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I don't normally get on THIS soapbox, but there is a difference between "Indians" and "Native Americans". Indians are from the country of India. Native America
by geoduck14 5y ago
I don't normally get on THIS soapbox, but there is a difference between "Indians" and "Native Americans".
Indians are from the country of India. Native Americans are the original inhabitants of the America's. And the subject of this article.
- playingchanges 5y agoMy understanding is that many in the Native American community self identify as ‘Indian’. Or have historically, I’m sure the younger generation is moving away from it.
- ceejayoz 5y agoThe US government still uses "Indian" in a lot of places, like the "Bureau of Indian Affairs"; "Federally recognized Indian tribe" is a specific legal term still, hence its use in the court decision.
- krapp 5y agoTake that up with Christopher Columbus. He's the one who bumbled his way to the New World, saw brown people there and decided he must have found India.
- snypher 5y agoAnecdotal, but I was told some original treaties are between 'usa and indians', so to change names may place those treaties in jeopardy.
- Grieving 5y agoOne absurd name vs. another. "Indian" is the result of a mistake by an outsider, which probably isn't that unusual if one goes digging into the names for various ethnic groups. "Native American" feels artificial, but more importantly isn't accurate either. The native Americans would be the descendants of the American colonists, the founding people of a nation; not those who were conquered by these people. The people we call Native Americans might better be described as aboriginal, or as in Canada "first nations".
- Jcowell 5y agoIsn’t this disregarding that The America in Native Americans are not for the country but for the continent(s) (some nations lump two Americas as one)
- Grieving 5y agoKind of, but there's only one nation called America. You can't separate native-ness from nation-ness. If the US called itself something else, then there would be no Native Americans.
- BenjiWiebe 5y agoDoesn't the US call itself the 'United States of America', and not just 'America'?
- Grieving 5y agoI misspoke when I said the US, I meant the people of the US (i.e. the nation, not the state).
- rhino369 5y agoWhile there is some amount of controversy, Indian does mean original inhabitants of the Americas. Check any dictionary in America.
- boxed 5y agoThat soap box is unfortunately "white supremacy". It's whites renaming an ethnic group against their own will. Pretty much the definition of white supremacy. I understand you have good intentions. But being wrong negates that. Mao and Pol Pot had good intentions. They were just massively wrong about reality. Be careful about being correct.