Title: Native American vs American Indian: Understanding the Difference
Headings: Should You Use Native American or American Indian? That Depends on Who You Ask
Should You Use Native American or American Indian? That Depends on Who You Ask
Want to know what someone prefers to be called? Ask them.
The preference between using Native American or American Indian is personal.
Some people would rather be identified by their clan.
The U.S. Census uses the term American Indian.
Avoid the term "Indian," if you are non-Indigenous.

Content: "The term Native American grew out of the political movements of the 1960s and '70s and is commonly used in legislation covering the Indigenous people of the lower 48 states and U.S. territories," Kevin Gover, NMAI director and citizen of the Pawnee Tribe of Oklahoma, wrote in a 2017 Washington Post op-ed. " But Native Americans use a range of words to describe themselves, and all are appropriate." Gover goes on to explain that you'll also see people identify as Native, Indian, or Indigenous in the U.S., while in Canada, First Nations and First Peoples are most commonly used. “The consensus, however, is that whenever possible, Native people prefer to be called by their specific tribal name," the NMAI site notes. This content is imported from Instagram. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. View this post on Instagram
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That specificity matters to some because it's a way of honoring the culture that pre-dated European colonizers' arrival. " Many Native Americans identify as our tribes in our own languages," Allie Young, citizen of the Navajo Nation and founder of nonprofit Protect the Sacred, tells OprahMag.com. " For example, I prefer Diné, which means "the People" in our language, over Navajo, which is a Spanish name given to us by those who colonized our communities." According to Young, there are movements within tribal communities across the U.S. to restore the original tribal names, and make them the norm.