Kristof's Pine Ridge column

Here's an interesting exchange about Pine Ridge. It's especially interesting because Nicholas Kristof is a liberal columnist who has written extensively about poverty and related issues around the world.

Poverty’s Poster Child

By Nicholas D. KristofThis sprawling Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is a Connecticut-sized zone of prairie and poverty, where the have-nots are defined less by the money they lack than by suffocating hopelessness.

In the national number line of inequality, people here represent the “other 1 percent,” the bottom of the national heap.

Pine Ridge is a poster child of American poverty and of the failures of the reservation system for American Indians in the West. The latest Census Bureau data show that Shannon County here had the lowest per capita income in the entire United States in 2010. Not far behind in that Census Bureau list of poorest counties are several found largely inside other Sioux reservations in South Dakota: Rosebud, Cheyenne River and Crow Creek.

Poverty in the United States, including in the reservations, is so entrenched because it is often part of a toxic brew of alcohol or drug dependencies, dysfunctional families and educational failures. It self-replicates generation after generation.

“What’s a man or woman to do?” asked Ben, a young man here who said he started drinking at age 12. “I felt helpless. I felt worthless, and I wanted a drink to get rid of my pain. But then you get more pain.”Kristof goes on to list three things holding Indians back. He finishes with a brief mention of "bright spots" and "enormous resilience," but the overall feel is negative. "The reservation system is largely failing in the West," he concludes, and "these Indian reservations will have to shed people."

Here's a pointed response:

The Letter I Wrote to the Editor of the NYT about Kristof's Column (it's been 7 days, so I guess they aren't printing it)

By Ruth Robertson-HopkinsTo the Editor:

While I appreciate Mr. Kristof's effort to bring attention to the crushing poverty that exists on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, his column "Poverty's Poster Child" represents part of a national trend that exploits the very real problems of sovereign Indigenous Nations as little more than poverty porn, pandered to public voyeurs craving sensational stories of quiet desperation. Instead, poverty, alcoholism, unemployment, disease, and other issues we as Natives face are worthy of sincere investigation, as well as the elucidation of probable solutions.

If the pity of outsiders could solve any of our problems, it would have by now. You cannot save the Indian. We must, and we will, save ourselves. Acknowledge our efforts. If you wish to support us, do so by respecting our sovereignty as Native Nations, honoring our treaties, publishing Native writers who are best qualified to tell our stories, and voting for congressman who will enact Tribal provisions that protect Native women under The Violence Against Women Act. We are at the table. Hear us.

Ruth Hopkins
Editor/Writer, Lastrealindians.com
Columnist, Indian Country Today Media NetworkComment: A few more points:

Pine Ridge may be the poorest reservation in America. It's not fair to look at the worst situation and conclude the reservation system is failing overall. How about looking at average reservations, or the best reservations, instead? If they're failing--which they aren't--then you can conclude something about reservations as a whole.

None of Kristof's problems or solutions involve the US government. But the government is a key player in most aspects of Native life. Consider a couple of examples:

1) The recent Cobell settlement will pay Indians a fraction of the amounts they're owed for their mineral rights. Through its negligent accounting, the government has robbed hundreds of thousands of Indians of thousands of dollars each.

2) Conservatives refuse to extend the Violence Against Women Act to give tribes jurisdiction over non-Indians on the reservation. Crime flourishes because the government won't let tribes prosecute criminals.

Kristof seems to be practicing "flyover journalism"--stopping in Pine Ridge for a day or two, then writing as if he's mastered the problems. Meanwhile, the media is churning out hundreds of articles, videos, and blog postings every day--exploring the issues in much greater depth. I suppose his broad-brush column can't hurt, but I'm not sure how it helps.

Another Children of the Plains?

It's much like Diane Sawyer's Children of the Plains special, which I labeled "poverty porn." Did that produce a lasting change in anyone's consciousness? Not that I can tell from reading all the ensuing reports--or lack thereof.

Or did the show let well-meaning viewers wring their hands and tell themselves, "Oh, yes, conditions at Pine Ridge are horrible. I feel terrible about it, but I feel good about how terrible I feel. I've done my part by watching the show and expressing my feelings of shame and regret. Now I can resume my privileged life with a clear conscience."

That's kind of how poverty porn functions. Unless the TV special and Kristof's column produce a noticeable change, they aren't worth much. Indians need political and social action, not another pity party.

For more on the subject, see Rez Life Avoids Poverty Porn and Video Response to Children of the Plains.

Prince Charles meets Canadian Natives

First Nations Meet With Prince Charles, Ask to See Queen Elizabeth IITired of waiting for Canada’s government to make good on centuries-old treaties, First Nations are going straight to the source. They are requesting a meeting directly with Queen Elizabeth II, whose government struck the original agreements with the indigenous of northern Turtle Island back during colonial times.

The request came at a meeting with Prince Charles, who along with Camilla the Duchess of Cornwall is on an official tour marking the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. The heir to the throne and his wife visited various cities from May 21–23, including a stop at First Nations University of Canada in Regina, Saskatchewan, before meeting with Assembly of First Nations National Chief Shawn A-in-chut Atleo and other First Nations leaders in Toronto. Prince Charles agreed to pass on the request Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

“I would like to thank the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall for spending time with First Nations leaders today as we have an historical relationship with the Imperial Crown pre-dating the existence of Canada,” said AFN National Chief Shawn Atleo in a statement. “The meeting focused on the enduring relationship between First Nations and the Crown based on Treaties and noting the upcoming 250th anniversary of the Royal Proclamation of 1763 in October 2013, and how renewing the relationship must be the basis of our work today to achieve fundamental change for First Nations in Canada.”

The royal proclamation outlined indigenous rights to occupy the land they lived on and spelled out the relationship between the British throne and the indigenous of what would become Canada.First Nations youth talk about entrepreneurship with royals

Royal couple visited FNUC

By Courtney MintenkoA sit down talk with royalty is not an honour bestowed on everyone, but a group of youth at the First Nations University did have that chance.

First they watched a traditional drum and dance ceremony.

Prince Charles and Camilla were also given a tour of the building by Cadmus Delorme.

He says the royals were very down to earth and the prince seemed to listen carefully and respond to youth.Comment:  For more on the subject, see Royals Meet Aboriginals.

Below:  "Grand Chief David Harper of Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak presents Prince Charles with an eagle feather during his tour with wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, commemorating Queen Elizabeths Diamond Jubilee." (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Paul Chiasson)

Potawatomi synchronized swimmer in Olympics

Thorpe's legacy: Native American's Olympic dream

By Paul GittingsA century after her childhood inspiration Jim Thorpe won two gold medals at the Stockholm Olympics, synchronized swimmer Mary Killman will be competing in her first Games in London this year.

Like the legendary athlete, Killman comes from a part Native American background in Oklahoma, and is a registered member of Citizen Potawatomi Nation (CPN).

Thorpe, who grew up in the Sac and Fox Nation, was spoken of in hushed tones by her elders.

"I'm very proud of my background," Killman told CNN. Her tribe are proud of her as well, regularly highlighting her achievements in their publications.Comment:  For more on Olympic Native athletes, see Best in the World at NMAI and First Nations Snowboard Team.

Questioning Depp's Comanche adoption

The media has widely reported Johnny Depp's "adoption into the Comanche Nation." Some thoughts on whether this claim is accurate and what it means.

Pondering the headlines, I asked the following on Twitter:

Has Johnny Depp become a real or an honorary member of the Comanche Nation? I'd say "real" if he can vote in tribal elections. Anyone know?

This led to a Facebook discussion with a couple of people:He's an "imaginary" member, no?I'm not even sure he's an honorary member. Does Ladonna Harris have the power to bestow any kind of membership on someone? Or is it a pure fiction?Fiction, I imagine.These are the questions the reporters should be asking.No such thing as being adopted by a tribe. An individual Comanche adopted him as an honorary family member.If that's the case, many of the articles are misreporting it.No surprise. It's a persistent urban legend that whites can get adopted by a tribe. Even L. Ron Hubbard claimed it. But you can only be adopted by a person or family.So Depp probably was adopted into Harris's family in a ceremony that has no political or cultural standing. Depp's PR people must be working overtime to get that misreported as an adoption into the Comanche Nation.

Does Depp think the "adoption" will shield his portrayal of Tonto from criticism? Did that even enter his mind? I'd love to know the thinking behind this move, and how it came about.

Here's another take on the adoption--from writer Gyasi Ross on Facebook:This is just some terrible, corny new agey mumbo jumbo...Jonny Depp has never done anything for Native people and was adopted 100% on the basis of his celebrity status--there's PLENTY of non-Natives that work within Indian Country, there are people with real Native ancestry who aren't members...nobody's rushing out to adopt those folks. We need to stop being groupies and start having some standards about our Nations. Things like this are the reason why people like Elizabeth Warren and Princess Palemoon and all those box checkers feel comfortable saying they're Native--because so many of us treat membership as if it's a popularity contest. Disgusting.Nobody's criticizing Depp?

Why Can Johnny Depp Play Tonto, but Ashton Kutcher and Sacha Baron Cohen Get Slammed?

By Leslie GornsteinWhy does Johnny Depp get adopted by the Comanche for his Tonto role while Ashton Kutcher and Sacha Baron Cohen get ripped for their racially charged characters?

—Hella Johnny, via the inbox

Indeed, Johnny Depp has been adopted as an honorary son by a member of the Comanche Nation, essentially making him a part of that group. However, you are not alone in your line of thinking; not everyone is thrilled at the new matchup, or Depp's chosen approach to his Lone Ranger character:

In fact, Depp has been fielding criticism for months about his upcoming turn as Tonto. His exaggerated Marilyn Manson face paint, the dead bird he wears on his head—none of that has sat particularly well with many Native Americans.

That said, yes, Comanche LaDonna Harris did go ahead and ceremonially adopt the 48-year-old actor in her backyard on May 16. Per tradition, Depp was given small gifts, such as pottery, to then redistribute to the people who were honoring him.

Harris, who is president of the Americans for Indian Opportunity, told me that she has no worries about Depp's portrayal of Tonto. In fact, just the opposite.

"I don't share that concern for one reason," she told this B!tch. "Tonto is a role reversal this time. He's the hero in the movie, the brains. And the sidekick is the white guy, so to speak."The short answer to the article's question is that Depp is getting plenty of criticism in Indian country. It may be under your radar, but it's there. And one adoption doesn't change it.

I had a long discussion with someone on Facebook about Kutcher's playing a stereotypical Asian Indian. I said it was wrong for the same reasons as Depp's playing Tonto. Sacha Baron Cohen's characters are also problematical, but at least he's attempting some serious satire.

Harris's comments here are just as ridiculous as calling Depp's portrayal "historic." As I noted before, this take on Tonto is boringly unoriginal. It's noteworthy only if you're ignorant about the Lone Ranger's long history in pop culture.

Harris hasn't seen the movie, so she doesn't know if Depp's "role reversal" works. If Tonto is a stereotypical "spirit warrior," it's more of a problem if he's the main character. Tonto as the central character works only if the portrayal is free of mistakes and stereotypes, and that's in grave doubt.

Meanwhile, Harris has nothing to say about Depp's fantasy costume, which will influence perceptions regardless of anything else in the movie. So Harris is unconcerned because she doesn't know or care about the main thing that concerns everyone else. Something about an ostrich with its head in the sand comes to mind.

For more on the subject, see Depp's Intent Doesn't Excuse Stereotypes and Depp Admits Tonto Costume's Origin.

Gaming improves Indians' health

Casinos and American-Indian Health

By Christopher SheaThe influence of casinos on American Indian politics culture—and American culture more generally—has often been debated. But a new study finds that, whatever its other effects, gaming has improved the health (and health care) of Native Americans.

Drawing on data from the period 1988 to 2003, including a sample of 24,000 Native Americans, researchers found that casinos raised household income by $1,750, or 5.3%, on average. And the bump in income translated into improved health:Overall, the results clearly suggest that the exogenous increase in income from casino gaming is tied to an improvement in health, mental health, and health-related behaviors. The largest percentage improvements are for smoking (an average decrease of 9.6%) and anxiety (an average decrease in days anxious of 7.3%). The income produced by casino gaming reduces the probability of heavy drinking by about 5.2%, and those of being obese or overweight, being hypertensive, or having diabetes by between 2% and 4%.An earlier study found a per-household income increase of $6,000 among Native Americans in the Great Smoky Mountains region of North Carolina, as a result of gaming. According to the model in the present paper, the effects of that level of infusion of money would include “reducing the probability of smoking by more than 32% and of heavy drinking by nearly 18%”—and one-fourth fewer days suffering from anxiety.

Source: “The Income and Health Effects of Tribal Casino Gaming on American Indians,” Barbara Wolfe, Jessica Jakubowski, Robert Haveman and Marissa Courey, Demography (May)Comment:  For more on the subject, see Gaming Saved Billy's Tribe and The Facts About Indian Gaming.

Animated Lakota Coo Coo Clock

Animated Lakota Coo Coo ClockWe are seeking funding for this project so that we can finally get this model into production. We are a group of Lakota Native Americans that live on an Indian reservation in Lower Brule, SD.

This Lakota Coo Coo Clock plays a different Native American song every hour. While the song is playing the couple emerges from the tipi, and makes a loop around the lit fire pit. Also, while the song is playing, there is another animated Native American model that beats on his drum.Comment:  This clock is something that pretty much no one needs. It's too big and I can't imagine it would fit in with any room's decor. And with its traditionally dressed couple, drummer, and tipi, it promotes an outdated, stereotypical view of Indians.

P.S. It's "Cuckoo," not "Coo Coo."

For more tipi stereotypes, see Tipi "Housing Solution" Cartoon and Stereotypical Yulefest Postcard.

AIM leads march for Traversie

Hundreds protest alleged mistreatment of Native patient

By Holly MeyerHundreds of Native Americans demanded justice on Monday from Rapid City Regional Hospital for a Lakota man who said the initials KKK were carved into his chest during surgery.

Vern Traversie, a legally blind member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, alleges that he was scarred with the abbreviation associated with the Ku Klux Klan during open-heart surgery at Regional Hospital in August 2011. An online video in which Traversie talks about the scars recently went viral among the Native American community.

In protest of Traversie’s alleged treatment, about 300 Native American demonstrators, led by American Indian Movement activist Dennis Banks, marched with police escort down Fifth Street on Monday from a rally in Memorial Park to another in the parking lot of the hospital.

“We can’t let this day go by without getting some answers from this hospital,” said Banks to the crowd assembled at the edge of the hospital’s parking lot. “It can’t be that way.”Hundreds Descend on Rapid City Hospital in Support of Cheyenne River Elder

By Patti Jo KingNearly 700 protestors from Native communities across the United States, and members of the American Indian Movement met in Rapid City, South Dakota the morning of May 21 to march in support of Vernon Traversie, a Cheyenne River tribal member.

Traversie, a blind, 68 year old, who underwent double bypass heart surgery at Rapid City Regional Hospital (RCRH) on August 26, 2011, was left with a bizarre pattern of wounds on his abdomen, well below and on the lower left and right sides of his surgical wound.

Those who have personally seen the wounds describe them as horrific–claiming they resemble deep burns in the shape of three ‘K’s.’ According to Cheyenne River tribal member Cody Hall, a friend of Traversie’s, the wounds resemble brandings.

“This looks like a hate crime,” Hall, who organized the rally, said in a phone interview with Indian Country Today Media Network. Hall said the point of the rally was to raise awareness of the many incidences of underlying racism against Native people that have occurred in Rapid City over the years. The group also wants to support Traversie in his struggle to deal with this recent incidence.Native Americans rally over surgical scars that some say show letters KKK; others have doubtsHundreds of people marched Monday in support of a man who says the letters KKK were carved into his stomach by a surgeon at a South Dakota hospital.

A YouTube video featuring 69-year-old Vern Traversie, a Lakota man who lives on the Cheyenne River Reservation, has gone viral in Native American communities. In it, Traversie shows a photo of his abdomen. Though he himself is blind, Traversie says he was told by others that the scars left after his heart surgery make out the hateful letters, and he is outraged.

The problem is, not everyone sees it. Like those spotting the Madonna in a water stain, Traversie’s advocates are staunch believers. Those who aren’t include police who investigated his allegations and hospital officials.

Rapid City police say they conducted an investigation but found no evidence of a crime. Craig Saunders, a cardiologist at Barnabas Hospital in Newark, N.J., said incision marks can take many different shapes, depending on where the doctor needs to get into the body. Saunders, who did not operate on Traversie, said surgical tape also can leave scarring and lesions depend on the make-up of the person’s body.A Statement From Cheyenne River Sioux Elder Vern Traversie on the Violation of His Patient Rights

Photos:

Vern Traversie Rally For Justice (May 21, 2012)

Comment:  We still don't know if Traversie was intentionally "branded." Or if the haphazard cuts were supposed to spell something.

But I thought surgery was supposed to involve one or two neat incisions. My question is how a patient gets dozens of cuts over his torso. Seems to me someone is guilty of incompetence if not malfeasance.

For more on the subject, see Indians Rally for "KKK" Victim and Lakota Man Branded with "KKK"?

Depp adopted by Comanches

'Lone Ranger' no more! Johnny Depp adopted into Comanche Nation

By Marc SnetikerIn a move that is likely to spark discussion, the Comanche Nation has officially adopted Johnny Depp into its family in celebration of his role as Tonto in the upcoming film adaptation of The Lone Ranger.

LaDonna Harris, the Comanche president and founder of Americans for Indian Opportunity, lauded Depp’s “historic” portrayal of full-blooded Comanche Tonto in Disney’s Western reboot (opposite Armie Hammer as the titular cowboy).

“It seemed like a natural fit to officially welcome him into our Comanche family,” said Harris in a press release (ICTMN broke the story earlier today). “I reached out, and Johnny was very receptive to the idea. He seemed proud to receive the invitation, and we were honored that he so enthusiastically agreed. Welcoming Johnny into the family in the traditional way was so fitting. He’s a very thoughtful human being, and throughout his life and career, he has exhibited traits that are aligned with the values and worldview that Indigenous peoples share.”

Harris hosted the ‘adoption’ ceremony last week at her home in Albuquerque, where Depp, Comanche Nation chairman Johnny Wauqua and other AIO staff and family members were in attendance. After Depp was given a Comanche name in the private ceremony, he provided gifts to the attendees, as is tradition.Comment:  In what sense is Depp's Tonto "historic"? Native actors have played full-blooded Comanches and other Indians before. As for his particular take on Tonto, it's about 30 years old:

TontoLater depictions beginning in the 1980s have taken efforts to show Tonto as an articulate and proud warrior whom the Ranger treats as an equal partner. In the Topps Comics four-issue miniseries, The Lone Ranger and Tonto, Tonto is even shown to be a very witty, outspoken and sarcastic character willing to punch the Lone Ranger during a heated argument and commenting on his past pop-culture depictions with the words, "Of course, Kemosabe. Maybe when we talked I should use that 'me Tonto' stuff, way they write about me in the dime novels. You'd like that, wouldn't you?"For more on the subject, see Depp's Intent Doesn't Excuse Stereotypes and Depp Admits Tonto Costume's Origin.

Below:  "LaDonna Harris and Johnny Depp at the ceremony during which Depp was adopted by the Comanche Nation." (Danielle Webster/AIO)

Why Warren wants to be Native

Elizabeth Warren’s true American lineage

By Bernie QuigleyIndians come to us as dream guides, spirit guides and, like Sacagawea, actual guides to our most important journeys at once physical and metaphysical. Those who have made these journeys tend to honor them. C.G. Jung, when watching Americans leave their factories, said we the paleface had come to walk "like Indians." One early commentator said we, like the Indians and unlike the Europeans, live without fences. We play Indian as children to call up the intuitive feminine. We name our cars after the noble and brave “Grand Cherokee.” We call to the spirit of Geronimo going into battle. When we want our heroine true, like Katniss, we put a bow and arrow in her hand. "We are all Americans here," said Ely Samuel Parker, the Seneca Indian, aide to Grant at Appomattox, suggesting that with the bloodshed at Bull Run, Chickamauga, Chancellorsville and Cemetery Ridge, we sanctioned our place and belonged here with the Indians.

The first poetic vision of Europeans in the new world was that of James Fenimore Cooper, who conjured Natty Bumpo. He had an "Indian name"—he had several: Hawkeye, Deerslayer, Pathfinder—indicating that he had been "reborn" in the new world in the Indian spirit. It is the oldest and most important myth in the American canon of our folklore, from Lone Ranger, who died and became "born again" via agency of an Indian shaman, and Fox Mulder, who returned from the dead via Indian intercession in “The X Files,” born anew with the past burned away in death, to enter a new age under the flag of the White Buffalo.

So Warren's claim to be "part Indian" is correct in mythical terms. Every old-school white Oklahoman is in this regard even if this in nominally not true. But it is not a lie to want to be Indian and to imagine your ancestors were. It is to be free of Europeanism. Emerson saw the laggard Europeanism within the Yankee mind as a curse of the unformed American, living half in shadow. It would bring temptation unnatural to us raised free in the forest; fascism, as in Italy, Spain and German, and the perennial virus of French nihilism.Comment:  This essay really applies to any wannabes and probably some Indians too. Elizabeth Warren just gives us another excuse to talk about the role of Indians in America's mythology.

For more on Elizabeth Warren, see Warren Ineligible to Be Cherokee and Native Question Warren's Claims.

For more on Indian in our imagination, see Mythical Indian = "National Mascot" and Why Wannabes Wanna Be.

Below:  We're all Indians--at least according to mascot lovers.

150th anniversary of Homestead Act

U.S. marks 150th anniversary of Homestead Act offering free landThe United States on Sunday marks the 150th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln signing the Homestead Act, the law that gave away 270 million acres of land and transformed the vast American interior.

Representatives from 30 states will take part in a ceremony at the National Monument of America in the Nebraska town of Beatrice, representing the states where nearly 2 million people each received 160 acres of free land under the program.And:Not everyone benefited from the Homestead Act. Engler said the law accelerated the removal of Native Americans from some states, especially across the Plains. With few exceptions, they were not allowed to homestead until 1924, when Native Americans were able to become U.S. citizens.

The act was in effect for 123 years. Homesteading ended in the continental United States in 1976. It ended in Alaska in 1986. In addition to the American West, homesteading took place in the South because land confiscated from plantation owners after the Civil War was deemed public land. Texas had no homesteading because it did not have federal public land.

Engler said the Homestead Act contributed to the expansion of the U.S. economy, spurred immigration and advanced transportation and communications networks.Nothing to celebrate

The "not everyone benefited" paragraph is the only negative thing in the article about the Homestead Act. Here's a less benign view:

The Subsidy of History

History can't be done a priori.A considerable number of libertarian commentators have remarked on the sheer scale of subsidies and protections to big business, on their structural importance to the existing form of corporate capitalism, and on the close intermeshing of corporate and state interests in the present state capitalist economy. We pay less attention, however, to the role of past state coercion, in previous centuries, in laying the structural foundations of the present system. The extent to which present-day concentrations of wealth and corporate power are the legacy of past injustice, I call the subsidy of history.

The first and probably the most important subsidy of history is land theft, by which peasant majorities were deprived of their just property rights and turned into tenants forced to pay rent based on the artificial “property” titles of state-privileged elites.

Of course, all such artificial titles not founded on appropriation by individual labor are completely illegitimate.

As Ludwig von Mises pointed out in Socialism, the normal functioning of the market never results in a state of affairs in which most of the land of a country is “owned” by a tiny class of absentee landlords and the peasant majority pay rent for the land they work. Wherever it is found, it is the result of past coercion and robbery.In particular:The Homestead Act of 1862, an apparent exception to this general trend, was really just another illustration of it. The majority of land, rather than being claimed under the terms of the Homestead Act, was auctioned to the highest bidder. Even for land covered by the Act, according to Howard Zinn, the $200 fee was beyond the reach of many. As a result, much of the land was not homesteaded on Lockean principles at all, but initially went to speculators before being partitioned and resold to homesteaders. And compared to the 50 million acres covered by homestead legislation, 100 million acres were given away as railroad land grants during the Civil War—free of charge! In other words, the privileged classes got the gravy, and ordinary homesteaders got the bone.Comment:  In this case, of course, the "peasant majorities" were Indians.

Much of today's concentrated wealth began with government subsidies to railroads, ranchers, miners, and drillers. So our "free market" economy has always been a crock. The country was "built" by elitists using government power to enrich themselves at the expense of Indians and other Americans.

For more on the subject, see:

Ayn Rand, racist
Land theft in My Little Pony
Jefferson's Indian removal policy
Capitalism killed the Indians
Great Plains in Years of Dust

Fictional characters make acceptance easier

Gays may have the fastest of all civil rights movements

Public attitudes have shifted sharply in the last 10 years. Chalk it up to familiarity–among family, friends, co-workers and prime-time TV characters.

By Mark Z. BarabakIn a convergence of causes, the NAACP board voted Saturday to endorse same-sex marriage, saying "marriage equality" was "consistent with equal protection under the law provided under the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution."

Several reasons account for the success. The gay community tends to be more affluent, and the ability to give generously to candidates has translated into significant political clout, from the local level to the White House. Its leaders are well-versed in the machinations of government and the means of power, knowledge hard-won through years spent dragging politicians into the fight against the AIDS epidemic.

But experts and advocates agree on one explanation above all others: Familiarity.

"People came to understand we existed," Jones said. "They worked with us. They knew us. They had [gay] family members. That demystified it and made it harder for them to hate us in an abstract way."

That was an avenue obviously unavailable to African Americans. "It isn't as if white people suddenly come to discover they have African American children or relatives," said Kenneth Sherrill, a professor at Hunter College in New York and a longtime gay activist.

Gays and lesbians "are born into straight families and live in straight neighborhoods and go to straight schools and work in straight businesses," Sherrill said. "There's a kind of familiarity that's exceedingly difficult to achieve in the case of race."

Popular culture and its shaper, the mass media, have also played a crucial role in changing attitudes, much as news accounts helped advance the cause of the black civil rights movement. Only this time it wasn't images of fire hoses and police dogs turned on innocents but the sympathetic portrayal of gay and lesbian characters in prime time, in what has become a TV staple.

"Will & Grace," the NBC comedy that ran from 1998 to 2006, "probably did more to educate the American public than almost anything anybody's ever done so far," Vice President Joe Biden said in a "Meet the Press" interview that helped prod Obama off the fence into supporting same-sex marriage.

That may be hyperbolic, but many said the vice president hit on something important: that welcoming fictionalized gay characters into the home made it that much easier to welcome gays and lesbians as family, friends, neighbors and co-workers in real life.

"It is certainly the case that gays and lesbians have been widely accepted in popular culture in a way that you could argue blacks in particular and Latinos too have never really been accepted," said Frank Gilliam, an expert on politics and race at UCLA.Comment:  This article suggests why it's important to see real Indians in movies and TV shows. Not historical Indians and not fake "spirit warriors" like Johnny Depp's Tonto, but modern-day Indians who are doctors, lawyers, and teachers.

For more on the subject, see Why Tonto Matters, Truth vs. Twilight, and "Such-and-Such Is Fiction."

Below:  Another entry in the "Indians as Fantasy Figures" sweepstakes.

Warren ineligible to be Cherokee

Is Elizabeth Warren Native American or What?Elizabeth Warren is not a citizen of the Cherokee Nation.

Elizabeth Warren is not enrolled in the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.

And Elizabeth Warren is not one of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee.

Nor could she become one, even if she wanted to.

Despite a nearly three week flap over her claim of "being Native American," the progressive consumer advocate has been unable to point to evidence of Native heritage except for a unsubstantiated thirdhand report that she might be 1/32 Cherokee. Even if it could be proven, it wouldn't qualify her to be a member of a tribe: Contrary to assertions in outlets from The New York Times to Mother Jones that having 1/32 Cherokee ancestry is "sufficient for tribal citizenship," "Indian enough" for "the Cherokee Nation," and "not a deal-breaker," Warren would not be eligible to become a member of any of the three federally recognized Cherokee tribes based on the evidence so far surfaced by independent genealogists about her ancestry.To be specific:[T]o enroll as a member of the Cherokee Nation, an individual must have had a direct ancestor listed among the more than 101,000 people enrolled on the "Final Rolls of the Citizens and Freedmen of the Five Civilized Tribes in Indian Territory" between 1898-1914, now known as the Dawes Rolls. The Cherokee Nation is very strict about this, even keeping descendants of siblings of men and women on the rolls out of the tribe, as well as descendents of Cherokees who were living out of the area at the time the lists were drawn up in what was then Northeastern Oklahoma.

"If she does not have an ancestor listed on the Dawes Rolls, she cannot be considered Cherokee through this tribe," explained Lydia Neal, a processor with the registrar's office of the Cherokee Nation.

O.C. Sarah Smith died long before the rolls were drawn up, too far in the past to make Warren eligible for membership in the tribe (assuming Smith was Cherokee).

No direct-line relatives of Warren are listed on the Dawes Rolls, according to Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak (the doubled name is not a typo), the independent genealogist who identified Michelle Obama's slave ancestors in 2009 in a project with The New York Times.Comment:  For more on Elizabeth Warren, see Native Question Warren's Claims and Warren Has No Firsthand Evidence.

Transgendered Native as civil rights champion

Transgender contestant loses beauty pageant, wins civil rights test

By Cassandra SzklarskiTransgender trailblazer Jenna Talackova lost her bid to become Miss Universe Canada over the weekend, but said Sunday that her history-making appearance has awarded her a much more meaningful role as a civil rights champion.

“I never thought I would be wearing [the] crown of an advocate and it feels really good, I feel very honoured,” Ms. Talackova said one day after losing the Miss Universe Canada title to fellow Vancouverite Sahar Biniaz.

“I was training for eight months, I was very dedicated and all of a sudden I was disqualified and for something that was so unjust. And now I’m a heroine in a lot of people’s eyes and it’s just made me so humbled and I wake up pinching myself.”

Ms. Talackova fell just outside the winner’s circle Saturday night, when she was cut after making the Top 12.Comment:  For more on the subject, see Osage Transgender Runs for Office and Transgendered Native in Miss Universe Pageant.

Racial politics of Warren case

Summing up what we know of the Elizabeth Warren case: She described herself as "Cherokee" or "Native" for several years without proof of this identity. And she didn't benefit from it in any significant way.

Now some thoughts on how conservatives are making a mountain out of this molehill--playing racial politics with a Native issue:

Elizabeth Warren Finally Teaches a Lesson on Native Identity

By Rob CapricciosoEven though many Indian educators think Warren has more explaining to do, many also feel she is being unfairly attacked. Some are even defending her, especially since Republicans are working overtime to use this controversy to their advantage, although none seem too keen on understanding the important underlying issues. Instead, conservative writer Michelle Malkin has made fun of the situation using phrases like “Pinocchio-hontas,” “Chief Full-of-Lies,” “Running Joke” and “Sacaja-whiner.” The Brown campaign, too, has twisted the situation out of context, with its campaign manager, Jim Barnett, telling the Associated Press, “Professor Warren needs to come clean about her motivations for making these claims and explain the contradictions between her rhetoric and the record.” In reality, these slams turn out to be unsubstantiated, but the Brown campaign is playing politics, nuance be damned.

Donna Akers, a professor with the Department of History and Native American Studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, is skeptical of the conservative outrage. “I think this is simply a cynical ploy by right-wing propagandists trying to find a piece of mud that sticks against Warren,” she says. Akers believes Republican politicians sometimes use racial issues to divide voters and to play on their insecurities. In this case, she says that the Brown campaign is trying to make it seem like a white person may have lost out on a position due to Warren’s situation. “Smearing Warren by the suggestion that she benefited unfairly by claiming Native ancestry panders to the racism extant in many sectors of the right wing—especially the working class,” Akers says. “The Republican Party today solidly embraces a thinly veiled racist agenda that privileges white Americans at the expense of Native Americans and other peoples of color in the United States.”

The intriguing question to explore, Indian academics say, is whether any Native candidates lost out on a chance to teach at Harvard because Warren was laying claim to an identity she knew very little about. That is a question, of course, that Republicans are not asking. And neither is the mainstream press. “The mainstream media definitely has added to this controversy due to their well-known ignorance about tribal citizenship and other tribal issues,” says Julia Good Fox, a professor at Haskell Indian Nations University. Good Fox notes that the media has largely failed to explain tribal citizenry and blood quantum issues to give context to the situation because these aren’t easy stories to tell. It’s easier to label the case “convoluted,” blame Warren, and move on to the next political gotcha story.Elizabeth Warren and the Politics of Being Indian

By Lindsey Catherine Cornum[I]f Warren claimed 1/32nd Cherokee heritage and was dark-skinned, I bet the conversation would be a lot different. The problem is Warren just doesn’t look Cherokee enough. Because of her physical appearance, many believe she has not had a genuine minority experience and does not deserve to claim minority status. To some degree, that is correct. As a light-skinned woman whom most people read as of Western-European descent, Warren has probably never experienced outright racism first-hand. Because she is granted white privilege based on her white appearance, however, does not necessarily mean she is just white—this applies not only to Elizabeth Warren but to all light-skinned people with non-European heritage. Though they must be held accountable for their conditional privilege and to the communities they purport to belong to, their decision to connect to their heritage is theirs alone. Nobody gets to decide that for them but their ancestors.

Unfortunately, in defending herself and her choice to list herself as minority professor, Warren has relied on her own reductionist interpretations of Indianness. While she did give a sincere account about the family history she was told and raised on, she has also tried to confirm her Cherokee ancestry by pointing to the high cheekbones of her grandfather. I mean, a part of me gets it. For those of us who do not look Indian enough (which these days requires full-blown regalia or being dead) or those of us who are cut off from our tribal communities, there is a struggle to identify what exactly is Indian about us. That sometimes comes out in misguided generalizations that we know will be understood by the ignorant, Hollywood-fed American public. In many cases those ignorant, Hollywood-based images are some of the only ways we know ourselves what constitutes an authentic Indian.And:In this case, it’s as if conservatives have been storing up all the unoriginal stereotypes of Indians they can think of, just waiting for a chance to unleash them all in one gushing flow of digital racist vomit. On Twitter this was manifested through the trending hashtag #ElizabethWarrenIndianNames which included such zingers as Pocca-hot-mess (a clever variation on the tired Pocca-hot-ass) and Lia-watha. Meanwhile, Ann Coulter at her ever-insightful best wrote a piece called “Elizabeth Warren’s Indian Name: Dances with Lies” which opens with, “Elizabeth Warren, who also goes by her Indian name, ‘Lies on Race Box,’ is in big heap-um trouble.”

If Elizabeth Warren hasn’t been a victim of racialized verbal violence before in her life, she certainly is now. Welcome to the good life.Comment:  Note that two-faced conservatives are trying to have it both ways. Before anyone knew whether Warren's claims were legitimate, they were attacking her. "She's a fake Indian, she's gaming the system, she's using race to her advantage." In other words, they launched racist or semi-racist assaults on her as an Indian.

Now that her claims are in doubt, they're attacking her for lying about her identity. For making it up. They refuse to consider the obvious alternative: that she innocently repeated her family stories of being Cherokee until she thought better of it.

There's nothing strange about that. I'm sure most people have repeated stories they couldn't prove about their family history. The difference is, Warren repeated those stories before realizing she'd undergo intense scrutiny while running for public office.

But conservatives don't care about these nuances. Either way, they've attacked her: for being an Indian, or for pretending to be one. The common theme is their fear and hatred of minorities. No other conclusion encompasses the wide variety of attacks.

If you have any doubts, read the labels again: "Pinocchio-hontas," "Chief Full-of-Lies," "Running Joke," etc. No conservative has denounced these labels; many have parroted them. Regardless of Warren's identity, therefore, many conservatives are racists.

For more on the subject, see Elizabeth Warren's Birther Moment and NAJA Criticizes "Disrespectful" Warren Puns.

Native attitudes toward eclipses

Avert Your Eyes: Eclipse Viewing Taboo in Navajo and Other CulturesWhile millions around the world will flock to view the annular solar eclipse on Sunday at sunset, many who are smack in the middle of its shadowy path will avert their eyes. Eclipses are a bad omen in much of Indian country, and the indigenous world in general, from the Navajo to the Maya.

It’s not easy to obtain information about astronomy from the Navajo this time of year; such things belong to storytelling season, during the winter months, said Rudy Begay, a Navajo cultural resource specialist consulting with various federal programs.

“The moon and the sun are sacred the way they were created, and you are not supposed to watch the moon or look at, stare at it for a long time,” he told Indian Country Today Media Network. “It affects your mind and your body. Especially for a woman that’s carrying a baby. Because when there is an eclipse either lunar or solar, this is a sacred time where the sun, the moon and the earth is kind of like in an intimate position when they line up, so it’s such a sacred thing that’s happening, you don’t look at those things that are happening out in the sky.”

If a pregnant woman sees an eclipse of any kind, be it solar or lunar, it might “affect the mind of the woman or also in the future it will affect the health of the baby,” Begay said, and a special ceremony must be conducted to rid them of the influence.

During an eclipse, “every man, woman and child—they have to show reverence, and they don’t eat, they don’t drink water, they just go into the house until it passes,” Begay said. “And then they show respect for the moon and the sun.”

The Maya too, found eclipses to be disturbing. Although many representations of eclipses appear in Mayan art, such events were generally understood to portend bad tidings.

“Solar eclipses, known as chi’ ibal kin, or ‘to eat the sun,’ were a particular cause for distress among the Maya people,” the website Starteach.com notes. Mayan priests went to great lengths to predict eclipses and calculate all manner of astronomical phenomena.Experts: Eclipse a good test of cultural relevance

By Cindy YurthWhen Robert Johnson was a boy on Black Mesa, you knew an eclipse was starting by the hush that fell over the land.

People hurried to corral their livestock, ran inside, woke up sleeping relatives, built a fire and prayed.

No food was consumed, and even the livestock were prevented from eating or drinking, as it could contaminate their flesh and make them unfit for human consumption when they were eventually slaughtered.

When an annular solar eclipse is visible from the Navajo Nation Sunday, May 20, "it will be interesting to see how many people still observe the old ways," said Johnson, now the cultural specialist at the Navajo Nation Museum. "I doubt there are many."

If only a minority of Navajos observe what was one of the strictest taboos in the old religion, "I'm afraid our culture is already gone," Johnson said.Arizona tribes talk significance of solar eclipseMany American Indian tribes view the sun and moon as cultural deities but the beliefs among northern Arizona's tribes and individual members don't all signal a need to stay clear of the ring eclipse, or annular solar eclipse, that hasn't been seen in the U.S. since 1994. Whitethorne says he will use the opportunity to read the first book he authored and illustrated 20 years ago, "Sunpainters: Eclipse of the Navajo Sun," to his grandchildren.

Carletta Tilousi of the Havasupai Tribe has no plans to go out of her way to watch it. Even if she did, it would be nothing more than a glance, she said.

"In our tradition they tell us as children not to look at the moon because it's such a powerful energy that if you gaze upon it too long, it can bring bad dreams," she said.

In the Hualapai culture, blocking out the sun could be interpreted as a bad omen, said tribal member Wilfred Whatoname Sr.

"We may have done something wrong to make that happen," he said. "That doesn't happen often, so people are led to believe that maybe we should take care of our lives a lot better."

Staring at the eclipsed sun can indeed cause a serious eye injury, and some Navajos have linked exposure to it to birth defects, or other physical and mental ailments. Whitethorne's grandfather covered the food and water outside their hogan decades ago to keep anything the livestock could eat or drink from being exposed to the eclipse as well, he said.Comment:  For more on the subject, see Astro-Tourism at Pyramid Lake.

Below:  "These Mexican ceramic ornaments are typical of the prevalence of eclipses in indigenous art."

Oklahoma license-plate challenge dismissed

Back in 2009, I reported on a legal case in two postings:

Sacred Rain Arrow Is Religious?
Oklahoma Plate Violates First Amendment?

Now the courts have ruled. Fortunately, they upheld my position.

Okla. Man Establishment Clause Effort to Challenge Oklahoma’s Indian-Shooting-Arrow License Plate Fails



Here's plaintiff's argument against the license plate:His claims are based on the alleged effects of an image he alleges to be based on a sculpture called “Sacred Rain Arrow.” The image appears on the State of Oklahoma’s standard vehicle license plates. As described by plaintiff, the sculpture “depicts a young Native American shooting an arrow towards the sky with the hope of calling for rain from the ‘spirit world.’” It is based, plaintiff states, on a Native American legend in which a warrior went to a medicine man during a drought, convinced him to bless his bow and arrows and then shot his arrows into the sky, hoping to gain favor with the rain god. Plaintiff asserts that “the image depict[s] and communicate[s] Native American religious beliefs in contradiction to his own Christian religious beliefs.” Because the “message, connotation and purpose” of the sculpture and the license plate with its image are “antithetical to Cressman’s sincerely-held religious beliefs,” plaintiff alleges he cannot display the image on his vehicle. He “wants to remain silent with “images, messages, and practices that he cannot endorse or accept,” and does not want his car to serve as a billboard for them.And the court's response to him:Plaintiff assumes, with minimal discussion, that he is being required to disseminate an ideological message. Having examined the State’s standard license plate, which is described in the First Amended Complaint and a photograph of which is attached as Exhibit D to plaintiff’s preliminary injunction motion, the court disagrees.

The challenged image “depict[s] a statute of a Native American shooting an arrow into the sky.” Plaintiff argues that it communicates a message about Native American religion. ... However, plaintiff states in his amended complaint that he “learned that the image on the license plate was a depiction of a sculpture called ‘Sacred Rain Arrow’ by Allen Houser,” and “learned” that the sculpture was based on a Native American Legend. Nothing on the tag indicates that the image is based on a sculpture or that the arrow is sacred or the reason why it is being shot. While plaintiff clearly links the image to the sculpture and legend, nothing on the license plate, itself, makes or suggests that connection. It is only through further independent research of the sort plaintiff alleges he undertook, that a person would learn the underlying facts and circumstances which plaintiff alleges to constitute the offensive message.Comment:  To give another example, suppose a government-run museum depicted Galileo's astronomical discoveries. These discoveries contradicted the Catholic Church's teachings about the Earth being the center of the universe. Someone could claim the government was taking a position against his Christian religion--declaring his church to be false.

But you'd have to delve into Galileo's and the Church's history to come up with that tortured reasoning. It isn't self-evident in a display of Galileo's factually true findings. Therefore, it doesn't rise to the level of establishing one religious belief over another.

A Christian cross would be a different story. That symbol has a religious meaning that's clear to the average person. That would rise to the level of establishing one religious belief over another.

The same would be true of a more obvious Native religious image. Perhaps a dancing kachina, and certainly a deity such as White Buffalo Woman or Gitche Manitou. The government hasn't and shouldn't put them on anything official.

In short, no one is saying Christianity is bad and Native religions are good. They're saying an overt religious symbol is unacceptable but art with subtle religious implications is okay.

So Cressman loses and rightly so. Better luck next time, fella.

For more on what Christians believe, see Christian Flyer Calls Lakota Rite "Satanic" and Library Blocks "Occult" Native Websites.

Box-checking is unethical

No one has shown that Elizabeth Warren used her Native heritage to get a job. But people are speculating on what it would mean if she did.

Warren's claim as Native American opens debate over ethnic ties

By Bill KirkIn Warren's case, questions remain as to whether she used her Native American ancestry to further her career as a law professor. Some critics say she's guilty of what's known as "box-checking," or designating yourself as a Native American in order to be considered a minority in the eyes of future employers or college admissions officers.

It's a charge Warren refutes, saying that she made the designation because she was reaching out to make a connection with people who may have a similar background.

When asked if she took advantage of so-called "box-checking" she said, "I worked hard for every job I got. I was hired because of the work I've done."

Whatever her reason, fraudulent designation of Native American ancestry is frowned upon as unethical, although it doesn't appear to be illegal.

But it should be, says Jim Peters, the executive director of the state Commission on Indian Affairs.

Peters, himself a member of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe, said the practice was common during the heyday of affirmative action, but is less common now. He noted that if Warren was simply trying to assert her connection to her native American roots, that's fine. But if she was using it to gain an advantage on job applications, that's not.

"There should be a law against it," he said. "People have a right to embrace the fact they have Native American in their ancestry. If they have a connection, we don't hold it against them."

But, he added, "It depends on what you want to do with it."

That's precisely what the Coalition of Bar Associations of Color was getting at when they passed a "Resolution on Academic Ethnic Fraud" last July. The resolution, signed by the presidents of the Hispanic, Asian, Native American and National bar associations, states, among other things, that "fraudulent self-identification as Native American on applications for higher education ... is particularly pervasive among undergraduate and law school applicants."

It goes on to say the phenomenon is "so pervasive, it is commonly understood and referred to within the Native American Community as 'box-checking.'"Elizabeth Warren Finally Teaches a Lesson on Native Identity

By Rob Capriccioso“It is one thing to claim to have had an Indian somewhere in the family tree, but it is much different to then use that unexplored notion to check a box indicating concrete Native ancestry,” says Robert Warrior, director of American Indian Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “I have met people with these kinds of claims this very week, who strongly believe them, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t have more work to do to understand their heritage.”

Many American families claim Native ancestry, but have not done the research to back it up, which doesn’t mean they aren’t Native, of course, but for a person in Warren’s position, Indians in the world of academia say it would have been desirable and appropriate for her to learn more about her roots before checking any boxes. “It’s what we ask of our candidates,” says Warrior, a citizen of the Osage Nation, who notes that his program has published an official statement entitled Identity and Academic Integrity. “Too often, we realize, American Indian studies as a field of academic inquiry has failed to live up to its potential at least in part because of the presence of scholars who misrepresent themselves and their ties to the Native world,” the statement reads in part.

While Warren was never a professor of Native studies, Warrior says it is still important for all college programs to be clear and honest about what they are trying to achieve when promoting diversity. In the case of Warren, Harvard was definitely willing to promote her as Native–its spokesman was quoted in the Harvard Crimson in 1996 as calling her American Indian–but it didn’t really seem to think that was important. She wasn’t exploring tribal law in her legal teaching, and she wasn’t doing any research on or writing about Indian topics. What seems clear now is that she was simply being counted by the college as Native to appease critics who have long criticized Harvard Law School for its lack of diversity. “It seems self-serving,” Warrior says. “And it really did nothing to help Native American students, communities, or faculty, if that was the intention.”

Warren must have been thinking about such concerns in the mid-1990s when she decided to stop including herself as a minority in the directories. She told reporters on May 2 that she originally listed herself that way in order to connect with others like her, “people for whom ‘Native American’ is part of their heritage and part of their hearts. There aren’t a lot of people like me in law teaching. And so I just thought I might find some others. That’s evidently not a particularly good use for the directory because it never happened.” That’s why, she says, that she stopped calling herself a minority in the directories after having done so for almost a decade.

Republican detractors say this is proof she was exploiting a pseudo-Native identity to further her career until she reached the pinnacle, and when she no longer needed that “boost” she dropped it. Warren says that’s false. She was qualified for her position, and the Native aspect didn’t play a role in her hiring, she says, which has been backed up by the Harvard officials who hired her.A Little Bit Indian

By Ross DouthatThe appropriate response to such a tale is probably sympathy rather than scorn. What does deserve scorn, though, is the academic culture in which an extremely distant connection to a Cherokee ancestor ends up being touted by a law school as proof of its commitment to diversity.

A diverse faculty and campus can be a laudable goal. But the point is to build academic communities that actually contain a wide variety of experiences and perspectives, not to wax self-congratulatory because you’ve met a set of ethnic quotas. The story of Elizabeth Warren, “woman of color,” represents a reductio ad absurdum of the latter tendency, which has been all too prevalent in elite universities—giving us affirmative-action programs that benefit West Indian immigrants more than the descendants of slaves, and faculties that include a wider range of skin tones than of political and religious views.

The irony is that Warren herself probably did make Harvard more diverse, since she grew up the daughter of a janitor in Oklahoma—not a typical background, to put it mildly, for Ivy League students and faculty today. But under the academy’s cramped definitions, it was her grandfather’s Cherokee cheekbones, not her blue-collar roots, that led to her citation as a supposed trailblazer.

That isn’t a serious approach to academic diversity, and in an emerging majority-minority America (already visible in the latest Census birth statistics) where almost everyone will be 1/8 something-or-other, it will be an increasingly untenable one as well.Comment:  For more on the subject, see Natives Question Warren's Claims and Warren Has No Firsthand Evidence.

Racists hate and fear minority babies

Morons Disappointed to Learn Most Babies Born in America Are Not White

By Erin Gloria RyanWhen the US Census bureau announced this morning that for the first time in US history, the majority of babies born in 2011 were not white, naturally my first thought was to see what paranoids and dum dums on the internet were saying about it, because I'm nothing if not a chronic hater. After all, this sort of topic is perfect idiot-bait—it hits all the notes necessary to strike a chord of fear in the hearts of America's racists. And the web, as this country's id's butthole, absolutely did not disappoint.

The data in question shows that more non-white babies were born last year, which means calling non-white babies "minorities" is becoming increasingly stupider, and also that the Duggars are losing. Part of the baby demographic shift was due to a higher birth rate among Hispanics and the fact that the crappy economic picture prompted many white families to forego baby having. Analysts project that by the end of this century, non-white Americans will outnumber white Americans, a thought that strikes fear into octogenarian conservative xenophobes who will be dead long before "their" country is "taken away" from them by the Mexicans.

Anyway, the sort of person who uses the phrase "the white race" non-ironically is pretty upset with this development, another bit of evidence, in their mind, that minority women are unstoppable breeding machines with out of control sexuality and dangerous fecundity that must be kept out of America at all costs.

Readers of Fox Nation, that reliable bastion of whackadoodlery, rated the story of the nonwhite birth rate surpassing the white birth rate as "Scary." And commenters are frightened, but resigned. One said, "It was bound to happen..with anchor babies and pay raises for more chillrin..." Others, who clearly still don't understand the concept of "structural racism" having nothing to do with sheer numbers and everything to do with power, wondered if they'd get special consideration for entering "government school" now. You know, like all those Mexican children of undocumented farm workers who are applying for admission to Harvard, unseating deserving white applicants. Another said, "Not hard to believe. Los Angeles in the 1970's was overwhelmingly white. Now it's overwhelmingly latino. The latinos took over. Just look at the school demographics. That pretty much tells the story. This country is slowly being returned to Mexico with the help of politicians." Hard to argue with that!Top Right-Wing Group: Minority Births Are ‘Not A Good Thing’ Because They ‘Don’t Share American Values’

By Adam PeckYesterday, the New York Times reported on new census data which showed, for the first time, that non-white births made up over 50 percent of all births in the United States last year.

It marked an important milestone, indicative of a changing United States that has long been considered the world’s melting pot. Or, if you’re the conservative, Phyllis Schlafly-backed Eagle Forum, it’s a clarion call that America is in grave danger of being overrun by uneducated, un-American brown people:It is not a good thing. The immigrants do not share American values, so it is a good bet that they will not be voting Republican when they start voting in large numbers.

[...]

Instead, the USA is being transformed by immigrants who do not share those values, and who have high rates of illiteracy, illegitimacy, and gang crime, and they will vote Democrat when the Democrats promise them more food stamps.Setting aside for a minute the offensive way in which the Eagle Forum dismisses all of “the immigrants” as thoughtless criminals, it’s telling that The Eagle Forum views this as simply a political problem.Some commenters put the second posting in perspective:Sigh, again with the "blacks & Hispanics aren't American and only want welfare and food stamps."

FACT: Red States use the most welfare and food stamps.
FACT: a minority baby cries & poops just like a white baby.
FACT: Minorities vote Democrat because the GOP are racists and treats them like they're not people.

Exactly, why would I as a minority want to vote for a politicial party that sees me as: illiterate, less educated, not American (even though I AM) and worst of all less human than they are.

Oh--I thught all babies were BORN with American values--except, of course, those that aren't like Phyllis.

And we stole this land so...I guess American values are steal what you can and call it yours. A shame to see THAT go!Comment:  As Tim Wise put it, anyone who reacts negatively to this news is a racist. It's pure racial news--more brown than white babies born--so there's no reason to care unless you're prejudiced against skin color.

For more on conservative racism, see White Privilege Will End Soon and Conservatives Seek Return to 1957.

Did Warren plagiarize recipes?

Did Elizabeth Warren Plagiarize Her 'Pow Wow Chow' Recipes?

By Michael Patrick LeahyThe credibility of Massachusetts Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren took another hit today as Boston radio talk show host Howie Carr released evidence that appears to confirm Ms. Warren may have plagiarized at least three of the five recipes she submitted to the 1984 Pow Wow Chow cookbook edited by her cousin Candy Rowsey.

Two of the possibly plagiarized recipes, said in the Pow Wow Chow cookbook to have been passed down through generations of Oklahoma Native American members of the Cherokee tribe, are described in a New York Times News Service story as originating at Le Pavilion, a fabulously expensive French restaurant in Manhattan. The dishes were said to be particular favorites of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and Cole Porter.

The two recipes, "Cold Omelets with Crab Meat" and "Crab with Tomato Mayonnaise Dressing," appear in an article titled “Cold Omelets with Crab Meat,” written by Pierre Franey of the New York Times News Service that was published in the August 22, 1979 edition of the Virgin Islands Daily News, a copy of which can be seen here.

Ms. Warren’s 1984 recipe for Crab with Tomato Mayonnaise Dressing is a word-for-word copy of Mr. Franey’s 1979 recipe.

Mrs. Warren’s 1984 recipe for Cold Omelets with Crab Meat contains all four of the ingredients listed in Mr. Franey’s 1979 recipe in the exact same portion but lists five additional ingredients. More significantly, her instructions are virtually a word for word copy of Mr. Franey’s instructions from this 1979 article. Both instructions specify the use of a “seven inch Teflon pan.”Will Harvard Law School Condemn Elizabeth Warren for Pow Wow Chow Plagiarism?

By Michael Patrick LeahyBreitbart reported on Friday that two of Elizabeth Warren’s recipe contributions to the 1984 Pow Wow Chow cookbook edited by her cousin included word for word copies of a 1979 article written for the New York Times News Service by famous French cook Pierre Franey. Sunday morning, attention turned to Harvard Law School, where Ms. Warren has been employed as a professor since 1992.

Plagiarism of an academic paper while employed by Harvard Law School, or while employed previously at another law school, would clearly be grounds for her dismissal under Harvard University’s code of conduct for professors. But does plagiarism of a 1984 cookbook when she was 35 years old and employed as a research associate and teacher at the University of Texas Law School constitute grounds for dismissal?

That’s the question I posed Sunday to Jack Marshall, a lawyer and nationally recognized expert on ethics. Mr. Marshall, who is the President of ProEthics, Ltd, a firm that provides Continuing Legal Education to some of the top law firms in the country, is also a 1972 graduate of Harvard College and a 1975 graduate Georgetown University Law School.And:Asked specifically this morning about the appropriate action to be taken by Harvard Law School in light of these revelations Mr. Marshall said:

“Here’s the problem. It’s awfully tough for Harvard to establish a new standard of enforcement, especially for a female professor, especially when you’ve let a whole group of men get away with plagiarism in the recent past.

“Harvard Law School should [issue a statement that publicly condemn[s] her and retroactively do a public mea culpa for past examples of plagiarism that other members of the faculty got away with. They can’t do anything other than publicly shame her, but that’s a start.”Comment:  Plagiarism is a more serious offense than anything Warren's been accused of so far. It demands at least an explanation, if not an apology.

For more on Elizabeth Warren, see Natives Question Warren's Claims and Warren's Pow Wow Chow Cookbook.

Clichés abound in Crooked Arrows

The Mighty Ducks on Grass, With Spirit Animals

Crooked Arrows, the plucky underdog Native American lacrosse movie I never knew I wanted.

By John SwansburgThe most famous game of lacrosse took place on June 4, 1763 at Fort Michilimackinac, in what is now Northern Michigan. British forces had recently taken command of the fort, one of the spoils of their victory in the French and Indian War. June 4 was King George III's birthday, and to mark the occasion, a group of Sauk and Ojibwa Indians offered to stage an exhibition of the game they called baggatiway. By all accounts, the British garrison was captivated by the anarchic, fast-paced play—at least until the Indians dropped their sticks, took up arms, butchered the spectators, and captured the fort. Turned out they were still partial to the French.

Crooked Arrows, the new feature film from director Steve Rash, tells the story of another group of Native American lacrosse players at odds with their white neighbors. The stakes here are a bit lower, though, and the only real violence is perpetrated against the fundamentals of good filmmaking. Working with a manifestly small budget, Rash has set out to bestow a Mighty Ducks-style sports movie on this proud and ancient game. The result is an amateurish, highly predictable film overstuffed with Native American mumbo jumbo. And yet such is the durability of the sports movie formula—and such is the good-natured pluck of this movie—that I found myself considering a fist-pump when, during the Arrows’ improbable run through the playoffs, the weakest of the team’s midfielders (his spirit animal is the meek but crafty squirrel) scored a pivotal goal. I didn’t actually pump my fist, as I was still recovering from a training montage set to Chumbawumba’s “Tubthumping.” But I felt a twinge.The so-called "mumbo jumbo":The transformation of the Crooked Arrows from a perennial doormat into a preppy-trouncing powerhouse is the silliest but also the most enjoyable stretch of the movie. No cliché of Native American life goes unexplored. The players run through the forest, practicing their dodges on trees, as their ancestors did. They sprint up a craggy mountain where they commune with a tribal elder who tells them that even crooked arrows can find their way, if they stay true to their path (whatever that means). They visit a sweat lodge, where each player has a vision of his spirit animal and receives an amulet bearing that creature’s likeness. And in my favorite turn, Coach Logan decides to translate the names of the team’s plays into Sunaquat, likening the effort to the work of the Navajo Code Talkers, who helped encrypt secret messages for the U.S. Marines during World War II. Alas for Logan, his command of Sunaquat is rusty after all those years at the casino: Attempting to describe a “V-cut,” he actually calls it a “vagina dodge,” to the adolescent glee of his players.Crooked Arrows Movie Review

By Karen Benardello‘Crooked Arrows’ is a touching tribute to the Native American culture, and the pride they take in having created lacrosse. Hiring Native Americans who actually played the sport in real life helped showcase the hard work the tribes put into playing the game. Unfortunately, the character of Joe and his reluctance to coach the team, and his gradual change in attitude and devotion to the sport, is full of cliches commonly found in many sports films. Rash made an admirable attempt to create a movie showing that everyone loves playing sports, no matter what their ethnicity, but he does little to create unique conflicts or struggles.

Technical: B
Acting: B-
Story: B-
Overall: B-Comment:  The whole "spirit animal in the sweat lodge" scene sounds horribly stereotypical. I'm not sure a bit like that has ever happened in real life.

For more on Crooked Arrows, see Onondagas Support Crooked Arrows and Crooked Arrows Announces Lacrosse Team.

Natives question Warren's claims

Elizabeth Warren: Box-Checking for Fun and Profit

By Steve RussellI’m puzzled by the way the question has been addressed, and Ms. Warren is not helping with her imbecilic remarks about “high cheekbones.” As in the cases of Ward Churchill and Andrea Smith, the most common way of looking at the question is genealogy, the quest for a Cherokee in the woodpile, as it were.

Pray tell, in what sense is somebody Indian if they have to hire a genealogist to prove it?

I was born and raised in the Creek Nation, and some of our customs are remarkably similar. We share the history of removal to Indian Territory and the abrogation of our treaties to create the State of Oklahoma. We produced the most effective organizers against the Dawes Act abomination in the Cherokee Redbird Smith and the Creek Chitto Harjo. But I never, ever, thought I was the same as a Creek. Different language, different stories, different traditions of governing—let’s face it, different peoples.

How can you maintain a tribal identity without knowing at least some of what that identity means?And:If Elizabeth Warren listed herself in the Harvard faculty directory as Indian hoping to meet others of like descent, there’s no harm and no foul. Can you imagine how hard it must be to promote a stickball game on the Harvard Quad?

If she was making herself available to mentor Indian students, that would be commendable. I expect the Indian students would have said so by now.

There’s no question Harvard has used Elizabeth Warren to hoist the flag of diversity. Harvard is flying a false flag and it’s reprehensible.

The question, to me, is whether Elizabeth Warren was a box checker, seeking personal advantage on the backs of people who lived their lives with the down side of being Indian? The answer is on her employment application. If she’s guilty, it’s some evidence of a character flaw and a tragedy for the 99%.A Letter to Elizabeth Warren

By Polly's GranddaughterYou see, Ms. Warren, some of us have independently done our own research and we know you have no documentation supporting your claim of Cherokee ancestry.* We wonder why you believe you have the right to claim Cherokee ancestry and to call yourself a Native American when you have no evidence to support your claim. While you cling to a family story and the inaccurate report that ONE document was found that supports your claim, we real Cherokees understand that those things mean nothing. You see, we Cherokees have lots and lots and lots of documentation supporting our claims of our ancestry. Our Cherokee ancestors are found on every roll of the Cherokee Nation (30+ rolls!) dating back to before the removal and in all sorts of other documentation, including but not limited to claims against the US government for lost property; the Moravian missionary records; ration lists before and after the forced removal, etc...yet your ancestors are found in NONE of those records.

But, your ancestors are found in plenty of historical records, and every time, they are found living as white people among other white people. Never are your ancestors ever found living among the Cherokees. Never, never, never, never...yet you claim they were Cherokee.And:You have claimed something you had no right to claim--our history and our heritage and our identity. Those things belong to us, and us alone. These are not things we choose to embrace when they benefit us and then cast aside when we no longer need them, but that is what you seem to have done by "checking a box" for several years and then no longer "checking" it more recently, when apparently you no longer needed it.

Of course, you say you only "checked the box" in an attempt to meet others like you, but that doesn't make sense. If one is claiming to be Cherokee and wants to meet other Cherokees, they don't "check a box" on a job application or in a directory for their profession! They go to where Cherokees are.

You are from Oklahoma!

If you wanted to meet "other" Cherokees, you should have known you could go there to meet them, so stop with the "I only wanted to meet others like me" BS. You disrespect us by saying things like that and we don't appreciate it!For more on Elizabeth Warren, see Warren's Pow Wow Chow Cookbook and Warren Has No Firsthand Evidence.

Warren's Pow Wow Chow cookbook

Elizabeth Warren family cookbook 'Pow Wow Chow' surfaces as Native American criticism continues

By Robert RizzutoDemocratic U.S. Senate hopeful Elizabeth Warren is facing new criticism from Native Americans over her heritage claims as a nearly three-decades old family cook book called "Pow Wow Chow" has surfaced.

Warren, who is working to gain the Democratic nod to take on Republican U.S. Sen. Scott Brown in November's general election, has been under fire for several weeks as Brown's campaign and others have questioned whether she used family stories of Cherokee ancestry to further her career through affirmative action programs.

Although Warren, a Harvard Law School professor, has repeatedly denied such claims, and the universities that previously hired her released statements saying they weren't aware of such heritage claims or that they played no part in her hiring, the specter of such allegations has lingered.

This week, the "Pow Wow Chow" cookbook, which includes recipes contributed by Warren and family members, was obtained by the Boston Herald, documenting that Warren has identified with her family lore of Cherokee ancestry as far back as the early 1980s.

The book is a compilation of “special recipes passed down through the Five Tribes families,” according to the Herald, which mentions Warren's recipes for savory crab omelet and spicy barbecued beans.Comment:  Another posting says Warren signed a couple of the recipes as "Elizabeth Warren, Cherokee."

As with the professional directories, we could write this off as a youthful (or middle-aged) indiscretion. We could say she was exploring her Native identity, trying it on like clothing to see how it fit.

But the more she listed herself as "Cherokee" or "Native" in writing, the stronger becomes the burden of proof. She knew or should've known that describing herself as a minority would influence hiring decisions, especially in academia. You shouldn't claim an ethnic identity in public unless you're sure of it, because it'll affect how people view you.

And yet she didn't have anything except family stories to justify calling herself "Cherokee"? Her closest Native ancestor was at least five generations removed? That sort of identity claim is suspect, to put it mildly.

A related situation

My family claimed an ancestor who came over on the Mayflower, and another ancestor who signed the Declaration of Independence. The first claim proved to be true, the second probably false. The point is that I never mentioned these possible connections in any official capacity.

Rather, I treated them as what they were: family rumors or gossip. Before I knew for sure, there's no way I would've listed myself as a Mayflower descendant. Someone might've taken it for a factual statement, and that would've been wrong.

For more on Elizabeth Warren, see Warren Has No Firsthand Evidence and Warren Didn't Claim Native Status.

Oregon bans Indian mascots

With one of nation's strictest rules, State Board of Education bans Native American mascots

By Ryan KostUnder a new rule that may be the toughest in the nation, at least 15 Oregon schools must get rid of their Native American-themed mascots by 2017 or risk losing state funding.

The State Board of Education passed the new policy in a 5-1 vote Thursday afternoon.

"I'm overwhelmed, but I'm holding back on my emotions--I have a meeting to finish," said board Chairwoman Brenda Frank, a member of the Klamath Tribes. "It's been a long time coming."

The decision, in the works for six years, requires schools to eliminate names like "Indians," "Chiefs" and "Braves." "Warriors" may stay, but the logos may not reference tribal customs or traditions.Why the ban is needed:Nationally, there have been various pushes to do away with using race-based mascots for decades. The debate in Oregon schools picked up in earnest in 2006, when Che Butler, a former Taft High School student, brought the issue before the state board.

Butler told The Oregonian at the time that he decided to go to the board after his school played the Molalla High Indians. During the game he saw a student dressed in buckskin and fake feathers performing stereotypical Native American dance moves.

That sort of thing no longer happens at the games, according to Molalla administrators. Nevertheless, the school's Indian mascot is still present throughout the school. The logo, a profile of a Native American man with a lined face and headdress full of feathers, is displayed on lockers, painted on the gym's floor and rendered in metal in the courtyard. Arrows help guide visitors through the hallways and drawings of spears decorate the walls. A totem pole and teepee are displayed on the school's soccer field. During a visit earlier this week, two boys walked through the cafeteria, drumming on an empty water jug and chanting.

The school is--very proudly--"Home of the Indians!!!"Comment:  The Plains chief, teepee, and totem pole have nothing to do with Oregon's Indians. They're just plain wrong. A school setting that's supposed to educate youngsters is the worst place for such misinformation.

The arrows, spears, drums, and chants are "merely" stereotypical. They falsely imply that Indians are primitive people of the past. As always, it's racist to single out Indians for this belittling treatment.

For more on Indian mascots, see Indian Place Names = Mascots and The Most Racist Pro Sports Logo.