Date:  Wed, 29 Oct 1997 15:09:43 -0600
From:  Brian James Callarman <bjc0007[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]JOVE.ACS.UNT.EDU>
Subject: Indian Giver

> Branching off of the discussion of derogatory terms, what
> about the term "indian giver?" This is a phrase I still hear at times
> today, and it angers me every time someone says it. I am a Cherokee and
> that is just as offensive to me as "nigger" would be to an
> African-American. This perpetuates a negative stereotype of people of my
> race. However, people do not really seem to care all that much when
> they insult Native Americans. I see this as evidence that negative
> feelings concerning this group still exist in some form. Throughout the
> history of the U.S., Native Americans have been viewed as a "lesser form"
> of human. They have been widely mistreated. But, unlike the cases with
> other forms of racial discrimination, no one seems to care about this
> problem except the people hurt by the attitudes. The lack of concern over
> phrases such as "indian giver" is just an extension of the "abuse them and
> then ignore them" attitude that many Americans have always had about
> Native Americans.
>
> Billy Hamilton

Correct me if I'm wrong, but dosen't the phrase "Indian giver" refer to someone
who gives something to another person and then takes it back again? I always
thought that this phrase comes from the practice of the US government of making
treaties with the Indian nations giving them their lands (not that the US should
have had the authority to give the Indians land that they already occupied) and
then taking it back as soon as gold was discovered, enough settlers had moved in
or whatever the case was. I'm not Native American, but I never considered
"Indian giver" to be in reference to something derogatory about Native Americans,
more so refering to the way in which they have been dealt with. This is all just
assumption, though.

Brian Callarman