US will now establish woke task force to RENAME any federal lands deemed to have racist names like Squaw Peak in Utah and Chinaman's Gulch in Colorado
Daily Mail
November 20, 2021
The US Department of Interior is creating an new task force to identify federal lands in the country named after slurs or derogatory terms and rename them. The Derogatory Geographic Names Task Force will include representatives from federal land management agencies and diversity, equity and inclusion experts, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland announced Friday.
The process will include dialogue with tribes, state and local governments and the public, the department said, adding that it was now classifying the term 'squaw' - referring to an indigenous woman - as derogatory. There are 600 federal land units with the name 'squaw,' according to the Native American Rights Fund , including Squaw Lakes in Oregon.
Other places are named after the terms 'negro,' 'wetback,' and 'chinaman,' all considered derogatory names for black, Latino and Asian people.
The department is also creating an Advisory Committee on Reconciliation in Place Names that will include 'Indian tribes, tribal and Native Hawaiian organizations, civil rights, anthropology, and history experts, and members of the general public.'
The proposal was put forth by Haaland, who became the first Native American cabinet member in US history when she was nominated by President Joe Biden and confirmed in March. She is a member of the Laguna Pueblo tribe of New Mexico.
The department says the current re-naming system is structured to act on a case-by-case basis and puts the onus on proponents to suggest name changes, which can take years.
1 comment:
Some of these changes I can see. "Nigger Bar" was renamed several years ago in CA. It is now "Black Bar."
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