Nashitheki
Hollawitta
when everyone born in America is in fact a Native American ? I agree with others who want to be identified by their nation or tribe. These are people who called themselves something else long before the word America/n came into play.
A name held in common by a good many of us is American Indian and I tend to go along with Oglala Lakota activist and one of the founders of A.I.M.,(American Indian Movement) Russell Means -
"I Am An American Indian, Not a Native American!", Russell Means, a Lakota activist and a founder of the American Indian Movement (AIM), stated unequivocally, "I abhor the term 'Native American.' It is a generic government term used to describe all the indigenous prisoners of the United States. These are the American Samoans, the Micronesians, the Aleuts, the original Hawaiians, and the erroneously termed Eskimos, who are actually Upiks and Inupiaqs. And, of course, the American Indian.
I prefer the term American Indian because I know its origins. ... As an added distinction the American Indian is the only ethnic group in the United States with the American before our ethnicity.
At an international conference of Indians from the Americas held in Geneva, Switzerland, at the United Nations in 1977 we unanimously decided we would go under the term American Indian. "We were enslaved as American Indians, we were colonized as American Indians, and we will gain our freedom as American Indians and then we can call ourselves anything we damn please."
Russell Means
[youtube]-LA-S64QY3o[/youtube]
Russell Means: Welcome To The Reservation - YouTube
A name held in common by a good many of us is American Indian and I tend to go along with Oglala Lakota activist and one of the founders of A.I.M.,(American Indian Movement) Russell Means -
"I Am An American Indian, Not a Native American!", Russell Means, a Lakota activist and a founder of the American Indian Movement (AIM), stated unequivocally, "I abhor the term 'Native American.' It is a generic government term used to describe all the indigenous prisoners of the United States. These are the American Samoans, the Micronesians, the Aleuts, the original Hawaiians, and the erroneously termed Eskimos, who are actually Upiks and Inupiaqs. And, of course, the American Indian.
I prefer the term American Indian because I know its origins. ... As an added distinction the American Indian is the only ethnic group in the United States with the American before our ethnicity.
At an international conference of Indians from the Americas held in Geneva, Switzerland, at the United Nations in 1977 we unanimously decided we would go under the term American Indian. "We were enslaved as American Indians, we were colonized as American Indians, and we will gain our freedom as American Indians and then we can call ourselves anything we damn please."
Russell Means
[youtube]-LA-S64QY3o[/youtube]
Russell Means: Welcome To The Reservation - YouTube