I am new to the list....but, I do not find it disrespectful to be called a "squaw". I am glad that people see me as an Indian; or, part....as I am. I did find it sort of embarrassing as a child when a teacher of mine had called me a half-breed in front of my fellow classmates. At the time, I really didn't know what that word meant. But, he had said it in a way that made me think. Before that happened, a few years......one of cousins asked me if I was an Indian. My mother told me and my cousin (my mother had married his uncle....so, he didn't know) and his mother that I was part Indian. That my daddy and his family had Indian blood. So, I don't find it, in any way, an insult to be called a squaw. .....Mandy On Wed, 22 Mar 2000 23:38:43 -0800 Alicia Marseilles <raveneyes32@juno.com> writes: > To Scope, > You want to talk about respect? What happened to the respect due > Nolora > for all the GENUINE help she is giving people trying to find thier > ancestors??!! I am Choctaw, nothing to prove, monitoring this site > to > find lost relatives and trace my tribe back because I am also S.E. > Cherokee. Notice I did not call myself Indian (speaking of respect) > since I am of the Native People of this land and none of my family > ever > came from India. A few drunk, diseased Europeans didn't know where > they > were and out of RESPECT for my people, I refuse to let a bunch of > sailors > define us. Squaw was notice past tense here, was, used regularly > just > like nigger, cracker, and a bunch of other derogetory words. If you > go > back to some earlier American writings, you will find these words > used > regularly when describing the " lower class" along with some slave > manifests, marrige certificates, and other legal documents. That > doesn't > make it ok then and it is certainly not ok now. You have to look > at > things in the context of history and remember where they came from > in > order to NEVER ALLOW IT TO HAPPEN AGAIN. Nalora was not calling > anyone > a squaw, she was relaying information from a document or story... > that > tells you how old the story is, what period it came from, and > language > can help you to pinpoint a timeperiod in order to know where to look > up > records. > No disrespect was intended obviously. Like I said, she did not call > anyone a squaw. If she did, then yes, there would be something to > be > upset about and let me tell you I would be leading the charge... and > I > have on several occasions. Nalora is deserving of respect, she has > helped a lot of people. We all need to get past this > misunderstanding > and do what we should do best, stick together and support > oneanother. > There aren't enough of us to fight weather Chickasaw, Choctaw, > Cherokee, > Lakota, Creek, whatever tribe we belong to we are one people and we > need > to stand as one people. We all seem to agree that the present USE > of > squaw is derogatory and should not be used by ANYONE, but in the > context > of history, it could be a reminder of what we will never allow again > to > happen to us... Dani Ho!! > ________________________________________________________________ > YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET! > Juno now offers FREE Internet Access! > Try it today - there's no risk! For your FREE software, visit: > http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj. > > > ==== CHOCTAW Mailing List ==== > Please support wonderful & FREE genealogy on the internet. Join > Rootsweb.com today! >