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AIBU?

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Five little Indians

27 replies

WelcomeToGreenvale · 21/10/2018 00:59

How would you feel if your child was taught to sing "Five Little Indians" at preschool? Complete with the hand-on-mouth "wahwahwah" sound at the end?

This is in the UK, where Native Americans may be in some cases almost mythical, and "Cowboys and Indians" themed days are still common with young children.

I think it's at worst racist and at best ignorant. Personally I know a person who is from a Native American tribe who prefers the moniker Indian, and I've also known others who dislike that moniker and prefer Native American or Indigenous American or something else.

The hand-on-mouth "wahwahwah" sound/gesture is absolutely unacceptably racist, and there are dozens of variants of that song that don't involve stereotypes of any culture.Think "five little fingers", or "five little teddy bears".

Same as a hand-raised saying "How", the inaccuracies of how "teepee" is used in the western world, etc - it seems inappropriate at best.

OP posts:
WhyDidIEatThat · 21/10/2018 16:11

The eastern band of Cherokee (I’m descended from and have some living relatives enrolled - could enrol myself but would feel like a dick as only share dna not lived culture) call themselves Cherokee Indians. Other tribes use the term American Indians and Native American.

Grrrt · 21/10/2018 19:18

It's not one I sing anymore.
At some point I have had a parent object to everything. Can't sing 5 currant buns as it's wrong to label them as fat. Not suggesting the song mentioned in the OP is wholly appropriate but nothing is it seems.

Why even say this? This song is obviously racist and outdated. Bringing ‘PC gone mad’ into matters belittles that.

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