[Aztlan] Matter of convenience

[Greg Sandor]

The American Indian Movement certainly doesn't assign a pejorative meaning
to "Indian."  I've never met anyone who said Indians were "lazy, stupid or
inferior."  Anyone who has needs new friends.

The people I have known whose ancestors were here before mine called
themselves Seminole, Lakota, Apache.  As for a tradition of assigning names
to other groups, there is precedent:

Apache:               enemy (Zuni word)
Comanche:           anyone who wants to fight me all the time (Ute word)
Dakota:               ally
Hopi:                   peaceful ones, people who live in a peaceful way
Iowa:                  sleepy ones (Dakota word)
Lakota                friend or ally (same with Dakota and Nakota)
Mohawk:            the possessors of the flint, coward or man eater (Abenaki
words)
Opata:                hostile people (Pima word)

I really like this one:

Nihtat Gwich'in:      people living together as a mixture

Regards,

Greg

(614) 517-7204
greg at gregsandor.com
http://www.gregsandor.com

>
> > [Original Message]
> > From: mario malo <troycabo at yahoo.com>
> > To: <Aztlan at lists.famsi.org>
> > Date: 9/20/2006 4:26:29 AM
> > Subject: [Aztlan] Matter of convenience
> >
> > China changed Peking to Beijing, India, Bombay/Mumbai, Iran/ Persia,
> Myanmar/ Burma and on and on. I dont see any thing confusing using the
> proper names of the people authors write about, on the contrary it would
> expand knowledge and educate. Canada uses the term First Nations and in
> Mexico the term Indio forget it! (Lived in both countries) Here's some
good
> ones- Why not just keep calling THEM indians and be done with it? or
change
> attitudes and don't think of indian as lazy, stupid or inferior. After
> reading the response's Ive come to the conclusion its just a matter of
> convenience and to hell what the native people think and feel. That's all
I
> have to say on this subject, Mario Malo
> >
> > ---------------------------------
> > Stay in the know. Pulse on the new Yahoo.com.  Check it out.
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