Plans to Change California’s ‘Offensive’ Place Names Stir Controversy

Voters in Squaw Valley and Fresno County, California, will weigh in on the question of who has the authority to change the names of places—locals or state and federal governments—in California’s primary election on Tuesday, March 5. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland declared that “squaw” is a derogatory term, and must be replaced in all federal geographic names, in a secretarial order issued Nov. 19, 2021. “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,” said Ms. Haaland in announcing the order....