“people were just willing to eat crap cause they didn’t have the power. So we could call people Eskimos, or Redskins, or Honey, or Boy, and too bad if they didn’t like it.”
Eskimo was never known by the general populace as being a derogatory term.
When people used the other terms you mention, it’s known that those are derogatory terms.
People who used Eskimo simply though it meant Alaskan natives and was never meant to be derogatory.
In fact quite the opposite, as seen in such terms as Eskimo kiss which had zero negative connotations.
Your analogy is not apt.
Doesn’t matter. It isn’t their name. It’s NEVER been their name. It’s the name explorers gave them based on stuff their non-Inuit guides told them. The very fact of saying “we don’t care what you call yourselves, we’re calling you Eskimos” is innately derogatory. It’s declaring they don’t have a right to name themselves. I say you’re Tim and I don’t give a crap if you wanna be Jim, Tim it is, suck it up. Same thing. They’re Inuit. Their name. That’s ALWAYS been their name. And we know this now. The word has circulated. So stop calling them Tim.