The Name Game

Crossposted from my Facebook.

K so guy is wearing a shirt that says “My Indian name is Crawling Drunk.” Folks are all up in arms about it because it’s racial profiling. But it’s damn funny, even from a Red perspective.

  • 1. If you’re “Native American”, “American Aboriginal” and/or “American Indian” but you call yourself an “Indian” (which I still do) then you’re considered a wannabe or at the very least stupid because everyone knows “Indians” are from India, not the Americas.
  • 2. Last I checked, people from India didn’t have “Indian Names.”
  • 3. In fact if you really want to go on about it, the concept of an “Indian Name” is a Western concept born from many tribes’ naming ceremonies. Point in fact: My name is Spearcarrier. (Not Spearcarrier Woman or some other Westernized equivalent that doesn’t quite mean the same thing.) Sure I earned it. But it’s not my Indian Name. It’s my NAME. Period. I don’t have an Indian Name, even though I am Native American/American Aboriginal/American Indian/just plain Red.
  • 3b. This does not mean my name is a strange string of foreign letters that pretty much equals to “The Indian formerly known as Kat.”
  • 4. With all that and much more I could think of if I tried, this racial profiling people are getting upset about is really Western Caucasian profiling and not Red Profiling at all, being as (as I mentioned before) Western misunderstanding is where the concept of Indian Names comes from. It could be argued the guy in the photo is Caucasian, but he also looks like he could be my cousin so I would rather not haphazard a guess to his ethnic background. I only know he’s wearing a shirt that made me laugh.
  • 5. Looking at the whole concept of naming in general, which is a worldwide thing and thus difficult to pinpoint as racial profiling – being as everyone has it in their culture on some level or another starting with changing their names upon marriage, earning a nickname, or being given a new name after they meet manhood – I’d say if the stupid fuck wants to be known as Crawling Drunk until the end of his days… let him.
  • 6. It rather reminds me of that old joke “Walks with Eagles.” Damn funny, if you truly understand. Poor guy thought his name was so cool, but little did he know of the people laughing at him behind his back for being such a turkey.

We shouldn’t be so damn thin skinned over every little thing like a bunch of PC morons. Point and laugh, because that’s what he wants you to do. And call him Crawling Drunk for the rest of his life. When he figures out what an insult that is he’ll want it changed, but by then it will be too late for Crawling Drunk.

Do we really have nothing better to do than pick on every little aspect of culture, demanding the world change for feelings that don’t have to be hurt in the first damn place – while at the same time having the nerve to get angry when the school system places a fine on someone for not adding crackers to their kid’s meal? Or being insulted when our neighbors call the cops on us for (gasp) walking outside barefoot? How about all you Christians out there who have “multiculturalism” shoved down your throats daily while at the same time your own culture is being banned from schools and boycotted in stores?

Get a grip people. This is more than just a shirt. This is a situation that could be handled a hell of a lot better. And I don’t mean by looking for another way to add a feather to your coup stick.