Palermo: Native America is being defined by others
The story of contemporary American Indians is also being told by non-Indians. That is why tribes today are perceived not as culturally rich, sovereign nations, but as wealthy “groups” of Native American descendants formed why? Well, to operate casinos, of course.
“More than any other people, we have been defined by others,” Kevin Gover, director of the National Museum of the American Indian, told an audience at RES09, the economic conference recently held in Las Vegas. “Thus, the Americas were wilderness, awaiting the industrious hands and minds of Europeans to make it productive. Indians were just bands of nomads, wandering the woods and prairies, picking berries and hunting deer.
“In this narrative, civilization arrived with the Europeans,” said Gover, a Pawnee/Comanche. “This insult, this tragic lie, became the justification for the enslavement and murder of Indians, for the appropriation of their lands and resources, for the wanton destruction of their cultural materials.”
Gover is right, of course. Native America is not speaking for itself. It is allowing non-Indian media and policymakers to craft a false image of indigenous peoples.
Tribes and tribal associations are doing a miserable job educating the public about Native America and confronting false perceptions that result in damaging court rulings and harmful congressional action.
If Gover believes Native America needs to speak for itself, transcripts of his speeches must be sent to the tribal press and Web sites. Most important, his words need to be rewritten as opinion page articles and mailed to every newspaper in the country, particularly the non-Indian press.
If you ask me, Palermo--as an experienced journalist who knows more about media matters than most--is right. And anyone who disagrees with his message is wrong. On this point, I don't mind chiming in and advising Indians to communicate more.
"Confronting false perceptions" is what I'm doing here, of course. Are any Native writers or thinkers making the same points and doing a better job of it? Point me to them and I'll concede my efforts aren't necessary. I'll gladly retire to a well-deserved life of leisure.
Until then, I think I'll keep doing what I'm doing. While tribes concentrate on such issues as economic development and healthcare, I'll help out by confronting the false perceptions that hurt so much.
For more on the subject, see the The Harm of Native Stereotyping: Facts and Evidence and Stereotype of the Month contest.
Below: A savage who has no use for programs that provide jobs or medicine.
3 comments:
This condescending garbage annoys me; does this idiot really think that tribes have no college educated people who can't do for themselves? Being relatively familiar with tribal governments I can safely say that they're staffed by intelligent and capable people; in other words they have no need to deputize people to be PR men.
"Gover is right, of course. Native America is not speaking for itself. It is allowing non-Indian media and policymakers to craft a false image of indigenous peoples."
The main instance I can think of of Indians putting forth their own image in media as "culturally rich, sovereign nations" is the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe running advertisements describing Ojibwe values on public TV, and also on the CBS affiliate during sporting events.
(This is in my direct experience, as opposed to some Native-related cultural activity halfway across the country that I read about in news).
I'm sure there are other instances that I am forgetting, but these advertisements are relatively common.
However, they are not as common as the ubiquitous advertisements on TV and radio of 4 different area tribes advertising casinos. I hear and see these advertisements a hundred times more than I see the ones about Ojibwe values.
Looking at Dave Palermo's paragraph,
"The story of contemporary American Indians is also being told by non-Indians. That is why tribes today are perceived not as culturally rich, sovereign nations, but as wealthy “groups” of Native American descendants formed why? Well, to operate casinos, of course.",
the promotion done exclusively by Indians mostly plays up the casinos instead of the culture. At least in some areas of the country.
I know there is a reason for this: casinos make more money than cultural attractions and aspects. But surely this must shape perception.
Your knee-jerk comment annoys me, Stephen. Most tribal and non-tribal organizations have college-educated people. Does that mean they're all equally good at public relations? No. If they were, nobody would need PR professionals and the PR business would fade away.
But Palermo didn't say one word about hiring outside professionals. He was simply talking about the need for better PR. If you thought this was a call for Indians to hire non-Indians, you need to work on your reading comprehension skills.
I'm confident Palermo and I know more about tribal governments than you do. Historically, they've shied away from opening up and telling their stories. Palermo is simply pointing this out and suggesting they need a different approach these days.
That most tribes aren't PR-savvy isn't even a controversial claim. Rather, it's pretty much the conventional wisdom. The fact that you don't recognize this says a lot more about you than it does about Palermo and me.
To reiterate, organizations--even those with college-educated people--make a conscious choice whether to emphasize PR or not. Palermo is saying that most tribes have chosen not to emphasize PR. And that that's the wrong choice in today's environment.
He isn't saying that college-educated Indians can't do their own PR. He's saying they haven't done enough of it. He's recommending that they change their attitude and devote more time and energy to this area.
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