The Difference Between Indians and Native Americans

I was discussing current events with a couple of guys from work the other day and one of them asked me why I described some of the Standing Rock protesters as Native Americans rather than Indians.  I explained it to him, but I think it went right over his head.

I explained to him that Indians are people who come from the country of India.  Native Americans are the indigenous people of the Americas.  Calling them Indians is like saying  people from Nebraska are calledTexans.  It just doesn't make any sense.

And then there are all the negative connotations associated with the term Indians.  When I was young we were taught all about the "Indians" and the early settlers.  In our textbooks the Native Americans were always called Indians and they were almost always described as bloodthirsty savages.  If you've ever spent a significant amount of time with a Native American, you know that just the opposite is true.  They are generally very peaceful souls trying to live in tune with nature and with each other.  Native Americans don't have some genetic trait that makes them want to go around scalping people.  In fact, they learned how to do that from white people.  The rest of us have a lot to learn from them.

So why did my generation consider the Native Americans of 200 years ago to be bloodthirsty savages?  Well, put yourself in their shoes for a minute.  A bunch of people show up on your shores one day and think they can just take whatever they want from you by force.  You're going to get a little angry about it, aren't you?  I sure would.  I would do whatever was necessary to preserve my people and their way of life, including cracking open a few heads.  That's what they did and that's why we were taught that they were bloodthirsty savages.  We only got one side of the story.

I won't get into what ensued over the next 200 years because I don't know enough about it, but we need to cut the Native Americans a little slack and take a minute to understand why they're mad at us.  And stop calling them Indians.  They're not from India.  They are from America.

There.  Finally got that off my chest.