U.S. declares ‘squaw’ offensive. Will it spur change in Fresno County’s Squaw Valley?
U.S. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland on Friday formally declared “squaw” a derogatory term and said she is taking steps to remove it from federal government use and to replace other derogatory place names.
The announcement’s timing might be fortuitous for Fresno-area activists who, just two days earlier, spoke out during a Fresno County Board of Supervisors meeting, urging leaders to rename Squaw Valley.
Haaland is ordering a federal panel tasked with naming geographic places to implement procedures to eliminate what she called racist terms from federal use. The decision provides momentum to a movement that has included the dismantling of other historical markers and monuments considered offensive across the country.
“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 statement. “Today’s actions will accelerate an important process to reconcile derogatory place names and mark a significant step in honoring the ancestors who have stewarded our lands since time immemorial.”
Efforts to rename Squaw Valley, a census-designated place in Fresno County with more than 3,500 residents, haven’t gained momentum in the year and a half since they launched. Supporters have said at least some of the blame falls on Fresno County Supervisor Nathan Magsig, who they say has refused to meet with supporters.
In an interview with The Bee on Saturday, Magsig said he wants the group led by Roman Rain Tree, a member of the local area Dunlap Band of Mono and Choinumni tribes, to organize a community meeting at the public library in Squaw Valley.
“I would come out to that meeting,” the supervisor said.
Magsig said that he would facilitate access to county assets, such as the library, but that his office wouldn’t, however, organize such a meeting.
“I’ve shared with them that really the first thing that they need to do is to have a community meeting in Squaw Valley, where the residents of Squaw Valley have an opportunity to come and voice their opinions as well,” Magsig said. “My goal is to not pick one side or the other but to hear from all sides and then make a decision which I believe is in the best interest of Fresno County.”
But Rain Tree has said he’s tried to organize meetings with Magsig but said the supervisor’s staff “keeps moving the goalposts back.” Rain Tree has also said Magsig should take the lead and use his resources to put the meeting together.
“I’m just one person. I have a full-time job. And you want me to do that?” Rain Tree said earlier this week. “You’re the supervisor. You’re the elected official with a staff - get to it.”
Rain Tree couldn’t immediately be reached for comment over the weekend.
Magsig said the announcement Friday from the federal government took him by surprise but said it wouldn’t affect his decision either way.
“When I saw the Secretary make that decision that they made, I was a little bit taken aback because they are one individual,” said Magsig. “But there are other voices that are out there that need to be heard, too, that are just as valuable as her opinion.”
Native American rights group applauds Haaland
The first Native American to lead a Cabinet agency, Haaland is from Laguna Pueblo in New Mexico.
The U.S. Senate on Thursday confirmed Charles F. “Chuck” Sams III as head of the National Park Service, making him the first Native American to hold that position. Haaland previously said Sams, who is Cayuse and Walla Walla, of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Oregon, would be an asset as the administration works to make national parks more accessible to everyone.
The Native American Rights Fund applauded Haaland’s move to address derogatory place names, saying action by the federal government is long overdue.
“Names that still use derogatory terms are an embarrassing legacy of this country’s colonialist and racist past,” said John Echohawk, the group’s executive director. “It is well past time for us, as a nation, to move forward, beyond these derogatory terms, and show Native people — and all people — equal respect.”
Environmentalists also praised the action, saying it marked a step toward reconciliation.
Under Haaland’s order, a federal task force will find replacement names for geographic features on federal lands bearing the term “squaw,” which has been used as a slur, particularly for Indigenous women. A database maintained by the Board on Geographic Names shows there are more than 650 federal sites with names that contain the term.
The task force will be made up of representatives from federal land management agencies and experts with the Interior Department. Tribal consultation and public feedback will be part of the process.
The process for changing U.S. place names can take years, and federal officials said there are currently hundreds of proposed name changes pending before the board.
Haaland also called for the creation of an advisory committee to solicit, review and recommend changes to other derogatory geographic and federal place names. That panel will be made up of tribal representatives and civil rights, anthropology, and history experts.
In the 1960s and 1970s, the Board on Geographic Names took action to eliminate the use of derogatory terms for Black and Japanese people.
The board also voted in 2008 to change the name of a prominent Phoenix mountain from Squaw Peak to Piestewa Peak to honor Army Spc. Lori Piestewa, the first Native American woman to die in combat while serving in the U.S. military.
In California, the Squaw Valley Ski Resort changed its name to Palisades Tahoe earlier this year. The resort is in Olympic Valley, which was known as Squaw Valley until it hosted the 1960 Winter Olympics. Tribes in the region had been asking the resort for a name change for decades.
Colorado’s advisory naming panel also has recommended renaming Squaw Mountain near Denver in honor of a Native American woman who acted as a translator for tribes and white settlers in the 19th century. Northern Cheyenne tribal members also filed an application with the federal naming board in October to change the mountain’s name.
There is also legislation pending in Congress to address derogatory names on geographic features on public lands. States from Oregon to Maine have passed laws prohibiting the use of the word “squaw” in place names.
This story was originally published November 20, 2021 at 2:03 PM with the headline "U.S. declares ‘squaw’ offensive. Will it spur change in Fresno County’s Squaw Valley?."
