I loathe political correctness. According to Merriam-Webster, the term means “conforming to a belief that language and practices which could offend political sensibilities (as in matters of sex or race) should be eliminated.” Good luck with all that.
Liberal types think they know what’s best for the rest of us. They come up with strange and various ways to control speech and thought to the point of absurdity, and shame on us for falling for it.
According to rumor, Jesse Jackson was the first person to use the term “African-American” regularly. When I first heard it back in the 1980s, being the liberal I was, I considered it an honor and a duty to refer to myself as African-American, a term that reflected both my nationality and ethnic background.
I’m glad I wised up.
If specificity is required, refer to me as an American of African descent. The country of my birth trumps my ethnicity.
Political correctness is a nonsensical and counterintuitive agenda. With the rise of speech codes on college campuses and “hate speech,” the government seeks to intrude upon and interfere with our freedom more each day by regulating our words and punishing us for what we say or think. While freedom of speech is not absolute, the government’s power to regulate offensive words is very limited, according to the U.S. Constitution.
I suspect that the term “Native American” isn’t commonly used among American Indians themselves. (An acquaintance once said that my reference to “Indian Summer” was racist. Dumb, I know.). At least one Indian, Russell Means, doesn’t like it. What paternalistic thought cops either don’t realize or ignore altogether is that anyone born in the United States is a Native American.
I was prompted to write this post after reading an article about John Kerry. While pandering to a group of Indians, he seemed to alternate between using “American Indian” and “Native American.”
According to Wikipedia:
The terms “Indian” or “American Indian” were born of the misconception on the part of Christopher Columbus who believed that the Caribbean islands he had reached in 1492 were the islands in Southeast Asia known to Europeans as East Indies. The replacement term “Native American” was introduced in the United States by anthropologists who considered “Indian” quaint and inaccurate. That word had also been too loaded with prejudice by 19th century American press and 20th century Western movies (epitomized by the saying “the only good indian is a dead indian”).
Nevertheless, the words “Indian” and “American Indian” continue in widespread use in North America, even amongst Native Americans themselves, most of whom do not feel offended by the terms. Indeed, many just want to be called “Indians” since it was the term applied to their forefathers. The use of the term “Native American” may be more current among politically correct academics than it is among Native Americans themselves. [my emphasis]
I’ll take the word of Means over any academic: “I will not allow a government, any government, to define who I am.”
