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Help on sensitivity (self.writing)

submitted 1 year ago by antaymonkey to c/writing

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Hey all, I'm working on an old western which has some native characters, predominantly of a fictional tribe. I'm wondering if you all think it would be understandable if people spoke (in dialogs only) as the times and used terms like "Indian" or, even worse, "Injun", or should I stick with using tribe names and the word "native"? Or something different altogether?

Thanks!

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[–] antaymonkey 2 points 1 year ago

Thanks for the reply! I tend to agree with the philosophy that censoring the past isn't always a good thing. In this case, though, my understanding is that it wasn't only racists who used the term "Indian", but everyone did because they as a whole hadn't yet acknowledged that it was wrong or pejorative.

I think I'm going to leave it as "natives" or the specific tribe name unless the occasion really really calls for it and it would be nonsensical too not use it.

Thanks again!