Tony, I don't believe "Red Indians" started as a derogatory term, just a descriptive term because of their ruddy complexion relative to the early European settlers.
"Niggers" on the other hand, which derived from "negroes", is considered a derogatory term by African Americans when used by others, whereas they use it freely to denigtate each other. --- Tony Barros <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hi Santosh, Mario, Arjun, Ricardo n Afra ! > > Both categories - Native Americans and American > Indians are used in > official U.S. government documents for classifying > the various > ethnic groups. Hence, I assume both are acceptable. > > The "Red Indians " label is a derogatory term used > by white racists > just as they used "niggers" for Black Americans. > They have attempted > to portray in the various movies they produced in > the Third World > with great success-how uncivilized the American > Indians were. Hence, > the dire need to immigrate into the country and > bring about change. > > Since the American Indians inhabited the American > continent before > the first White man in Christopher Columbus > "discovered" the "New > Lands"- or invaded as some of my fellow writers > would say- I prefer > to differentiate them from the other immigrants by > calling them > indigenous Americans. > > > rgds. > > Tony Barros. > Union, New Jersey. > USA. > > > > __________________________________ > Discover Yahoo! > Use Yahoo! to plan a weekend, have fun online and > more. Check it out! > http://discover.yahoo.com/ > >
