March 12, 2008

Another Indian states the obvious

Anti-indigenous policies criticizedIn her years working as an educator, Valerie Taliman decided that two mainstream institutions were prolonging racist ideology--the education system and the media.

"How do people learn racism? They learn through their education and through the media," Taliman said Tuesday at Montana State University Billings. "You never see a positive Indian story in the news."
Comment:  People learn their stereotypical beliefs about Indians from "the education system and the media"--not necessarily in that order. Taliman must be the 10,000th person to state the obvious.

Of course Taliman is exaggerating about never seeing a positive Indian story in the news. In the universe of media, I wouldn't even say the negative stories predominate. But if you look only at the major media, then perhaps they do.

For more on these subjects, see The Harm of Native Stereotyping:  Facts and Evidence and Native Journalism:  To Tell the Truth.

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