And now:[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: <+>=<+>KOLA Newslist<+>=<+> 2000 -44 Why is Leonard Peltier still in jail?! ========================= [article provided by Calling Crow. Thanks!] Legislators agree to debate state ban on use of squaw PORTLAND PRESS HERALD - NOVEMBER 17, 1999 by PAUL CARTER, STAFF WRITER AUGUSTA - Legislative leaders have reversed themselves and agreed to let the Legislature consider a bill that would change the names of Squaw Mountain, Squaw Point, Squaw Book and more than a dozen other places whose names include the word "squaw." The Legislative Council, which has veto power over filing bills in the legislative session that starts in January, vote 9-0 Monday to let in the anti-squaw bill. The council had voted 5-4 for the bill at an earlier meeting, but that tally fell one vote short of the minimum of six votes needed to introduce legislation. The bill was filed by Rep. Donald Soctomah, the Passamaquoddy delegate to the House of Representatives. When the legislative leaders failed to admit the bill at their October 25 meeting, Soctomah appealed the decision and won the second time around. Soctomah could not be reached for comment on Tuesday, but the decision was hailed by Rep. Donna Loring, the Penobscot nations' representative to the House, who said the vote shows that the Legislature is "sensitive to our issues." "In my life experience, I have never been called a squaw as a compliment," Loring said Tuesday. "Is is hurtful? Is it abusive? My answer is yes." The upcoming legislative debate is sure to be interesting because there is considerable disagreement about the origins and even the current usage of the word squaw. Commonly viewed by non-Indians as a synonym for woman, the word has a far different connotation among many Indians. Some do not find it offensive, but others say the term has evolved into a slang synonym for prostitute, or female genitals that has been used for generations by non-Indians to insult Indian women. "I've been to environments where the word squaw was used and it was never used as a term of endearment" said William Altvater of Eastport, a Passmaquoddy member of the Maine Indian Tribal-State Commission. That nine-member panel which includes Indians and non-Indians who advise the state on state-tribal relations, has unanimously endorsed Soctomah's bill. The commission is chaired by Cushman Anthony, a lawyer and former state legislator who is not Indian. Anthony said it was "an eye opener" for him to learn that many Indians find the word offensive because he was unaware of the term's negative connotations until recently. Anthony said it is important to gauge a word's impact and its true meaning by the listener's's reaction to it, not the speaker's intent. "If friends are really bothered by the use of a nickname, I don't use it. It's as simple as that," Anthony said. "I think it goes beyond political correctness. This is ethical sensitivity or ethic sensitivity." Some reference books suggest that squaw originated in various Algonquian languages as a word for woman, young woman, lady or queen. Over time, those references say, European settlers and their descendants transformed the word into an insulting term for Indian women. "Anybody who doesn't think that this word is derogatory to any native woman, I would just dare them to come to our reservation and say it to a group of women," Altvater said. "I think the bottom line is that it's unfortunate that non-native people have such a high level of ignorance about native peoples." Although the Legislative Council has now agreed to give the bill an airing in the full Legislature, not all of the top lawmakers who voted to let in the bill necessarily support the proposed ban. Assistant House Minority Leaders Richard Campbell,, R-Holden, who has some Indian ancestry, says he voted for the bill out of respect for Soctomah. But Campbell questioned the wisdom of notifying the population at large that a seemingly innocuous word actually has negative connotations. He said that will give hatemongers more verbal ammunition for insulting Indians by transforming a generally positive or neutral word into a derogatory word. <+>=<+> http://users.skynet.be/kola/ http://kola-hq.hypermart.net <+>=<+>
