Writing with Sensitivity

“Traditional” observance days approach. Learn about them before writing about them.

It does not require
many words
to speak the truth.
—Chief Joseph

When I worked at a large science museum in the Upper Midwest, we had to figure out what to do about a traveling exhibit scheduled for fall 1992—the 500th anniversary of the year Columbus traveled the ocean blue. It included a large portion of one of the actual ships from that voyage.

Our city’s community had a sizeable Native population including people of Dakota, Anishinaabe, and other heritage. Although the museum was in a metropolitan area known for being progressive, our immediate vicinity was inhabited largely by Eastern European working-class people. Additionally, the Florida exhibit was patently Eurocentric and out of touch, even considering that this was 30 years ago. The museum offering it was prickly about not maligning Italians or Latinos in any interpretation we might cast on the show.

We did our best, hiring someone specifically to liaise between community and museum representatives and creating a second co-exhibit put together by a clumsily gathered multicultural team (one Native representative was from a tribe on the other end of the country, to the irritation of the locals). The committee and museum leaders argued and changed directions and dithered their way toward the perhaps inevitable disaster that the project ultimately became. The emotional temperature that started out high only went higher, culminating in an opening dramatized by the flinging of “blood” onto the side of the ship.

This nation is still polarized around anything or anyone suggesting even a whiff of “difference,” but some inroads have been made. Today, even though plenty of folks still reject arguments that Columbus day should be abandoned or at the very least renamed, that argument is happening, which in itself is progress. People are being introduced to nuance, which is always good.

And many states and cities have changed how and what observances get done on the second Monday of October. According to a recent USA Today article, “Approximately 29 states do not celebrate Columbus Day and 195 cities have renamed it or replaced it with Indigenous Peoples Day.” (See here.)

“Some states recognize Indigenous Peoples Day via proclamation while others treat it as an official holiday,” the article notes. We’ve had federal proclamations too, since 2021.

We’re entering a holiday-heavy season, and future issues will look at writing non-offensive (at least, best-laid efforts at non-offensive) Thanksgiving Cards and December holiday cards. Today we’ll get our feet wet with a look at how we write about Columbus Day. It begins with how we view it.

Disclaimer: I don’t know squat, particularly about Native people. I also don’t mean to suggest that Well Worded readers are or are not of a given population or that you need enlightening. I’m just a white girl doing my best, folks. What I mostly say here references a few sites that seem to me to be helpful.

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian advises on basic queries: what are correct terms—American Indian or Native American? (Or something else?) Is it best to refer to tribes or nations? The answer: ask.

The best term is always what an individual person or tribal community uses to describe themselves. Replicate the terminology they use or ask what terms they prefer.

You can’t always ask, of course. This site continues,

American Indian, Indian, Native American, or Native are acceptable and often used interchangeably in the United States; however, Native Peoples often have individual preferences on how they would like to be addressed. …Use the terminology the members of the community use to describe themselves collectively.

Further,

The Inuit, Yup'ik, and Aleut Peoples in the Arctic see themselves as culturally separate from Indians. In Canada, people refer to themselves as First Nations, First Peoples, or Aboriginal. In Mexico, Central America, and South America, the direct translation for Indian can have negative connotations. As a result, they prefer the Spanish word indígena (Indigenous), comunidad (community), and pueblo (people).

Speaking of nuanced terms, the day itself is spelled lots of ways, with or without an apostrophe, with the placement, if used, falling before or after the final S. Some sites point out that the day isn’t about one guy, it’s about multiple people, so it should be outside the S. Turns out, it’s another thorny style question, like Oxford commas, and the maddening answer to, “Where if anywhere does the apostrophe go?” is, “Because I’m the Mom.”

The New York Times uses the mark outside the S, but as this article explains, it’s treated differently all over the country—like all people everywhere, apparently, there are nearly infinite varieties in preferences and traditions.

Me, I don’t like apostrophes, especially hanging out like a crumb about to drop off the plate, so I don’t use one at all for this observance in October; I figure it’s a day for Indigenous Peoples. That’s what I use here, unless I’m quoting somebody who says it differently.

Family Education has great up-to-date information and activities to help kids celebrate the day. You can find suggestions on how to explain the day realistically but without terrifying the kiddos, check out “Must-Read Indigenous Peoples’ Day Books for Kids,” peruse resources and activities, and learn how to “give back” and to honor communities in tandem with your kids.

“Indigenous Peoples’ Day is not meant to erase the contributions of Italians to American history and culture,” the site’s writer notes. “However, Christopher Columbus and his soldiers raided, killed, and conquered the people who inhabited the modern-day Bahamas, so celebrating Indigenous Peoples’ Day instead of honoring Columbus makes sense to many people.”

Recommended books for a variety of age ranges are Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story by Kevin Noble Maillard, I Can Make This Promise by Christine Day (exploring adoption and the loss children face when they don’t learn about their culture and heritage), Native American Stories for Kids: 12 Traditional Stories from Indigenous Tribes Across America by Tom Weso, 2021 Caldecott winner We Are Water Protectors illustrated by Alaska Native Michaela Gaode, and Mascot by Charles Waters and Traci Sorell.

Cultural Survival suggests nine activities you can do, from watching videos to playing with what looks to be a pretty comprehensive map of tribes around the globe (although it’s unclear what time it represents; I’m guessing now) to letters to write around specific legislation being proposed.

We are Teachers is a great up-to-date site offering activities and information to get you going on “unwinding the huge tapestry” of a history that is “vast and thorny.” A ton of resources includes a link within the earlier-noted Smithsonian, Native Knowledge 360. In this treasure trove is information about broader elements in our history and how they relate to the history of tribal nations, such as the slave trade and Black and African inhabitants in the Caribbean and elsewhere.

Harvard offers tips on helping students (or you, perhaps?) “write letters to their Congressperson, school board, or other institutional leaders explaining their opinion on how Columbus Day should be commemorated, if at all.” It also suggests asking students “to rewrite textbook passages so that they more authentically account for what happened.” This could be the start of a project that goes creative, couldn’t it?

PBS offers up what it does best—storytelling—at this site. One of the segments here guides students on how to record their own family stories. As a Wichita State University history professor has said, people are history, and here’s your chance to put your own stamp on it.

Lagniappe: Here’s a two-minute clip promoting the complete DVD set for the TV series All in the Family. (Yeah, it’s dated.) Between brief excerpts are short interview headshots of Norman Lear talking about the inspiration for this show—the textbook definition of a polarized family. (If you are easily offended, take note. The series’ intent was to ridicule racism, but it was controversial in the 70s and might still offend.)