• The Department of the Interior announced Thursday that five U.S sites have been renamed after a year-long process to remove the “racially insensitive” word  “squaw” from geographic names across the country.
• “Words matter, particularly in our work to ensure our nation’s public lands and waters are accessible and welcoming to people of all backgrounds,” Interior Secretary Deb Haaland stated, according to the Associated Press.
• Haaland, the first Native American to lead a Cabinet agency, declared the word “squaw” derogatory when she took office in 2021. At that time she ordered the Board on Geographic Names to begin procedures to remove the term from federal use, a press release from the Department of Interior read.

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