Slate‘s Explainer points out that more American Indians actually prefer the term “American Indian” to “Native American.” Both, I think, are fine, but this further shows that “American Indian” isn’t offensive or outdated, as some suggest. (That a group prefers term A over term B isn’t a sufficient condition to show that term B is offensive — but it is generally a necessary condition.)
The column, however, also says, without citing any studies, that
Perhaps the biggest goof is to drop the American from American Indian, as President Bush did at the ceremony while noting that ‘like many Indian dwellings, the new museum building faces east toward the rising sun.’ Native Americans/American Indians often dislike this simplest of monikers, as it can lead to confusion about whether a person is a tribal member or an émigré from the Indian subcontinent.
Yet a quick google search shows that quite a few Indian tribes seem to use “Indian” rather than “American Indian,” at least where there is no likely confusion about which Indian they’re talking about (and in Bush’s speech there was of course no likely confusion).
Indians thus sometimes speak of the “X Tribe of Indians” (see, e.g., here, here, here, and here), but also even when the term “Indian” is used without the explicit “X Tribe of” qualifier (see, e.g., here, here, and here). I see no reason to think that these Indians or President Bush committed “the biggest goof,” or any goof at all.
Unfortunately, though the column recognizes that the statements of particular American Indian activists aren’t always accurate evidence of general preferences among rank-and-file Indians, and that surveys may reveal more than the high-profile complaints, it gives no survey evidence that American Indians really perceive this as a “goof.” It simply says that they “often dislike this simplest of monikers,” with no indication of how “often” this is. Is it that 10% of Indians dislike it? That 30% dislike it and 70% are just fine with it? That 30% dislike it, 20% like it, and the rest have no opinion?
I’ll e-mail the Explainer people about this, and let you know if it turns out that indeed there is some serious evidence behind the “goof” claim.
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