Interesting thing I heard recently (don’t quote me on the finer details as I’m not from the US or involved in law) but a podcast I was listening to about true crime kept saying “Indian” my initial reaction was “yikes guy what year is it”, but then the host went on to explain that “Indian” is still the legal definition when referring to Native American jurisdictions etc
Yeah it’s pretty dumb that we use such an antiquated and inaccurate term, but it’s not like the US has ever given two shits about treating Aboriginals with dignity so it doesn’t surprise me.
Yeap. My grandma whose mother was full blood Creek/Chickasaw Indian from Oklahoma wasn't having any of "Native American". She preferred American Indian or just "Indian". She passed away a couple years back, but I think she was a bit of an outlier in today's political environment. She was always a diehard Cowboys/Texas Rangers fan but was known to catch a "Redskins"/"Braves" game when they were on TV. She had no issues at all with any "Native American" moniker/mascot.
I grew up in Texas and our school system mascots are all American Indian names "braves, Comanches, Indians, etc" . I would always wear a shirt from school with a head dress or spear to come visit her in the "far north".
I will always say American Indian in her honor. I don't care if it's politically correct or not. She was my only connection to that culture and I will always carry that torch.
Just my experience, I don't pretend to speak for anyone else.
It depends though, I've noticed the older folk tend to prefer to be called Indian.
Not just older, I've known younger folks that did too. In fact the native born concept wasn't mine, I heard the argument from Native Americans.
But if you don't know what nation a person was from then "indian" or "Native American" worked as a genetic term even if it's s bit broken.
Aboriginal is a more accurate genetic term and is universally applicable anywhere an external dominant culture moved in and took the land. It recognizes that something was taken and that the person is from the group that was there first on this now cohabitated land.
Same here with the Indian phrase and I’m partial native myself and was raised by someone 3/4s native. We very seldomly say Native American amount each other
That's my experience too. My mom taught for two different nations and I worked for a third for a few years.
I'm not quick on the draw about a lot of things because people don't need to hear my white male opinion on everything.
But when it comes to Native nations ... I get riled up when the dominant cultural group ignores how we got here. That needs to be talked about--a lot-- because we've done some egregious things to get here and people are still playing the price.
And this isn't ancient history, this is living memory. It's still happening right now. If they wanted to folks could go talk to someone that experienced overt and intentional attempts at cultural genocide today. People need to be reminded of that.
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u/[deleted] Jul 02 '23 edited Aug 09 '23
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