It's an interesting and fair point to draw a distinction between past
discrimination and stereotyping versus current.  In terms of problems, you
address current problems not ones that may only exist in the past.  There
may be some negative stereotypes still existing but they may not be
causing any current harm.  Sometimes I do get concerned that it implies it
is OK.  Therein lies my soapbox.

Doug Peterson

On 6 Aug 2005 at 19:54, Ken Kretsch wrote:

I remember hearing an individual on TV once - I believe he was on
Charlie Rose - and as I recall the argument goes something like this:

The European Americans did their utmost to exterminate Indian Culture
on the North American continent, from which the Indians never have,
nor probably ever will recover. What the Indians find offensive is
that, as they see it, the only thing we palefaces seem to value is
their stereotype for aggression as a symbol of our sports teams.
(Building dioramas of Indian villages to decorate casino lobbies
doesn't count.)

This argument probably doesn't hold for the Irish, who have flourished
in modern times (granted after many decades of second class
citizenship.) Further, we value Irish culture; we drink Irish
beverages, sing Irish songs, listen to Irish tenors, read Irish
literature, and every March 17th, we're all Irish!! True, this is
somewhat superficial, but it's more that what we do for the culture of
the aboriginal North Americans.

Note that this is not my argument, although I sympathize with it.
Interestingly enough, the guest on the show, a member of the Lakota
tribe, as I recall, said that the term "Native American" is not seen
as an improvement over "Indian". Among themselves the Indians refer to
their nation, e.g., "He's Lakota" or "She's Mahican".

Ken