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→"Native American" vs. "native American": further clarification of my concerns
: Your source suggests that "Native American" is a politically motivated propaganda term that is intended to imply that American Indians are the original inhabitants of America. The source is wrong when it says that the implication is "historically accurate". There is substantial evidence that American Indians were ''not'' the original inhabitants.
: Your source suggests that "Native American" is a politically motivated propaganda term that is intended to imply that American Indians are the original inhabitants of America. The source is wrong when it says that the implication is "historically accurate". There is substantial evidence that American Indians were ''not'' the original inhabitants.
: I don't know why you are pursuing this, unless you want CP to use terminology that suggests that Indians are more native to America than anyone else. The current text is correct, and avoids the inaccurate implications. [[User:RSchlafly|RSchlafly]] 14:41, 28 May 2007 (EDT)
: I don't know why you are pursuing this, unless you want CP to use terminology that suggests that Indians are more native to America than anyone else. The current text is correct, and avoids the inaccurate implications. [[User:RSchlafly|RSchlafly]] 14:41, 28 May 2007 (EDT)
:: ''Your source suggests that "Native American" is a politically motivated propaganda term that is intended to imply that American Indians are the original inhabitants of America.'' I agree that "Native American" is a politically motivated term that is intended to imply that American Indians have been here for hundreds, thousands, or maybe even tens of thousands of years longer than European Americans. (I have no idea exactly how long.) I realize that you don't like the use of this term, because you believe that all Americans are equal, regardless of how long their ancestors have lived here. I think you have a legitimate point, and I do not have a problem with this being expressed in the article. But we can't pretend that the term "Native American" (with a capital N) really means "native-born American" if it isn't actually commonly used that way.
::''The source is wrong when it says that the implication is "historically accurate". There is substantial evidence that American Indians were ''not'' the original inhabitants.'' I think the issue is more complex than this, but I'm willing to believe that current day Indians are not direct descendants of the earliest people who lived here, and I hope that CP articles will eventually expand on this point.
::''I don't know why you are pursuing this, unless you want CP to use terminology that suggests that Indians are more native to America than anyone else.'' I am pursuing this because I want CP to have an accurate definition of the current usage of the term "Native American" (and, ideally, "native American" as well). That's the whole point of an encyclopedia. I don't care if you raise the point that Native American literally means anyone born in America (although I'm not sure what you mean by "as an American, since everyone born here is a citizen), or if you add a paragraph discussing why the term is problematic. I'm not expressing an opinion as to whether I think the term is a good one or a bad one. I just don't want anyone to come away from the article thinking that the term "Native American" (with a capital N) is commonly used to mean "native-born American", because at least so far I haven't ever seen it actually used that way. (Though it's possible that it is sometimes used that way, no examples have yet been given.) If we want to, in general, use "American Indian" here at CP instead of "Native American", that's fine with me.
::''The current text is correct, and avoids the inaccurate implications.'' I disagree. I believe the current text implies, incorrectly, that it is common to use the term "Native American" (instead of "native American") to mean "native-born American", and I believe (at least until shown otherwise), that this is not the case. --[[User:Hsmom|Hsmom]] 13:14, 29 May 2007 (EDT)
==References and Notes==
==References and Notes==
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