STOP Using “Indian Giver”: It’s a Lie Built on Theft. You need to know the true history behind this phrase. It is a racist slur that functions as colonial propaganda, and it needs to be retired immediately. Before the United States, Indigenous nations operated on complex, relational gift economies. Giving a gift was an agreement to stay in relationship and practice reciprocity—it wasn’t a permanent, one-way sale. The trouble started when settlers like Lewis and Clark couldn’t grasp this concept.