Why do you think it’s wrong? I just think historically speaking, Indian is the defacto term for Native Americans in North America. In Canada we have “The Indian Act” and “Indian Status Cards”. Indian is just a more informal term to reference Native Americans. Rip would be able to tell the difference of an Indian and an East Indian by context given
Be a little more persistent and you’ll find what you’re looking for, Francesco-me boy:
“Europeans at the time of Christopher Columbus's voyage often referred to all of South and East Asia as "India" or "the Indias/Indies", sometimes dividing the area into "Greater India", "Middle India", and "Lesser India". The oldest surviving terrestrial globe, by Martin Behaim in 1492 (before Columbus' voyage), labels the entire Asian subcontinent region as "India", named ultimately after the Indus River.
Columbus carried a passport in Latin from the Spanish monarchs that dispatched him ad partes Indie ("toward the regions of India") on their behalf. When he landed in the Antilles, Columbus referred to the resident peoples he encountered there as "Indians", reflecting his purported belief that he had reached the Indian Ocean. The name was adopted by other Spanish and ultimately other Europeans; for centuries the Indigenous peoples of the Americas were collectively called "Indians" in various European languages. This misnomer was perpetuated in place naming; the islands of the Caribbean were named, and are still known as, the West Indies.”
I just think it's uselessly confusing, outside of an in person context at least.
Can't we just call "East Indians" Indians, and you guys Native Americans or Indigenous?
As the link offered by Rip indicates, we could simply add the origin and use "indian" as a synonym for "indigenous", like for example "American Indian" or "East Indian". But it doesn't make sense to me, since "indian" means "from India" and it became a synonym for "indigenous" after Columbus' fuck up. You called yourself "Native American" and not "Indian" for this exact reason.
Anyway, I'm sure that if you do the program you will become way stronger than the average *insert prefered ethnic terminology*
I formally called myself Native American yes, and also informally referred to my people as Indian. If I was in India I would refer to East Indians as Indians. If I am on the continent of North America I will continue to refer to Native Americans as Indians, informally. Likewise, I would continue to call them East Indians. The term “Indian” has a longer history in North America in reference to Native Americans than it does East Indians.
Now that I think about it this “Indian” debate doesn’t even matter
I am a Native American and I would prefer not to be confused with the Indian Americans: Know Nothing - Wikipedia