When will the US people stop calling native Americans as Indians?

Lets find a resolution to the problem rather than asking them to change. Lets differentiate ourselves from them by calling ourselves as Asian Indian, rather than just India. We are on an international forum though it YA India, but these questions do appear here and there, so confusion is must to be created.

Right or wrong, but Indian is common term used in USA and many countries used for native Americans, and some are making those comments just for mockery. So lets be more clear and not give chance to make fun of us and earn 2 points. And let me tell you, calling Native Americans as Indians is racist in USA if I am not wrong, but I could be wrong too.

Americans are generally slow to change and adapt to new things, and when such an idea is proposed, a lot of Americans get stubborn. "What!? Who Cares!! It's just a word! Get over it!!"

However it's becoming more common to hear "Native American" in the U.S. Where I live, the local media often use's the word "Native American" or "American Indian". The U.S. government sometimes use's the word "Native American", but it still hasn't caught on much and a lot of people in general speaking terms say Indian. However, it's really up to the Native Americans themselves, and the consensus seems to be that they actually prefer being called Indians because it's a word they've become used to and a word that they as a group can identify with it.

"Indian" is a term that is codified and is the legal term for the original people of what is now the United States. For instance, in the US we have the

*Bureau of Indian Affairs http://www.bia.gov/ (not for people from India),

*Bureau of Indian Education http://www.oiephr.bia.edu/ (not for people from India),

*Indian Health Service http://www.ihs.gov/ (not for people from India),

*National Museum of the American Indian http://www.nmai.si.edu/ (not about people from India),

*National Congress of American Indians http://www.ncai.org/ (again, not for people from India),

and the list goes on and on.

I seriously doubt the nomenclature will change. I think, at best, we're going to just call "Indian" a homonym, a word with multiple meanings.

As far as "Native American" goes, that's no better than "Indian" and has it's own set of arguments both for and against.

As Kanien stated, most of us "aboriginals" call ourselves by our nations' names.

i was going to give you an explanation but Bob up there ^^ is all the answer you need for why things won't change.

btw..i'm an indigenous person of north america and i prefer to be called by my nation's name, not some generic name like indian nor do i like native american or american indian since i'm NOT an american at all. in fact, we predate america.

Wiininiskwe, if your ancestors from many moons ago are from Canada, then you are Native American. BTW Canada IS part of North America... You should know that considering this is "YOUR" land

They don't call them Native Americans in Mexico to Columbia or Canada. Why should the ones of the new USA have such status anyway. And what is a Aboriginal? What about Sri Lanka?

@ Hocobo - I don't know where you found 'Indian' is the term for a Native American cause it isn't.

Indians are called Indian because of the Indus River in india so use your brain!

I don't think the majority of US people will ever start calling Native Americans by their real name, they teach kids in US to say INDIANS instead of NAtive Americans anyway.

Ignorant people

probably they will never stop. It a word thats been around for a very long time and its too mainstream (used by too many people and not just in US). Although its not politically correct, I cant think of any way to change people's use of wordings

one thing is certain ,,,,,,,,its too difficult to remove the words indian from americans minds,,,,,,,

hollywood or american government alone have the power to change things there,,,,,

columbus named them as indians,,,,,when he failed to find india through sea route,,,,,and intially thought them to be indians,,,,,and hence from then on ,,,,,,native americans were called indians,,,,,,,

it needs some time to change all that,,,,,,,even if someone tries to change it ,,,

When? 50 years?? Who knows. Really, "Indian" is the actual English word for a Native American, like it or not. It's what they've been called since our first encountering them. It's indicative of the ignorance of the first settlers. How long will it take to change? I do not know. Personally, I refer to them as "Engines" (J/K).

A7X-PaUL,

When an American hears the phrase, "cowboys and Indians," what do you think pops into his head? Nagarjuna? No. My point is that Americans in 2010 don't call Native Americans Indians out of an ignorance of geography, but because "Indian" has become the actual English word for a Native American. Sorry if it makes you feel sidelined or something, but I'm only trying to explain it's usage, I'm not trying to defend it.