Appaloosa Horse Club in Rose Parade

Another Rose Parade, another stereotypical display of "Indians."



Apparently the Calizona Appaloosa Horse Club dressed as (their idea of) Nez Perce Indians to honor the Nez Perce history with Appaloosas. A Facebook video shows a 15-second snippet of their ride. Here are some photos taken from the video.
And an album of photos from an Old Spanish Days ride on August 7 of last year. Which may have been a precursor to the Rose Parade ride.

According to those who contacted the club, none of the riders were Native. Most dressed as stereotypical chiefs and maidens in "leathers and feathers," although a few women wore Nez Perce-style hats.



A behind-the-scenes photo makes it clearer that these people are dressing in wigs and makeup--i.e., redface. As someone wrote to the Tournament of Roses:We HATED the disgusting display of the fake Indian "performers" put on by the Calizona Appaloosa Horse Club during the Rose Parade yesterday. In 2016 you would think that educated people would know better than to make a mockery of a sacred culture by donning ridiculous wigs, face paint and fake sacred regalia. This was such an ugly insult to Native Americans. It's most disturbing and disappointing that an organization such as the Rose Parade would actually INVITE these buffoons to prance around in their caricature costumes and expect Native American people to feel "honored" by that. Please issue an apology and omit this ignorant group of people from the 2017 Rose Parade roster. Otherwise, it will be evident that the Tournament of Roses is run by supporters of racism and ignorance. Thank you.

Finally, the Nez Perce denied they gave the horse club any sort of permission or approval:

Nez Perce Did Not Give Horse Club Blessing to Play Indian at Rose Parade, Tribe Says

Oops. For more on stereotypical parades, see Debating an "Arab" Parade Float and Columnist Defends Mummers Parade.

Chris Hemsworth as a savage Indian

Chris Hemsworth New Year’s Eve costume party sparks outrage, likened to ‘blackface’

By Kristy SymondsHemsworth, 32, and Pataky, 39, posed behind a cardboard “Wanted” sign advertising a $6500 reward, while oldest Hemsworth brother Luke stands to the side dressed as a sheriff.

Many followers of the actress and mother of three, and fans of the Thor hunk, commented their disapproval, deeming it cultural appropriation.

Instagram user kenyakwil wrote: “How about we all dress up as a nationality and ethnicity that none of us are and have fun and make silly faces and better yet lets make joke out of them to because its not like being killed off and oppressed for centuries was enough (sic).”

irenelove_83 commented: “Can’t put into words how wrong this is” and johnpaille said “ … why hemsworths? Why?!”

Another user, bourbonandbabyblues, wrote “This is so disappointing to see. Native Americans are real, their culture is real, and they most certainly not a f**king costume. This is akin to walking around in blackface.”

'Can't put into words how wrong this is': Elsa Pataky and Chris Hemsworth slammed by fans for dressing up as Native Americans at New Year's Eve party

By Alicia VrajlalIn the image, Elsa donned a feathered headdress, while Chris sported a black wig and war paint.

It comes after Native American headdresses have previously been banned from various events including popular music festivals.

Traders at the Glastonbury Festival had been banned from selling Native American headdresses after a petition was established by Daniel W Round on Change.org.

Daniel said: 'There has long been consensus among indigenous civil rights activists in North America about the wearing of headdresses by non-Natives–that it is an offensive and disrespectful form of cultural appropriation, that it homogenises diverse indigenous peoples, and that it perpetuates damaging, archaic and racist stereotypes.'And a couple of tweets:Des ‏@DesiMcRae
So disappointed @chrishemsworth Would U dress in blackface, yellowface, as a holocaust survivor for fun/games? 1/2

Des ‏@DesiMcRae
@chrishemsworth Playing NDN for ANY reason=#notokay By this action U perpetrate neg stereotypes of living people 2/2Comment:  For more on the subject, see Indian Costumes at Annual Turkey Trot and Jenner and Hilton in Stereotypical Costumes.

Season's greetings!

9 Native Style Christmas Memes and Cartoons

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Ecstatic Eid, Krazy Kwanzaa, and a Wondrous Winter Solstice!

Rob

Season's greetings!

9 Native Style Christmas Memes and Cartoons

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Ecstatic Eid, Krazy Kwanzaa, and a Wondrous Winter Solstice!

Rob

"Cracksgiving" party at Bowdoin College

Bowdoin College athletes to be disciplined for dressing as Native Americans at ‘Cracksgiving’ party

By Beth BroganFourteen members of the Bowdoin College men’s lacrosse team will be disciplined for dressing up as Native Americans at a November party known as “Cracksgiving” held in an off-campus house known as “Crack House” rented by members of the team.

As first reported in The Bowdoin Orient, a student newspaper, and confirmed Wednesday by college spokesman Scott Hood, Dean of Student Affairs Tim Foster sent a campus-wide email Tuesday evening to inform the college community that Bowdoin will take disciplinary action against the students. However, Hood said no students will be expelled as a result of the incident.

In the email, printed in its entirety by the college newspaper and confirmed by Hood, Foster wrote that just prior to Thanksgiving, some members of the men’s lacrosse team who live in a residence known on campus as “Crack House” on Harpswell Road hosted “Cracksgiving,” and students were encouraged to dress up as pilgrims and Native Americans.

According to Foster, the invitation urged students to attend “wearing your finest Thanksgiving attire.”

Fourteen of the team’s approximately 50 members—some of them residents of the house—dressed as Native Americans, he said, “even after some of the team’s other members actively tried to talk them out of it.”

“Especially disturbing is that the hosts of this event knew—or should have known—that their actions would offend; yet they went ahead with their plans nonetheless,” Foster wrote.

45th National Day of Mourning

National Day of Mourning Reflects on Thanksgiving’s Horrific, Bloody History

By Matt JuulWhile families across the country indulge on their Thanksgiving Day feasts, hundreds will gather at Cole’s Hill in Plymouth on Thursday to commemorate a different tradition: the National Day of Mourning.

The event, held annually on Thanksgiving, is meant to honor Native American ancestors who died due to the European invasion, and to expose the bloody history behind the November holiday.

Now in its 45th year, the National Day of Mourning’s organizers hope to shine a light on modern issues facing Native Americans today, as well as to bring more awareness to the real, horrific story behind Thanksgiving.

“I think there seems to be this myth in this country propagated about Thanksgiving that, ‘Oh, you know, the Pilgrims and the Indians all sat down to have a meal together and they were good friends and everybody lived happily ever after,” says Mahtowin Munro, co-leader of the United American Indians of New England, which organizes the annual event. “It’s really important for us to stand up and talk about what the reality was and to teach others about that reality.”This Thanksgiving, Let’s Talk About Genocide Rather Than Pilgrims and ‘Friendly Indians’

By Sonali KolhatkarFew people have put that context of violence on paper as eloquently as Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, an American Indian activist and academic whose latest book, “An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States,” is now in its fifth printing in less than two months since it was released. In it, Dunbar-Ortiz teases out the complex web of intersecting American policies toward Native peoples that include land theft, dispossession, extermination, broken pledges, Christian missionaries and boarding schools, but also self-determination, resistance and survival. Dunbar-Ortiz refutes the Thanksgiving ideal, writing that “the idea of the gift-giving Indian helping to establish and enrich the development of the U.S. is an insidious smoke screen.” Rather than her book being one that is told from a collective indigenous people’s perspective, she writes, “This is a history of the United States.”

American Indians are not simply a footnote in our collective origin story. They are here because they have survived genocide. Today there are nearly 3 million American Indians, comprising more than 500 federally recognized indigenous communities and nations. In the late 1800s, after centuries of extermination, there were fewer than 1 million indigenous people left who had descended from 15 million inhabitants of the land that we now call the United States of America. In a Nov. 5 interview on “Uprising,” Dunbar-Ortiz told me that “the Wounded Knee massacre of 1890 marks what people in the U.S. call ‘the end of the trail’—the last Indian. There was a [real] genocide and then a ‘narrative genocide’ in history.” It is this narrative genocide that Dunbar-Ortiz attempts to undermine, because, as she writes in her book, “it was crucial to make the reality and significance of Indigenous Peoples’ survival clear.”

To understand the magnitude of the genocide, it is instructive to lay out the pre-colonial sophistication of indigenous societies in the Americas. Not only were their agricultural systems highly developed to coexist with natural systems, they even invented methods of mass food storage, and charted trails within and between territories, many of which form the basis of the modern freeway system. Additionally, American Indians “were very healthy [and] lived long lives,” said Dunbar-Ortiz, “partly supported by excellent hygiene, which the Europeans always noted with some suspicion.” Many American Indian forms of self-government were matrilineal, which, explained Dunbar-Ortiz, was not simply “the opposite of patriarchy”; rather, it was a democratic form of government. In fact, “women were in charge of the food supply and the distribution of food.” There was also a rich and vibrant system of trade. These facts about pre-colonial Native American history “[don’t] make it out of the technical and archaeological journals,” she lamented.

The arrival of the pilgrims, which is celebrated today as part of this nation’s birth story, represented the beginning of the end of an indigenous way of life. Foremost in the project of extermination was the land grab, which is rooted in notions of “manifest destiny,” a sense of entitlement of land by Anglo settlers that was free for the taking. But that land was not free—it was inhabited for generations by indigenous people who had a very different approach to land ownership from the settlers. Dunbar-Ortiz expanded on that difference, saying, ” The United States when it was founded created this whole new idea of ‘parcels of land’ ... making parcels that were commodities for sale, real estate.” It promoted the notion of land as “private property,” which had never before existed on the continent.

Free stuff on Columbus Day!

As I tweeted:

A Columbus Day sale would make a good stunt for a Native performance artist. Tell a sales clerk that it means stuff is free for the taking.

Freebies

In the great man's "honor," here's my annual reposting of my soon-to-be-classic posting from 2009: Columbus tweets about his 1492 voyage and "discovery":

Columbus twitters

Also, my 1994 essay from the early days of my Native interest:

This Ain't No Party, This Ain't No Disco: A Columbus Day Rant

Rise of Indigenous Peoples' Day

Why Columbus Day is becoming Indigenous Peoples' Day:

Taking the Columbus Out of Columbus Day

By Rev. David FeltenAny claim that one might have to Columbus having been a noble explorer worth honoring with a Federal holiday is eclipsed by the reality of the inhumanity he visited upon his fellow human beings. It's long overdue that more of us get serious about doing something different with Columbus Day. Of course, any attempt at removing it from the roster of federal holidays would literally be making a federal case out of it--and retailers would likely cry foul over a lost opportunity to offer their wares at "Blowout Columbus Day Prices!" Along with those who, despite reality, can still deny the holocaust and those who would howl over historical revisionism, there are many challenges. Accusations of anti-Italian racism, anti-Catholic bigotry, and treasonous un-American activities are sure to be heard. But how does celebrating a fabricated and corrupt idol benefit the cause of Italians, Catholics, or the integrity of Americans' shared history?

But there are signs of change: this year marks both Portland schools and the City of Seattle's decision to celebrate "Indigenous People's Day" on the same day as Columbus Day. They join the cities of Berkeley, Minneapolis, and other municipalities across the country who have either replaced Columbus Day altogether or introduced an alternative Indigenous People's Day. These trail blazers are the first step in what will likely be a prolonged effort toward redefining an observance that needs way too many asterisks and footnotes to justify why it is still celebrated.

"Columbus Day" may very well be with us for yet another eighty years and beyond, but that's not to say that, over time, it can't be transitioned into a new kind of observance, a teachable moment of repentance and wide-eyed honesty about our shared past and hope for the future.

Indigenous People's Day (formerly known as Columbus Day) is likely to be a threat to those who claim the ideology of American Exceptionalism as their doctrine and faith--but what is more exceptional than honesty, repentance, and committing to a future of treating others with the dignity and respect due every human being? America might not be grown up enough to handle it, but hopefully, before another 80 years passes, Christopher Columbus will be a footnote to Indigenous People's Day (and not the other way around).Salt in the wound: Why it’s time to move on from Columbus Day

By Joe GousseFor the vast majority of Americans, Columbus Day is a day to which they look forward. It’s a day off. A much needed reprieve. But for native people, it’s a solemn reminder of the great cost at which our present existence has come. It’s reminder of a history steeped in bloodshed and atrocity—after all, Columbus wrote freely in his diaries about the peaceful nature of the first natives he encountered and how “easily” they might be enslaved.

While the rest of us celebrate a day to watch Monday night football, or get some extra yard work in before the first frost, native people are left to consider the weighty reality of this nation’s history.

So where does that leave us as a society? Does it even matter? Should we do away with Columbus Day in its entirety? The answer, surprisingly, is no. A cogent solution is to reappropriate Columbus Day as “Indigenous Peoples Day”—which a number of cities across the U.S. observe—or “Native Americans Day.”

Honoring native people and culture in place of Columbus isn’t a cure-all. It doesn’t come close to healing gaping, historic wounds. But then again, nothing can. What observance of this day does do is properly refocus the spirit of the holiday. It creates something of utility from which we can stand together and honor the traditions of a people who have called these lands home since time immemorial.Some details on how the designation came about in Seattle:

The Rise of Indigenous Peoples Day

By Matt RemleOn October 6, 2014, in a packed Seattle city hall council chambers room, the Seattle city council voted unanimously to rename the second Monday in October, the federal holiday Columbus Day, to Indigenous Peoples’ Day for the city of Seattle. The room erupted in emotion with loud cheers, the sound of drums and the sight of overjoyed, smiling and crying faces followed by an impromptu singing of the AIM song in the halls of Seattle city hall.

The Seattle city council vote followed the previous weeks unanimous vote by the Seattle school board to both establish the second Monday in October as a day of observance for Indigenous Peoples’ and to make a board commitment to the teaching of tribal history, culture, governance and current affairs into the Seattle public schools system.

The origins for both the Seattle city council and Seattle school board resolutions date back to 2011, when I was attending an Abolish Columbus Day rally in downtown Seattle. As I was listening to the beautiful songs of a local canoe family, I started thinking about South Dakota and their successful effort to change Columbus Day to Native American Day. That night I decided to contact members of the Seattle city council, as well as, my local State Legislatures to see if they might be willing to do something similar on either the City or State level.

To my surprise, the following morning I got a phone call from Washington State Senator Margarita Prentice and proceeded to have a long conversation about the genocide brought by Columbus to our Native relatives in the Caribbean and how she would love to sponsor a resolution on the State level. She simply asked that I draft a resolution and seek support from area tribes first before she would sponsor the resolution.

Elated, I immediately contacted Theresa Sheldon and Deborah Parker from Tulalip, who were both policy analyst for the Tulalip Tribes at that time, and whom currently sit on the Tulalip Board of Directors, to let them know the news. They agreed to take the resolution to the 2011 Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians annual conference and put the Indigenous Peoples’ Day resolution before the conference for a vote. The resolution was unanimously approved, and although the resolution ultimately did not succeed on the State level, the seeds of the Indigenous Peoples’ Day resolution for Seattle were sown.Comment:  For more on Columbus Day, see Obama's Columbus Day Proclamation and Winning the War on Columbus?

Renaming Columbus Day angers Italian Americans

On the Columbus Day front this year, Minneapolis and Seattle passed resolutions to change the name:

Inaccurate, controversial history of Columbus leads to alternative celebrations in North Dakota

By Garrett Richie“We don’t necessarily talk about Columbus Day,” Braun said. “We talk about Columbus and the complexity and the history that Columbus in fact did not discover North America. Mostly, we talk about the larger issues of what happened as Europeans settled in North America and the consequences of that.”

As far as the holiday is concerned, it originally came about as a way for Italian Americans to celebrate their heritage during a time when they were still being discriminated against in the U.S. in the late 19th century. However, as Italian Americans began to blend into the general white population in the U.S., the holiday became a more national event, and the focus shifted.

“The irony is that this holiday that started out as a celebration of a significant ethnic heritage against some kind of discrimination has become something that another ethnic group finds oppressive to them,” Braun said.

With this in mind, some towns and groups have tried to find ways to reconsider Columbus by either renaming the holiday or creating a celebration that recognizes Native Americans. This year, the Brainerd, Minn., city council proposed (but eventually tabled) a motion to replace Columbus Day with Chief Red Wing Day, and Minneapolis designated Columbus Day as Indigenous People’s Day.Later articles addressed this change. In particular, Italian Americans weren't happy about the slight to their hero:

Seattle council faces backlash from Italian-American group

Italian-American activists say they’re forming a political-action committee to oppose local politicians who supported designating Columbus Day as Indigenous Peoples’ Day.

By Daniel BeekmanSome Italian-American activists in Seattle say they’re forming a political-action committee to strike back at members of the City Council who voted unanimously Monday to recognize an Indigenous Peoples’ Day on the same date as Columbus Day.

They say the council members disrespected Seattle’s 25,000 Italian-American residents when they picked Columbus Day rather than another date.

Some Native-American activists, backed by the Seattle Human Rights Commission and more than 30 other organizations, had asked for an Indigenous Peoples’ Day on that date to recall the harm inflicted on their ancestors by Europeans such as Christopher Columbus.

“We empathize with the death and destruction of the Native Americans,” activist Ralph Fascitelli said Thursday during a news conference at Il Terrazzo Carmine, an Italian restaurant in Pioneer Square. “But we think right now this is almost going too far in terms of political correctness.”

They claim the holiday has nothing to with Columbus, but instead celebrates immigration:

Columbus Day changes run aground due to lack of interest, resources; Shared Vision tables issue of honoring American Indians around holiday

By Zach KayserThe idea is spreading beyond Minnesota, too: on Oct. 6, city leaders in Seattle also voted to change the holiday. However, the move drew criticism from Seattle's Italian-American community, news agency Reuters reported.

"Italians are intensely offended," Seattle resident Lisa Marchese told the City Council. "For decades, Italian-Americans celebrated not the man, but the symbol of Columbus Day. That symbol means we honor the legacy of our ancestors who immigrated to Seattle, overcame poverty, a language barrier, and above all, discrimination."

However, the argument for changing the name centers around the link between the holiday and Columbus' legacy. Honoring him as the man who "discovered" America is perceived as paying short shrift to the millions of American Indians who lived here for generations before his arrival. Symbolism aside, there's also a more literal aspect: the acts of aggression on the part of Columbus' expeditions.

Anton Treuer, director of BSU's American Indian Resource Center, said the full extent of atrocities committed by Columbus remains widely unacknowledged.Alas, the facts don't support their claims:

Redface in America

By Robin Annette LaDueThere have been people of Italian descent who claim that their ethnicity is being disrespected by changing the name from Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day. Their statements are that Columbus Day is really Italian Heritage Day. However, their arguments do not adhere to the facts of the matter. Columbus Day, was, in fact, first put forth under President Harrison. A more likely use of Columbus Day was that:

“During the four hundredth anniversary in 1892, teachers, preachers, poets and politicians used Columbus Day rituals to teach ideals of patriotism. These patriotic rituals were framed around themes such as support for war, citizenship boundaries, the importance of loyalty to the nation, and celebrating social progress.”

Nowhere was it suggested in the process of making Columbus Day a federal holiday that it was in honor of Italian heritage. This does not mean that this holiday is not of great significance to people of Italian descent. It is simply not a reality that changing the name is meant to dishonor people of Italian descent. To frame the long overdue decision to recognize Native people as being disrespectful of Italian people is part of ignoring the reality of the grief so many Native people still deal with on a daily basis due to the loss of land, language, children, culture, and life that began with the landing of Columbus. These are not realities that should be celebrated.

A fact that appears to be lost in this discussion is what the immigration of people of Italian descent and other Europeans meant for Native people of the Americas. For every person who immigrated, another Indigenous person was displaced. The pain of this displacement is almost impossible to express. In effect, when politicians and others tell Native people to go home, it would be to the backyards of such people.

You don't have to dig far to see what Italian Americans are really celebrating. It's the same thing other Americans celebrate: their own "greatness."

Columbus gets his comeuppance: Why his holiday is in deep jeopardy

Mascot for violent European colonialism has been celebrated for years. These major U.S. cities are saying "no more"

By J.P. LawrenceSome Italian-Americans and others object to the name change, deeming it political correctness. If Columbus Day needs a name change, they say, so does the District of Columbia; Columbus, Ohio; and Columbia University.

Dr. Joseph V. Scelsa, founder and president of the Italian American Museum in New York City’s Little Italy, said Columbus represents the courage shown by immigrants, such as his ancestors, when they came to America.

“If it weren’t for this courageous European who came to these shores, 99% of us would not be here today. He must be seen in the context of his time, not ours,” he said. “What he did was bring Christian civilization to the Western World, and the benefits of that outweigh any disadvantages.”

Scelsa, who holds a doctorate in Sociology and Education from Columbia University, disputed claims Columbus directly killed anyone, while the “Incas practiced blood sacrifice and committed genocide.”

“I believe it is a travesty of justice to dishonor this courageous man who gave so much for this country, and I totally disagree with it,” Scelsa said. “There are many other ways to celebrate Native Americans, and we should, but not at the expense of Columbus.”Comment:  So apparently it is all about the man and his individual accomplishments after all.

The benefits of "Christian civilization" outweigh any disadvantages? Many American Indians and African Americans would disagree.

And now we're at the crux of the conflict. Italian Americans and other white Americans think they're the center of the universe. They think it's more important to celebrate and honor them than it is to acknowledge the death and destruction of Native cultures. The message is that white peoples' feelings are more important than Native peoples' lives.

It's more than understandable why Natives and their liberal allies don't accept this message. Because it's immoral and un-Christian to celebrate conquest. Killing and enslaving people isn't "civilization," it's barbarism.

The final word is my tweet on the subject:

Mussolini's death toll was 300,000. Columbus's toll was similar. Let's replace Columbus Day with Mussolini Day to honor Italians' heritage.

For more on Columbus, see King Touts "Values Columbus Brought" and Columbus Day Celebrates White Superiority.

Below:  A present-day reminder of what Columbus means to most Americans.

Native women honored on Valentine's Day

What's the flip side of marginalizing and trivializing Natives and women, as so much of our culture does? This:

Missing, murdered aboriginal women honoured in marches

Gladys Radek of Orillia among loved ones marking Valentine's with calls for justice for aboriginal women

By Angela SterritThe shock of losing her niece jolted Gladys Radek into action. She had been attending annual memorial marches for murdered and missing aboriginal women since 1994, to support friends and relatives who have lost loved ones. But in 2005, the fight for justice became personal.

"Here I am eight years later and there is still no sign of Tamara and there is still no sign of a lot of the other girls ... some have gone missing for decades. They are treated as they are disposable."

On Friday, Radek, of the Gitxsan and Wet'suwet'en First Nations, is hosting the first annual Memorial March for Murdered and Missing Aboriginal Women in Orillia, one of 20 confirmed cities participating in this year's event.

The now national march started in 1991, after a woman was murdered on Powell Street, in Vancouver. Her name is not spoken today, to honour the wishes of her family.

The Women’s Memorial website says, “This woman’s murder in particular was the catalyst that moved women into action. Out of this sense of hopelessness and anger came an annual march on Valentine’s Day to express compassion, community, and caring for all women in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, Coast Salish Territories.”Celebrate Valentine's Day: Stop Violence Against Indigenous Women

By Taté WalkerFor too many Indigenous women, love comes at a horrific price.

Bruises. Broken body parts. Broken souls. Rape. Fear. Missing. Murdered. All these words and more describe the violence many Native American and First Nations women experience every day, usually at the hands of someone they know. Nearly 40 percent are intimate partners, many of whom are non-Natives.

Happy Valentine’s Day.

Highly touted (and debated) laws and policies, such as the Violence Against Women Act, currently do little to combat the staggering rates of violence against Indigenous women, although many promise change is coming.

U.S. statistics show Native Americans experience violent crimes–including stalking, rape, and sexual assault–at rates more than double those of women of other races. One in three Native women report having been raped during her lifetime. The murder rate for Native women is 10 times the national average. Many experts agree these numbers are woefully underreported for several reasons, including distrust of a justice system that so often fails Native American people.

The situation isn’t any better for Canada’s Aboriginal women, who are three-to-five times more likely to experience violence than non-Aboriginal women ages 15 or older. According to Statistics Canada, in about half of all homicides the Aboriginal identity of the victim is reported by police as unknown. For instance, between 2005 and 2009, police reported 726 homicides where the victim was a woman aged 15 or older. Of these, the victim was identified as Aboriginal in 54 homicides, as non-Aboriginal in 292 homicides, and as Aboriginal identity unknown in 380 homicides.The missing women you don’t hear about: How the media fails Indigenous communities

When indigenous women disappear, their cases often get little coverage—and their identities can be erased

By Lauren Chief ElkThe media routinely fail to inform the public accurately about the cases of missing indigenous women. As my partner Laura M. Madison states, “Indigenous women go missing twice: Once in real life and a second time in the news.” Missing white women, she explains, are humanized with extensive articles, photos and interviews with grieving families. If missing indigenous women get media coverage at all, they are usually presented as runaways, drug addicts or sex workers, or portrayed in other ways society sees as negative. As with Hanna Harris, many indigenous women are treated by law enforcement and media as undeserving of attention or care because they’re supposedly “party girls,” whether they were actually engaged in drinking and drugs or not.

And as we work on our data collecting and reading reports, we have noticed that some indigenous women are even going missing a third time—when their racial or tribal identities are ignored or misrepresented. Many news articles and missing people’s organization cite indigenous women as white or Latino. Even in death indigenous women are being erased.

We know from existing as indigenous people and doing this work that this triple disappearance is everywhere across this continent. As Andrea Smith has detailed, “violence against Indigenous women in a symptom of colonization.” The rate of violence, the lack of response, the structure that helps it continue: This is settler colonialism, the occupation of the land by imperial powers and people that stand on top of indigenous nations. Both Canada and the United States are settler states.

There’s a myth that we’re now just a multicultural society and that the structures of slavery and genocide no longer affect us—that indigenous people either died off completely or disappeared into whiteness. But we survived. We are still here. We are still speaking our languages, we are still practicing our traditional ways, and we are still dancing in powwow circles. And the structure of the United States as a settler state is still trying to get rid of the “Indian problem.” A friend once told me, “If we were killed off or killed each other off, that would make the government very happy. That would be doing them a big favor.” And actions of the state make this plain. We see it in their disregard of indigenous life, evidenced by the federal authorities’ refusal to take seriously the disappearance and murder of Hanna Harris and so many others.

All over the continent, indigenous women are resisting. Today is the day of the annual 23rd annual women’s memorial marches that started in the Downtown East Side of Vancouver, British Columbia. The marches began as grass-roots initiatives to search and demand justice for those who were missing and murdered. They now happen in at least nine major cities across Canada. As the mission statement on the women’s memorial march page states, “This event is organized and led by women in the DTES because women, especially Indigenous women, face physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual violence on a daily basis … We gather each year to mourn and remember our sisters by listening to their family members by taking over the streets, and through spiritual ceremonies.”Comment:  For more on violence against women, see Christie's Bullying Shows American Mindset and V-Day Conflicts with Indigenous Women's March.

Below:  "Gladys Radek holds a photo of her niece, Tamara Chipman, who disappeared in 2005 along Highway 16, the so-called Highway of Tears, east of Prince Rupert in northern B.C." (Gladys Radek)

Zazzle removes offensive valentines

Zazzle Removes Offensive Valentine’s Day Products

By Vincent SchillingShortly after posting a list of Native-themed Valentine’s Day gifts, the artistic product website Zazzle has removed two of the products listed in the article and issued a response on Twitter.

When asked what people thought of the product, responses on Twitter and Facebook ranged from “racist” to “shameful,” among others.

10 Native-Themed Valentine’s Day Gifts to Avoid

By Vincent SchillingNothing says Valentine’s Day more than a naked baby shooting arrows into your heart. But what if the baby was Native? Now that would be an appropriate Native-themed Valentine’s Day! Before you romantics run out to grab chocolates, flowers and maybe a teddy bear—we thought you might like to reflect on some other possibilities… to avoid.

If your loved one happens to be Native American and you are considering any of these gifts, you should think about sticking to the chocolate and flowers. Otherwise cupid won’t be the only one shooting an arrow at you.Comment:  Zazzle has been in the racist spotlight before. For more on the subject, see Zazzle's "Go Native Americans!" Mousepad and Zazzle Removes Offensive T-Shirts.

Season's greetings!

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Ecstatic Eid, Krazy Kwanzaa, and a Wondrous Winter Solstice!

Rob

The #1 Thanksgiving myth

The no. 1 Thanksgiving myth may be that the Pilgrims and Indians were "besties," as the first group of postings notes:

First Thanksgiving: Forget what you learned in school

By Cindy Yurth[T]he fact is that the great East Coast tribes at that time--the Pequot, Narragansett and Wampanoag--were in a constant joust for supremacy, Hopkins said. If the Pilgrims thought they had left in their past a land of interlocking empires and scheming aristocracy, they were mistaken.

Their arrival was not met by a band of happy-go-lucky savages eager to share their wealth with the starving newcomers. The tribes were wondering how the palefaces were going to fit into the power structure, and whether they should befriend them in the hopes of gaining new allies, or dispatch them on the spot to preserve the status quo.

"Massasoit wanted to make friends with the Pilgrims so he could get their help against the Narragansetts," Hopkins explained. "It worked."

Although Squanto, a Wampanoag who spoke English, had taught the Pilgrims what to plant in the New World, the two races were not quite on friendly terms by the time of that first harvest.

"What most history books don't tell you is that the Pilgrims limited the number of Indians who could attend that first Thanksgiving," Hopkins said. "They made sure to seat a white guy on each side of each Wampanoag warrior, just in case something happened."Wampanoag Historian on Surviving Almost 400 Years of Thanksgivings

By Gale Courey ToensingWhat do you think is the most egregious misunderstanding about Thanksgiving?

Probably that it’s perceived that we welcomed them. Yeah, they think we were just standing there waiting for them and welcoming [them] and one guy handed them the turkey and another guy handed them the carving knife and they all went to dinner—it’s just ridiculous! What really happened was there was no contact with them for six months. But we were watching them and seeing what they were doing. And it was Samoset who was from Maine and was down visiting who made the first contact—I always figured they sent the guy from out of town to do it! But then there was a feasting event the next fall that’s been interpreted as the first Thanksgiving. But it wasn’t even dubbed that till the 19th century.6 Thanksgiving Myths, Share Them With Someone You Know

By Vincent SchillingIn 1621, when the Pilgrims were celebrating a successful harvest, they were shooting guns and cannons into the air. The Wampanoag chief and 90 warriors made their way to the settlement in full warrior mode—in response to the gunfire. As the Huffington Post’s Richard Schiffman puts it, “It remains an open question, however, whether the Wampanoag were actually invited, or if they crashed the party.”

The Pilgrims were most likely nervous—the Wampanoag outnumbered the Pilgrims two to one, but it certainly wasn’t the happy picture put forth in many history books. According to Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Historic Preservation Officer Ramona Peters, “It was Abraham Lincoln who used the theme of Pilgrims and Indians eating happily together. He was trying to calm things down during the Civil War when people were divided. It was like a nice unity story.”

Why Falsify Thanksgiving?

Why do we celebrate a happy-go-lucky feast between Pilgrim and Indian "besties"? Like Indian mascots and other stereotypical depictions, it obscures America's history of crimes against Indians.

Thanksgiving is for sociopaths

I don't have anything against turkey. But I can't abide a holiday that denies its genocidal historical context

By Robert Jensen“I don’t hate Thanksgiving—I just think it’s appropriate to critique a celebration that obscures the reality of the European conquest of the Americas.”

That description is accurate, at one level—my rejection of Thanksgiving is more intellectual than emotional, a political decision to reject that distortion of history. Whatever the actual details of the 1621 celebration involving Pilgrims and Wampanoag Indians (and there is ongoing debate about various factual claims), Thanksgiving is one way the dominant culture minimizes or denies the larger historical context of Europeans’ genocidal campaign against indigenous people to acquire the land base of the United States. Without that genocide, there is no United States. For the victors’ descendants to take a day off to give thanks without acknowledging that seems, well, just a bit sociopathic.Native Appropriation Month

By Ruth HopkinsIn November, schools throughout America encourage children to dress up as pilgrims and Indians to tell the myth of the first Thanksgiving. Educators, you have no excuse. Real history is at your fingertips. There’s no need to regurgitate the white washed story of Thanksgiving that you were spoon fed as a child. Stop pushing the Charlie Brown version where Pilgrims and Indians shook hands and feasted, and tell them the truth. Tell your students about the original inhabitants of this country, colonization, and the genocide that followed. If children can learn about slavery, World War II and the holocaust, they can learn about how Europeans invaded this land and what happened to its Indigenous people. Dressing school children in stereotypical Indian costumes doesn’t teach them about Thanksgiving. It teaches them about privilege and control.Thanksgiving Hypocrisy

By Stephen LendmanThe Thanksgiving holiday is also a way to promote what Edward Herman calls our “indispensable state,” our innate goodness and the illusion of American exceptionalism, moral and cultural superiority, and the belief that the Almighty made us special the way ideological Zionists feel Jews are “the chosen people.” It’s a short step from these views to judging others inferior, especially those ranked low in the racial, religious, ethnic or cultural pecking order–blacks, Latinos, and today’s number one target of choice for a nation at war and an enemy needed to justify it–Muslims hatefully portrayed as “radicals, extremists, gunmen, insurgents,” and “Islamofascists.”Do American Indians celebrate Thanksgiving?

By Dennis ZotighThe Thanksgiving myth has done so much damage and harm to the cultural self-esteem of generations of Indian people, including myself, by perpetuating negative and harmful images to both young Indian and non-Indian minds. There are so many things wrong with the happy celebration that takes place in elementary schools and its association to American Indian culture; compromised integrity, stereotyping, and cultural misappropriation are three examples.

When children are young, they are often exposed to antiquated images of American Indians through cartoons, books, and movies. But Thanksgiving re-enactments may be their most active personal encounter with Indian America, however poorly imagined, and many American children associate Thanksgiving actions and images with Indian culture for the rest of their lives. These cultural misunderstandings and stereotypical images perpetuate historical inaccuracy.MSNBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry Tackles the Broad American Mythology

Comment:  For more on Thanksgiving myths, see Thanksgiving Is for Celebration Only? and Stereotypical Thanksgiving Paintings.

Best Thanksgiving cartoons 2013

The best Thanksgiving cartoons I saw this year:









And a poem in the same vein:

'Thanksgiving,' a Poem by Jonathan Garfield

For more on the subject, see PEACE PARTY Political Cartoon: Costumes and PEACE PARTY Political Cartoon: Thanksgiving.

Indians in Macy's parade 2013

Three reports on different Natives participating in the 87th Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade:

Cherokee National Youth Choir to participate in Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade

Red Lake girl to take part in Macy's parade

Crow dancer to appear in Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

And a summary of their experiences:

Native Pride Celebrated at the 87th Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

By Cliff MatiasThe 2013 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade will be remembered as the year of Native Pride. Three different Native American groups were highlighted in this year’s festivities. Returning for the fifth year in a row, the Oneida Indian Nation float called “The True Spirit of Thanksgiving” shared the parade route with the world renowned Native Pride Dancers from Saint Paul, Minnesota, and the Cherokee Youth Choir from Talequah, Oklahoma.

This was the first time Macy’s hosted more than one Native American group in its parade and for many Native participants, the general feeling was that this is the beginning of something exciting for American Indian people.

“I think this is a great time to share who we are,” said Ray Halbritter, Oneida Indian Nation representative and CEO. “It’s important for America to see who the real Indian people are. We are not mascots; we’re not stereotypes. We want a more accurate image of who we are and what our part in history has been.”

Temperatures were below freezing, but people’s spirits were upbeat. “We are pumped,” said Larry Yazzie, founder of the Native Pride Dance troupe. “We are excited to represent all Native Americans across Turtle Island. We have 10 champion fancy dancers with us today.”Comment:  For more on the subject, see Oneida Float in Macy's Parade 2012 and Oneida Float in Macy's Parade 2011.

Below:  "The True Spirit of Thanksgiving float along the parade route at the 87th Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade." (Cliff Matias)

Thanksgiving pub crawls in Indian costumes

Apparently the negative publicity about Indian mascots and costumes hasn't reached some people. The latest offensive trend is Thankgiving-themed pub crawls.

We begin with Robin Leach, the former host of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, who is as clueless as his history suggests:

Strip Scribbles: ‘Innocent’ pre-Thanksgiving parties rankle Native Americans

By Robin LeachIt’s the latest absurdity of political correctness overstepping reality and trying to squash the fun of Las Vegas. A group of Native Americans is protesting plans by Las Vegas nightclubs over themed Thanksgiving costume parties where guests will wear Pilgrims and Indians outfits.

“It’s totally innocent on our part, and no disrespect or harm were intended,” nightlife party queen Tiffany Masters told me. “To call us racist is over the top. Two of us organizing one party have Native bloodlines. Another organizer has a Native daughter and really doesn’t appreciate this un-necessary drama. Our party this year is at Gold Lounge in Aria at CityCenter, and we used a model with fall foliage leaves instead of a costume.”

The protesters attacked social media sites of Las Vegas nightclub groups. “The Light Group is supporting us and is upset we’ve been singled out,” said Tiffany. “We won’t be threatened, but we have changed the name of our party to show our own sensitivity. But we still expect people will wear authentic costumes for the Thanksgiving parties. We can’t tell them what they can’t wear.

“We’ve had these parties for 10 years now every Thanksgiving Eve, and nobody has ever complained until now. It simply doesn’t make sense. All locals and nightlife industry people come together this night either because we are ‘orphans without family’ or are stuck working the holiday.”

I read some of the complaints, which stated: “Racism is real in Las Vegas. Am appalled at the audacity some event throwers in Vegas have toward my people. … It’s an incursion on me as a Native American. … I contacted several business owners because I think mockery should be stopped. … I am proud of my Native Line, and I don’t want it to be taken as a joke. … I believe in the celebration of cultures coming together—not the disrespect.”

I fail to see any racism or how a Thanksgiving Eve party with guests in Pilgrims and Native American costume shows disrespect. I didn’t hear any such accusations at Halloween, so I don’t think the wild accusations for Thanksgiving are deserved. Totally beyond me!Leach didn't hear any of the dozens of Native "accusations" at Halloween? Perhaps his cocoon of white privilege cut off his hearing. Or perhaps he's an ignorant twit.

As I tweeted to him:3 Native protests over Halloween you missed: Ireland Baldwin tweets Indian costume / Toothpaste commercial shows stereotypical costume / Vanity Fair's "favorite" Indian costumeMore creepy crawls

Miami Pub Crawl Encourages Drinkers to Dress Up Like Native Americans for Thanksgiving

By Monique Jones

This Wednesday, Miami pub crawl organizing group Keep Crawling will run a Thanksgiving Costume Pub Crawl. Dressing in costume isn't required, but participants are encouraged to come as either a Pilgrim or Native American.

While most of the jokes one could make about dressing as a Pilgrim might include cracks about looking dowdy, dressing as a Native American is tremendously more problematic. It's also offensive.

To say Thanksgiving is a touchy time to mockingly dress up like a Native is an understatement. Conventional American lore states that Thanksgiving is a time to celebrate the Pilgrims surviving their first winter in America with help from the Wampanoag tribe. However, this narrative is more of a tall tale that romanticizes the harsh effects of colonization, and overlooks the mistreatment of Natives that followed: shady political treaties, forced and often violent removal of tribes from their lands, and the spread of misinformation about "savages."And:Despite all this, Keep Crawling stands by its decision to encourage crawlers to dress in costume. "We give our crawlers the option of dressing in theme of the holiday. It's up to them how they would like to dress to the crawl," said John Gaebe of Keep Crawling. "Our pub crawls are often holiday themed. We take no stance on the issue. We just provide a platform for people to have a good time and celebrate a national holiday."

So yeah, Miami, the choice is yours: dress in offensive "redface" and get hammered the day before Thanksgiving, or just go drinking on your own time without trampling on the culture of people who've been mistreated for centuries. Choose wisely.And a similarly offensive event in San Diego--a "Pilgrims and Indians" themed party after a pub crawl:



Fortunately, there was some good news:

Drinking event that encouraged Native 'costumes' canceledA Thanksgiving-eve drinking event that encouraged participants to wear Native American "costumes" has been canceled.

The Thanksgiving Costume Pub Crawl was to take place this evening in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The organizers canceled the event but didn't explain why in a post on Facebook.The post itself said:ATTENTION CRAWLERS:
The Thanksgiving Pub Crawl has been canceled.
The Thanksgiving Pub Crawl has been canceled.
The Thanksgiving Pub Crawl has been canceled.
The Thanksgiving Pub Crawl has been canceled.

Our sincerest apologies. We will be pushing the Coral Gables route back to a later date. We hope everyone has a wonderful holiday! We hope to see you on the next crawl!Comment:  For more on "Pocahotties," see Pocahotties Show Depth of Microaggressions and Tanning Salon Promotes Indian "Color."

"Colonial Bros and Nava-Hos" frat party

'Colonial Bros and Nava-Hos' frat party prompts Cal Poly investigation

Fraternity-sorority event with theme of Native Americans gets complaints

By Julia HickeyCal Poly officials are investigating an off-campus fraternity and sorority party after complaints that the theme was offensive to women and Native Americans.

Men attending the party—identified in an email as having a “Colonial Bros and Nava-Hos” theme—wore Colonial-era costumes, while women wore sexually explicit Native American-themed attire.

The party took place this past Friday in the area of Foothill Boulevard, with approximately 60 people attending.

Cal Poly President Jeffrey Armstrong denounced the party in a campuswide email sent Tuesday and announced a university-sponsored forum to be held Friday to allow Cal Poly community members to come together and discuss the impact of the party.

“Let us be clear, events like these have no place in the Cal Poly community and are not reflective of the principles of The Mustang Way,” Armstrong said in his email. “Obviously, this was not a university-sponsored event.”Naturally, non-Indians thought this racist event was fine:“Personally, I don’t think it was meant to be racist,” said a Cal Poly student and fraternity member named Daniel, who declined to provide his last name. Daniel, who said his fraternity was not associated with the party, said Greek life involves a lot of “guy-and-girl”-themed parties. Although he could not confirm what the party was called, he said it was meant to fit with Thanksgiving.

“It’s unfair,” he said. “We are taught that Thanksgiving is Pilgrims and Indians.”

A second-year sorority member, who also declined to be named, was invited to the party but did not attend.

“There are a lot more offensive themes out there, especially during Halloween,” she said.Party brings debate to campus, leaves greeks on edge

By Sean McMinnIn an email to campus Monday, Humphrey and Armstrong decried the party, saying there is no place for events like it in the Cal Poly community.

“It’s very serious,” Humphrey said in an interview after sending the campuswide email. “I think its effects on our community are things we can’t even fully put our arms around, and that’s what makes it very disturbing. And we don’t know who something like this will offend, and they’ll choose to never come to Cal Poly, choose to not send their children to Cal Poly.”

Fraternities and sororities will be required to register all parties with the university beginning next quarter as part of an agreement earlier this year to loosen recruitment restrictions in exchange for tighter oversight of greek functions.

Humphrey said there is no pressure to speed up that process after this past weekend’s incident, but added that a party registration system could have prevented it from happening.

Cal Poly will hold a forum Friday to discuss racism and sexism. Lazier, Cal Poly’s spokesperson, said it will address the party under investigation, as well as broader cultural issues on campus.What's wrong with the party?

Let's count the ways the Cal Poly frat party theme was wrong

By Joe TaricaWhere to even begin with how dumb this is?

Let’s start with the whole “bros and hos” thing, which has become a common fraternity/sorority mashup for guys-and-girls parties.

For the dim bulbs who organize these get-togethers, the rhyme-y phrase is obviously a convenient starting point. Jot down “bros and hos,” attach a theme, and voilà … let the beer pong commence.

Apparently referring to the women partygoers as prostitutes doesn’t bother anyone. I’m sure all would say it’s just a joke, and everyone is being too politically correct. The fact that fraternities host shindigs like this, which are then enthusiastically attended by sororities, speaks poorly of both sides.

Next up in the party planning was picking a theme, which in keeping with the month and season, seized on a Colonial America idea. Except don’t you like how the sexes were divided?

Of course it wasn’t “Colonial Hos and Indian Bros,” because who wants to see sorority girls dressed up like victims from the Salem Witch Trials? Women in bonnets and head-to-toe frocks isn’t sexy, especially when the other option is loincloths. So now we’ve got frat boy “bros” decked out as pilgrims and tarted up sorority girl “hos.”

But that’s still not enough, because the party name has to be catchy, not historically accurate to the New England locale. I guess when the organizers were going through tribe names, “Colonial Bros and Wampanoag Hos” didn’t have the right ring to it.

No worries, there’s a better option, and the name just rolls right off the tongue, leaving plenty of room in their mouths for the appropriate insertion of feet.

Who cares that these Native Americans are from the Four Corners region of the Southwest, most assuredly never shared turkey and sweet potatoes with the settlers from the Plymouth Colony, and were in fact subjected to terrible abuse at the hands of American soldiers (including the rape of Navajo women)?

Put it all together and there you have it: A fraternity brainchild that’s sexually demeaning, culturally offensive and historically ignorant—all for the convenience of a good time.Cal Poly Frats Hold Classic 'Colonial Bros and Nava-Hos' PartyLast week, California Polytechnic State University students in multiple unnamed Greek organizations at the San Luis Obispo campus held a party with the delightful theme of "Colonial Bros and Nava-Hos," managing to figure out how to be both incredibly racist, incredibly sexist and incredibly unoriginal all at the same time.Comment:  I'm sure we could find more wrong with this party idea. For instance, casting men as conquerors and women as objects of conquest. Holy metaphor, Batman! Let's act out how white men raped Indians, literally and figuratively, in the guise of a party.

For more on the subject, see Drink's "Sexy Pilgrim & Indian Party" and Duke's "Pilgrims and Indians" Party.

Below:  An image from the Drink nightclub's "Sexy Pilgrim & Indian Party."

Tanning salon promotes Indian "color"

Tanning Salon Is Super Thankful Native Americans 'Brought Sexy Color'In honor of Thanksgiving, a chain of tanning salons in Alabama and Florida has launched a holiday-themed ad campaign that is both offensively stupid and stupidly offensive. "The Indians brought more than just 'CORN' to the first Thanksgiving," reads the copy, "they brought SEXY 'COLOR'!" Ugh, the unnecessary quotation marks. Ugh, the insensitivity. Ugh, the idea of indoor tanning. I feel like I'm getting brain cancer.

Club Sun Color Studios offers women who have never heard about how artificial tanning ages your skin and makes you look like an underbasted turkey carcass by the time you're 30 the opportunity for big, big savings this Thanksgiving with this super rad promotion. In addition to both savings and melanoma and that weird cooked skin smell that emanates from tanning salons, the promotion is advertised by a sexy blonde pilgrim and a woman in a Sexy Indian Halloween costume-style getup brought together by the magic of bad photo editing and really, really idiotic cultural appropriation.

As you can see, Sexy Indian is also wearing authentic fringed stilettos, which historians agree is part of the traditional dress of Sexy Indians when they taught Sexy Pilgrims how to tan back in History Days. After the tanning sesh, Sexy Indian and Sexy Pilgrim had a traditional Sexy Girl-On-Girl Makeout To Get The Boys' Attention. Then, the traditional Thanksgiving pube waxing. Then, sexy genocide, and hundreds of years of sexy exploitation of the sexy Indian women's daughters and granddaughters by the descendants of the Sexy Pilgrim, the sexy scars of which still linger to this day in Sexy American culture.

Tanning salon forced to remove Thanksgiving-themed ad for Native American 'sexy skin color' after it is branded 'offensive and tasteless'Reactions to the image have been mixed, with some customers calling its portrayal of a Native American both racist and inappropriate.

'Very poor taste,' wrote one commenter on KansasCity.com. 'I guess anything for a buck now-a-days.'

Another wrote that the ad was 'completely unacceptable,' as well as 'offensive and tasteless.'Tanning Salon Promotes 'Indian Color' In Misguided Thanksgiving PromoAs we've seen time and time again, having non-Native American woman dress up as "Indians" in fake fringes, beads and feathers is pretty much always racist and ill-advised, not to mention tacky. Stereotyping Native Americans' skin color, too? Also highly not recommended.Company apologizes...

Tanning salon’s Thanksgiving special: ‘Sexy color’ like Native Americans

By Lisa GutierrezWednesday night, the ad had seemingly disappeared from both the company’s website and Facebook page.

Club Sun’s marketing director David Arnett posted an apology.

“In response to the recent post from Jezebel.com., the ad I created showing a Native American and Pilgrim in costume was in no way intended to be offensive or racist,” he wrote. “I sincerely apologize if it offended anyone.

“I myself am Native American and I am very proud of my heritage and skin tone. The thought process behind the ad was simply a play on my own sexy 'color'. Again, I apologize for any offense and misunderstanding.”

Can’t wait to see what they do with those Christmas elves....but not really:

AL tanning salon drops Thanksgiving ad touting 'sexy color' of American IndiansVice President of Sales Larry Andrews says the company was promoting its business, which is color. He said that's why he and the owner approved the ad. Andrew believes it was simply taken out of context.

"I mean, it was a very innocent in-house flyer," Andrews told. "I think this day and time people look for something to complain about and something to stir the pot. If they would look for more positive things in life we'd have a much better Thanksgiving and holiday season."Comment:  What's the context that makes a racist costume not racist? I sure hope it's not the tanning salon's play on the word "color." We took that into account and...sorry, the costume is still racist.

In fact, if the ad had included an authentic Wampanoag Indian dressed in a 1620s style, people might not have complained. Or not as much, anyway. They're complaining primarily about the stereotypical Pocahottie, not the "color" word or concept.

And what does its being an "in-house" ad have to do with anything? First, the company posted it on its Facebook page, which strongly suggests it was meant for public consumption. Second, racism "in house" is just as wrong as racism outside the house. It's wrong, period, wherever it occurs.

Finally, how much do you want to bet marketing director David Arnett has a tiny amount of Cherokee blood, or believes he has? That's a perennial excuse for racist behavior, and it's just as stupid here as elsewhere. Unless you're a member of a Wampanoag tribe, Arnett, you have no business stereotyping Wampanoag Indians.

For more on stereotypical Pocahotties, see Ireland Baldwin Tweets Indian Costume and University Bans Offensive Halloween Costumes.

Columbus Day celebrates white superiority

I thought this was going to be a quiet Columbus Day. I hadn't seen the usual spate of anti-Columbus articles a week or two before the holiday. But a last-minute flurry suggests people are still campaigning against the so-called discoverer.

Live protests

Genocide on the Quad: In NYC, Students Mark Columbus Day With 'Die-In'On October 14, Columbus Day, a group of students at Columbia University staged a grim protest dubbed a "Die-In." In fact, the display happened four times over the course of the day; according to Tristin Moone of the Native American Council of Columbia University, about 60 different people participated, with each Die-In consisting of about 30 individuals posing as corpses.

"The goal of the demonstration was to show that when celebrating 'Columbus Day,' people are celebrating genocide and the continual effects of it," Moone told ICTMN. "This wasn't a cultural showcase, it was demonstrating the impact of colonization on Indigenous peoples."

Bay Area American Indians Demand Removal of Columbus Statue

'We Have Nothing to Celebrate': Columbus Day Protesters Fill Streets of Santiago

Arguments against Columbus Day

I'm not sure there's anything new to say about what's wrong with Columbus Day. But here are some of the best articles I read on the subject this year:

Today is Columbus Day in the United States of America

Mutilation and Other Carnage: War Crimes Committed by Columbus

Stop Saying Columbus 'Discovered' the Americas—It Erases Indigenous History

Why I Celebrate Indigenous People’s Day (Not Columbus Day)

By Sarah J. JacksonI remember when I first posted the above video to my Facebook page in 2009 a high school classmate who wasn’t friends with me in high school but ended up connected to me online (you know how it goes) responded with “Oh come on, without Columbus none of us would be here.” To me, that small comment sums up everything that is wrong with celebrating Columbus Day. It entirely excludes the Native people of the Americas by assuming that without colonialism “none of us” would be here. Actually, there would be people here. There were people here. And those people, 565 tribes of them, are still here no matter how much more convenient it is for people to imagine the contrary. Further, this sentiment assumes that those of us who did end up in the Americas wanted to be here, that European colonialism helped us, and that we and are better off because of it. Needless to say the decedents of the millions of Africans whose native lands were also colonized, who were enslaved and forcibly brought to “the New World” didn’t choose to be here. Years later many Asians we’re brought to the Americas as cheap labor or immigrated after their own countries were physically and economically colonized and exploited. It goes without saying that globally colonialism didn’t benefit people of African and Asian decent any more than it did indigenous Americans. Yet, we’re all here now together expected to celebrate this holiday as if it is not political and as if it does not completely ignore the history of black, Asian, Native/Pacific Islander Americans and Latinos, people who together will make up 50-percent of this county’s population by 2050.Don’t Honor Columbus or the Colonial Notion of “Discovery”

By Sloane Cornelius[T]his co-opt of discovery is truly just coded language for playing the racial superiority game. It is deeply rooted in the idea that whomever discovers first gets to claim, and whoever can claim more is obviously superior. This is a heavily colonized attitude wherein people attempt to elevate themselves and their communities at the cost of our humanity and at the expense of our history, all so that they can gain legitimacy in this white world that we live in. It perpetrates this violent idea that the only way to prove your worth is by proving how much you have and by how much you have dominated.Columbus' Principles of Discovery

By Sherri MitchellInterestingly, when you engage in actual conversation over the actions of Columbus, there seems to be very little debate regarding the atrocities that he committed. Rather, the debate tends to be centered on how we should view the act of discovery itself; is it an act of terrorism or heroism? The unfortunate truth is that many have simply come to accept that with conquest comes carnage, and that destruction of place, loss of life and departure from humanity is an acceptable price to pay for the discovery of new lands. In fact, these principles of discovery seem to have become part of the social value structure of this country. One commentator even stated that the goal of those who oppose Columbus Day is to denigrate the values of western civilization. I found this particular comment to be quite telling. Shouldn’t the goals of a just society include the denigration of values that are attached to genocide, conquest, domination and slavery? America claims to be a just society, yet it continues to instruct its youth to emulate the horrific history of conquest that brought Columbus to the Americas.Today We Honor Columbus, An Inspiration to Cruel Half-Wits EverywhereIn many ways, Christopher Columbus is the perfect American. He was loud, ignorant, greedy and evil, and his intolerance was fueled by his religious extremism. His life's work was stealing wealth, bamboozling the government, and crushing the little people—whether his own shipmates or the Caribbean natives.Celebrating Indians instead

Celebrating Indigenous Peoples’ Day

Let's Get Rid of Columbus Day Forever!

Happy Indigenous Day 2013!

Today's the actual anniversary of Columbus's historic mistake. In his "honor," my annual reposting of my soon-to-be-classic posting from 2009: Columbus tweets about his 1492 voyage and "discovery":

Columbus twitters

Also, my 1994 essay from the early days of my Native interest:

This Ain't No Party, This Ain't No Disco: A Columbus Day Rant

For more on Columbus, see Places Europeans Actually Discovered and Pledge of Allegiance Celebrates Columbus.