Ecoffey and Davies downplay racism

A couple of Native journalists took activists like me to task for focusing on such "minor" issues as Adam Sandler's racist movie. Here's round 1:

Evaluating our priorities in the Native media

A note from the editor’s desk

By Brandon EcoffeyOver the past couple of weeks social media has been going absolutely nuts over an incident involving a group of Native actors walking off a Adam Sandler run movie set due to their objections to the famous actor’s grotesque depictions of Native people and culture. Although I applaud the courage of these Native actors to risk being black balled by Hollywood due to their protest, I do not understand why this particular story gained so much traction when there are real and far more pressing issues on reservations that the Native media has brushed aside.

Where is the outrage over our young people dying weekly? Where is the outrage over the absence of any type of functioning economy on reservations? Where is the outrage over the fact that many many children in Indian Country do not have access to safe drinking water? These are third-world issues that are pushed to the back page in favor of stories about people dressing up like Indians, or acting like us, or doing whatever it is that they do.

Many say that the misappropriation of our culture impacts the self-esteem and self-image of our Native youth. This may be true. But what impacts those aspects of our children even more is waking up to homes filled with mold, or abusive parents, or extreme poverty resulting from decades upon decades of failed federal policies and exploitation at the hands of predatory investors.

Although I agree that cultural appropriation is wrong I would just hope that others in the Native news industry reassess their priorities and react accordingly.My response:

"Where is the outrage over our young people dying weekly?" It's hidden by the invisibility of Natives in the mainstream media. This invisibility is shredded when an issue such as Sandler's racist movie gains traction.

Ripping apart this cloak of invisibility is a necessary precursor to generating outrage about endangered Native children. If no one knows they exist, there can be no outrage.

The MSM's choice isn't between covering the Sandler controversy and covering endangered Native children. It's between covering the Sandler controversy and doing nothing.

Only after that, when people become more aware of Indian country's ongoing problems, will the MSM turn its focus to them. Awareness comes first, and the Sandler controversy has helped raise that awareness.

Others chimed in:Rob Schmidt hit the nail on the head.

I'm sorry but many of us are outraged by all those issues as well. Many of us are fighting to better our communities also. I get so upset hearing Native people saying things like this because it makes the fight harder for ALL Native issues. We shouldn't be picking and choosing what issue to fight but we should be upset and fighting on all fronts!

You can do both. I work with Native health but still think mascots et al. are whack and should be eliminated.Right. Most of us are just reading and sharing articles. Even if you're deeply into these issues, they take up only 5% or so of your time. The rest of the time, you're working on whatever it is that you consider important.Hi. I just read the article and your question, so I'd like to share my perspective, at least in terms of mascots. A friend once said something similar. "We have more important issues to address," but it is my belief that this is one of the reasons that we have so many other issues to contend with. The dehumanizing effects of misrepresentation of our people via mascots and the various forms of appropriation have been effective enough to impact the way society views us. This in turn makes it so much easier for mainstream society to turn a blind eye to our multifaceted challenges. The cage of oppression consists of many wires, but in addressing the symptoms, we must also be diligent in addressing the root cause.
Round 2

Another column from the Native Sun News implied that movies, mascots, and related issues are a waste of time:

Indian Country must face the man in the mirror

Stop being thin-skinned busybodies

By James Giago DaviesInstead of focusing on every perceived slight, why not pour all that energy into the actual nuts and bolts reality plaguing almost every reservation—violence, poverty, alcoholism, drug abuse. Face these ugly truths, fight these ugly realities, honor the actual heroes, point fingers at the actual villains, and then if you have any energy left, and you damn well shouldn’t have energy left, knock yourself out being all offended over Johnny Depp’s Tonto.

Acculturation has left Indian America with deep, debilitating wounds, and these wounds compel Indians to hurt other Indians, to create bogeymen to hate and attack so they don’t have to face the man in the mirror. There are plenty of actual evil people hating on Indians, we don’t have to fabricate fresh ones to deflect our righteous indignation from the disheartening task of fixing what’s actually broken.

Indian culture has been oppressed to the point Indians no longer need the Wasicu to beat them down. Indians have spent the last century becoming experts at beating themselves down. Time to man up and start living in the 21st Century. Time to develop the skills and knowledge to protect the culture from destructive outside forces like Rand Paul, who wants to abolish the BIA, and even more destructive internal forces, misguided spiritual leaders, corrupt tribal administrations, bad parents neglecting and terrorizing vulnerable children.

If we could just spend one year doing that, then we would have the social gravitas forcing others to listen, then when Bill Maher said another stupid thing about Indians...well, he never would again say such a stupid thing, because it would be common knowledge all you crazy Indians are as funny as all get-out.I posted comments to Davies's column, leading to this debate with him:

Isn't Tim Giago a big advocate of eliminating stereotypical mascots? Which is the same issue as eliminating stereotypical movie portrayals. Have you told him to stop wasting his time on "trivial" issues--to "man up and start living in the 21st Century"?

Go ahead and tell him, then let us know what he says. Maybe he can explain the importance of fighting racism and stereotyping against Indians. Because clearly he understands the issue.

Are you seriously arguing that most Indians are focusing on Johnny Depp and Adam Sandler rather than the serious problems facing Indian country? Because it's the other way around, obviously.

A century of addressing these problems has yet to fully solve them. That's partly because most people think Indians have vanished into history.

And that's because of media portrayals--or the lack thereof. No one cares about Indians because movies such as Depp's and Sandler's tell us they're primitive people of the past. As far as most Americans are concerned, Indians and their problems no longer exist.I don't think you actually know anything about Indians, or growing up on welfare and food stamps in an Indian ghetto. Check it out.I know what Tim Giago has said about Hollywood's racism and stereotyping:

Tim Giago: Few Roles for Indians in Hollywood

Giago: Hollywood slow to tear down racist barriers against

He's argubly the most famous journalist in Indian country, and he's spent decades on these issues. I'm guessing he knows more about growing up Indian than you do.

Didn't you just spend a few hours writing about a racist nurse's video in Rapid City? How many Natives did you rescue from welfare and food stamps with that column? Why are you wasting time writing about a video when Native children are suffering and dying?

Unless you're delivering food and medicine yourself, don't bother lecturing anyone else on the subject. Nobody who's a journalist is saving lives directly.

More criticism of Davies

I love the idea of writers lecturing other writers about the pressing needs facing Indian country. If you believe what you're saying, Davies, stop writing and start helping. Get away from your computer. Get out of journalism altogether.

Instead, become a social worker. Go door to door bringing food and medicine to suffering people. Because if you don't do that, you're a flaming hypocrite.

To state the obvious, your words aren't saving lives. Therefore, quit wasting your time lecturing us about our words.

Again, others chimed in:I'll be damned if my girls or nieces have to put up with gross 'jokes' on the playground from boys who learned that those are funny things to say to native women. In this particular article, Mr. Davies forgets the fact that he is not a native kid in school and those are the people that will have to put up with the reintroduction of these disgusting stereotypes. It's already hard being a kid with a Native last name, without Adam Sandler adding fuel to the 'OMG Indian names are soooo funny and weird' fire.

There are many ways to help, and many means, if everyone would just do a little or lot wherever they are planted. If everyone quits their job to bring food and medicine to the suffering, they are gonna run out of food and medicine pretty quick. But there is always someone to help, wherever you are--journalism, computer, reserve, city core, or grocery store. (And part of life is also using what gifts and tools you have to hand and have been given, in the best way you can…to help not hurt.)

As I said, you can do both. ... I work with ancestral foods as a health measure, since we have terrible diabetes rates (and everything else) and we didn't have these rates pre-commodities. I'm putting work into improving Native health and infrastructure, but that's not easy or quick. But while I'm helping rebuild, I'd like for people to not continue to get dehumanized and made into jokes by the likes of Adam Sandler.

That’s what cracks me up about people like this Davies fellow. He’s complaining about how we are not focusing on the “real” issues, yet I wonder if he is doing anything about those issues himself? He seems pretty content to sit on his ass and belittle other Natives on the computer.All the academics, the museum personnel, the people working on cultural and language preservation, the artists and storytellers...none of you are saving lives directly. All of you must be wasting time, according to Ecoffey and Davies. Reevaluate your priorities!

Not to mention the 70% of Indians who live away from the reservation. Whatever you're doing, you're probably not protecting the endangered children of Pine Ridge. What's wrong with you? Don't you care?!

</sarcasm>I think we should be allowed to punch ANY idiot who pulls the 'more important issues' crap.Yes, the "more important things" argument is so stupid. It's mainly used to derail whatever issue is being discussed.

If you can't address the issue, spend an hour telling us what we should be doing instead. What you'd be doing if you weren't lecturing us about what we're doing.Y'know, I would love to hear Suzan Harjo's response to these "more important issues" Native guys who literally act like this is a brand new issue. Or Clyde Bellecourt or Kevin Gover's response. I mean, it's been tackled by every major NA organization since the 1960s. It's like this has caught them by surprise. Where have they been for 50 years? Or how can they dismiss the persistent and constant efforts of our leaders?Good point. Tribal leaders have protested movie portrayals for a century. AIM and the NCAI have protested mascots for half a century. Marlon Brando and Sacheen Littlefeather, Pocahontas, the Time magazine "expose" of casinos, Little House on the Prairie, the Outkast video, etc., etc.

In fact, I could list hundreds of controversies and protests without even touching the last ten years. Including those of Tim Giago, uncle of James Giago Davies, who's denounced boarding schools, mascots, and other examples of racism for decades. You could say Giago's whole career has been "talking" about problems rather than solving them hands-on.

It's just so laughable when someone says, "Why are you focusing on this 'trivial' Adam Sandler issue? None of our people ever cared about racism or discrimination against us. We were too busy saving lives.

"Now you've hijacked the news and nobody's talking about anything but Sandler. All the resources devoted to dying children are going to him instead. The media and the government would be swarming over Pine Ridge, but you've told them 'real life' doesn't matter. So a century of neglect is your fault."

As I said, this is stupid and ignorant. Funny to hear Indians dismiss or downplay racism as a serious issue confronting their people. Funny, but wrong.

For more rationalizations of racism, see Black Columnist Excuses "Redskins," Genocide and Shawnee Professor Justifies Tonto's Stereotypes.

Tim Giago Day

Native American journalist recognized for 30-year career

By Daniel Simmons-RitchieStanding before a crowd of 20 well-wishers in City Hall, a stalwart of Native American journalism was honored Friday by Rapid City councilors.

Tim Giago, the owner of the Native Sun News, was recognized by City Hall for 30 years of dedicated service to indigenous issues.

Under an executive proclamation, Mayor Sam Kooiker declared April 5 "Tim Giago Day."

The accolade comes after a decision by Giago to step back from the Native Sun News. While he will remain owner, he said he will be less involved in the paper's day-to-day management.Tim Giago Day celebrated in Rapid City

Comment:  For more on Tim Giago, see Means Is "Riddle Wrapped in Enigma" and Giago Receives Lifetime Achievement Award.

Means is "riddle wrapped in enigma"

Notes from Indian Country:  The enigma of AIM leader Russell Means

By Tim Giago (Nanwica Kciji)In 1976 while the United States was celebrating its 200th birthday, Means looked at the Mount Rushmore National Memorial through the eyes of an oppressed people and labeled it “The Shrine of Hypocrisy.” He added, “And I intend to blow out the candles on America’s birthday cake.”

Along with Dennis Banks and Vernon and Clyde Bellecourt, Means co-founded the American Indian Movement. They began their adventures by tailing the police cars in Minneapolis armed with cameras and watching for any sign of the outrageous actions that police department was inflicting upon Native Americans. The Movement soon caught the eye of Native Americans everywhere and AIM became the point-man for the feelings of us all.

But somewhere along the way the Movement turned to violence beginning with its November 1972 takeover of the Bureau of Indian Affairs building in Washington, D. C. where irreplaceable and valuable records vital to the lives of so many Native Americans were trashed and destroyed.

Several more acts of violence ensued over the coming years including the takeover, trashing and murders that took place inside of the occupied buildings at Wounded Knee. I, along with many other Native Americans lost heart and faith in AIM after that, but I still held a deep admiration for Russell Means through it all because I believe his intentions were genuine, but somehow his followers just got out of hand. AIM really had no credentials for membership and it attracted a wild assortment of members seeking thrills more than social justice along with those who sincerely believed in its goals. It also attracted several FBI informants which eventually led to the murder of Anna Mae Pictou Aquash near Wanblee, South Dakota on the Pine Ridge Reservation when the AIM leadership suspected her of being such an informant.

Like the enigma he was, Means often went from the practical to the ridiculous, but he always held the courage of his convictions. He sincerely believed that it was his goal in life to crush the bureaucracy that covertly impoverished and attempted to annihilate the cultures of his people.Comment:  For more on Russell Means, see Means's Tumor Has Shrunk and Banks Visits Ailing Means.

Giago receives lifetime achievement award

Giago honored with lifetime achievement awardNative American journalist and publisher Tim Giago has been honored by the Native American Journalists Association with a "Lifetime Achievement Award."

Giago is the founder and was the publisher of The Lakota Times, Indian Country Today, The Lakota Journal and Native Sun News.

He was the first Native American inducted into the South Dakota Newspaper Hall of Fame and has received many journalism awards, including the H. L. Mencken Award in 1985. Giago retired in April.Comment:  For more on Tim Giago, see Wounded Knee II's Positive Effects and KELO-Land's All-White TV Ads.

Wounded Knee II's positive effects

Wounded Knee occupation had positive effects

By Charles TrimbleWhat caught me in the Chaat Smith/Warrior book is this statement in the Preface: “We came to write “Like a Hurricane” out of a profound dissatisfaction with the existing narratives of this crucial period in Indian and American history, one that we believe too often saw Indian people as mere victims and pawns. Our focus is not on the U.S. government’s failed policies or on police repression, but on how Indian people, for a brief and exhilarating time, staged a campaign of resistance and introspection unmatched in this (20th) century. It was for American Indians every bit as significant as the counterculture was for young whites, or the civil rights movement for blacks.”

This, to me, is what Tim Giago continues to miss--the widespread exhilaration among Indian people, and the significance of their resistance and revolution. During WKII I was able to witness some of it when I went to Pine Ridge as NCAI Executive Director to offer media and political assistance to the tribal government (which was essentially President Dick Wilson). Although I was disheartened by what I saw happening in what was left of tribal government there, I also saw and heard a new sense of pride among the Lakota people, and much praise for AIM.

I have never been a supporter of AIM, or an apologist for their actions. But, I do have an appreciation for what they meant to do and what they did, in fact, accomplish.

There was indeed much destruction at Wounded Knee during WKII, by AIM occupiers as well as federal and Goon forces. Dewing’s book provides BIA financial estimates of the losses and damage to the homes that were occupied by the militants, in many cases at the invitation of local people. And he also includes BIA estimates on recovery of household items that were missing. Nothing that I have read or heard gives credence to Giago’s telling of AIM occupiers evicting families, looting their homes, then setting them afire when they left. Even the burning of the Gildersleeve’s trading post, it appears, was the result of an accident with a kerosene lamp, when the village’s electricity was cut off by the Federal siege. It was not a torching of the building.

Back in 1981, Giago had a different view of WKII. In his book, Dewing wrote the following: “Looking back on Wounded Knee II from the perspective of ten years, Tim Giago, editor of the Lakota Times, saw some positive outcomes. According to Giago, the confrontation focused national attention upon the ineptitude of the BIA and the Interior Department. ‘It caused the Indian people themselves to demand changes within these bureaucratic structures and put bureaucrats on notice.’ Giago also said the encounter made reservation inhabitants more aware of whom they selected to fill elected office.”Comment:  For more on the subject, see AIM's Misdeeds Too "Complex" to Cover? and Debate Over Wounded Knee.

KELO-Land's all-white TV ads

Native Americans are the invisible consumers out West

By Tim GiagoIn Western South Dakota (on the west side of the Missouri River), for example, Native Americans make up nearly 25 percent of the population. And yet if you stopped here from say Lithuania, and watched the local television stations, you would believe that the entire state population is white.

For example, one television station in Sioux Falls has been promoting its station with a series of advertisement shouting the slogan “This is your home,” and in the ads citizens of KELO-Land are shown going about various activities in their daily lives. The station manager should get out of his or her office and check out the other races of people that call KELO-Land “their home” because all of the citizens in their ads are white.

Long before the first settler gazed upon the waterfalls at Sioux Falls, a city named after the Indian people of the region and the falls, Sioux Falls, as the name of the city indicates, was largely populated by people of the Dakota/Nakota/Lakota, and misnamed as “Sioux.”

This was “their home” and in 2011, and it is still the home to several thousand of their descendants. I do not believe that a television station say in New York City or Chicago would do a similar self-promotional advertisement without including the largest minority factions within its city.Comment:  For commercial makers who get it, see Native Commercial on Super Bowl Sunday and Native Census Ad on Gossip Girl.

No apology for Wounded Knee

US hasn't apologized for massacre at Wounded Knee

By Tim GiagoOn the 100th anniversary of that infamous day, Birgil Kills Straight, Alex White Plume and Jim Garrett, organized a ride that followed the exact trail taken by Big Foot and his band. That ride has taken place every year since December 29, 1990. At the end of the ride they hold a ceremony called “wiping away the tears” that calls for peace and forgiveness. This year they will take that ride again 120 years after the massacre.

Arvol Looking Horse, the Keeper of the Sacred Pipe of the Lakota, says a prayer every year on the hallowed grounds at Wounded Knee. He prays that America will someday apologize to the Lakota for the terrible deeds of the Seventh Cavalry, and that the 23 soldiers awarded the Medal of Honor for the slaughter of the innocents, will have those medals revoked. He also prays for peace and unity.

120 years after the tragedy at Wounded Knee, America has not apologized and the Medal of Honor winners are still looked upon as heroes by the United States. Will America ever own up to its sins?Comment:  For a good explanation of what happened, see On the 120th Anniversary of Wounded Knee. Short version: US troops tried to forcibly disarm the Indians while pointing Hotchkiss machine guns at them. It was a recipe for disaster--practically a setup for a massacre.

Giago refers to the Medals of Honor. As you may know, Indians have launched a campaign to remove what they call the Medals of Dishonor. Here's their online petition:

Wounded Knee Medals of Dis HonorTwenty-three soldiers from the Seventh Calvary were later awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for the slaughter of defenseless Indians at Wounded Knee.

We are asking that these Medals of DIS Honor awarded to the members of the 7th Calvary of the United States Army for the murder of innocent women children and men on that terrible December morning be rescinded.

And that the Battle Pennant on the Flag of the United States Army be removed and destroyed.For more on the subject, see Wounded Knee "Delivered the Sentence" and Wounded Knee Too Sacred for Park?

Racial blindness in South Dakota's media

Tim Giago:  Indian journalists are invisible in South Dakota's mediaWithout a law to dictate fairness, Native hosted and produced television and radio shows went the way of the Dodo bird. Today there is no such program in South Dakota although Native Americans comprise the largest minority in the state.

This racial blindness even extends to the television media’s self-promotional advertisements. One station advertises itself as KELO-Land, while another calls itself KOTA-Territory. In their self-promotional ads that are aired to show “its people” going about their daily lives, Native Americans find it baffling that there are no Native Americans living and enjoying the fruits of KELO-LAND or KOTA-Territory. Everybody in the self-promotional ads is white! Oh, they get a little diverse at times and include the occasional African American.

It is disconcerting but plausible that corporate media has no responsibility to its public to show even a semblance of diversity, but the publicly owned television and radio stations do have a responsibility. After all, these stations are funded by federal funds and if not by federal funds by private donations, many of those donations contributed by Native Americans.

During the past gubernatorial and House of Representatives election it would have been wonderful if Native American journalists had been included in the mix when radio discussion on public radio discussed the pros and cons of the competing candidates. Once again, Natives were the invisible outsider.Comment:  For more on Native journalism, see Why Keith Olbermann Matters and How Journalists Frame the Question. For more on racial attitudes in South Dakota, see Stereotypes Drive Racism in South Dakota.

Stop showing Indians in chains

An editorial from the Native Sun News published on or about 9/24/10:

Showing Indians in chains every night on TV has got to stop

By Tim GiagoWe do not believe there is a bone of prejudice in the body of Helen Duhamel of KOTA-TV or of her fellow anchor Eric Gardner. What there appears to be is an insensitivity based on an ignorance of the racial contention in Rapid City and rather than soothe the waters of prejudice, they throw oil on it and set it on fire.

Last Thursday on the evening news Gardner made the same tired assertion that a shooting that took place in the parking lot of the Civic Center last December was somehow connected to the Lakota Nation Invitational Tournament. It was not. It was an isolated incident that happened at the time the LNI was in town and nothing more and to try to tie it to the LNI is beyond ridiculous.

Suppose an American Indian shot someone during the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally: Would the shooting be broadcast as connected to the Rally or would there be no attempt at connecting the two? Every Native American knows the answer to that.

As Gardner was trying to connect the shooting to the LNI the visuals on the screen showed several obvious Native Americans handcuffed hand and foot being forced to parade for the camera between buildings. We are sure that in the minds of most white Rapid City residents two plus two equals five. Native Americans in black and white prison garb with handcuffs are criminals. Therefore all Native Americans are criminals. All Native Americans are dangerous. Native Americans are to be feared. It is dangerous to travel to the Indian reservations because all of the residents are criminals and dangerous. Far fetched? Not on your life. In Rapid City we hear it every day and yet in the ivory towers of KOTA they must be tone deaf.

We have a lot of respect for Helene and for Eric, but we are bothered by this lack of sensitivity to the feelings and the reputations of Native Americans. We make up nearly 25 percent of the population in Rapid City and those prisoners seen on the nightly news probably make up less than one tenth of one percent of the Native American population, but by repeating this horrific scene over and over, every night, the impression is left that all Native Americans are criminals and therefore dangerous. Why does KOTA persist in creating this false image?Comment:  For more on the subject, see Indians Missing from Newscasts, Aboriginal Youths on the Warpath?, and Indians on the Chain Gang.

Hanta Yo = Native Roots?

Indian Country never got its own version of 'Roots'

By Tim GiagoIn 1980 Wolper was given a script based on Ruth Beebe Hill’s book, “Hanta Yo.” He loved the script and he saw it, according to an ignorant and misguided public relations specialist, as “the new Roots of Indian country.” Of course, to say something as outlandish as that immediately brought out the antagonists from the woodwork. Wolper and his co-producer, Stan Margulies, ran for cover. They called Larry Red Shirt (now deceased) and Louis Bad Wound (now deceased) of the Oglala Sioux Tribe and asked for their input.After people suggested changes and said there'd be hell to pay if ABC didn't make them, here's the result:We were naïve in those days and we really believed ABC would honor our requests. Well, they didn’t. They did sneak several of the scenes we had deleted back into the series without telling us. In the end, Red Shirt, Bad Wound and I felt that the series would have been much more harmful if we had not made an effort to change it.Comment:  The idea of a Native Roots is interesting, but I'm not sure it's necessary today. Here are some problems with the idea:

Between documentaries such as The Native Americans, 500 Nations, and We Shall Remain and mini-series such as Dreamkeeper and Into the West, I think TV has covered a lot of Native history. I'm not sure people are clamoring for more.

How could you cover the history of two continents of Indians by showing one family's roots? It's relatively sound to view the antebellum South as the center of American slavery. But what's the center of American Indian history? The Iroquois? The Cherokee? The Navajo? The Plains Indians?

If you could focus on only one tribe, I don't think it would be the Lakota. They were involved only in the later stages of the Euro-American expansion and conquest. A better choice would be the tribes of the Southwest. They were involved in the first stages of Spanish exploration and the last stages of the Indian Wars.

I haven't read Hanta Yo, but I recall that people criticized it for its mistakes and stereotypes. It's a white woman's fictional account of Lakota history, not an Indian's account of his or her own roots. It isn't an acclaimed award-winner like Alex Haley's Roots. It's unsuitable in almost every way to be a seminal mini-series about Indians.

For more on the subject, see We Shall Remain a Game-Changer? and TV Shows Featuring Indians.

Reactions to Natives at Mt. Rushmore

Tim Giago writes about what Gerard Baker accomplished as superintendent of Mt. Rushmore:

A man of great vision departs Mount Rushmore Memorial

By Tim GiagoVery quietly, but with dignity, Baker began introducing elements of the Native culture and traditions to the Memorial. He had several tipis constructed near the site and introduced Native speakers to talk to the tourists and visitors about the history of the Hills and of the region. Aside from having the opportunity to view the sculpted faces of the four presidents, the visitors to the Memorial soon flocked to hear the Native speakers and to look at the other Native art and artifacts brought to the Memorial by the Lakota and other tribes of the Northern Plains.

The Native speakers and exhibits soon became two of the most popular features at the Memorial much to the chagrin of many white residents of Rapid City and the surrounding region. These are our Hills and our presidents on display and the Indian things Baker is bringing to the Memorial do not belong there, was the biggest and probably the most ridiculous complaint.

When Baker was re-assigned to be the first ever Assistant Director for Indian Relations for the National Park Service, a post the NPS recognized as extremely important, the reaction by the local partisans was as expected. Wrote Scott Odenbach of Spearfish, S. D. in the local daily, "Native American cultural diversity rather than the Memorial's intended purpose: celebrating the lives and ideals of Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt and Lincoln," seemed to be the main focus of Superintendent Baker. On Baker's new assignment Odenbach wrote, "Isn't this an example of the job description finally catching up with the job functions performed?"

Wrote James Reichert of Rapid City, "That's great! Now maybe we can keep Mount Rushmore safe from terrorist activities. And can we ask his replacement to move the tipi down the road to the Native American monument? It is inappropriate for a superintendent to impose his personal values upon a national monument."

We suppose Mr. Reichert was talking about moving the tipis to Crazy Horse Memorial, which is down the road and it is evident that he never once considered the proven fact that the Native exhibits are extremely popular with visitors to the Memorial and that the majority of Native Americans living in this region find the addition of these exhibits by Mr. Baker to be one of the best things that ever happened at the Memorial.

The local white folks should have known that Mount Rushmore was sculpted even while the ownership of the very land where it stands was involved in litigation between the United States and the tribes of the Great Sioux Nation. In other words, the United States allowed Gutzon Borglum to carve on the mountain while the land was a part of a lawsuit to determine ownership. About the illegal taking of the Black Hills by the United States, Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun wrote, "A more ripe and rank case of dishonest dealings may never be found in our history."

After the whining dies down and after all is said and done, Gerard Baker, will be admired and respected by not only the Native Americans of this region, but also by thousands of non-Natives, as the single most important superintendent ever to grace that job position at the Memorial. He had the vision to see beyond the racial prejudice that has permeated this region for more than 100 years and to implement the Native culture and traditions into the daily activities at the Memorial in hopes of opening a new sensitivity of this regions diversity, but by also creating an atmosphere of mutual respect and understanding between all races.Why exactly would teabaggers conservatives people complain about additional displays that do nothing to harm the existing monument? How could they possibly object to having more information about a monument's origin and history?Racism, clear and simple, is behind the public vilification of a great man for having the vision and better yet, the authority to do something that should have been done 50 years ago.Comment:  If the whiners want to idolize Washington in the abstract, they can go to the Washington Monument or Mt. Vernon. Maybe there they'll learn how he earned his nickname for destroying Indian villages.

Same with the other presidents. The whiners may not realize it, but they're all guilty of anti-Indian actions.

Would you study a California mission or the Alamo or Ellis Island without noting its origin or history? I.e., the context that made its time and place significant? Probably not.

Same with Mt. Rushmore. It isn't a context-free monument like the 2001 monolith, floating serenely in the vacuum of space. It's located on stolen Indian land and that's part of its story.

For more on the subject, see No Tipis at Mt. Rushmore? and America's Shrine to Hypocrisy.

The illustrated Bury My Heart

Dee Brown's book on its 40th anniversary

By Tim Giago (Nanwica Kciji)When Dee Brown wrote his book "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee," he could not have known that it would become a classic.

This year an illustrated 40th anniversary edition was published in hardback. It is a beautiful book and the photos add so much to the stories that made the book great. There are photos of a young Black Elk, Sitting Bull, Hollow Horn Bear, Short Bull and Kicking Bear.

The 543 page book is truly a collector's treasure.Comment:  I was in a bookstore Monday and I saw this new edition of Bury My Heart. I only glanced at it, but it looks great. It would make a fine present for anyone who's interested in history but doesn't know much about Indians. And it goes without saying that readers of this blog should have it in their libraries.

For more on the subject, see Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee:  The Movie.

Giago: Native religions don't work

What good are the ceremonies if they cannot save a people?

By Tim GiagoI look around Indian Country and I see the devastation and degradation, the hopelessness, the alcoholism, the drug addiction, the lack of respect for the elders, the many suicides among the young, the criminal acts of the gangs that now roam our reservations bringing death and severe moral damage to entire communities, the domestic violence, the abuse of children and spouses, and the total renunciation of any spirituality, and I am deeply concerned. I see the epidemics of diabetes, heart disease and cancer among the Lakota and I am very concerned.

I see tribal members attending sweats and Sun Dances and then heading to the nearest bar or smoking a joint and I wonder how they can be such hypocrites. And then they sit around and brag about the sacrifice they believe they just made.

Arvol, why are the sacred rites you represent not being used to bring our own people back from the brink? Why aren't they being used to bring back the good health our people once enjoyed? Why is there an unemployment rate of 80 percent on the lands you call home? Why is there such a high rate of STDs and teen pregnancies in Lakota country? What good does it do to speak out and criticize an event that happened in Sedona, Arizona when it had no lasting impact upon the Sioux people? Aren't there terrible things happening in our own homelands, right under our noses, to worry about and try to change?And:If there is the power in the Sacred Pipe Bundle of the Lakota, bring it out and use it before there is no longer a Lakota alive. There is a story I heard about a religious organization in New England that spent several years writing a Holy Bible in the language of a local tribe. When the Bible was completed there were no more Indians of that tribe left alive to read it.

It is good there is a Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe Bundle and a 19th Keeper to bring it out and pray with it, but if this power cannot be used to save a people, that can make every Lakota/Dakota/Nakota pour that beer down the drain or dump that whiskey or wine on the ground or to burn those drugs, what good is it?

Arvol, what is the ultimate goal of the Pipe you hold? Where is the cleansing and healing power of inikaga (sweat lodge) if it is not to be used now to save our own people?Comment:  Wow. It's not often you see a well-known Indian say his own traditional religion is ineffective if not worthless. I'm an agnostic with no belief in religion, but even I wouldn't say anything like this.

Where Giago went wrong

Giago's screed seems wrongheaded for several reasons. Arvol Looking Horse or someone might respond as follows:

The Lakota religion is intended to address spiritual needs, not material needs. Many of the problems on reservations are caused by the lack of jobs and healthcare, not the failure of religion. You can pray all you want, but the Creator won't necessarily deliver a factory or clinic within driving distance.

The Lakota religion may alleviate problems without solving them completely. Suppose 50% of the people are poor, lost, alcoholic, etc. Maybe 75% would've been poor and so forth without the religion.

That would be a huge achievement even if the problems persisted. There's no way of knowing how effective the religion is without doing a controlled study or experiment.

Smoking a joint or heading to the nearest bar aren't necessarily problems. Giago's point would be more valid if he saw someone leave a sweat and immediately start abusing his family or taking hard drugs.

If the religion isn't working, it may mean people aren't listening to the teachings and following them correctly. That's a problem with all religions and belief systems, not merely the Lakota religion. The Catholicism Giago grew up with has exactly the same shortcoming.

You could say the world's problems would be solved if everyone followed the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. But saying it won't make it happen. And the lack of compliance doesn't invalidate the worthiness of the rule. It only suggests that words aren't enough--that they require actions to match.

Sweat lodges = waste of time?

I guess Giago thinks Looking Horse is wasting time talking about the James Ray case when he could be doing something else. A few thoughts on that:

1) Looking Horse's statement probably took him a couple of hours to produce. If it dissuades thousands of people from following New Age charlatans and participating in dangerous sweats, I'd say that's a good investment in time.

Giago's column took about the same amount of time to write. So Looking Horse could turn around and write a column on the ineffectiveness of Giago's columns. The Lakota are suffering and dying while Giago preens and poses on the Huffington Post. How exactly has Giago's column saved a single person?

2) I imagine Looking Horse, unlike Giago, is looking at the big picture. Not participating in phony sweat lodges is related to following traditional Native religions, which is related to living clean and healthy lives. Not believing in New Age religions leads to respecting Native religions, which leads to working for Native causes.

In other words, it's all connected. One thing leads to another which leads to the ultimate goal of making the world a better place. Criticizing New Age sweat lodges contributes to this as much as a million other efforts. It contributes a lot more than such time-wasting activities as raising a family, earning discretionary income, or taking time off to enjoy oneself. Apparently Giago thinks no one should do any of these things while people are suffering.

Who's the hypocrite?

3) Giago's concern is ludicrous when you consider all the time he's spent denouncing the Washington Redskins and other team names and mascots. Is that a more important issue than New Age sweat lodges? How many people have Indian mascots killed? Does Giago seriously want to debate who's wasting the most time on less important issues?

Giago and his ilk should really stop with this stupid "it's not important" argument. Have these people never heard of multitasking? Being concerned about one thing doesn't mean not being concerned about other things. It's simple and commonplace to set one project in motion and then work on others.

A Bill Gates could spend a billion dollars on providing jobs and healthcare for Indians. He might delegate the task of helping Indian country to a dozen foundations with a thousand employees. And then he might spend a couple of hours writing an editorial on sweat lodges.

And...so? Is he the only one allowed to speak on this issue? Because everyone who isn't a billionaire should devote 100% of his time to becoming a billionaire? So he can do everything Bill Gates is doing?

Every second that Giago sits in a comfy chair writing editorials on his computer is a second he isn't volunteering in a soup kitchen or health clinic to help Indians directly. So it's funny that he's denounced hypocrites in his article. By his standard, he's as hypocritical as anyone.

For previous Giago columns that didn't save a single person, see HuffPost Readers Ignorant About Indians, Obama Fated to Lose in 2012?, and Blame Baker at Mt. Rushmore? In fact, see every column Giago has ever written.

HuffPost readers ignorant about Indians

Racism against Native Americans must be addressed

By Tim GiagoLike Raina Kelly, many Native Americans are "mad as hell" and they aren't going to take it anymore. Like the movie that coined this phrase, it is easily said, but hard to implement. Why? America does not want to hear about Indians. Native Americans should be left in the pages of history books or in old Western movies. America is not ready for the "tame" Indian yet because there are still many "shoot'um up" Western movies on the horizon and Americans do not want to destroy this false image with reality.

My weekly column on Indianz.com, NativeTimes.com, or on Pechanga.net, is read mostly by Native Americans who know Native America and respond accordingly. But I find it terribly frustrating trying to figure out the readership on huffingtonpost.com, where my weekly column also appears. I run into a totally different kind of audience at huffington. For the most part I am dealing with ignorance, but it seems to be an ignorant audience that not only does not want to learn, but also does not give a damn about Native Americans. Now that is frustrating.Comment:  Along with castigating conservatives in South Dakota and in the media, Giago also castigates the liberal readers of the Huffington Post. I would've thought there'd be a difference, but maybe not. Maybe conservatives think Indians are savage warriors of the past and liberals think they're noble nature lovers of the past. And neither side understands the reality of Indians today.

Of course, I'm doing my part by working at PECHANGA.net a couple days a week. All the news about racism against Indians is there. If only we could get everyone to peruse the site every day.

For more on the subject, see Native Journalism:  To Tell the Truth and Highlights of the US Report to the UN on Racism.

Obama fated to lose in 2012?

Tim Giago:  Leaving the anger and the meanness2012 is not that far away and I predict that we will have a one term president. There is too much time left between elections and the important issues left to be solved by President Obama are now obscured by dubious hints of race and since I live in a state, South Dakota, as an American Indian, a race that is often the object of overt racism, I fully understand the implications.

The constant hammering by the far right has just begun and 2012 is the year the Mayan calendar and the presidential elections of 2012 cross paths. The light of change the Mayans predicted could be snuffed out by the darker prophecies of that year.

The Mayans predicted that “Going into the 5th dimension, it will be the start of a new era. At sunrise December 12, 2012, Earth will be crossing the equator, aligning itself with the center of the galaxy for the first time in 26,000 years. This will make a cosmic cross. This cosmic cross is considered the ‘tree of life.’ This will open a channel for universal energy to flow through the Earth, cleansing it and all who dwell upon it, rising all to a higher level of vibration. This process has already begun.”Comment:  First, Giago's "Mayan" quote apparently comes from Mayan Prophecies by ThunderBeat, who's primarily a musician. Thunderbeat's website describes her this way:ThunderBeat is a gifted shamaness, a World Bridger who melds tonal and tribal elements into multidimensional soundscapes. Her harmonies soothe the spirit. Her rhythms awaken the soul.

ThunderBeat is a Native American of Choctaw and Shawnee heritage. International recording artist and performer. She has studied at the prestigious Eastman School of Music, and with ritualistic/drummer Layne Redmond. For years she has been performing with Mayan Shaman Jose Arguelles (The Mayan Factor) In 2005 she was nominated for five Native American Music awards and won best World and New age Recordings.So ThunderBeat isn't Maya herself and has little or no credibility as a Maya expert. Yet Giago quotes her as if she's channeling the ancient Maya verbatim.

Second, the whole 2012 thing is either hype or bunk. A few postings suggest why:

No Doomsday in 2012Archaeologists and mythologists ... believe that the Mayans predicted an age of enlightenment when 13.0.0.0.0 comes around; there isn't actually much evidence to suggest doomsday will strike. If anything, the Mayans predict a religious miracle, not anything sinister.

[T]he Mayan Doomsday Prophecy is purely based on a calendar which we believe hasn't been designed to calculate dates beyond 2012. Mayan archaeo-astronomers are even in debate as to whether the Long Count is designed to be reset to 0.0.0.0.0 after 13.0.0.0.0, or whether the calendar simply continues to 20.0.0.0.0 (approximately 8000 AD) and then reset.What is the year 2012 Mayan prophecy?All the so-called “Mayan prophecies of 2012” are nothing more than wildly speculative extrapolations, which are based on the yet uncertain interpretations by scholars of Mayan hieroglyphs. However, the truth is that apart from the astrological convergence, there is little indication that the Mayans prophesied anything specific regarding the events of this distant future. The Mayans were not prophets; they were not even able to predict their own cultural extinction.

Accepting the Mayan 2012 prophecy logically requires acceptance of the following theories: our sun is a god; the sun is powered by the blood of human sacrifice; the creation moment occurred at 3114 B.C. (despite all evidence that it happened much earlier); and the visual alignment of stars has some significance for everyday human life.As always, I counterpredict that absolutely nothing of significance will happen on December 21, 2012. If Giago or anyone would like to bet on it, please let me know. I could use the money.

As for Obama's future, he'll be up for election a month and a half before doomsday. It's unlikely that a Maya prophecy for what happens after 12/21/12 can affect what happens before that date also.

And what is Giago saying, exactly? That if Obama loses, a Sarah Palin type ("drill, baby, drill") will lead the fight against global warming and other environmental threats? Or that we'd better make sure Obama doesn't lose...or a Palin type will usher in the apocalypse?

My prediction is that Obama will have a mixed-to-good record similar to Bill Clinton's after four years. Rabid right-wingers will still be attacking him as a socialist and a Muslim. In the unlikely event Republicans nominate a moderate--or someone who can pretend to be a moderate (e.g., Pawlenty or Romney)--Obama will have a tough reelection campaign. If they nominate a flake or a kook such as Palin or Jindal, Obama will coast to victory.

For more on the subject, see Idiot's Guide to 2012 and Gold Rush of "2012ology."

Blame Baker at Mt. Rushmore?

Tim Giago talks about Gerald Baker, the Hidatsa-Mandan superintendent at Mt. Rushmore, and the recent Greenpeace stunt:

Tim Giago:  Standing ground at Mount RushmoreHe finally landed in the job as Superintendent of the Mount Rushmore National Monument, a job that has now immersed him in a controversy not of his making. Perhaps it is because he has introduced Native cultural and traditional stories and people that has, for the first time in the history of the Monument, become a part of the daily activities at Mount Rushmore. Some of the locals find it to be reprehensible and a scourge upon the Monument’s original intent.

When Greenpeace did its deed the locals came out of the woodwork looking for a scalp to hang on the wall. Baker’s scalp looked pretty inviting to those wanting to see blood.

In my mind, Gerard Baker did things to shake up the status quo. He introduced Indian culture, history and thought to a park that had long been dominated with nothing but the residue of the dominant culture. He soon discovered that the white people here hated the change especially because it seemed to elevate Native culture to an equal level with the white culture. After bearing the brunt of negative comments Baker said, “We’re promoting all cultures of America. That’s what this place is. This is Mount Rushmore. It’s America. Everybody’s something different here; we’re all different. And just maybe that gets us talking again as human beings, as Americans.”Comment:  How much do you want to bet that there's a big overlap between the people who dislike tipis at Mt. Rushmore and the Obama "birthers," the teabaggers, and Palin's "real America"? I'm guessing the overlap is huge.

This article provides a good counterpoint to Beerfests for Racial Understanding? Are whites whining about the Native culture at Mt. Rushmore simply because they haven't met Indians? When Baker talks to them, do they stop complaining and settle down? I doubt it. I think they've been brainwashed by decades of (mis)education to believe "white is right." I don't think having a beer with an Indian will change that.

For more on the subject, see:

America's shrine to hypocrisy
"Where are the Indians?"
What Mt. Rushmore tells us
Healing through Mt. Rushmore

Indians accosted near Mt. Rushmore

What do Greenpeace and Russell Means have in common?

By Tim GiagoI immediately recalled the year that the United States of America celebrated its 200th birthday. The year was 1976. America, as usual, was burying all of its hidden horrors, putting cosmetics on all of its warts, and preparing to make 1976 a birthday celebration to end all birthday celebrations. The National Park Service rangers would have been polishing the faces of the four presidents on Mount Rushmore if they could have found a safe way to do it. They wanted those faces on the "Shrine of Democracy" to shine.

Down the road apiece an activist named Russell Means, an Oglala Lakota, had a different take on things. He announced in a way that only Russell Means could do that the American Indians intended to "blow out the candles on America's birthday cake." Holy cow, one would think that he had just announced that he and his followers were about to fire rockets at the face of the four presidents enshrined on Mount Rushmore. Means loved to call this monument, "The Shrine of Hypocrisy."

As in days of yore, the Greenpeace activists also brought out the really colorful side of the locals. They suggested everything except a mass hanging for the infringers. My goodness, these tree huggers had desecrated a monument that was only second to a statue of Jesus Christ. "Lock them up and throw away the key," suggested one angry patriot.And:After the announcement by Means, the law enforcement panic was on again. The police and state troopers totally overlooked the fact that Indians can be tourists too. The hills were alive with police cars stopping every vehicle containing any individual who resembled an Indian. Natives were frisked, trunks were searched, and Indians were subjected to every indignity imaginable. As one large Lakota man was frisked in Keystone, South Dakota, he was heard to say, "Where in the hell is the ACLU?"

It makes one wonder how Greenpeace pulled off their stunt. I suppose it was because they didn't look like Indians. In other words, they could pass because they looked just like any white tourist visiting the Shrine of Hypocrisy.

The boast by Russell Means that the Indians would blow out the candles on America's birthday cake never came to pass, but his very words caused a statewide law enforcement panic that subjected every Indian resident of the state to a form of terror.Comment:  Yes, this would've been a good issue for the ACLU. Amazing how blatantly the police would ignore the Fourth Amendment's protection against unlawful search and seizure.

But the ACLU may have need a court case before it could get involved. Or perhaps the illegal searches ended before the ACLU learned of them.

I imagine Greenpeace's people were smart enough not to announce their intentions in advance. But if they had, would the police have stopped every car containing white people? No.

As we've seen in many racial-profiling stories, especially since 9/11, brown people are stopped and searched because they look "suspicious." White people aren't.

For more on the subject, see Greenpeace Spotlights South Dakota.

McDonald's response on Custer toy

Tim Giago: McDonald's mentality needs revampAn extremely weak and calculated response from McDonald’s came to the newspaper in short order. It read: “At McDonald’s we value and respect people of all ethnicities, as well as their cultural history. The Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian Happy Meal features eight toys portraying different characters from the film. As with all Happy Meal promotions, our goal is to provide families a positive experience that can be shared by all.” Say what? A positive experience? Who are they trying to kid? The response was signed by Danya Proud, Spokesperson for McDonald’s USA.

After the Native Sun News attempted to get comments from McDonald’s corporate executives for the breaking story, suddenly all of the Custer dolls were pulled from the Happy Meals in Rapid City. The same thing happened in some communities in Oklahoma and New Mexico, states with large Indian populations. Surely someone at McDonald’s was taken aback by this outrageous faux paux and ordered the removal of the offending figurines.Comment: For more on the subject, see Custer Toy Is Movie Promo and Happy Meal with Custer Doll.

Indians on the chain gang

Correspondent Melvin Martin continues his series of essays on racism in Rapid City:The Country's Most Racist Shithole:  My response to Newspaper Rock's Indians Stereotyped as Criminals

By Melvin Martin, Oglala Lakota Nation

Mr. Tim Giago is perfectly right regarding how Indian people, in the case of Pennington County jail inmates, are depicted on Rapid City, South Dakota's local television news stations (in Giago's opinion piece he does not identify the location of the town until the sixth paragraph, so I felt compelled to mention the location here in the first paragraph of my response).

Given my many, many travels over the years I do not know of anywhere else in these United States, even in jerkwater burgs like Rapid City, where jail birds of a specific ethnicity are purposely displayed in such an unusually frequent and highly graphic manner to local audiences.

In Rapid City, the television stations in question are continuously engaged in the active and aggressive dissemination of extremely negative imagery of Indian people by a daily depiction of Indians incarcerated downtown for mainly minor offenses. I myself was even shown on a few local stations one day in the winter of 1995 as I went to court charged with possession of a concealed weapon (PCW); which was a $2.00 Chinese-made, Kmart pocket knife with a three-inch blade that I used for my leatherwork. As I so vividly recall, I was picked up at two in the morning on a Sunday, the day before Monday's morning court session, as I walked home in the snow from my friend's house after helping him with his pet deer. Released after agreeing to pay court costs, I saw myself on TV that same night--I do not look very nice at all in a bright orange jumpsuit! Anyway, I digress....

At the Rapid City jail, after a breakfast that usually consists of powdered eggs mixed with garbage can-smelling potatoes with rotten onions, burnt-black toast and a plastic mug of sour milk, the inmates are shackled together with handcuffs that are attached to extra-thick chains wrapped around their waists that lead to chains on their ankles that are in turn connected to a communal chain of ten inmates. Then in a huge, unwieldy chain gang, the prisoners are led to their court hearings by non-Indian jail guards with shit-eating grins and stupid smirks on their faces where they all sit before the judge still chained to each other. If anyone has to urinate, the whole chain gang has to get up and go out in the hallway behind a black canvas curtain where plastic, hospital-type urinals are passed from person-to-person. (Note: I am recalling my own experiences here and I heard some years ago that the jail discontinued the use of the urinals after a crazed, probably very dehydrated, wino took a great big swig from one of the full containers.)

Before entering the courthouse, that is conveniently situated in the same building complex as the jail, the prisoner who is the focus of the news segment is always shown in an extreme close-up from a vantage point that is one story above ground level as he or she exits one door to enter another. The cameras then linger for several moments on other Indians as the narrator drones on anywhere from thirty seconds to one minute. Most of the time the cameras will continue to display footage of the inmates without any voice-over narration for perhaps ten more seconds or so. The Jack Caudill that Mr. Giago makes mention of always has a most peculiar smile and a wild gleam in his eye after each and every Indian inmate segment of his twice-daily news program.

Clearly, the intent here with this type of video footage is to cast Indian people in as bad a light as possible for local consumption. As for stories concerning Indians in the local newspaper, I have to conservatively estimate that 90% of all Indian-related stories are negative, but especially the thrice-weekly federal court docket for crimes committed on the reservations in western South Dakota.

I, for one, truly believe that these television stations and the main newspaper are working hand-in-hand behind-the scenes with the racist powers-that-be in Rapid City in the ongoing campaign to thoroughly demonize Indian people with the sole objective of rendering all Indians there as wholly undesirable and just not worthy of living in the community at all. So, what else there is new?
Comment:  For another of Martin's essays on the subject, see Melvin Martin:  More Truths About Race in Rapid City. For his previous postings on the subject in Newspaper Rock, see:

Denial ain't just a river in Africa
Racists lack self-esteem
"Gooks" assaulted with BBs, urine

Indians stereotyped as criminals

Tim Giago:  Negative Native images in the newsYoung white minds watching the evening news night after night see these images of Native Americans in black and white jail uniforms, shackles binding their hands and legs, slowly shuffling from the jail cell to the court house and form an image of Native Americans that is illusionary in its depiction of Indians as criminals. They see these images every night and it slowly sinks into their malleable minds that all Indians are criminals.

It also creates an image of fear, loathing, and mistrust, an image of a race of people to be shunned or avoided. The Native American then becomes an object not only of fear, but an object to be ridiculed because, after all, why should they have any respect for a criminal?

The local daily newspaper has, more than once, published an article of a Native American achiever and right next to that article, a story about a vicious crime committed by a Native American. One story erases the other. The image of the achiever blends with the image of the criminal loser, and they become one. The story of the criminal supersedes that of the achiever.The worst offender:The station most notorious for nightly visuals of Native Americans shackled hand and foot is the oldest station in Rapid City, KOTA-TV. KOTA is a subsidiary of Duhamel Broadcasting and in the past has had glimmers of objectivity when it came to its coverage of Native Americans. Helene Duhamel, the nightly news anchor and one of the family owners of the station should know better, but if one watched this station every night for one month these troubling, and I would go so far as to say racist, images would lead off the nightly news nearly 75 percent of the time. African Americans spoke up about this same treatment by television news years ago and did win many concessions.Comment:  That TV newscasts focus on crime and violence is well-known. "If it bleeds, it leads" is the industry mantra.

That this attitude perpetuates racial prejudice and stereotyping is also well-known. Here are some postings on the subject:

Off Balance:  Youth, Race & Crime in the NewsIn the experiments, audiences were chosen at random in a Los Angeles shopping mall to watch a news broadcast that contained a story with a close-up photo of an alleged murderer who was either a) African American or Hispanic; b) White or Asian; or c) no racial identity. A fourth control group saw a broadcast without a crime story. Researchers found that "a mere five-second exposure to a mug shot of African American and Hispanic youth offenders (in a 15-minute newscast) raises levels of fear among viewers, increases support for ‘get tough’ crime policies, and promotes racial stereotyping." While the stories with perpetrators of color increase fear among all viewers, White and Asian viewers have an increased desire for harsher punitive policies than African American or Hispanic audiences, who, the authors suggest, are reminded of injustice and prejudice by the crime stories. Thus, the authors argue, when mug shots of African Americans and Latinos are shown, local TV news crime stories expand the divide between racial groups. In a similar experiment, researchers found that students rated Black suspects as more guilty, deserving of punishment, more likely to commit future violence, and less likable than the White suspects, about whom they were given precisely the same information.

Survey research on racial stereotyping and crime helps explain the experimental findings. Researchers have found that when Blacks are placed in a violent context, Whites who hold stereotypical attitudes that consider African Americans generally violent (and lazy) were far more likely to believe that the Blacks were guilty and prone to violence. But the same people did not have the same reaction if Whites were the ones placed in the violent context.

Thus several researchers conclude that a discussion about crime in America is essentially a discussion about race. Evidence from a later study strongly supports that conclusion, as 60% of the people watching a news story without an image of a perpetrator falsely remembered seeing one, and in 70% of these cases they "remembered" the perpetrator as African American, even though they never saw him.On local TV news, if it bleeds it (still) leads

In short, pictures of shackled Native prisoners serve roughly the same purpose that pictures of wild, savage Indians used to serve. They perpetuate the notion that "the others" (Indians, blacks, immigrants, gays, et al.) are out to get us (white Christian people). Therefore, we'd better increase the wealth and power of our masters so they can take care of us. Hence the Republican Party's emphasis: cut services to the poor, get tough on crime, eliminate constitutional rights, attack other countries before they attack us, and above all protect the military-industrial complex from the "little people."

For more on the subject, see America the Conservative and The Political Uses of Stereotyping.

Below:  What we fear will happen if we don't keep Indians on the reservation or in jail.