calling native Americans "Indians" in 2011... huge academic fail?
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Daniel Plainview
Members Posts: 895
seriously am i missing something? maybe im missing something. why do i still see teachers and professors referring to them as Indians if that was just a result of some European boat being lost and confused
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The term "Native American" is inaccurate as well, being as how they were in this region long before it was called America. I saw this American Indian guy (yep, I called him "American Indian") on television the other day and he said he doesn't use the term "Native American" to describe himself; he said he's American Indian. He then went on to explain what the term "Native American" stood for and why he would NEVER refer to himself as "Native American". Me, personally, I think they should be referred to as "The Indigenous People Of The Region Now known As The Americas"..... But that makes waaaay too much sense.... And it's too long.
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The word native is kind of taboo in academic circles.
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But c/s that American Indian is a little ridiculous too haha; jesse jackson is right the word indigenous is best
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Jesus Jackson wrote: »The term "Native American" is inaccurate as well, being as how they were in this region long before it was called America. I saw this American Indian guy (yep, I called him "American Indian") on television the other day and he said he doesn't use the term "Native American" to describe himself; he said he's American Indian. He then went on to explain what the term "Native American" stood for and why he would NEVER refer to himself as "Native American". Me, personally, I think they should be referred to as "The Indigenous People Of The Region Now known As The Americas"..... But that makes waaaay too much sense.... And it's too long.
Yeah but its not the worst thing they've been called.
My football coach in high school was a indigenous person of what is now known as the Americas and I asked him if the Washington Redskins offended him (it was me and my teammate who is Rican) and he said how would you feel if they had a team called the New York ? or the San Fransisco Spics?
That hit me like a lighting bolt, and that was the 1st and only time I heard NY ? I couldn't image having to hear and see that ? all the time, what happened and what continues to happen to indigenous people is truely savage. -
usually whenever Native Americans get polled, a large percentage of them claim to favor "American Indian." it's just one of those things where the term is inaccurate but not necessarily offensive, and so it's probably going to hang around for a while
the thing is, this stance is actually inaccurate as well, since the "American" part doesn't refer to "America," but "the Americas": Native Americans from Canada, Mexico, and Central/South America are still Native Americans.Jesus Jackson wrote: »The term "Native American" is inaccurate as well, being as how they were in this region long before it was called America.
shorter version: the term works because, original name or not, we call these continents the Americas -
usually whenever Native Americans get polled, a large percentage of them claim to favor "American Indian." it's just one of those things where the term is inaccurate but not necessarily offensive, and so it's probably going to hang around for a while
the thing is, this stance is actually inaccurate as well, since the "American" part doesn't refer to "America," but "the Americas": Native Americans from Canada, Mexico, and Central/South America are still Native Americans.
shorter version: the term works because, original name or not, we call these continents the Americas
Aboriginals.......... -
what makes a Native American from Canada "Aboriginal" when the rest of the Native Americans are not?northside7 wrote: »Aboriginals..........
beyond that, i think that term tends to be less popular with Native Americans than the others -
As a tribal member, I personally prefer Native American. Even though my people were here long before this was "America", I still prefer this term because we are not, in any way shape or form "Indian". Indigenous or Aboriginal Peoples could also be used, but Native American rolls off the tongue easier.
By definition, Native Americans are Aboriginal, meaning indigenous peoples. -
right, but it's not JUST the ones from Canadakonceptjones wrote: »By definition, Native Americans are Aboriginal, meaning indigenous peoples. -
right, but it's not JUST the ones from Canada
that's what I was getting at. ALL natives of this land from top to bottom. -
perhaps you see examine what northside7 bolded in the post and you'll see where i am going with thiskonceptjones wrote: »that's what I was getting at. ALL natives of this land from top to bottom.
also, i did forget the Russell Means position promoting the use of American Indian based on the "i'm an American Indian, i'm not politically correct, everyone who's born in the Western Hemisphere is a Native American" stance -
c/s thread i've made this argument before myself like how did history let that slide this far. most ignorant ? in american history in my opinion
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perhaps you see examine what northside7 bolded in the post and you'll see where i am going with this
also, i did forget the Russell Means position promoting the use of American Indian based on the "i'm an American Indian, i'm not politically correct, everyone who's born in the Western Hemisphere is a Native American" stance
I wouldn't mind if the term "First Nation Native" were extended to all aboriginal peoples of north and south america. -
doesn't that just seem like an awkward term to use, though?konceptjones wrote: »I wouldn't mind if the term "First Nation Native" were extended to all aboriginal peoples of north and south america. -
they should be called Americans and white people should have to be called European Americans since they insist on calling me an African American like my family tree doesn't go back further in this country than most of theirs.
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they should be called Americans and white people should have to be called European Americans since they insist on calling me an African American like my family tree doesn't go back further in this country than most of theirs.
that would be Jesse Jackson insisting on it. He first brought it up in the mid 80's, immediately after that the very next Cosby Show over used the term and it kept going from there. -
konceptjones wrote: »that would be Jesse Jackson insisting on it. He first brought it up in the mid 80's, immediately after that the very next Cosby Show over used the term and it kept going from there.
includes dr. duncan's reading of his "i can" poem.
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http://wesawthat.blogspot.com/2010/01/dr-johnny-duncan-wst-interview-real.html
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Afr-i-can Amer-i-can Turns Twenty-Three
By Dr. Johnny Duncan
Who originated the term African American? If you don’t know me, then you don’t know the correct answer to this question. My name is Johnny Duncan, and African American is my brainchild!
Twenty-eight years ago, to escape the harsh realities of life in rural Greene County Alabama, I enlisted in the United States Army as a Yorktown Cohort. Vice President George W. Bush swore in the regiment at the Yorktown Battlefield, to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the 1781 defeat of Lord Cornwallis in the American Revolution. Christian Fors and I were the only original Yorktown Cohorts to attend Officer Candidate School (OCS), after finishing basic training.
It was darker than a dozen midnights, on a dreary and miserable land navigation course in the Georgia swamp. The lightning bugs and the lens of the magnetic compass provided the only illumination, which wasn’t enough for me to find my way. For hours I wandered around in circles. When all seemed hopeless, a large, white ghastly object appeared on the ridge of the timberline. I hurried to examine it. The sign read: “THE LAST 4 LETTERS OF AMERICAN SPELL I CAN [!]”, mighty words of inspiration that were sown deep within my being. After becoming a commissioned officer, I spent the next three years in ? ’s “Fatherland”.
On October 31, 1985, I received an overseas discharge in the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG). I began working on The Black History Calendar at that time. On January 14, 1986 I picked up 1500 copies of THE 1986 BLACK HISTORY CALENDAR from my publisher, Peter Osteimer, in Scholkrippen, FRG. On the date of the occasion that Dr. King’s birthday became a national holiday in 1986, I sold 1000 copies of The 1986 Black History Calendar to the military community at Hanau, FRG. I was ready to return to the United States.
The Infantry routine in the 3/87th Infantry Battalion at Ft. Carson, Colorado was not vastly different from what it had been in the 1st Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division in Germany. The unit’s visit to the Jungle Operations Training Center (JOTC) in Manuel Noreiga’s Panama in the fall of 1987 proved faithful. Ft. Sherman’s long range navigation course through the Central American jungle reminded me of that dreadful disoriented night six years earlier in the Georgia swamp. I remembered the “I can” message on the sign. It inspired me and my platoon of enlisted men and misfits to conquer the difficult course in record time.
The mountains of Colorado never looked so inviting. Snow was already visible on the head of Zebulon Pike’s namesake during the fall of 1987 as I added the finishing touches to The 1987 Black History Calendar. It was then that I began writing a poem to capture the positive attitude and spirit of America, a composition that would rename people of African origins in America. Of course, the name of that poem had to be “I Can”! I toiled and experimented with rhyme schemes for hours on end to find the right words to convey my message of hope and inspiration.
I had been an American all my life. In the 1970’s I majored in and received degrees in American History at Louisiana State University (LSU) in Baton Rouge. Emeritus Professors of History, Dr. T. Harry Williams, Dr. Jane DeGrummond and Dr. William Cooper labored long and hard to instill in me an appreciation of the discipline. And honestly, through years of research and enrollment in scores of American History and American Literature courses, I never paid any attention to the construction of the suffix (I can) of American. “A rainy night in Georgia” destroyed my imperceptions. The “I can” sign created in me an acute awareness of a fact that I and generations of Americans before me had long ignored. As songstress Jill Scott reminds us, “The obvious was invisible!”
As invisible as the “I can” in the word “American” had been for me, it had been even more unnoticeable in the word “African”. The mention of Africa and of people of “African origins” is biblical and extends back beyond Antiquity. Sequentially, Clio chronicles things African earlier than he does things American, thereby literarily, if not archaeologically and geologically, permitting the former to predate the latter by a sacred span of time. America is not mentioned in the Bible. This understanding and appreciation of history prodded me into recognizing the common “I can” suffixes in both African and American. It was in this context that I then wrote, “The last four letters of my (African) heritage and my (American) creed spell I Can!”
Line number twenty-five (25) of the poem “I Can” created the term Afr-i-can Amer-i-can to describe the children of the descendants of the African Diaspora in the Americas. As a tangible expression of the inspiration that the four letters engendered, I published and copyrighted the “I Can” poem in The 1987 Black History Calendar. I subsequently changed the name of the poem to “Afr-i-can Amer-i-can” to reflect its crowning achievement. The poem “I Can” has since served as a trademark by appearing on the inside front cover of each Black History Calendar that I have published for the years 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990 and 1993. Editions of the 1986, 1987 and 1989 Black History Calendar are available for authentication of my contention. The U. S. Copyright Registration Number for The Black History Calendar is TX 1 929 242. I created the term Afr-i-can Amer-i-can three (3) years before Jesse Jackson read the “I Can” poem in The 1989 Black History Calendar, courtesy of Mrs. Coretta Scott King, and took credit for its creation in a speech that he gave in New Orleans in 1990.
“Son,” for all those who use and bear your name,
“I wish you a happy 23rd birthday!”
http://www.archive.org/details/DrJohnnyDuncanInterviewafr-i-canAmer-i-can -
Native americans just all around be ? me off. they dont mind being called "indians." They purposely live outside the box and screw each other up. They're still fighting a system that has ? them up so much thats its a wonder why any of them are still around. they should be extinct like the do-do bird and mayans (base in yo face!)
They walk around mad all the time. reservations suck. assimilate already ? lol -
Daniel Plainview wrote: »seriously am i missing something? maybe im missing something. why do i still see teachers and professors referring to them as Indians if that was just a result of some European boat being lost and confused
for the same reason they dont call them selves european-americans.....upper-class white people dont give a ? about the issues....and those "hills have eyes" ? ? just figure where mexicans......so whatever who cares? -
You know what you should do? You should use a larger font to show him you really mean business.
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major pain wrote: »Congratulations. I took a different path and am not ashamed of my life, as a matter of fact its made me better today. Anything else?
i feel you breh "? college" aint no money in college.....? actin like cause they get a degree that leads to a job....smh at all these smart broke ? driving 89 hondas.... -
runningwolf1980 wrote: »i feel you breh "? college" aint no money in college.....? actin like cause they get a degree that leads to a job....smh at all these smart broke ? driving 89 hondas....
Oh, I finished college and am doing pretty well for myself. But you're right getting a degree does not land you a job. -
major pain wrote: »Oh, I finished college and am doing pretty well for myself. But you're right getting a degree does not land you a job.
i went for like a week and said ? it...i been slingin dope since i was 15 so i allways had money...i didnt see the point feel me? i got one life to live and i rather rot in a cell than spend my life "wanting" -
runningwolf1980 wrote: »all those words and you aint say ? b.........also let me add it sounds like your more conserned on how your veiwed than how you veiw.....
bumped...... -
konceptjones wrote: »that would be Jesse Jackson insisting on it. He first brought it up in the mid 80's, immediately after that the very next Cosby Show over used the term and it kept going from there.
i didn't say they coined they term - i said they insist on referring to us as african-american. nobody black has ever called my african american and when white people do it they just sound like they're trying too hard.
but that's neither here nor there in terms of my initial point.
This discussion has been closed.