Indian Ink

The Western Standard was in hot water recently for quoting an anonymous friend of Ralph Klein as saying, of Mrs. Klein, “Once she stops being the premier's wife, she goes back to being just another Indian."

This is supposed to be “an outrageous, racist slur,” to quote Don Martin in the Calgary Herald. It was “so traumatizing she burst into tears just talking about the article to friends.”

Heavens; why? Granted, she is not an Indian—she only has one Indian grandparent. But why is merely being called an Indian a racist slur? Isn’t this so only if you believe there is something wrong or shameful about being an Indian? In other words, isn’t the racism in those who object to the comment, not the person who made it?