by Veronica Bright

Created on: June 14, 2008

The term "Native American" could easily be confused with any person native (born in) to America. "Indian" is a term which is preferred by many of the Lakota who are my friends; however, this name was given them in error when Christopher Columbus thought he had reached India instead of America. Original American would be a more accurate term to describe American Indians.

In my opinion, it is all a matter of what is politically correct. To be technical, those living on the reservation are not IN the United States, as reservations are Sovereign Nations. I wonder how that fits into the picture. Although they were the first people to inhabit America, many live on reservations with separate governing bodies than America. Perhaps we should call them "Tribal Aborigines?" Today we have, in the US, Americans of all ethnicities. African, African-American, Asian, Asian-American, German, German-American, of course the list goes on. There are those who are not yet official Americans, yet live here, and we have those who have become citizens. "Original American" at least implies what is already known about the race. They were here before the Europeans, before the Africans, before any other ethnic group.

As mentioned earlier, I have many "Original American" friends, as I do a lot of work on Pine Ridge Reservation. Contrary to what many may think, they do not flinch, nor scowl when they are referred to as "Indian." What is much more important to them, as is true with most people, is how you think of them and how you treat them, not what you call them. As the old saying goes, "actions speak louder than words." If you call them "Original Americans" but think of them as second class, stereotypical drunk, undisciplined rebels, than has anything been accomplished? No, what is more important is how we interact with them, and not what we call them. If calling them Indian while treating them as equals, and human beings, you do not slur them. For some reason, however, humans have a need to categorize ethnicity to the extreme.

Original American could easily be a new term coined to describe what have already been called Native Americans, Indians, and other less flattering titles. How it would catch on may be another story. While it may be more precise, does not mean it would be readily accepted. People work so hard at being politically correct that they lose sight of the facts.

"African-American" is politically correct, (though not accurate, as more Sudanese and other Africans move to the

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