation is “Tebuti,” which is a word for flowing streams and a blessing.
“Through continued consultation, tribes can lead the effort to eliminate such language from California's public spaces,” said Tribal Chairman Anthony Roberts.
A complete list of California's new names was not available Friday but will be published soon, the Natural Resources Agency told The Associated Press in an email.
The bill was authored by Rep. James C. Ramos, a Democrat from San Bernardino who became California's first Native American state representative in 2018.
He is a resident of the San Manuel Indian Reservation and a member of the Serrano/Cahuilla tribe.
In 2021, a popular Northern California ski resort changed its name to Palisades Tahoe as part of a national effort to address the history of colonialism and oppression of Native Americans and other people of color.
U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland also moved in 2021 to rename features and places on federal land where the term is used, including dozens in California.
