What is the origin of the word ‘squaw’?
By Ivan Star Comes Out
Native Sun News Today Columnist
nativesunnews.today
The origin of “Squaw” or squa (woman) is Algonquian and it was used neutrally for woman similar to our winyan (woman).
The colonizer turned it into a highly repulsive, belittling, and hateful moniker used to insult Indian women. This name is also popular in children’s books, history texts, and geographical places names, like Little Squaw Humper Creek in the Badlands of Oglala Lakota County.
This proves that as a culturally distinct group of people in this “land of the free,” we are reviled and disrespected to the highest possible degree by its supremacists. “Freedom” has been pretentious at best. Even our own elected “tribal” officials keep us oppressed. Did the GOP learn from this Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) government, similar to Hitler learning from America’s assault on natives?
All is not lost as, like the national Democratic Party, we have a small group of “tribal” officials on the Pine Ridge struggling to support and protect the rights of their people. Being a minority though, they have always been on the “losing” side. The majority of the officials have been displaying reticent behavior, like holding committee meetings in Rapid City as if to spite their constituent’s objections.
It is a historic fact that U.S. Congress has actively oppressed native people and now our “tribal” officials are doing likewise. It is appalling to “see” that we moved from targets of oppression to agents of oppression. This oppressiveness also exists in our “education” system, law enforcement, and just about anything within the “tribal” and federal government infrastructures. And no one is aware of it.
I believe it is imperative that we free ourselves of this long-standing, unmerited tyranny. With that, it is imperative to realize that it is a waste of time trying to change that particular Euro-American mindset. It has been and is their calling to subdue us (natives) and keep us under control. History has proven that.
So, just how does one unshackle this invasive and weakening domination? One must believe that, as an oppressed group of people, we are the only ones capable of stopping the assimilation process in our own minds. I’ve heard people refer to this as “decolonizing.” It means freeing oneself of the imported values, beliefs, and history we have been force-fed since the 18th and 19th centuries.
However, to do this effectively, we must resort to our ancestor’s wisdom and advice of using the best of both cultures and discarding the bad. This will prevent us from embracing the undesirable traits and behaviors of the continental newcomer.
One must also be aware that most natives, especially the college-degreed ones, are walking in the path of this oppressive system and appear oblivious to it. They have even promoted and defended the tyranny. I don’t expect that genre to help us with our bid for freedom from domination. So, what can be done to begin this process of liberating oneself from this ethnic clampdown?
I don’t have all the answers, but let me begin with some simple nouns relating to natives currently used in society. Most of these nouns are culturally inaccurate and originate from European languages. Although these names are the most racially biased, I’ve seen natives use them without giving it a second thought and thus reaffirm the colonization process.
In a historic sense, we must first realize that a 19th century doctrine or belief, called Manifest Destiny, held that it was the divine destiny of immigrant nation to expand its territory over North America and to extend its political, social, and economic influences there. Of course, this activity has obliterated our cultures, languages, and histories. Our children are still being assimilated in their day schools.
We can stop this continuing enervation by understanding the many aspects of it. I begin with the popular misnomer “Teton.” Historians say French fur trappers are responsible for naming the three peaks known as the South, Middle, and Grand Tetons in Wyoming. They called it “Les Trois Teton,” or “The Three Breasts.” perhaps to save face, it is now promoted as the name of the “Indians” that lived there.
Some say “Teton” was derived from Tinta which originated from the Iyansan ati Oyate (People of the white stone) language. In the Dakota dialect, Tinta is used when referring to the “treeless prairie” to the west. Today this group is popularly but erroneously called the Santee whose original homeland is in the western Great Lakes region.
A genuinely Lakota name resurfaced recently, Tipeslete (split top home). Although “Teton” is used frequently in children’s literature, history texts, movies, and every day conversations, I am inclined to use Tipeslete. Having re-emerged as of late, it is rarely used, in fact, it is relatively unknown. I imagine most natives will not use it useless the BIA says it is okay to use it.
Ivan F. Star Comes Out can be reached at P.O. Box 147, Oglala, South Dakota,
57764; via phone at 605-867-2448 or via email at mato_nasula2@outlook.com.
Copyright permission Native Sun News Today
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