The issue, it seems to me, is not whether any particular piece of
language is percieved by the general public as racist. The general
public cannot be relied upon to determine such things. In the 1950's
the "general public" thought there was no harm in making blacks use
their "own" restrooms, water fountains, etc., etc., nor in making
"those people" ride in the back of the bus or in calling them
"nigra." The "general public" thought such patterns were harmless,
certainly NOT racist (whatever "racist" meant). In order to assess
harm we must defer to the judgement of those who suffer the harm, in
this case, the native peoples of this hemisphere.
I don't presume to speak for those peoples. I am of European
heritage. But I would like to point out observations I have made in
various parts of the United States of America, mostly the West. In
many areas the racist attitude is so strong that even someone who is
merely passing through can feel it. While in the Dakotas, for
instance, I have heard locals in "casual" conversation about and to
the Natives there. They were using the words that have been
discussed in this list, such "harmless" words as "brave," chief",
"Indian." But if you heard those locals say such things there would
be no doubt that they were insults of the lowest kind. Don't even
think about "redskin" as being "ordinary," that is a word used to convey
the lowest and vilest sort of insult. This kind of language is heard
throughout the West, in Montana, the Dakotas, particularly South
Dakota, Okalahoma, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, anywhere there is or
was a population of Natives to subjugate.
I have crossed the USA many times, and I have never failed to hear a
racist comment directed at some native person at least once on any of
these trips. In Fargo, North Dakota, I overheard a local adressing
an older Native American as "chief." The context of the comments
made is abundantly clear that he was using it in the same sense as a
Georgia white would when adressing an older black man as "boy."
Don't tell that man that "chief" is a term of honor. While sitting
in a restuarant in Albuquerque, New Mexico (where I currently live)
I saw a local Pueblo man attempting to sell his jewelry to the
patrons, an activity not barred by the proprieter. A customer took
it upon himself to go over the the man and tell him, "Hey, Indian,
take your trash and get out of here!" The venom in the man's voice
was clear. Don't tell that Native American that the word "Indian"
refers to his proud heritage. On a train trip across New Mexico
that my wife took recently there was an "Indian" guide on board,
ostensibly to point out to the passengers sites and historical
tidbits important to the Natives in the region. She overheard fellow
passengers making such comments as, "Why is that Indian on this
train, won't he scalp us?" Or, "They allow redskins on this train?"
The speakers of such racists comments seemed to be from "back East,"
New York, Virginia, Michigan. You say "redskins" is harmless? And don't
get me started on "scalping"!!!! When she was attending a college in
the state of Washington, my wife took a class in which the instructor
was a Makah tribal elder. Many of her classmates were truly agitated
when they discovered that their professor was a Native American. It
was several weeks into the quarter before fear of scalping and
general mayhem by the instructor started to calm down. The program
lasted the entire school year and even after that length of time,
some of her classmates were still very careful not to be left alone
in the same room as the professor. The massacre at Wounded Knee a
couple of decades ago is no surprise to me. If you go into any bar
in that area, you will today hear talk of going out and shooting
a few "injuns," or moving the "damned injuns" off that reservation
land they've "stolen." This from "men" who drive around with guns in
the rack behind their head. This is highly reminiscent to me of the
talk I heard in the South, in North Carolina and Georgia, of going
out and "lynching uppity niggers," or of the talk I heard in Miami of
"sending the damned Cubans back where they belong."
I could keep on going, telling you of things like this in an almost
endless stream from my and my wife's experience, but I know there are
some out there who don't like to read long posts.
As I said, I don't presume to speak for Native Americans. I will say
however, that I would not like to be the target of such language.
When I was younger, overhearing people talking to others in a racist
manner made me quite uncomfortable. As I grow older I am outraged and
angered by such behavior. I no longer care whether my anger would
"get me into trouble" with people with such racist attitudes, I don't
care to be associated with them. I have never been the target of a
racist comment; I don't know what it feels like to be such a target.
I do know I don't want to be the target of such an attack, no matter
how "harmless" the speaker or by-standers might think it is.
Thank you for your support,
Greg Krall