I just got up from conversation with a couple of older black men, that I said “well I got to go back to work and start cracking the whip.” And it occurred to me then that it was probably a really insensitive stupid thing to say.
Sadly, it hadn’t occurred to me until it’s already said.
American Indians prefer to be called Indian, not Native American.
Kinda broad statement considering some do but some are offended by it.
Of course its entirely incorrect given they aren’t in India, so it seems obvious not to call them indian (shit even some actual east Indians are offended by it, especially cause now they need to be called east indians)
and more anecdotally all indigenous people I’ve met couldn’t careless what theyre called down to calling themselves ‘indjiuns’
My wife works on reservations. I haven’t heard of any of the tribes she works with being fine with being called Native American. They have their own government organization called the Bureau of Indian Affairs, it seems pretty clear that they prefer that term.
Yes great! But they don’t live in India :( So it’s pretty hard to call them indians
Not really. If you’re struggling with it it’s a you problem (and probably partially racism to boot). This isn’t a hard concept. Mexicans are Americans, Canadians are Americans, Peruvians are Americans, even though none of them live in the USA. Just because we (white people) decided to call two locations India doesn’t mean that only one group gets that name. That’s idiotic.
This is halarious, youre definitely american aren’t you?
Canadians aren’t in america eh? Absolutely no classification we can think of, perhaps a continent or 2 that could describe let’s say a north and south “america” of some sort?
Id encourage you to try and find another true analogy though, and you’ll see it doesnt exist - cause everywhere else’s name is based on where it is
also I gotta edit to add this, I’d love to see where you perceive racism in my comment, just as a readers exercise
are you purposefully misreading my comments? it’s like you’re trying to read the exact opposite of what I said.
you literally said that a group shouldn’t be called what it wants to be because it’s not from a specific region. that’s literally racism. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/racism
Canadians are called american cause they’re in NORTH AMERICA, not cause US has a monopoly on the classification american.
The rest I’m outta energy to argue but essentially yeah don’t use blanket terms
Yes… exactly. dude. you literally just proved my point. India does not have a monopoly on the classification Indian. Holy fuck dude.
@Sethayy the existence of people not offended by something prejudiced always seems to be dragged out as a justification for that prejudice.
If some people being offended isn’t reason enough not to say something, then it stands to reason that some people not being offended isn’t a reason why it’s okay.
If it is, then there are definitely people who are offended.
Okay, but what if they like being called indian as opposed to native american? Now you’re being offensive to those people. It’s kind of like that ridiculous latinx term that some PC people have being pushing for a few years now, I’m yet to meet anyone thay likes being called that as opposed to just latino/latina.
If you’re in doubt what to call someone, just ask, don’t assume.
Excellent! So let’s just call them what country they live in, which isn’t India (nor even close to India)
I hear just ‘natives’ more often. That reminds me though of this girl I knew who was just pissed about the term “African American”, saying “I ain’t got nothin to do with Africa! I’m Black!”.
You’re referring to Americans with heritage in the Indian subcontinent, right?
They are not, and what they said is broadly correct, but of course individuals vary.
No I’m not. My wife works on reservations. American Indians prefer to be called Indians, not Native Americans.