At the urging of Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, a ​​member of the Pueblo of Laguna who is the first Indigenous person to hold a cabinet-level position in a U.S. presidential administration, the federal government is beginning a formal process to remove racist and derogatory names from lands under its jurisdiction.

Last week, Haaland ordered the Interior Department’s Board on Geographic Names to institute procedures to remove terms such as “squaw,” which is found in the names of more than 650 federal sites. For the first time in U.S. history, a federal order now explicitly designates “squaw,” a racist and misogynist term used as a slur against Indigenous women by settlers, as a derogatory term.

In a statement, Haaland said that the move marks a “significant step in honoring the ancestors who have stewarded our lands since time immemorial.”

“Racist terms have no place in our vernacular or on our federal lands,” she added. “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.”

The new task force charged with implementing the process will be made up of representatives from federal land management agencies, while history experts, members of the general public, and representatives of Indigenous communities will be tapped to create an advisory board to review and recommend the name changes, according to the order. This move accompanies pending Congressional legislation to rename more than 1,000 names on federal land that currently include derogatory terms.

Read the full article about changing racist names on federal lands by Adam Mahoney at Grist.