I am not politically correct. My dislike for politically-correct language has nothing to do with the people themselves, it has to do with the words and what the words imply only.

The impulse behind politically correct language is a good one, but it has been grotesquely distorted beyond usefulness. There is no need to invent absurdly hyphenated names to make people feel better.

Labels divide people; the fewer labels the better.

The label that offends me the most is Native American.

I use the term Indian. There is nothing wrong with this word. It is important to know that the word Indian does not derive from Columbus mistakenly believing he reached “India.” India was called Hindustan in 1492. It is more likely the word Indian came from Columbus’s description of the people he found when he landed. He was Italian and did not speak or write Spanish very well. In his written accounts he called the people he met “Una gente in Díos.” Translated, “A people in God.”

As for the American in the term Native American, this is an insulting term.

Indians have suffered enough without us tagging the name of their conquerors on them.

Their hemisphere was stolen, more than 20 million of them were killed, more than 500 separate cultures were destroyed and they were herded onto reservations.

Before 1492, 25 million people inhabited Central America. By 1579, only 2 million remained.

The U.S. Department of the Interior invented the phrase “Native American” in 1970. It is an inventory term used to keep track of people. It includes Hawaiians, Eskimos, Samoans, Micronesians, Polynesians and Aleuts.

Anyone who uses the phrase Native American is assisting the government in its effort to obliterate the Indian’s true identities.

In a press release by the American Indian Movement, WaBun-Inini, Ind-diz-Nikaz of the Anishinabe Ojibwe Nation, said, Columbus Day “would be the same as if German people would celebrate and glorify Adolf Hitler and the rise of Fascism and the Nazi Holocaust.”

AIM asked Congress to eliminate the Columbus legacy and holiday and follow the lead of Louisiana and South Dakota who honor American Indians on Oct. 12.

If we really are so concerned with the feelings of Indians, then maybe we could address them by their tribal nationalities. As well, we could eliminate what truly offends them – our national holiday to commemorate their “Hitler” – Columbus Day.