U.S. board approves naming of Piestewa Peak

The U.S. Board on Geographic Names voted 11-2 on Thursday to rename Squaw Peak in Arizona for Lori Piestewa, the Hopi woman who died in action in Iraq.

Piestewa Peak is now the official name for the peak. The state already changed the name but the federal government had to wait five years after Piestewa's death in March 2003 to take action.

Piestewa's family and tribes throughout the country supported the change. Nearly 60 percent of the 1,300 e-mails, letters and phone calls the board received favored the new name, The Arizona Republic reported.

Indianz

Also read the article in The Arizona Republic

OjibwayMigisiBineshii is currently reading Reinventing The Enemy's Language: Contemporary Native Women's Writings of North American edited by Joy Harjo and Gloria Bird. So far this book is an excellent read! In Katsi Cook's (Mohawk) piece she describes where the word squaw originates from in her introduction.

"One word that has been used since the colonial times to denigrate Indian woman is the word "squaw." It wasn't until I was having children myself and began practicing midwifery that I began to ask the old people about Mohawk words used to describe female anatomy and physiology. It was then that I learned that the word "squaw" comes from the Mohawk word otsiskwah (oh-gee-squaw), which means "its slippery," describing the vagina. Being called squaw is like being called a cunt."

This is why I am excited about this story and the renaming of this peak. Lets honor our Native women! Its about time we all move along!