California to remove slur against Indigenous women from more than 30 street, building, and other place names

Yokuts Valley, California was renamed in 2023 after previously being named with a slur against Indigenous women. Photo: Earl Wilcox.

California is removing a slur against Indigenous women from its lands, streets, buildings, and other place names. Replacement names have been selected in consultation with Tribal Nations from across California, and are set to go into effect January 1, 2025. The parks, streets, bridges, and buildings named with this slur span 15 counties across the state, and have stained the landscape for decades.

"These changes, proposed by local communities in strong partnership with California Native people, allow all Californians to move forward from a past that denigrated Native women and into present that embraces the beauty, diversity and potential that are a hallmark of this state” said Christina Snider-Ashtari, Tribal Affairs Secretary for the California Governor’s Office.

These renamings come as the result of Assembly Bill No. 2022, an effort led by Assemblymember James Ramos, which was signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom in 2022. This legislation requires the renaming of all geographic features and place names in California with the term “sq_ _ _,” a racist and derogatory slur against Indigenous women, by the start of 2025. The legislation “received broad support around the state from tribes, tribal advocates, civil rights organizations, teachers and many more” said Assemblymember James Ramos, author of the bill. “Not one of my colleagues in the legislature voted against the bill because so many recognize this word is not a placename that belongs in California.”

The work to change derogatory names in California builds off of federal efforts to change racist and derogatory place names. In 2022, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland renamed more than 650 geographic features named with the same slur. Over the past several years, the Federal Advisory Committee on Reconciliation in Place Names has identified more than a thousand places with racist and derogatory names, and has recommended to Secretary Haaland that they also be renamed.

CORE is elated for these changes go into effect. This marks a significant step toward making our public spaces more equitable and inclusive for everyone.