The Squabble Over Squa

MayorBob.

Posted to Legal on Sat Jun 20, 2009 at 08:19:04 AM EST (promoted by DEMachina). RSS.

We all know that words have power.  That's the power to express and explain.  That's also the power to hurt.  Most of us agree there are some words we just should not use because they can hurt.  Typically, they disappear from place names and aren't heard in polite discussion.  So much for words.  Now, up in Maine they're all het up over whether syllables can also have power.

The root cause of this syllabic battle ground is the word "squaw".  The word originally meant woman in some Indian dialects.  Some believed it meant "strong woman."  However, as it came to be used by whites, it became disparaging meaning weak or, even according to one usage, a synonym for vagina.  According to Penobscot Nation Chief Kirk Francis, the "word is equivalent to the n-word."  Thus Maine, along with several other states moved to ban the use of squaw for all official place names.  In Maine, this led to Squaw Mountain being renamed Big Moose Mountain and Squaw Pond becoming Sipun.  Would that this would have been enough.

Unfortunately, controversies over perceived and alleged injuries rarely die easily.  So it was with squaw.  The 2000 law didn't apply to privately owned enterprises, thus the Big Squaw Mountain Resort is allowed to heavily advertise itself (not to mention get a push from the state Board of Tourism).  But public place names can't use squaw.  So, some enterprising souls decided to do an end run around the law and shorten some place names by removing the w from squaw.  Thus, there came about Squapan Lake near Mapleton and Squapoint Road in Stockton Springs.

Some of the Indians didn't take kindly to playing fast and loose with squaw and two years ago the Maine Indian Tribal-State Commission (MITSC) filed a law suit over the name of the road.  According to MITSC's Paul Bisulca "no matter how you spell it, with or without a `w,' squaw is squa."  Bisulca challenged the legislature to "do what it should have done nine years ago."  The legislature complied and Governor John Baldacci signed a tightened version of the law, placing squa on the verboten list.  Baldacci said Maine "is a welcoming community" where "every Maine person and every Maine community deserves to be treated with dignity."  Leslie Cosmano moved to Maine with her husband four years ago and she finds the whole thing bizarre.  According to her, "birds can no longer squawk, people can't squabble" and town squares are outlawed.  But the law still only affects official place names and only then when squa is used as a syllable in a word.  But, Chief Francis believes the whole squa amendment thing is a sop thrown to the Indians by Baldacci and white legislators still stinging over a 1970s settlement of a law suit that cost the state (US)$81.5 million.  Then there's the matter of Baldacci's veto of legislation allowing Indian gaming interests to offer more lucrative games than bingo.