Why I Won???t Call Myself ???Indigenous??? Instead of ???Native American???

Unfortunately, the issues with “BIPOC” don’t end at the false equivalencies of struggles. I have always identified as Native American instead of “Indian” or “indigenous”, with “tribe” instead of “nation”. These are the names I grew up with on Native lands, the names my elders use. I believe it’s a personal choice for each of us, and I have no trouble navigating the differences in how we choose to name ourselves, but I do have a natural discomfort with “indigenous”. Maybe it just doesn’t flow or sit pretty on the tongue the way “Native” does, maybe it sounds pretentious to me. I shrug off those petty reasons though, because there are greater implications made by equating “indigenous”, or even specifically indigenous American, with Native American people.

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