kumar@hplabsc.UUCP (Arvind Kumar) (04/13/85)
I have a question to ask of American-born people: What is the preferred term for addressing the native Americans in the US? I am referring to people who have previously been called Red Indians. It seems to me that just as the term Negro is no longer in favor, neither is Red Indian, since the term describes (supposedly) skin color and a mistaken indentity (I'm told Columbus was looking for India). Now that both America and India have been discovered, and people of both are getting to know each other, it is time that we address each other properly. ~e
rajeev@sftri.UUCP (S.Rajeev) (04/14/85)
Arvind Kumar's query about the preferred term for addressing native Americans reminds me of a pet peeve of mine: the tendency among US historians to refer to inhabitants of India as "Hindus" or "East Indians". (Not all Indians were ever Hindus, and the East Indies refers to the Malaysian-Indonesian archipelago.) Now this is not only inaccurate but I also resent our name being taken away just because that silly man Christofero Colombo got confused! Enough bandying about of our name, I say: "India ink", "Indiarubber"... Actually, the etymology of India is "Sindhu" (land of the Indus) -> "Hindu" (because ancient Persians couldn't pronounce the "s") -> Hind -> India, if I remember right. Now that the Indus no longer runs through India much, perhaps we should give up all claims to the word, and go back to only using Bharat?! :-) -- ...ihnp4!attunix!rajeev -- usenet ihnp4!attunix!rajeev@BERKELEY -- arpanet Sri Rajeev, SF 1-342, Bell Labs, Summit, NJ 07901. (201)-522-6330.
jeff@rtech.ARPA (Jeff Lichtman) (04/15/85)
> I have a question to ask of American-born people: > > What is the preferred term for addressing the native Americans > in the US? I am referring to people who have previously been > called Red Indians. The "politically correct" term is "Native American". The only place I have seen the term "Red Indian" is in this newsgroup, so I assume that it must be used mainly in India. I recommend against using "Red Indian" in the U.S.; it would almost certainly be construed as racist, regardless of your intent. -- Jeff Lichtman at rtech (Relational Technology, Inc.) aka Swazoo Koolak
sgupta@ut-ngp.UUCP (Gupta, Sanjay) (04/22/85)
**SORRY, THIS MAY BE A STALE TOPIC, BUT I AM A NEW READER OF USENET** >What is the preferred term for addressing the native Americans >in the US? I am referring to people who have previously been >called Red Indians. It seems to me that just as the term Negro >is no longer in favor, neither is Red Indian, since the term >describes (supposedly) skin color and a mistaken indentity >(I'm told Columbus was looking for India). I feel that there is a misconception here regarding why the term "Red Indian" is considered to be derogatory. Skin colour cannot be the reason why the term is in disfavour. Red is a good colour to look at, unlike black and to a certain extent brown too. People with a reddish hue are esthetically very appealing - in fact, more so than white-skinned people. Hence it must be the mistaken identity part which creates disfavor for the term "Red Indian". I guess the combination of "native American pride" (from watching movies, I get the feeling that the Red Indians/native Americans were a proud race who tried to maintain their cultural identity against the European(white settlers) - which by the way is in contrast to the real Indians) and European imperialistic notions - thrusting their nomenclature on the "native Americans" - must be the reason why they prefer to be called "native Americans", rather than "Red Indians". Sanjay Gupta
jeff@rtech.ARPA (Jeff Lichtman) (04/24/85)
> > I feel that there is a misconception here regarding why the term > "Red Indian" is considered to be derogatory. Skin colour cannot be the reason > why the term is in disfavour. Red is a good colour to look at, unlike black > and to a certain extent brown too. People with a reddish hue are esthetically > very appealing - in fact, more so than white-skinned people. Hence it must be > the mistaken identity part which creates disfavor for the term "Red Indian". I'm going to say this as gently as possible: apparently you were not living in the United States during the height of the civil rights movement. Black is not an ugly skin color, nor is brown, nor is any other skin color. Before the civil rights movement in the 60's, blacks in this country were conditioned to believe that they were not up to the standards of white beauty. In the 60's, blacks started to realize that they had been conditioned to hate themselves, and so black leaders started a "black is beautiful" campaign. They were right, and still are: black *is* beautiful, as are white and brown. I suggest that you rid yourself of your idea that some skin colors are better than others. > I guess the combination of "native American pride" > (from watching movies, I get > the feeling that the Red Indians/native Americans were a proud race who tried > to maintain their cultural identity against the European(white settlers) - > which by the way is in contrast to the real Indians) > and European imperialistic > notions - thrusting their nomenclature on the "native Americans" - must be the > reason why they prefer to be called "native Americans", rather than "Red > Indians". > > Sanjay Gupta "Red Indians" are neither red nor Indian. Native Americans are usually light brown or nearly white (i.e. Caucasian coloring). In fact, it is usually impossible to tell that a person is Native American by his or her looks. Please keep in mind that the term "Red Indian" isn't used in American English. I have never heard Native Americans object to this term per se, probably either because they haven't ever heard the usage, or because they don't want to waste their time fighting against a sin that the American people don't commit. Some Native Americans don't object to "American Indian," but many of them object to being called "Indians" simply because it is wrong. Why should they be known as "Indians" because of a mistake Christopher Columbus made hundreds of years ago? I have also heard Native Americans object to the idea that they are called "red," because this is also wrong. To combine the terms into "Red Indian" is doubly wrong. -- Jeff Lichtman at rtech (Relational Technology, Inc.) aka Swazoo Koolak {amdahl, sun}!rtech!jeff {ucbvax, decvax}!mtxinu!rtech!jeff