Whats in a name?

"What's in a name?

That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." - William Shakespeare

Well Juliet, a name is very important. Especially, when you are part of an Indigenous group in North America in constant battle over treaty rights with the United States government.

When a group of people have the freedom to name themselves, they are wielding power. People often ask me the question, “what is the politically correct term? Is it Native American, First Nations people, or American Indian?” Honestly, this is the best question you can ask any person part of a minority or majority group. I am an enrolled member of the Oglala Lakota Sioux tribe in South Dakota. (Oglala is my band, Lakota is the tribe, and Sioux is the Nation) Indian Nations are vastly different from one another. There are over 500 tribes in the United States alone, not including Canada, Mexico, Central or South America and the Caribbean. Each have their own language, religion, and customs. It would be the equivalent to thinking a person from England and another from Greece are the same because they are both European. . Ideally, I would want to be thought of as Lakota but I know people will have a hard time remembering that. Personally, I prefer the term American Indian. Other people may agree or disagree with me but I feel that I have done a significant amount of research and more importantly listened to my tribal elders to take an educated and cultural stance on this subject.

The way the United States government drew up treaties and policies to allocate funds, they used specific language in their writing. When referring to American Indians they mean the indigenous people on the North American content. Native American is actually referring to Alaskan and Hawaiian natives. One of the reasons why the term American Indian is so powerful is because it, “firmly holds the government to nation-to-nation treaties made with American Indians nations” (Gage 22). Basically this term helps hold the government accountable to the treaties they made, not that they have been so good at it in the past. The term American Indian may or may not have been forced on the North American indigenous people but we have given it meaning, and uniquely made it our own.

In the 1970's the Red Power Movement gave birth to the American Indian Movement. The American Indian movement allowed people the confidences to be proud of who they were. Up until the 1970's and after many Indians were victims of institutionalized racism. They were taught to be ashamed of their culture and religion. Hate crimes against American Indians at this time were and in some places still are a common occurrence in peoples lives. I don't agree with everything that the American Indian movement has done or does, however, this movement helped the lives of urban Indians and those living on reservations. They were able to catch the media's attention, to bring awareness about Indian causes. Specifically, about the violence and poor quality of life on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Marlon Brando, for example, learned about what was going on and actually gave up his award for the Godfather as a way to protest.

At the same time as instilling pride in Americans Indians, this movement worked on holding the government accountable for treaties that they had made. Because of the events in the 1970's we took possession of the term “American Indian”. This term is a reminder to the United States government of the treaties they made, institutionalized racism against Indians, and the cultural and physical genocide committed against the indigenous people of North America.

This is just a mini opinion paper that I wrote during the research I've been doing.