On Mon, 15 Jan 2001, Samuel W. Heywood wrote:
> MOST aboriginal Americans in my state of Virginia (There are many here, and
> I know a few of them)
Well, what do I know since I only live on an Indian Reservation...
or maybe it's a "Native American Reservation" now.
> IMNSHO, the term Native American is more appropriate than the term Indian
> because "Indian" may be taken to refer to a person from India.
I was speaking of peoples' preferences, not what seems more
appropriate by others... then again, such political correctness
seems to take on a ubiquitous life of its own.
Pretty soon I suppose even Indians will get indignant scowls for
referring to themselves as such.
(I wonder when the term "Native American" was first uttered, and by
whom)
> On many government forms, such as those used by the census bureau for
> example, one has to answer questions concerning his ethnic identity. The
> government forms make use of the term Native American to refer to aboriginal
> persons of the contiguous 48 states. There are other terms used to refer to
> aboriginal Alaskans and aboriginal Hawaiians.
I suppose that would be relevant if the forms were designed by
a consortium of indigenous nations and tribes. As long as they're
designed by clueless admin-types, the argument doesn't seem to
hold much sway.
Around here, people refer to themselves as San Carlos Apache
if they're differentiating between White Mountain Apache, or
just Apache, or Indian depending on context. I've never heard
anyone on the rez refer to himself as "Native American."
> >> BTW, a man named Ira Hayes was a Navaho.
>
> > Nope, he was Pima.
> > (the tribe with the highest rate of diabetes ever recorded)
>
> I have always heard that he was a Navajo. Maybe you have done your homework
> on this point. I haven't, so I am quite possibly wrong.
No homework involved. From where I sit, (like an hour away
from the Pima) it's just common knowledge.
- Steve
