Slur targeting Indigenous women removed from California location names

California officials have approved the removal of the derogatory term “squaw” in over 30 locations in 15 counties on California lands, the state Natural Resources Agency announced Friday.

“The term is recognized as a racial, ethnic, and gender-based slur, particularly aimed at Native American women. Its removal is a crucial step in recognizing the ongoing trauma and oppression that Native communities have faced,” officials said in a news release.

The action stems from AB 2022, a bill that Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law in 2022. Under the law, the term has to be removed for "all geographic features and place names in the state" by Jan. 1, 2025, and the resources agency has to rename all places that use the term.

The U.S. Department of the Interior announced a similar move in 2022, renaming about 650 sites on federal lands that used the term, including 80 in California.

AB 2022 was introduced by Assemblymember James Ramos (D-Highland), who became the state’s first Native American lawmaker in 2018.

For California, renaming sites that use the term will begin in 2025.