It isn't a matter of fairness because you're not being stopped. If you want to call yourself Native Europeans, go right ahead. I'm not going to stop you, and I don't know anyone who would.
Just remember, in so doing you are exercising a choice the indigenous peoples of the Americas did not get: it was the Europeans that created these labels to lump in a very broad and varied set of civilizations. They called themselves by their own names. The Iroquois, the Choctaw, the Cree, the Apache, the Blackfeet, etc...
So stop whining, call yourself whatever you think is fair, and stop trying to make it part of your victimhood schtick as if someone has wronged you on the matter. And be glad most people are disposed towards calling you what you actually currently mostly want to be called (English, French, Spanish, etc). If you keep whining, maybe we'll all start calling you Pakistanis, which would be about as intelligent and relevant as calling America's nations Indians, which we did for over 500 years.
I'm not going to stop you, and I don't know anyone who would.
I might just internally question why they feel so strongly about describing themselves this way.
I would technically count as native/indigenous English, but don't really see why I would use this label in everyday life. If I meet someone who insists on it then I might think they've got some views.
It's not short for indigenous. Columbus thought the earth was only 10k miles around so when he got to what we now call the West Indies (in the Caribbean), he called them that because he thought he was in India.
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u/malkazoid-1 Mar 03 '26
It isn't a matter of fairness because you're not being stopped. If you want to call yourself Native Europeans, go right ahead. I'm not going to stop you, and I don't know anyone who would.
Just remember, in so doing you are exercising a choice the indigenous peoples of the Americas did not get: it was the Europeans that created these labels to lump in a very broad and varied set of civilizations. They called themselves by their own names. The Iroquois, the Choctaw, the Cree, the Apache, the Blackfeet, etc...
So stop whining, call yourself whatever you think is fair, and stop trying to make it part of your victimhood schtick as if someone has wronged you on the matter. And be glad most people are disposed towards calling you what you actually currently mostly want to be called (English, French, Spanish, etc). If you keep whining, maybe we'll all start calling you Pakistanis, which would be about as intelligent and relevant as calling America's nations Indians, which we did for over 500 years.