Native American Cultural Appropriation

Introduction  What is cultural appropriation? Cultural appropriation, according to the Cambridge Dictionary is defined as the act of taking or using things from a culture that is not your own, especially without showing that you understand or respect this culture.  How has American culturally appropriated so much of traditional Native American culture? Native Americans have gone through much abuse through their contact with Europeans. From being incorrectly labeled as "Indians" by Christopher Columbus in 1492 to being forced off their lands to satisfy a rapidly expanding America's greed and desire for westward expansion, early Americans treated the Native Americans extremely poorly. We have also definitely culturally appropriated much from them from our holidays such as Thanksgiving and Halloween from our sports teams (The Washington Redskins, the Chicago Blackhawks, etc). Even things like car names, like the Jeep Cherokee, we have stolen from Native American cul