White folks tried calling them "Native Americans" once, and a lot of them still do it, but a lot of American Indians have been calling themselves American Indians for so long they don't really care anymore. "Native American" is a name white people made up to make themselves feel better.
It will become more of an issue as more people from India immigrate over here. I imagine that in some parts of the country, "Indian" already means Indian more than it means American Indian.
Also, the more accurate adjective is "indigenous" or "aboriginal", not "native".
Eh. "indigenous" and "aboriginal" are both words which date from the 17th century, not used in the sense you're talking about until the 19th, whereas "native" was used in that sense at least as far back as the 15th century. The OED's definitions of both "indigenous" and "aboriginal" define those words with reference to the word "native". Calling them "more accurate" is a bit absurd, I'd say. Less ambiguous perhaps.
I've always understood that "native" was defined on an individual level, i.e. you would be a native American if you were born in America. "Indigenous" and "aboriginal" apply to races rather than individuals.
a. Born in a designated place; belonging to a particular people by birth; spec. belonging to an indigenous ethnic group, as distinguished from foreigners, esp. European colonists.
indigenous, a:
2. Of, pertaining to, or intended for the natives; ‘native’, vernacular.
aboriginal, adj:
1. a. First or earliest as recorded by history; present from the beginning; primitive. Of peoples, plants, and animals: inhabiting or existing in a land from earliest times; strictly native, indigenous.
Also, the more accurate adjective is "indigenous" or "aboriginal", not "native".
This is working on the same principle as the euphemism ratchet or Negro->Black->African-American. It has no information content.
Except that the term native is overloaded; it can refer to an individual (as in "native speaker") as well as to a population, with different implications. I'm a native of my country, i.e., not an immigrant, but I'm not a member of the continent's native population.
The difference is typically clear from context, but not always.
It will become more of an issue as more people from India immigrate over here. I imagine that in some parts of the country, "Indian" already means Indian more than it means American Indian.
Also, the more accurate adjective is "indigenous" or "aboriginal", not "native".