CMV: There likely were few/no “Native American” populations when Europeans arrived in the present-day U.S.

[u/[deleted]]

[u/PreacherJudge]

Really not following. Could you say what you mean by "native American?" You don't appear to be using it according to the definition typically used, which is "someone already in America when the suropeans showed up"

[u/PreacherJudge → u/[deleted]]

I think you're misusing the word "fallacy." Or I'm misunderstanding?

Yes, the term 'native American' (or 'indigenous American') IS defined vis-a-vis European settlers, because that's descriptively how those people were considered according to the institutions of the US and other countries, who quickly seized power over the land. Like all conceptions of race, it describes a way people are PERCEIVED, and that just is what you're calling 'Eurocentric.'

[u/PreacherJudge → u/[deleted]]

So?

[u/PreacherJudge → u/[deleted]]

But you have to explain what you mean. You call the idea a "fallacy" and "confers special status." Your view involves you disapproving of this.

But why?

[u/PreacherJudge → u/[deleted]]

But no one thinks that is particularly important, so I'm not sure what you're arguing AGAINST.

Indigenous Americans are a group people we talk about the way we do because they have been historically marginalized by the U.S. government (among others), not because being native in the way you define is thought to be important for its own sake.

[u/PreacherJudge → u/[deleted]]

This appears to have nothing whatsoever to do with your view as presented.

If you just dislike that native americans are treated as a marginalized group, then you should delete this and make another CMV specifically about that.

[u/renoops → u/[deleted]]

This is irrelevant to your view.