Is the term "Indians" politically incorrect?

[GoldenBear]

Back in 8th grade my teacher only used the term "Native American", and believed quite strongly in it. And then, I totally agreed with him as the origin of the term makes absolutely no sense at all, and for no reason should it have carried on to today.

This year my teacher (I have much respect for them BTW) is real lenient on it, and interchanges the term Native American and Indian. So do you guys think there's anything really wrong about it, or is there no difference? I definitely belive "Native American" is the correct and proper term to use, but does it really matter?

 

[Wingznut]

So, my son comes home from Kindegarten one day last year...

"Hey Daddy, I learned a new song today:

One little, two little, three little Native Americans...
Four little, five little, six little Native Americans...
Seven little, eight little, nine little Native Americans...
Ten little Native American boys."


No joke.

 

[Regine]

I believe Native American or American Indian is correct. Both is used, and I heard it varies from person to person what they want to be called. One of my professors friends prefers "American Indian", so she uses that in class simply to respect her friend's wishes.
I don't know if plain "Indian" is correct though.

 

[Soybomb]

I use native americans because I've got way too many friends who are from india and it gets confusing to talk about india's indians

 

[abracadabra1]

ummm does it really matter, that much?
sure, it's the politically correct term to use...but it doesn't make that much a difference.
i've found that the "new-age" native americans, don't mind the term indians (they just blow it off like i blow off being called puerto rican instead of cuban). on the other hand, the very traditional native americans don't care enough to be called either.
when columbus arrived and believed that he had found a new route to india, he called the people indians. later it was found that he really didn't find india, rather a new country- what is now the us. but native american is definately the preferred term among the people, by far.

really, it boils down to this simple concept...if you met a guy you thought was named andy and called him andy and later found out his name was george...what would you call him?

 

[oldandquitemad]

I sit next to an Indian at work. His truck has a front plate that says "Indian and Proud of it".

I call him Tonto.

He is young and crazy.

I am (of course) old and quite mad.

We do very well together.

He actually posts on these boards from time to time. He is one of those "Hot Deal" fanatics we all know and love.

 

[Pocatello]

I think it's very confusing. Indians are people from India and only people from India should be called Indians. Keep it simple.

 

[Regine]

If you come in contact with an American Indian and you don't know what term to use, simply ask them. That way you know what they personally prefer.

 

[vi edit]

visgf is from the Black Hills area of South Dakota. Within a 100 mile radius of her are several "Indian" Reservations. Her area has one of the highest Indian populations in the US.

And around there, they are still called "Indian" Reservations. Not Native American Reservations.

 

[avatar08]

I myself am an Indian, but I usually prefer being called an American

 

[pastee]

engines? what you talkin' about mommy? I don't see any engines...

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

Drunk indian is sooo much easier to say than, drunk native-american j/k

 

[Impact55]

I live in Tulsa, Oklahoma.. although a stereo-type would say there is only Native Americans here, that is wrong, even the Native Americans here don't look full blood anymore unless you go out to the rural places where the population has been pretty much unchanged.. The only reason they are nicknamed "Indians" is because Columbus thought these were the Indies....
Some of the Indian reservations are really sad, we visited one for a school field trip (in Western Oklahoma) and I was very disturbed by some of the houses we saw... Like literally shacks or worse. And yes it is a common joke, but after being forced to live on the reservations a lot of the Native Americans took up drinking to try and ease the pain.


BTW... I am in no way biased to Native Americans as I have no Native American blood, I'm actually from NYC

 

[Nick Stone]

Also from Oklahoma. I guess we have one of the highest percentages of Indians -- Native Americans, that is, in the USA. I could easily be criticised for not being "Politically Correct". I love to joke around. Quite frankly it's hard to tell a joke that isn't potically incorrect to someone.
Let's face it without the politicians and the news media, we droids wouldn't know how to fasten Velcro much less know when we were PC.
I try to show Respect to anyone who remotely deserves it in my everyday dealings with my fellow beings.

 

[DaBoneHead]

Native Americans, American Indians, whatever.

Just don't call them "Tonto"!

Which, by the way, means 'stupid' in Spanish.

Kinda changes your perception of the old Lone Ranger series...

"Hi Ho Silver, It's the Lone Ranger and Stupid!"

But then again, I guess any American Indian hanging around some masked white guy circa 1850 would have to be a bit looney!










P.C. DISCLAIMER: I usually use the term American Indian, however, the whole tonto thing just cracks me up

 

[Train]

I go to Eastern Michigan University, For over 100 years our mascot was the Huron, after a local tribe.

A few years back the president decided he would be a great guy and change the name to something else, nobody liked it, a student poll showed that 86% of the students did not want a change. The local Huron Chief, who was the official decendent of the Huron chiefs since the revolutionary war, stated that he was honored to have EMU use the Huron name, and would be dissapointed ina change.

They changed it anyways, and the school has not been the same since. All because some people try to be "politically Correct" which itself is a stupid name, people can be hurt by anything, you cant single out certain names or phrases, its justa bad i dea and it kills tradition. They even went as far as to remove the Huron name from local streets and businesses. The only thing that remains is the Huron river, which is also under scrutiny, its Ironic that we are trying to respect the Hurons but at the same time trying to forget them. If the president gets his way, the Huron river will be named something really stupid and we might as well forget the Huron ever existed. Makes me feel like sh!t.

 

[Wingznut]

Don't you mean Lake Huron?

 

[403Forbidden]

Impact55,

you're frm NYC and you are living in Okla-what??????

 

[Sephiroth_IX]

I dont mean to sound rascist or disrespectful, but we have FAR too many problems with being politally correct. They were originally called Indians by our ancestors. Generally i say Native Americans, but it is definitely interchangable in my book.

 

[Mday]

i am going to have to agree with 403 on that one.

 

[Stallion]

Why does everyone want to come live in American but be called anything but American. Does it really matter that you're African American or American Indian or Spanish American and so on.

I live on an Indian reservation and I went to school with a lot of Indians and that's exactly what we called them, Indians.

I'm a little sick of all this politically correct stuff. As far as I'm concered if you live in America your an American period.

 

[Warrenton]

If you wanted to be politicaly correct I an an Anglo-Duetsch American.

So you know what? Screw PC, I'm a Limey-Krout Wigga

 

[cxim]

I grew up with "indians"

They called each other Choctaw & so did I.

They called me white man ! along with a few choice other things

 

[stomp]

growing up with ignorant white children in school was pretty annoying since i'm the india's indian style indian ("Indian-American&quot and be told "Where's your feather?" or "Why aren't you going AWWW-WAH-WAH-WAH-WAH-WAH-WAH"... children are annoying that way, especially when they pick up on stereotypes.

Native-American should be proper... especially with the influx of Indian-Americans. Sure, I'm biased here because of my heritage, but at least the distinction makes sense