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Interior Secretary Deb Haaland moves to ban the word 'squaw' from federal lands
NPR ^ | November 19, 2021 | Bill Chappell

Posted on 11/20/2021 5:46:58 AM PST by Twotone

Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland formally declared "squaw" to be a derogatory term Friday and ordered a task force to find replacement names for valleys, lakes, creeks and other sites on federal lands that use the word.

The order, which takes effect immediately, stands to affect more than 650 place names that use the term, according to figures from the U.S. Board on Geographic Names.

"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 a news release about the change.

The origin of the word "squaw" has been traced to the Algonquian language, in which it meant simply "woman." But its meaning was skewed by centuries of use by white people, including colonists in the 1600s.

(Excerpt) Read more at npr.org ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: federallands; renaming; squaw
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We have Squaw Butte looking over our little town. I thought it might be BLM land. I knew this would happen sooner or later. Interestingly, another nearby town has a Cowboy Hill.
1 posted on 11/20/2021 5:46:58 AM PST by Twotone
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To: Twotone

Looks like Deb just found a new middle name.


2 posted on 11/20/2021 5:49:24 AM PST by Fester Chugabrew (No nation that sanctions the wholesale slaughter of its unborn citizens is fit to endure.)
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To: Twotone

Squash sounds very similar to squaw. Should that be banned also...you know, like “niggardly” is now a forbidden word?


3 posted on 11/20/2021 5:49:49 AM PST by ryderann
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To: Twotone

Dictionary.com is doing their part!!

squaw
/skwô/
noun OFFENSIVE
a North American Indian woman or wife.


4 posted on 11/20/2021 5:51:29 AM PST by albie
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To: Twotone

What about Squaw Valley? That place might be privately owned though. Not sure. Big name though.


5 posted on 11/20/2021 5:52:12 AM PST by Mathews (It's all gravy, baby!)
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To: Twotone

So square is a derogatory term for woman. Well guess what? Broad is another derogatory term.

So every town in America must immediately find another name for Broadway or Broadview or any other street or place that has the word broad in it.

Broadly speaking, broad is a sexist term.


6 posted on 11/20/2021 5:54:53 AM PST by Responsibility2nd (I love my country. It's my government thatThere usually are. I hate.)
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To: ryderann

A lot of squawking and squalling about harmless place names.


7 posted on 11/20/2021 5:55:56 AM PST by HartleyMBaldwin
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To: Responsibility2nd

I hate when auto correct takes a correctly pronounced word and then changes it. I guess auto correct got the message that squaw must not be used.


8 posted on 11/20/2021 5:56:54 AM PST by Responsibility2nd (I love my country. It's my government thatThere usually are. I hate.)
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To: Twotone

STFU and make me a sammich, Deb.


9 posted on 11/20/2021 5:57:01 AM PST by Levy78
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To: Twotone

Wasting public money...


10 posted on 11/20/2021 5:57:19 AM PST by northislander
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To: Twotone

So. If you’re an Indian, what the heck are you supposed to call your wife?

“Queen of this damned Castle” whenever it comes up around these parts.


11 posted on 11/20/2021 5:57:32 AM PST by Macoozie (Handcuffs and Orange Jumpsuits)
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To: Twotone
If "Ms. Political Correctness" Deb Haaland was running her own business, and paying her employees herself, I doubt she would spend millions of dollars to make a bunch of pointless name changes, and reissue half of the USGS and BLM maps in circulation. But if you can set fire to giant stacks of the tax payers' money, why not?

\sarc

12 posted on 11/20/2021 5:58:36 AM PST by Who is John Galt? ("Shoeless Joe" played for the White Sox; "Clueless Joe" lives in the White House...)
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To: Twotone

And npr repeatedly uses this newly declared derogatory racist word in this article..


13 posted on 11/20/2021 5:59:25 AM PST by jughandle (Big words anger me, keep talking. )
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To: Twotone

No more Indian references in our society ever! Despite the government best efforts they refuse to die so we’ll erase them!


14 posted on 11/20/2021 5:59:33 AM PST by DouglasKC
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To: Twotone

The new wester movie, Indian Lands, starring Deb Haaland as The Squawking Squaw.


15 posted on 11/20/2021 5:59:33 AM PST by MIchaelTArchangel (I miss Don Imus!)
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To: Twotone

The new wester movie, Indian Lands, starring Deb Haaland as The Squawking Squaw.


16 posted on 11/20/2021 5:59:33 AM PST by MIchaelTArchangel (I miss Don Imus!)
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To: Twotone

The new wester movie, Indian Lands, starring Deb Haaland as The Squawking Squaw.


17 posted on 11/20/2021 5:59:33 AM PST by MIchaelTArchangel (I miss Don Imus!)
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To: Twotone
The word squaw comes from the Massachuset Indian tribe (Algonquian language) word, squa, meaning "woman," first used in the English language in the 1630s to mean "American Indian woman."

Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland is being a pompous ass in deciding what English words are to be banned in the U.S.

18 posted on 11/20/2021 6:03:57 AM PST by Carl Vehse (A proud member of the LGBFJB community)
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To: Who is John Galt?

I’ll be sending this to our senators & congressmen. Yes, a gigantic waste of money. Time for Red states to kick the feds out & take back all the land they’ve held onto...UNconstitutionally.


19 posted on 11/20/2021 6:04:10 AM PST by Twotone (While one may vote oneself into socialism one has to shoot oneself out of it.)
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To: northislander
“Wasting public money...”

Au contraire.

I find it immensely comforting to know that our “leaders”, having solved nearly all of the minor inconveniences facing Americans, are now focusing on major issues, like this one, that Americans have been fretting about for decades./s

20 posted on 11/20/2021 6:04:25 AM PST by daler
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