timber nigger

English

Etymology

From timber, presumably a reference to the stereotypical forest habitat of the Ojibwe people, and nigger. Arose in Wisconsin in the late 1980s during a public outcry and protest from outdoor enthusiasts over the Ojibwe exercising the right to spearfish in nonreservation lakes granted to them by treaties.

Noun

timber nigger (plural timber niggers)

1. (slang, derogatory, ethnic slur, offensive) A Native American person, especially one of Ojibwe descent.
   • 1987, James H. Schlender, quotee, “Written Testimony of James H. Schlender, Executive Administrator, Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission, November 4, 1987”, in Anti-Indian Violence: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, One Hundredth Congress, second session, May 4 and 18, 1988‎^[1], Washington, D.C.: United States Government Printing Office, published 1989, →OCLC, page 253:

     Unfortunately, many people suffer from the Hollywood distortions of Indian history. While the Chippewa never waged hostility toward the United States, the feeling appears to be that they should conduct themselves as a vanquished people. Should the Chippewa fail to act vanquished and join in the mainstream of American society, they are regarded as un-American renegades deserving the epithet of "timber nigger."

   • 2004, Mary Relindes Ellis, The Turtle Warrior, Penguin Books, published 2005, →ISBN, page 161:

     Or like his neighbor Morriseau, who probably got a government subsidy because he was a timber nigger.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:timber nigger.

Synonyms

• (ethnic slur for Native American person): prairie nigger, red nigger, redskin, tree nigger