Hi, Lia.

“Indian” can be a confusing term; Columbus committed many more grievous crimes, but it’s unfortunate that he applied the term to Arawaks/Taino, and that other Europeans applied the term to the rest of the hemisphere’s indigenous people.

I used to avoid the term myself, but then I worked for several years in schools on or near reservations, and found that the adults and kids there identified both by tribe and as “Indians,” and never as Native American, indigenous, aboriginal, etc. I know other people in other places may have other preferences, but I deferred to their wishes and adopted their terminology.