I Just talked to my former sister-in-law A full-blood Creek, and she said it's silly to think the I word is offensive . She and everybody has used it for many years. Also what do you want to call the people of India?

@elaineg  Thank you for pointing it out.  The people of India are called Indians.  They are fine with that term.  It was offensive to Native Americans because they are not from India and calling them Indians was dismissive as to who they really are.  I appreciate what your sister in law said.  It helps us to hear first hand how people feel.  Perhaps it is okay in some circles, especially within the family, but it is widely considered offensive to Native Americans.  

What a great moment of victory @jeanne-mayell !  Congratulations!

Our young people are stepping up and it is heartening to see.

I have no doubt that the initiative will pass this fall. I have great faith in the people of Boston.

Consider the terrible injustices we have done over time, to so many...if we had to face the full weight of our culpability it would be unbearable. But scales are falling from eyes, walls are crumbling. It’s good, and long overdue.

I hope as the scales come to balance, we Americans will be humble in accepting the consequences. Because change is coming, and we will all be changed.

@jeanne-mayell - "I had heard a lot of bologna" - You made me laugh so hard!!! I so appreciate you spelling it correctly as it exists in its original language, but it is totally ok to say "That's a lotta baloney!", even in written form. Now I'm craving a nice bolognese sauce... ? 

Thanks to you for clarifying terminology around the indigenous people of our continent.

Something that comes to mind, is that in African-American culture, the "N-word" is used as a term of endearment, but ONLY if you are a bona fide member of that culture, those of us outside of it are absolutely not to use it because it is so offensive. So if those who are members of indigenous tribes want to use the word "Indian" to refer to themselves within their own culture, family or circle of indigenous friends, I can understand that, however in trying to move past the old paradigms it's important to not use these offensive terms when communicating with the outside world.  I've never heard an African-American refer to their people using the N-word when talking to anyone outside that culture. (And I'm not referring to literature or music or even stand up comedy as those are exceptions.)

I myself am half Italian and grew up in a very "little Italy" town near White Plains NY. Columbus day was a big deal to them and my mom's birthday fell on Columbus day occasionally.

I am 100% happy to say arrivederci and il addio to Columbus day and Benvenuto to Indigenous People's day!

@triciact (Mamaroneck???)

LOL

Addio, Colombo - eri figlio di zoccola!

So. I'm working on a project that involves collaborating with one of the core Wampanoag tribes here in SE Mass. I asked the tribal chairwoman what terminology she and her community prefer when referring to US Native people in the aggregate. I'm pasting here her response, which is succinct and to the point of what has been discussed on this thread:

This is one of the poem I meditate too.  Hope it’s appropriate to share.

The Supreme Court Says Nearly Half of Oklahoma is an Indian Reservation. What's next?

@jeanne-mayell

I found it interesting that Gorsuch voted "pro", apparently has a history of approving indigenous rights. Who knew...

I think it especially has implications for the oil processing industry, i.e., pipelines.

My worry is that if Satan Miller gets wind of this, he'll push for some kind of executive order that will annul all treaties.

I was chatting with my dad recently about immigration. Primarily about how I ignored his advice to emigrate from the US til it's too late, but also about what brought my great-grandparents to these shores.

Like most immigrants, they were economic refugees.

But here's a twist that finally occurred to me after years of meditating on the nature of western colonialism:  My ancestors were fleeing the same influences of colonialism that have been at play in the "New World" since it's "discovery".

Hear me out, and I'm NOT creating any equivalencies here - to be clear, my ancestors were not slaves in the sense of being bought/sold/owned, and nothing that they did have to endure is equal to the suffering of those stolen from homelands to be exploited as free labor, nor is it equal to the holocausts of the 20th century, nor the global holocaust that occurred to indigenous peoples by the Europeans for 400 years+.

My ancestors were peasants. Some were carpenters, loggers, butchers, seamstresses. By the early 20th century none of them were yet property owners.  Here's why:  after the Great Black Death/Plague, the oligarchs (nobility, church, etc.) in Italy took two approaches to dealing with the subsequent reductions of available cheap labor (because so many died). In the North, where the Renaissance began, laborers were encouraged to learn and ply trades, guilds were strong, and tradesmen were free to move about and go wherever they wanted to work. In the South, laborers were tied to the lands, guilds were discouraged, they weren't free to seek work elsewhere (especially not the North) - they were "locked in" to the old feudal system.

This system remained in effect until WWI, and only started to really disappear after WWII, although in Southern Italy, things have never been as prosperous as in the North. This also led to the rise of criminal syndicates: Cosa Nostra, Mafia, Ndrangheta - because it became nearly impossible to make an honest living.

Back to my ancestors: the reason they left Sicily and southern Italy was, simply put, starvation. Any profits they made from whatever they cut, grew, made, sold went to the local oligarchs. It wasn't even subsistence as there wasn't enough money to feed the whole (large) family and those who were farmers weren't allowed to keep enough of what they grew to survive. Add to that the pressure of criminal gangs extorting anyone they could, and it's not a pretty picture. I think this is why I feel such strong empathy for those coming to the US from central and south America, many of those refugees are coming from no-win-possible situations, and from what my father says (and what my grandparents told me before they died), it's not too far off the mark from what our ancestors endured.

In summary, my ancestors were fleeing the same kind of oppressions that were at the base of the founding of this country, entrenched on one side of the Atlantic and expressed as Colonialism on the other.

I'm so pissed off that they didn't choose Canada...

@laura-f  So sorry, but I for one am glad you are here.  Your voice has been an important one.  I don't have an immigrant story that truly relates to what is happening now.  But, it shouldn't take a similar experience to want to help those who are suffering or are desperate.  I think that is what the GOP before and since Trump has failed to recognize: We are all ONE.  We are all brothers and sisters, and my true belief is that each of us will be judged by how we treat one another.  Thank you for posting your story.  

@laura-f

HA Hi I forget you know the area. Actually I'm originally from West Harrison NY (they call this town "Silver Lake") and was walking distance to White Plains.  The signs on the stores used to be in Italian and English and most of the folks were "off the boat" Italians so their children were first to be born in the US. My dad had to read his friends mail to them since many couldn't even read English! LOL

Changing Columbus Day to Indigenous People's Day would help dispel the myth that Native people in the eastern US "died out." I had the privilege to work with members of the Wampanoag Nation in Massachusetts, and their worldview is hiding in plain sight:

https://towardstheedges.com/2020/08/19/one-landscape-multiple-stories-traditional-ecological-knowledge-in-southeastern-massachusetts/  

Today I sent this letter to the local papers and am feeling good.

Why I am voting yes for Indigenous People’s Day

For many the second Monday of October has never been about a European explorer but about the land upon which we live. Every October, the leaves turn gold, and New England becomes indescribably beautiful.  We called it Columbus Day because we thought we owed it to him for discovering this land.

But now we know that he didn’t discover anything since millions of people were already living here.  Not only was there no discovery, but Columbus committed such atrocities when he conquered these people that Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand had him brought back to Spain in chains.  Within 25 years of his landing, the beautiful people who lived there in a near perfect utopia, were killed off from enslavement, suicide, murder, and disease.

I am a white woman who is half Hispanic.  My ancestors sponsored the journey Columbus made that ended in the extermination of the indigenous people. Thanks to the Black Lives Matter movement, I’ve been awakening to the myths of White dominion that much of my life were invisible to me.

Voting yes on March 2^nd is a way we can begin to correct some of these myths. We will be asking our Select Board to change the name from Columbus Day to Indigenous People’s Day.

It is time for our town to honor those who should be honored.  It is time to correct the message we send with this holiday.  

We teach our children to be kind, ethical, and to operate from truth. Last year, the town’s children wrote dozens of letters to Town Meeting members asking us to change Columbus Day to Indigenous People’s Day. They are learning the history of our country, the ways that racism and White dominion have shaped and warped our culture. They are asking us to stop honoring the person who exploited, murdered, and enslaved these people, and honor those who cared for this land for 10,000 years.

At the last Town Meeting, after hours of discourse from all sides, Town Meeting voted overwhelmingly in favor of changing Columbus Day to Indigenous People’s Day and to send the question to the townspeople for a referendum. On March 2^nd, our citizens will weigh in.

As the Governor of Maine said when she signed the bill to change this day’s name to Indigenous People’s Day, “There is power in a name and in who we choose to honor.”  By voting yes March 2, you can change the meaning of Columbus Day from one of massacre and enslavement to one of healing. Let us do what 15 states and 150 cities have already done and change the name to honor the first people who cared for this beautiful land for which we are so grateful. 

@jeanne-mayell.  Hear! Hear! Jeanne. Well done. It will be successful.

@lowtide. Please send energy for its success. The opposition group is fierce and full of disinformation, misconceptions, and they attack people who don't agree with them.

Right on!  But every day we need to be inclusive with indigenous people.  I think we should make cultural misappropriation illegal!  Watch bison horns riot Guy be roasted by Native Americans in this video.  You can peek into native pride here.  They also talk about a little girl who wore a ribbon skirt to dress up day, and her teacher knew nothing of that sacred tradition. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWR4iU9T7HM&t=5s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWR4iU9T7HM

The native community responded very strongly to his headdress. 

Maybe spending time realizing no culture is a monolith, and getting to know one another will bring us together as one race the human race. Buy from native owned companies.  Understand native art.  Like and subscribe to patrickisanavajo.  The guys are funny in an unassuming way that rings true of the native senses of humor I have known.

@jeanne-mayell I am. Read your reply, started praying and heard church bells start to ring. It was really striking!

@jeanne-mayell

Beautifully written my friend.