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Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed a bill Friday that would remove the word “squaw” from all geographic place names in California, declaring the term to be a “racist and sexist slur” — and leaving the town of Squaw Valley in an uproar. AB 2022 declares: “The term ‘squaw’ is a racist and derogatory term that has historically been used as an offensive ethnic, racial, and sexist slur, particularly for indigenous women.” It says the word must be removed from over 100 names in the state.

MINNEAPOLIS -- The federal government recently renamed hundreds of lakes, streams, summits and other places to remove an offensive term for Indigenous women. The new name for the lake formerly known as Squaw Lake, which is located in Pine County, is Manidoons Zaaga'igan Zhaawanor. It's one of the nearly 650 changes that have been made by the government in order to avoid the use of the slur. Among the states with the most instances include California, which had 80 name changes, and Arizona, which had 66. Wisconsin had 28 instances of names being changed, the closest of which is the...

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland. In this April 23, 2021, file photo, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland speaks during a news briefing at the White House in Washington. U.S. Evan Vucci/AP Photo The U.S. Department of the Interior is requesting public input on new names for more than 650 geographic features with racially offensive names — 28 of those sites are in Wisconsin. In November, DOI Secretary Deb Haaland signed Secretarial Order 3404 declaring a word that originated as an Algonquin term for "woman" a derogatory name. Its meaning has shifted after centuries of use by white people as an offensive term...

WASHINGTON — The Department of the Interior today announced a list of candidate replacement names for more than 660 geographic features with the name “squaw,” which was officially declared a derogatory term as a result of Secretary’s Order 3404. The Department has initiated Tribal consultations and an opportunity for public comment to recommend and review proposed replacement names. Secretary’s Order 3404 established the 13-member Derogatory Geographic Names Task Force, which includes representatives from the Department’s Bureau of Indian Affairs, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, National Park Service, Office of Diversity, Inclusion and Civil Rights, Office...

Two California lawmakers have proposed removing the word “squaw,” a slur against Native American women, from all geographic features and place names in the state. Assembly Bill 2022, introduced by Assemblyman James Ramos, D-Highland, and Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia, D-Bell Gardens, would go into effect on Jan. 1, 2024. Ramos said the word is an idiom that came into use during the westward expansion of America, and is not a tribal word. “AB 2022 would ban the use of the S-word and establish a process for renaming locations with that offensive racial and sexist term which began as derogatory word used...

U.S.—In a heated exchange on Twitter, a powerful white man viciously attacked Elizabeth Warren—a noble Cherokee squaw and Senator from Massachusetts. "This violent verbal attack on me was literally a hate crime," said Warren as a single tear slowly rolled down her cheek. "The white man continues to oppress my people by resisting the government's efforts to tax them into oblivion and waste all their money on spending bills that we write to pay off our campaign donors. This basically makes him a freeloader." The white attacker—named Elon Musk—simply responded with cruel memes showing Elizabeth Warren wearing eagle feathers and...

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A ski mountain is set to remove a derogatory term for Native American women from its name — two decades after state law eliminated the slur from names of communities and public landmarks. The leader of a group of investors that’s buying Big Squaw Mountain Resort in Greenville vowed to retire the name upon completion of the purchase, the Portland Press Herald reported. “It’s going to change. There is no doubt about that,” said Perry Williams, managing partner at Big Lake Development Co. “It’s about time,” Penobscot National Tribe Ambassador Maulian Dana said of the prospective...

Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland formally declared "squaw" to be a derogatory term Friday and ordered a task force to find replacement names for valleys, lakes, creeks and other sites on federal lands that use the word. The order, which takes effect immediately, stands to affect more than 650 place names that use the term, according to figures from the U.S. Board on Geographic Names. "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...

California’s Squaw Valley Ski Resort is considering changing its name to remove the word “squaw,” a derogatory term for Native American women. Squaw Valley President and CEO Ron Cohen says resort officials are meeting with shareholders and the local Washoe tribal leadership to get their input. He says he can't give a timeline on when a decision will be made. The possible renaming is one of many efforts across the nation to address colonialism and indigenous oppression. Washoe Tribe Chairman Serrell Smokey said the name Squaw Valley is a constant reminder of efforts to disparage native people.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) on Wednesday released a plan to fight “digital disinformation,” promising to “push for new laws that impose tough civil and criminal penalties” for disseminating false information related to U.S. elections. “Disinformation erodes our democracy, and Democrats must have a plan to address it,” she details in a Medium post, proclaiming President Trump “welcomed foreign interference in our elections, inviting interference from a host of countries that have an interest in the outcome, including Iran and China.” “He’s currently facing impeachment for putting his own political interests over the national interests of the United States – and...

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., will return to Oklahoma City on Sunday, where she will meet with Native American groups as part of a reported effort to blunt continuing criticism over her past claims to have Native American heritage. The 2020 hopeful, who was born in the city, will meet privately with tribal leaders -- where representatives from all of the approximately 40 federally recognized tribes in the state have been invited for the Sunday morning meeting. Later in the day she will hold a town hall meeting. The meeting will reportedly focus on Warren’s agenda for the community and is...

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has been an outspoken critic of former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's candidacy -- but on Wednesday, she took her message to his own backyard. During an interview on Bloomberg TV, host Joe Weisenthal acknowledged that his "boss" was running against Warren and asked her if it's "naive" to think that candidates such as Bloomberg, former Vice President Joe Biden and South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg could champion bipartisanship in 2019 politics. Warren pushed back against the question, citing a "dozen" pieces of bipartisan legislation that have passed since President Trump took office. "There...

Justice for Taylor Swift! Yeah, now that's a cause that your average working American can get behind. And it is also a cause taken up by presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren which has resulted in widespread mockery. Okay, the mockery hasn't quite reached the levels inspired by the reaction to her hyping of a DNA test last year that revealed that Warren is maybe 1/1024 Native American but it is up there. Warren tweeted her support for Swift in the multi-millionaire's contractual dispute with other millionaires that we should somehow care about as reported by Variety on Saturday in, "Elizabeth Warren Backs...

The clear loser of the Democratic primary is Medicare for All. First, the policy demonstrated the unreliability of Kamala Harris out of the gate, when she endorsed it before quickly backing off. Now, it has blunted the momentum of Elizabeth Warren, made a mockery of her claim to be an uber-wonk and shredded her implicit appeal to Bernie Sanders supporters as an equally committed left-winger without the baggage. Under pressure for weeks for details related to her version of the proposal, Warren has now backed all the way down to promising to pass Medicare for All by the end of...

Hitting back at criticism from Joe Biden that many people said was sexist, Elizabeth Warren told supporters: “I am angry and I own it.” Warren also sought to put the Biden controversy to good use: her response came in a fundraising email she sent to supporters on Friday. “Over and over,” the email said, “we are told that women are not allowed to be angry. It makes us unattractive to powerful men who want us to be quiet.” Biden may indeed want Warren to be quiet – in Democratic primary polling he has fallen behind her in Iowa and New...

Democratic 2020 presidential hopeful Elizabeth Warren is expected to be joined at a town hall event in North Carolina on Thursday by Ayanna Pressley, the Massachusetts congresswoman who on Wednesday broke away from her Democratic “Squad” pack to support her home-state senator. The boost for Warren's candidacy comes as she has spent the week fending off attacks from former Vice President Joe Biden and other Democratic rivals -- and even from billionaires Bill Gates and Jamie Dimon. It also comes as Warren has seen a surge in the polls. The newest numbers show her surpassing Sen. Bernie Sanders -- the...

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) struggles to appeal personally to voters despite her popular policies, Axios reporter Alexi McCammond said on MSNBC Monday. McCammond discussed her article arguing that voters find Warren's left-wing policies appealing but have "qualms" about the Massachusetts senator's personality. Voters "liked things like canceling student loan debt, they liked the idea of taxing corporations and the wealthy because they feel like it will help people like them personally, but they didn't like Elizabeth Warren's personality," McCammond said.

It’s tough to say which of the 2020 wannabes is the biggest phony, but you can make a strong case for Liz Warren. “I am sorry for harm I have caused,” Warren said Monday at a presidential candidates forum on Native American issues. She was referring to the fact that she spent much of her adult life falsely claiming she’s part American Indian in an attempt to advance her career. Yet what action, exactly was she sorry for?

CNN hosted a town hall on Monday in Mississippi with presidential candidate and Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) where she answered questions on a range of issues, including the Mississippi flag, which features in its field a Confederate symbol. “Mississippi’s the only state in the country that still has the Confederate battle emblem on the state flag — do you think Mississippi should adopt a new flag?” Jake Tapper, CNN anchor who moderated the town hall, asked Warren. “Warren replied with one word — ‘Yes’ — and was met with loud applause from the crowd,” CNN reported on its event....CNN also...

WASHINGTON - Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) made a surprise appearance at a Native American conference on Tuesday. Warren spoke at the National Indian Women’s “Supporting Each Other” lunch, where she introduced Cheryl Andrews-Maltais, the chairwoman of the Wampanoag Tribe of Massachusetts. The event took place during an annual meeting of the National Conference of American Indians. Warren received a standing ovation from tribal leaders and other Native attendees as she approached the stage. She called on Congress to take more action on Native issues, including “the alarming number of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls,” suicide rates among Native...