I would like to call them American Indians. Why? Because that's what we always called them. It was based on the mistaken idea that the New World was India. But calling this continent America was a mistake also. We didn't feel obliged to change it out of political correctness.
Progressives like changing the names of things. Never call an Afro-American a "colored person." Please, be politically correct and call them a "person of color." What the heck is the difference??
So, I should be allowed to call native Americans Indians. I hope you don't mind.
We are often told that the white settlers massacred the American Indians, and that it was an intentional genocide. No, that is just another progressive/liberal myth.
First, no one knows how many Indians were here before the settlers arrived. It could have been one million, or ten million, or more. At the end of the 19th century, there were only 250,000. We really have no idea how many died because of the settlers.
But we do know that MOST of the Indian deaths were caused by the settlers bringing infectious diseases. Diseases such as smallpox, measles, etc., had never existed in America, so the Indians had no immunity.
No, the European settlers did NOT bring these diseases intentionally, because they wanted to kill Indians.
American Indians were defeated by microbes. It was not genocide.
European settlers did start arriving in huge numbers and took the Indians' hunting land, that is true. But indigenous people all over the world have been crowded out by modern society. I think it really is too bad, and I think their way of life was superior to ours in many ways.
But there was NO genocide of the American Indians. First, we don't know how many died because of the settlers. Second, we know that most of those who died were killed by diseases, and were NOT intentionally murdered. Third, the settlers were interested in acquiring agricultural land. They were NOT trying to stamp out the Indians because of their race.
