Trump says using word ‘Indian' not allowed anymore, claims ‘only ones that want…’ - Watch

Donald Trump, while speaking to reporters, asserted that using the word “Indian” was “not allowed” anymore unless one was referring to “Indians” from the Asian nation. “You’re not allowed to use the word ‘Indian’ anymore… The only ones that want you to do it are the Indians,” he said.

“I will never tell you to change,” Trump said. A video of the US President's remarks has since circulated widely on social media.

In the video, Trump is referring to Native American communities while using the term “Indian,” a label that traces back to Christopher Columbus’s mistaken assumption during his 1492 voyage that he had reached the outer edges of Asia—then known in Europe as the “Indies.” Believing he had arrived near India, Columbus applied the term to the Indigenous peoples he encountered in the Caribbean.

Despite quickly realising he had discovered lands unknown to Europeans, the misnomer persisted and became embedded in colonial records, treaties. Over time, many have argued that the term is outdated or offensive because it is rooted in a historical misunderstanding and carries the weight of colonial misclassification and dispossession.

The POTUS also made the 'Tomahawk gesture' while responding to a question mentioning ‘chop’.

Many Native American advocacy groups consider the gesture, team names (like the former Washington NFL team and Cleveland Indians mascot), and associated imagery to be harmful stereotypes.

Donald Trump's remarks about ‘Indian’ come amid the POTUS's controversial moves and repeated criticism from Native American groups.

Native American groups slam Trump call to bring back Redskins name

Earlier this year, in July, Trump faced criticism after threatening to block a planned NFL stadium in Washington, DC unless the local team reverted to its former name, the Redskins — a name dropped in 2020 after decades of criticism that it was a racial slur.

In posts on the Truth Social platform, Trump said there was "a big clamoring" for the team, which has been called the Commanders since 2022, to revert to its former name and that "​our great Indian people" want it to happen. Trump had also urged Major League Baseball's Cleveland Guardians, who changed their name from Indians in 2021, to follow suit.

The Washington NFL team in July 2020 retired the Redskins name and logo – featuring the profile of a red-faced Native American with feathers in his hair – that had been in place since 1933.

But some Native American groups slammed Trump for pushing for a return to what they called harmful names.

The Association on American Indian Affairs said such mascots reduce Indigenous people to stereotypes and erase living cultures.

"These mascots and names do not honor Native Peoples — they reduce us to caricatures," the Association on American Indian Affairs said in a statement. “Our diverse Peoples and cultures are not relics of the past or mascots for entertainment,” the Association said in a statement – Reuters reported earlier.