princenofthebutts:

Ullaakuut! I am Inuk, and I am here to explain to all you Qallunaat about the very incorrect and downright rude word used to call Northern Indigenous peoples in Canada and Alaska.

Eskimo is a slur. Some of the older generation are fine with being called that, but it’s been only recently that Northern people have been colonized by the Qallunaat. As such, they grew up in a time where their language was taken from them, and they were told that that is what they are called (you’ll also see this with the use of Indian when referring to indigenous people). The younger generations tend not to be as happy with being called Eskimo, and given the role the word has had in the colonization of us, there is good reason for it. We have our own words for us. Mine is Inuk. Plural is Inuit. Inuit means people.

Eskimo is a slur. If you are not a person who would fall under the term, you have no right to say otherwise. Northern indigenous people can choose to reclaim it if we want. Some do. But that is not an excuse for you, as Qallunaat, to use the word. A lot of us see it as a slur. It doesn’t matter where the word comes from. It doesn’t matter what it means. It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks, we say it is a slur, it is a slur. You can argue until you are blue in the face, but white people, who colonized my people, who threw my grandparents in residential schools, who called us Eskimos and protested seal hunts and our ways of life, do not get a say.

Eskimo is a slur. We can reclaim it, but for many, it is still a dirty word. And no matter how much a word is reclaimed, it will always be a slur. We have names for ourselves. We have our words, our names which we present to you. If you demand I call you Scottish/French/whatever, I can demand you call me Inuk. I am not an Eskimo. That is not my word.

As well, “censoring” the word doesn’t suddenly make it okay. Take it out of your vocabulary.

If you are white, you are not to add on to this. You are not to talk about the origin of the word. You are not to argue that it’s not a slur. I am the person who that word refers too. I am telling you it is a slur. Do not whitesplain on this post. It is a slur. Point blank. If the word is not used on you, is not meant to refer to you, this is not your conversation. Northern people are the authorities on this. No one else. Our word is law on this, and when a sea of voices denounce the use of the word, and a few promote it, you may not use those few to call me a word that is hurtful and carries a painful history of colonization. My people are called it. Not yours.

If you need a word for nose rubbing, bunny kisses is an acceptable (and adorable) alternative that is respectful.