Running Head: SCOTT SMITH ON NATIVE AMERICAN CULTURE

Scott Smith on Native American Culture
Scott Smith
Regis University

Abstract
The Native American culture is explored in general terms, including their history, cultural values, and racial identity to better understand them as fellow human beings and to gain insight into how best to provide them counseling services within their cultural context. In addition, Scott Smith, a therapist-in-training, provides some of his personal feelings and thoughts about various topics pertaining to Native Americans as a cultural group within this framework and along this path of his own learning about Native American culture and how he can be the most affective therapist he can be for Native American clients.

Scott Smith on Native American Culture

To begin examining their Native American culture, I would like to discuss some important Native American terminology; however, I also want to note I will be presenting additional terminology as appropriate and depending on the topics I’m discussing, i.e. history, racial identity development, and so on. So what term or terms are acceptable to Native Americans when referring to them as a cultural group? Do they prefer to be called Indians, American Indians, Native Americans, Indigenous People, none of those, or some of those? For most of my life, I’ve only felt comfortable using the term “Native American” primarily because I associated the word “Indian” early on in grade school with greedy, exploitive White Christian European explorers or conquerors depending on your point of view. Plus, I remember historical comments that reflected brutally negative attitudes held by many White Americans in regard to Indians, including “The only good Indian is a dead Indian” and “Kill the Indian; save the man” (Garrett and Pichette, 2000). However, I’m now aware that I wrongly