Let's Talk Inclusive Language: Is it ok to say “the natives are restless”?

 

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A high school friend reached out on LinkedIn and wrote:

“I am curious on your thoughts regarding the phrase ‘the natives are getting restless.’ I almost used it in an IM at work, but then I thought maybe that really isn’t ok. Am I overthinking this?”

 

One of the reasons I came up with the Six Principles of Inclusive Language (and wrote a whole book about them!) was to give people a simple checklist they could use to evaluate potentially problematic language on their own.

So no one would have to wonder, “Am I overthinking this? Is it too much?”

Instead, you can just go through the list one by one and say, “Does this language violate any of these principles?”

Here are my six principles. Do you think the phrase “the natives are getting restless” is violating any of them?

1.     Reflect reality

2.     Show respect

3.     Draw people in

4.     Incorporate other perspectives

5.     Prevent erasure

6.     Recognize pain points

 

 
Two young Ohlone women stand on a beach with the Golden Gate Bridge behind them. They are wearing traditional face paint, and are dressed in native clothes and headgear, which includes feathers, fur, shells, and beads.

Photo of “The Ohlone Sisters,” taken from their Facebook page

 

The main reasons to avoid the phrase “the natives are getting restless,” along with phrases like “circle the wagons” and “hold down the fort” are that they don’t:

4. Incorporate other perspectives

or

6. Recognize pain points.

 

The phrase “the natives are getting restless” emerged from racist colonial origins. It sets up a scenario where wise, cool minds are overseeing and running things. And there is a more “savage,” “uncivilized” set of local people, the natives, who are seen as subordinate. Who deserve to be ruled by the lighter-skinned European colonists.

Plus, it suggests that the natives should be happy with the rule, and that if they’re getting restless, some small thing should be done to appease them. But not that the fundamental unfairness, exploitation, and power inequality should be resolved.

It’s deep stuff based on hundreds of years of European countries behaving really badly and extracting resources and exploiting (and often just murdering) local people in countries they colonized.

So yes, in a business context, or really any context, it is best to avoid saying or writing “the natives are getting restless.”

 
A young Native man in traditional clothes and headgear is singing in front of a drum, which he is also playing. Other people playing the drum are in black t-shirts and jeans

Photo of a modern powwow, taken from the First Nations Educational and Cultural Center website at Indiana University Bloomington

 

Here in the US, it is best to avoid the following words and phrases, because they are from a colonial point of view, don’t incorporate other perspectives, and don’t recognize pain points:

  • Circle the wagons

  • Geronimo!

  • Hold down the fort

  • Indian giver

  • Indian summer

  • New World (for the Americas)

  • Off the reservation

  • On the warpath

  • Redskin

  • Squaw

  • Too many chiefs and not enough Indians

  • The natives

  • War paint.

(If you’re outside the US (and Canada), there is a good chance that you’re not using them in the first place.) 

And, if you are yourself not Native American, avoid the following set of words and phrases because it isn’t appropriate for you to use them. Usually, the concepts aren’t being used correctly. In addition, if you’re not in-group, you just shouldn’t be using them:

  • Bury the hatchet

  • Low man on the totem pole

  • Peace pipe

  • Powwow

  • Rain dance

  • Spirit animal

  • Vision quest.

 

In the US, as with all post-colonial nations that are still run by the descendants of settler colonists, we have a dark history of colonization that we haven’t yet come to terms with.

One that doesn’t incorporate other perspectives, that is, Native ones. And one that doesn’t recognize pain points, that is, once again, Native ones.

Being careful with our language and being able to articulate in a principled way why some language is problematic is a decent starting point. And hopefully one that will set us up to eventually have some deeper, and more impactful, conversations — conversations that set us up to start repairing the centuries of harm that was done.

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ArticlesSuzanne Wertheim