I'm almost 800 words into a short sci-fi story featuring a corrupt government that wants to drive indigenous people off their land to exploit their resources at any cost. My twist is that the invading faction is a Native American reservation. However, they have near-futuristic technology and similar imperialistic, capitalistic, and racist attitudes to the classic European colonizers; their being Native American is an incidental variation rather than a dominating gimmick.
I personally don't think there's anything inherently wrong with having Native American villains as long as you don't define them with trite and offensive stereotypes, but I have met people with the attitude that portraying Natives in any kind of negative light is racist. Their argument is that Natives have been subjected to so much unfavorable stereotyping that they need an uplifting image. For the record, I agree that Native Americans writ large suffer too much from a legacy of racism and could definitely use a more respectful media portrayal, but I also believe they are fallible human beings like everyone else and so shouldn't be exempt from bad guy roles.
I will add that the indigenous under threat are black people who function as the story's protagonists. It's pretty much a classic "heroic aborigines defend their homeland from hi-tech imperialists", but without the intervening Mighty Whiteys.
I personally don't think there's anything inherently wrong with having Native American villains as long as you don't define them with trite and offensive stereotypes, but I have met people with the attitude that portraying Natives in any kind of negative light is racist. Their argument is that Natives have been subjected to so much unfavorable stereotyping that they need an uplifting image. For the record, I agree that Native Americans writ large suffer too much from a legacy of racism and could definitely use a more respectful media portrayal, but I also believe they are fallible human beings like everyone else and so shouldn't be exempt from bad guy roles.
I will add that the indigenous under threat are black people who function as the story's protagonists. It's pretty much a classic "heroic aborigines defend their homeland from hi-tech imperialists", but without the intervening Mighty Whiteys.