Quote:
Originally Posted by punch it in
There are several different theories and accounts about where the term came from. Nowhere is it definitively stated that the new foundland tribe who painted their bodies red is the true origin. Not to mention, that settlers referring to native americans as "redskins", and this tribe referred to as the "red men" are two completely different things.
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Indianz.Com > Doug George-Kanentiio: A Mohawk's perspective on 'Redskins'
The use of “redskins” was among the worse of these labels. That word originally referred to the Beothuks of Newfoundland, a peaceful people who colored their skin with red ochre as adornment and to keep the mosquitoes at bay. Their passivity was mistaken for weakness and after the waves of European diseases killed most of them those who survived were hunted and murdered for sport. By 1830 they were extinct. One of the reprehensible tactics was to remove the skins of the Beothuks and use them as covers for books and as leggings for the hunters.
This act of skinning Native people, both men and women, continued on along the frontier. It was an act of terror meant to instill fear and drive the Natives from coveted lands. It was justified by these stereotypes that were highly effective in undermining the dignity, pride and self-assurance of our people. We are, among all peoples in this hemisphere, the most misunderstood, the most libeled and the most despised because of the lies in the media, in popular literature and, sadly, in the schools.