Obama signed a bill striking 'Oriental' and 'Negro' from federal code
President Obama signed a bill into law Friday that strikes derogatory terms for minorities, including "Oriental" and "Negro," from federal law, The Hill reports.
"The term 'Oriental' has no place in federal law, and at long last this insulting and outdated term will be gone for good," bill author Rep. Grace Meng (D-N.Y.) said in a statement.
The House of Representatives and the Senate both unanimously passed the measure, which will replace the words struck with terms including Asian-American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, African-American, Hispanic, Puerto Rican, Native American, and Alaska Native.
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Julie Kliegman is a freelance writer based in New York. Her work has appeared in BuzzFeed, Vox, Mental Floss, Paste, the Tampa Bay Times and PolitiFact. Her cats can do somersaults.
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