Hitler = greatest threat since Indians?

Here's a quote from Franklin Delano Roosevelt's "The Great Arsenal of Democracy" speech delivered December 29, 1940:We met the issue of 1933 with courage and realism. We face this new crisis, this new threat to the security of our nation, with the same courage and realism. Never before since Jamestown and Plymouth Rock has our American civilization been in such danger as now.Comment:  Let's look at what FDR was saying here:

1) American civilization began with Jamestown and Plymouth Rock--i.e., when white Anglo-Saxon Protestants came from England to settle the Atlantic coast. FDR didn't think the Spanish who explored and colonized the South, or the French who explored and colonized the Great Lakes area. And of course he didn't think about the millions of Native people who'd been here for 10,000 years or more. To him, American civilization = British civilization.

2) What exactly was the previous danger faced by the English colonizers? Who weren't Americans, by the way, and wouldn't be for another 169 years. The harsh climate? Maybe, although calling that a "danger" is a stretch. The colonizers could've rectified any setbacks caused by cold winters and failed crops with more people and supplies. These problems were technical in nature and spending enough time and money would've resolved them. (Which is what did happen, in fact, as more and more ships arrived.)

No, the real danger these colonies faced were the "savage" Indians. You know, the people who owned and occupied the land the foreigners wanted to appropriate. The people who welcomed the strangers and kept them alive until they realized the strangers were planning to take over their fields and streams.

The implication is pretty clear. Hitler was the greatest threat to Euro-Americans since the "merciless Indian savages." The Nazis were the barbarians of the 20th century and FDR wanted us to be equally resolute against their evil.

Alternate version of the speech

Here's what FDR could've said instead. What a Native leader might've said in his place:Never before since Jamestown and Plymouth Rock has our American civilization been in such danger as now. The Native inhabitants of this land faced an unprecedented assault by covetous Europeans bent on world domination. Now we face the same threat from their like-minded descendants. Sure of their biological and cultural superiority, Anglo-Saxons are once again on the march. Once again they're trying to establish an empire of the so-called master race.For more on the subject, see Adolf Hitler:  A Good American.

Below:  Three milestones of Western imperialism.

Crowd funding for Native projects

Michael Cooke continues the debate begun in Rob Should Fight Poverty?! and Educational Value of Blogging and sidetracked in Whites Fighting Racism Are Racist?!Now, what you have are computer and writing skills. Those are tremendously powerful tools for change, that can make a difference.

So here's my invitation. Talk to some of your native American friends and create a project that will make a huge difference to native American people if it simply has the funding. The right project will not require an insane amount of money, and it will be inspiring the amount of change it can accomplish.

Once you have that project, go to my blog, this post: http://kitschchaos.com/blog/?s=crowd+funding and select a crowd funding solution you feel is the best fit for the project. This will involve writing about the project and enrolling people into contributing money to see the project fulfilled. It works beautifully especially if you really allow contributors to read your blog to see how the project is getting done and let them feel like they are really part of the success of the project.

This plays to your strengths, you can accomplish a lot. Just DO IT!Mike's posting on crowd funding explains the basic idea and lists several sites, including:

http://www.kickstarter.com
http://www.quirky.com
http://www.indiegogo.com

I believe Norman Patrick Brown used Kickstarter to raise $15,000 to complete Rainbow Boy. So the idea can work.

I'm all in favor of this approach. I've heard good things about microlending--where NGOs give small loans to budding entrepreneurs in developing countries. Although you raise the money yourself and it isn't a loan, this is kind of the same idea. I.e., harnessing small amounts of money to get worthy projects underway.

Mike probably thinks I should use my computer and writing skills plus his crowd-funding idea to fight poverty. There's where we disagree. If I were to use crowd funding, it would be in the same fields I'm working in now: education and the arts.

Why? Again, because education is a long-term solution for social problems such as poverty. Creating educated Native leaders and professionals means empowering them to solve their own problems. It's the old "teach a person to fish" mentality that Mike can't refute or even address.

When I have a brilliant idea for which crowd funding might help, I'll consider pursuing it. Until then, I'll do what I do best. Namely, sharing the idea with those who can benefit from it now. Like a teacher or librarian, I'll empower them with the information. Then they can go forth and change the world.

Zazzle removes offensive t-shirts

When the news broke about Zazzle's "Indian name" t-shirts, Indian activists bombarded Zazzle with e-mails and phone calls. Corine Fairbanks sent a particularly nasty e-mail whose politest line was:Your line of T-shirts SUCK.Two days later, Corine was happy to receive this semi-form letter in response:Response (Tony) 06/23/2010 07:14 PM

Hello Zazzler,

Thank you for your email to Zazzle.

Zazzle has always respected all cultures and would never intentionally have any designs that would be offensive in any matter. For this reason, we would like to thank you for bringing these products to our attention and to inform you that we are currently in the process of contacting our sellers and removing these designs from Zazzle’s Marketplace.

Best Regards,
Content Management
Zazzle, Inc.Comment:  Good news! Once again, protests have the desired effect. I'm amazed that some people think protesting is a waste of time when it produces results so often.

I had a debate with someone over the proper way to protest the t-shirts. She seemed to think activists should click on the "Report Violation" link for each of 5,000-odd products. My suggestion was to go directly to the top. Zazzle has a customer contact page. Its user agreement prohibits racist materials. And the law typically requires an intermediary such as Zazzle to remove offensive items.

Given these facts, why wouldn't you contact Zazzle first? Glad to see I was right on that point.

In any case, Indians successfully challenged another racist stereotype in the mainstream culture. As usual, I didn't lead the charge or tell them what to do. My role was limited to suggesting they contact Zazzle rather than the individual vendors.

For more on the subject of protesting, see Whites Fighting Racism Is Racist?! and Do Protests Work?

Stereotypical thinking causes racist results

A new book makes a valuable point about connection between thought and action. From a press release:

Like a Loaded Weapon
The Rehnquist Court, Indian Rights, and the Legal History of Racism in America

Robert A. Williams, Jr.Robert A. Williams, Jr. boldly exposes the ongoing legal force of the racist language directed at Indians in American society. Fueled by well-known negative racial stereotypes of Indian savagery and cultural inferiority, this language, Williams contends, has functioned “like a loaded weapon” in the Supreme Court’s Indian law decisions.

Beginning with Chief Justice John Marshall’s foundational opinions in the early nineteenth century and continuing today in the judgments of the Rehnquist Court, Williams shows how undeniably racist language and precedent are still used in Indian law to justify the denial of important rights of property, self-government, and cultural survival to Indians. Building on the insights of Malcolm X, Thurgood Marshall, and Frantz Fanon, Williams argues that racist language has been employed by the courts to legalize a uniquely American form of racial dictatorship over Indian tribes by the U.S. government.Comment:  Let's reiterate the key phrase: "the ongoing legal force of the racist language directed at Indians." In other words, American lawmakers conceived of Indians as subhuman savages. They acted on their racist and stereotypical beliefs. The result was laws and court decisions that demolished Indian freedom and self-sufficiency. Beliefs led directly to vast and measurable harm.

This argument devastates the counterargument we hear frequently: that stereotypical beliefs are some harmless, commonplace way of looking at the world. In this view, words such as chief, warrior, brave, savage, redskin, princess, squaw, teepee, bow and arrow, tomahawk, feather, bead, drum, etc. are just a superficial means of categorizing Indians. They're benign abstractions, like labeling the sky "blue" though it may have a range of colors.

Sure, these Native terms may be outdated or archaic, but they serve as a starting point for understanding. When people have to move beyond these terms, they do. New information quickly and easily replaces old information.

In particular, goes the counterargument, these terms have no adverse consequences or effects. Someone can think of Indians as chiefs and warriors yet have no bias against modern-day Indians in suits or dresses. Wherever racist impulses come from, they're unconnected to stereotypical beliefs.

This view is rubbish, of course. We can tell by the cognitive dissonance that arises whenever you challenge stereotypical beliefs about Indians. People don't readily accept the new information and adjust their mental map accordingly. Rather, they excuse, justify, and defend their stereotypical beliefs. These beliefs are so intrinsic to their thought processes that they refuse to give them up.

Language creates thought

I haven't read Like a Loaded Weapon, so I don't know how deeply it goes into the psychological connection between language and thought. But a substantial school of linguistics suggests how language influences how we think. According to this model, it's difficult if not impossible to form thoughts independent of the language we use.

Some background on the subject:

Linguistic relativityThe linguistic relativity principle, or the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis is the idea that differences in the way languages encode cultural and cognitive categories affect the way people think, so that speakers of different languages think and behave differently because of it.How Does Our Language Shape the Way We Think?

By Lera BoroditskyHumans communicate with one another using a dazzling array of languages, each differing from the next in innumerable ways. Do the languages we speak shape the way we see the world, the way we think, and the way we live our lives? Do people who speak different languages think differently simply because they speak different languages? Does learning new languages change the way you think?The answer:We have collected data around the world: from China, Greece, Chile, Indonesia, Russia, and Aboriginal Australia. What we have learned is that people who speak different languages do indeed think differently and that even flukes of grammar can profoundly affect how we see the world. Language is a uniquely human gift, central to our experience of being human. Appreciating its role in constructing our mental lives brings us one step closer to understanding the very nature of humanity.I'm not sure anyone has applied this theory to race. If not, let me be the first. When we use derogatory terms for people--women, blacks, gays, Muslims, et al.--we create derogatory thoughts and feelings in our minds. We quickly come to believe what we're saying. I suspect the constant repetition of language literally rewires the brain. Subjective stereotypes replace objective facts and memories in our neural networks.

A good example of this happened during World War II. Before the war, I don't think Americans had a strong bias against Germans. Heck, something like a quarter of Americans were of German descent. But anti-German propaganda--referring to them as cartoon-style Krauts, Huns, and so forth--turned them into a race of evildoers. A generation of Americans came to believe Germans were monsters who would kill their mothers and eat their babies.

The same thing happened to Indians. Beginning with Columbus, Europeans realized that Indians stood in the way of world dominance. Therefore, "we" immediately began demonizing "them" as children, creatures of the forest, predators, etc. We convinced ourselves they were subhuman savages who didn't deserve human rights or respect. All our subsequent actions--Manifest Destiny, broken treaties, genocide--flowed from these stereotypical beliefs.

Ergo, stereotypical thinking causes racist results. Eliminate the stereotypical thinking and you eliminate the racist results. Instead of laws and court decisions based on the "savage Indian" paradigm, you get laws and court decisions based on reality.

For more on the subject, see Stereotypes Beget Stereotypes and The Harm of Native Stereotyping:  Facts and Evidence.

Below:  Belief...


Action...



And result.

Indians missing from newscasts

American Indians no longer in the 18th century

Scholar John Sanchez takes his message on the road

By Rick KearnsIt was at this juncture, as he stated to the audience at the University of Pennsylvania, that he was asked to speak at an elementary school. The talk went well, Sanchez recalled, and the students and teachers applauded. Before he left, a division leader asked him for his address so they could send him a thank you letter. He then asked the school official to conduct a little experiment.

“I would like the teachers to walk into their classrooms tomorrow, give the kids some paper and something to draw with, and ask the students to draw a picture of an American Indian family,” Sanchez continued. “I said to not mention the words ‘modern’ or ‘ancient’ just draw a family.”

The result from the second through fifth graders, he explained, was 120 drawings of people in beads and feathers, “with bare-chested men, some with tomahawks, and some had decapitated heads that had been cut with the tomahawks.

“These are 18th century images, and children in second grade have two major ways of knowing things at that age, one is media, and the second is public schools.”Yes, the media and the schools, in roughly that order. Another expert confirms what some people know and some people deny.

Gee, I wonder where kids got the idea of beheaded Indians. I can't imagine.



I wonder if that was 120 out of 120 drawings. That would be an impressively scary window into what children think.

Note that the drawings didn't just show primitive Indians. They showed primitive Indians decapitating each other. Even though the request was to draw an Indian family. Even though beheadings, if they happened at all, are more than a century out of date.

This would be equivalent to drawing a black family as slaves in chains. Or a Japanese family as samurais and geishas. Or an English family in Victorian-era top hats and corsets.

It would signal a massive amount of stereotypical thinking untouched by our educational system. Imagine the headlines: "Students Perceive Blacks as Slaves." There would be a national outcry.

Yet when the same thing occurs to Indians, we barely notice. Several classes of children think Indians are primitive savages who decapitate each other? Golly, what's wrong with that? Who cares?




Stereotypes and omissions

The article continues:“I also decided to study how the big three networks [ABC, NBC, CBS] frame American Indian stories.” Through detailed research, Sanchez discovered that this group of networks–which he chose as most people would be able to see them without paying for cable–broadcasted a total of 175,889 newscasts between 1990 and 1999. Of those newscasts, 98, or .05 percent were about American Indians.

The majority of that .05 percent used “.… representations of American Indians with 18th century images,” he said.I'd like to know more about that study. What were the stories about? Indian mascots? Dances with Wolves and the Oscars it received? I'd guess casinos, but stories about Indian gaming shouldn't feature stereotypical images.

In any case, consider what Sanchez tells us. During the period in question, Indians were massively underrepresented. Instead of appearing 1% of the time, as their numbers would suggest, they appeared 1/20th as often. They were essentially invisible in the media.

And when they did appear, the appearances were stereotypical a majority of the time. So for every 40 times Indians should've appeared, they appeared only two times. At least one of the two appearances was stereotypical. Real, unstereotypical Indians appeared less than one of 40 times.

Is it any wonder stereotypes dominate our thinking about Indians? And is there any doubt the media is the primary source of these stereotypes? No and no.

For more on the subject, see Students Draw What They Know and Stereotyping by Omission.

Below:  Where are Waldo and the Indians?

Quileutes visit LA for Eclipse

The hype for The Twilight Saga: Eclipse continues:

Quileutes to walk red carpet at Los Angeles premiere of latest "Twilight" movie

By Paige DickersonAbout 15 representatives of the Quileute tribe will attend the Los Angeles premiere of "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse" on Thursday.

The five-member council was invited to bring a guest as well as a student from the Quileute Tribal School.

However, Chairwoman Anna Rose Counsell-Geyer decided to give up her tickets to allow other members to attend the swanky event that will unveil the latest movie in the "Twilight" blockbuster series.

Although not one frame of film has been shot on the West End--where author Stephenie Myers sets her best-selling series of Twilight novels--the premiere of each film has been big news on the North Olympic Peninsula.Comment:  I saw a news report Tuesday morning about this premiere. People are camping out 2-3 days in advance for a chance to see the movie and its stars. One girl came all the way from New Zealand. These people apparently have nothing better to do with their lives than daydream about romance.

When asked, all the girls screamed that they were "Team Edward," not "Team Jacob." By the end of the series, I wonder if anyone will admit to liking Jacob better.

I suspect the movies will seal the impression that white heroines belong with white heroes. That Indians are suitable to be sidekicks or mysterious "others" but not lead characters.

For more on the subject, see TeenHollywood Interviews Wolf Pack and Quileutes Visit LA for New Moon.

Below:  "Leticia Jaime, who received a ticket to attend this week's premiere of the latest Twilight movie."

Whites fighting racism is racist?!

Apropos of several recent arguments, I posted the following sarcastic comments on Facebook:Whites shouldn't write about Indians. Men shouldn't write about women. Democrats shouldn't write about Republicans. Law-abiding citizens shouldn't write about criminals. Living people shouldn't write about dead people. Humans shouldn't write about animals. Etc.

Really, how could someone today possibly understand Lincoln, Shakespeare, or Jesus? Indeed, it's inconceivable that foreigners could write about America or Jews could write about Christianity. No amount of research can make up for firsthand experience.Michael, my newest carping critic, attacked this position:Notice no White people are heralded as great Black leaders. White leaders of Black causes are in fact, dis-empowering to Black people.Jennifer Yuhas Gall countered with:Like all the whites who helped with the underground railroad...or all those who marched on Washington with Martin Luther King?Right, Jennifer. Not to mention a century or two of the white-led abolition movement. Or such white politicians such as Earl Warren, Dwight Eisenhower, or Lyndon Johnson.

King and other blacks clearly led the civil rights movement, and whites clearly supported it and helped where they could. Why? Because they passionately thought racism was wrong and wanted America to live up to its ideals. Just as I do.

The debate is on

This led to the following exchange between Mike and Jennifer:Jennifer:  I can't imagine that any non-Native writer, blogger, or activist is seeking to be perceived as a "leader." Non-native allies are only that--allies to an existing cause. That's a problem somehow?

Michael:  It just seems weird to me that Rob personally attacks perceived slights to Native Americans, when there ought to be Native Americans who can better express the reason the stereotype is hurtful and wrong--whose writing Rob could be promoting instead of himself.

Jennifer:  Rob isn't writing about "perceived slights" to NDNs--he's writing about actual offenses--issues and events that the Native community has already expressed outrage about. Now, I've read his work--he isn't claiming to speak for anyone--he's merely adding his voice and contributing to an existing cause--as all activists do.

Burying your head in the sand and saying "it's not my problem/it's not about me/let someone else deal with it" is the creed of a myopic coward. (BTW, I'm not calling you a coward, Michael...it's that type of mindset I'm ranting against.)

Michael:  Yeah. but Rob is attacking people for their stereotypes, which means he's jumping head first into a shade of grey.

Stereotypes exist because of ignorance, not hatred. They are best addressed with education, not personal attacks.

And to attack a stereotype is to suggest you understand the damage it is doing, which no one that is not of the stereotyped ethnicity has any way of really knowing. Respect for other people means to understand they know their experience, they are the authority, not anyone else.

Jennifer:  LOL...it's called empathy, Michael. That, combined with a concerted effort to become knowledgeable about and understanding of the culture(s) that are being stereotyped and misrepresented--it's really not altogether difficult to recognize and separate truth and fact from stereotype and lies.Mike dives off deep endMichael:  Look, I have empathy. What pisses me off is that Native Americans are fucking impoverished and not thriving personally and economically, I could give a rats ass if Ke$ha is wearing an Indian style headdress--that's not actually hurting anyone in any real way, it's a fashion faux pas, not a bigoted statement.

And frankly the fact that Rob is devoting so much attention to the stereotypes of pop stars, what it accomplishes is the message: this is the worst Native American have to complain about! It's FUCKING RACIST to draw attention away from broken treaties and poverty.

Now shut the fuck up about empathy, empathy makes me ANGRY and INTOLERANT! Complain about pop stars once every Native American peace treaty is respected, Once every native American is economically well off. Not one minute before--because that's a disservice to the genuine serious issues of these people.

And it's true, there are Natives that back Rob up and my point of view is just my own. That fact doesn't alter my point of view. And the problem is empathy, not a lack thereof.

Okay I get emotional over this. I really believe you address media and pop stars on the DL, with letter writing. Because the publicity should stay focused on the most important issues, issues that are black and white that the most agreement can be arrived upon. Broken treaties.

Simply put, I feel Rob is fucking over Native Americans and I don't like it. The Dudesons isn't impoverishing Native Americans, it's actually employing one.Rob's reply

More destructive criticism from Michael Cooke...sigh.

Must be a crushing blow to your ego to see a white heterosexual male do more to help people than you've done, Mike. You've proved you're only trying to take me down no matter how many Natives like and support my work. Thanks for the confirmation, buddy.

Your personal attacks on my personal attacks ignores the fact that the vast majority of my critiques aren't personal attacks. If you disagree, read my blog and calculate the percentage of such attacks. Put up or shut up, hypocrite.

Several Natives tell you stereotyping is an important issue and you dismiss them. Alas, your ignorance of the harm of stereotyping remains profound. It's pointless to even talk to about this subject until you stop braying like an ass and start studying it.

I don't have to feel prejudice against blacks, Indians, or gays to know it's wrong. My specialty is analyzing why the stereotypes are wrong, not telling people how they should react to them. When it comes to feelings, I can and do report how Natives say they feel. Which is as it should be.

Don't tell us I'm ignoring Native writing on racism and stereotyping and promoting my opinions instead. Given how many Natives I cite and quote, that's a flat-out lie. If you think you have a valid argument, cite and quote the Native writing I should've posted instead of my own. Again, put up or shut up, liar.

Needless to say, you're ignorant of all the times I've discussed broken treaties and poverty. Sometimes I connect them to the pervasive racism and stereotyping in our society--and rightly so--and sometimes I don't. But the claim that I ignore these issues is simply a lie on your part.

A Google search of my site reveals 279 hits for "poverty" and 236 hits for "treaties." If I included variants such as "poor" or "impoverished" and "treaty" or "promise," the totals would be much higher. That doesn't count all the articles I've posted about these issues on PECHANGA.net and elsewhere. And all the times I've discussed these issues in person.

Adding them up, I've easily addressed these issues thousands of times. How many times have you addressed them, you lying sack of hypocrisy? As you've already admitted, zero.

The Dudesons once again

The Dudesons employed one Native actor...that's your argument?! Yeah, and old movies employed one black actor as an Uncle Tom or Aunt Jemima. The success of those old movies encouraged more old movies that employed blacks as Uncle Toms and Aunt Jemimas.

Wow, what a great success story for blacks. Yep, that was the golden age of African American cinema. "Yeah, you sho' nuff gave us a job, massa. We is eternally grateful for yo' kindness!"

When the situation in 2010 is no more progressive, you think we should be glad about that? Wrong. The alternative to early Uncle Toms wasn't no movies employing blacks. It was movies that blacks wrote, produced, directed, and starred in themselves. You know, the kind of movies that began appearing in the 1960s and 1970s? That burgeoning black cinema could've happened decades earlier if Americans weren't so content with their Uncle Toms.

The Dudesons episode isn't opening doors for Native actors, bright boy. It's opening doors for more offensive minstrel shows that mock Native culture and may employ a token Indian or two. That isn't a step forward, it's about 10 steps backward.

Incredibly, you're advocating the Uncle Tom era of entertainment as a model Indians should emulate. Thanks for taking us back to the 1920s and 1930s, Mike. Do you have any other amazingly stupid ideas you want to share with us?

As for Kesha, the same people who protested the Dudesons in person also e-mailed MTV about the Dudesons and American Idol about Kesha. They're writing letters as well as marching in the streets because the two approaches are complimentary. So activists are doing what you advocate, you twit. The question is why you're stupidly attacking them for it.

Finally, when you claim I attribute every problem to bigotry and not ignorance, that's more evidence of your ignorance. If "ignorance" isn't the most common noun in this blog, it must be high on the list. As I've said before, I consider myself an educator of sorts. Fighting ignorance such as yours is exactly what I do most of the time.

Mike likes racism, dislikes education

Summing it up, you've demonstrated your anti-education bias with your attacks on my efforts. You've yet to shown an iota of understanding of the educator's role. Here, read it again, dumbass. Educate yourself about education so you don't sound so damn stupid:

Educational value of blogging
Rob should fight poverty?!

You gotta love Mike's monstrous ego. I'm employed in the Native media and have been for a decade. Mike is unemployed and knows nothing about Natives. Whatever you think of my efforts, I've devoted tens of thousands of hours to them. Mike's devoted a big fat zero.

Yet the person who's done nothing is lecturing me on how to help Natives?! It's not enough that I've devoted countless hours to the cause. I should've devoted countless more hours and eradicated poverty singlehandedly. Anything short of that and Mike judges me a failure.

Nice trick if you can get away with it, white boy. Too bad you can't. I'm calling you on your do-nothing attitude. You and everyone else who tolerates racism are the problem here, not me.

Mike's complaint is a variation of the complaint we've heard several times recently. Mentioning racism causes racism. Protesting racism causes racism. And now whites who fight racism are racists.

What these complaints have in common is ignorance and apathy about racism. You know, the racism that led to Indians suffering broken treaties and genocide? The racism that leads to hate crimes and hateful attacks today? Yes, that same racism.

These crybabies are defending the racist status quo. They want their white power and privilege to continue, so they denigrate attacks on their position. Mike may not support white supremacists, but I think they'd be happy to support him. "Mike says it's okay to portray blacks as tar-babies and Indians as savages, so he's on our side."

Jennifer won't call Mike a myopic coward, but I will. You're a myopic coward for excusing the racism and stereotyping of minorities, Mike. For doing nothing about the offenses and hoping they'll just fade away. If the label fits, wear it, coward.

For more on the subject, see Rand Paul's Pro-Racist Libertarianism and Teabaggers = Hatemongers.

Below:  White-boy coward Michael Cooke.

Zazzle's "Indian name" t-shirts

Another stereotype controversy has been raging on Facebook for a day or so. It involves the online store Zazzle.

As you may recall, Zazzle sells t-shirts featuring Indian skulls in headdresses, among other things. A letter sent to Zazzle explains what else they sell.I am writing on behalf of the American Indian Movement of Colorado. Your "Funny Indian Name" t-shirts are neither funny, nor are they Indian, and if you have any decency, you should take them off of your website, and stop making them. Your shirts are racist, sexist, and ignorant. We expect that very soon you will be hearing from our relatives, friends, and allies, from all over the world, about this matter--about your "funny" Indian name products like "Chief Shitting Bull," and "Screaming Bitch" and "Stares at Boobs," and "Swallows Alot," and "Hung Like Horse," and "Sucks Dicks," and "Humps Like Rabbit." Oh, those are hilarious.

Our indigenous names are sacred, they are bestowed upon us in honored ceremonies--often handed down over many generations, and even speaking our Indian names is considered a sacred act. For you, as ignorant people, to disrespect our traditions in this way, is more evidence of the deeply-seated, malicious, anti-Indian racism still rampant in U.S. society. And no, we can't just lighten up; and no, we can't take a joke about this; and no, we are not taking ourselves too seriously; and no, we don't care if you have a self-hating Indian friend who thinks that they are funny; and no, we don't care if you think that you are part Cherokee and somehow entitled to disrespect all Indian people. And, yes, we get tired, sick and tired if you really want to know, of having to deal with these kind of mindless attacks on our culture and our people, when we have very real life and death issues that affect our communities that must be remedied. If you want to make fun of someone, you should just make fun yourself, if you choose to, and leave us the hell out of it. Just stop it.

Glenn Morris
Leadership Council, American Indian Movement of Colorado

I don't know if Zazzle sells anything itself. It may be just a "storefront" through which others sell their wares. That would explain this note from Morris:We received this reply from Doonies:

I am sorry for any offense that was caused. I have removed the designs from zazzle.com/doonidesigns which is my site, however I am continuing to get threats against me and my families personal safety from people who are writing on your behalf regarding other designs on zazzle.com, I do NOT own zazzle.com and I cannot remove any designs which are not mine. Please help me, and stop the threats and harassment, as I have already complied and removed all offending images that it is in my power to remove.

Comment:  Let's be careful, people. Don't blame Dooni Designs if they've removed everything under their control. And don't threaten anyone's safety. Better to attack Zazzle for not policing the site than each individual vendor for its ignorant racism.

The problem with the shirts

Note that the shirts are all about sex and drugs (including alcohol). They imply Indians are drunk and lascivious--i.e., creatures who can't control their animal impulses. In other words, savages.

If these shirts are supposed to honor Indians, why don't they say anything honorable? Indians might not complain so much if the "funny Indian names" said something affirmative. How about one of these?

My Indian Name is Keeps My Promise

My Indian Name is Runs with Geronimo

My Indian Name is Not Chief, You Ignorant Twit

My Indian Name is Unconquered and Unconquerable

My Indian Name is Kills White Racists

Etc.

Zazzle's shirts are part of the white myth-making we've seen so many times. It goes like this: Indians are inferior to whites. The best people won the battle for America. The remaining Indians are drunken letches who don't deserve whatever we give them. Dirty rotten ingrates, that's what they are.

How protests work

Let's review how this controversy is going so far. Indians leading the protest, not Rob...check. Letter-writing, not street demonstrations...check. Protests successfully eliminating stereotypes...check.

I conclude carping crybabies like Michael Cooke will find some other reason to attack me, since this is a perfect example of my work. I'm not telling Natives what to think, I'm reporting on and supporting their efforts. Duh.

For more on "funny Indian names," see Heidi and Spencer Adopt "Indian Names" and Real vs. Phony Indian Names. For more on the subject in general, see Why Americans Exploit Indians and Is Cultural Appropriation Okay?

Washington curriculum tackles ignorance

Tribal curriculum aims to break down stereotypes

By Linda Shaw"We really want to break down a lot of the stereotypes and misconceptions that people have about the tribes and tribal people," said Denny Hurtado, state director of Indian education, and one of the project's leaders.

With the 1974 Boldt decision, which reaffirmed tribal fishing rights in Washington, "people were saying things like, 'Why do these Indians have special rights?' " Hurtado said. "If they really understood the history and the truth, they would understand that we've always had these rights."

Right now, most Washington students learn little about Native Americans, and even less about tribes in Washington state, where there are 29 federally recognized tribes--more than all but a handful of other states.

Textbooks don't help much--the one Kingston Middle School uses for state history ends its discussion of Native Americans around 1877.

Even in Kingston, where students live within minutes of reservations belonging to the Suquamish and Port Gamble S'Klallam tribes, many know little more than their names.

Many teachers shy away from teaching more because good materials have been hard to find, and they fear getting it wrong.

"It's truly just out of not knowing," said Gayle Pauley, of the state education department. "I used to teach third grade ... and there were so few authentic resources, it always bothered me."Comment:  Another great article on the right way to teach about Indians. I hope these programs spread from Montana and Washington across the country.

Several points here:

Other than reading James Loewen's Lies My Teacher Told Me, I haven't studied school textbooks. But this confirms how limited they still are.

This puts the lie to the claim that everyone should take "American history," not ethnic studies. When textbooks omit a century-plus of tribal history, that's whitewashing.

It's good to know teachers are willing to do more. But everyone involved in education should've done more to find or create high-quality materials years ago.

This isn't rocket science, people. I probably could go to a Native library and put together an acceptable set of resources in a day or so. Ignorance of what's available isn't much of an excuse.

Once again, we see a direct line between stereotypes and tangible harm. Non-Indians think Indians are savages who disappeared long ago. The few remaining ones are wretched wards of the state. They haven't earned anything, so they must be getting special rights.

Until 1974, courts denied local tribes their treaty-bound rights because of this kind of thinking. So stereotypes helped keep the Indians in poverty, unable to support themselves through fishing. Stereotypical thinking--i.e., ignorance--determined how whites would treat them.

So a lack of education is the problem and education is the cure. That's why education contributes mightily to the elimination of social ills. In the old "give people a fish or teach them to fish" maxim, teaching is usually the best solution.

For more on the subject, see Ethnic History Corrects American History and Mainstream History = Pro-White Propaganda.

Below:  Some history conveniently omitted from Washington state's textbooks?

Megan Fox as Sarah Rainmaker?!

Megan Fox wants to play a lesbian Native American superhero

By Rishitha SvedanAmerican actress Megan Fox has revealed her dream role.

"I don’t want people to protest this, but I would like to be Sarah Rainmaker in 'Gen 13' if they ever made that into a movie," Fox News quoted the actress as saying at the premiere of her new film Jonah Hex.Her justification for this?"She’s a Native American and I have a little bit of that blood in me. It would be a bit of a stretch-but if Jake Gyllenhaal can be the Prince of Persia, I think that I can do that," Fox said.Comment:  Here's your protest, Megan. If you even think of taking this role, I'll be glad to rip you and your presumption to shreds. I'll make sure this racist choice gets the widest publicity possible.

Using one example of racist casting--the Prince of Persia--to justify another is pathetic. Why not go to the source for your justification? Al Jolson sang jazz in blackface, so maybe you can play Lena Horne or Billie Holiday too.

Who should play Rainmaker?

People began discussing this issue on Facebook, so I offered the following thoughts:

Megan Fox wants to play the role because Rainmaker is a exotic babe and so is Fox. She wants people to slaver over her as an "Indian princess."

I'd go in the opposite direction and hire a young Native actress who is talented but not a pure sex bomb. In other words, take a phony character and make it real.

For more on Sarah Rainmaker, see Top Five Native Heroes and Rainmaker the Environmentalist. For more on casting movies, see Hollywood Doesn't Know Anything and Shyamalan Defends Airbender Casting.

Arizona laws = manifest insanity

A continuation of the themes begun in Arizona Laws = Clash of Civilizations:

From Manifest Destiny to manifest insanity

By Roberto RodriguezThose politics, fueled by hateful and cowardly politicians and the hate-radio universe, are undeniably anti-Mexican and anti-immigrant. Yet in truth, they actually are anti-indigenous. In effect, the politics that we are seeing are undeniably an extension of Manifest Destiny. Its modern expression is Manifest Insanity, an attempt to maintain the myth of America conceived of as a promise of a pristine, God-given home reserved for English-speaking White Anglo Saxon Protestants–this amid the browning of the nation.

These Arizona laws are part of a spasmodic reaction to this demographic shift, an attempt to maintain a political and cultural dominance over [brown] peoples seen as less than human and as defeated peoples. These laws seek to maintain this narrative of conquest. This is why the loss of some 5,000 Mexicans and Central Americans lives, primarily indigenous peoples, in the Arizona/Sonora desert in the past dozen years mean little in this clash. The same is true in regards to the recent killings of two Mexicans by U.S. agents along the U.S./Mexico border.
And:Ethnic Studies indeed is a threat to the myth of America–the mythical America where genocide, land theft, slavery and dehumanization are denied or are but mere footnotes, as opposed to being the recognized foundation of this nation. (Unchallenged, this glossed-over view is what permits U.S. citizens to view permanent war as a God-given birthright). With such a denial, the concept of “Occupied America,” an occupied continent, becomes unfathomable. The narrative of an empty continent, incidentally, is what permits the myth of no occupation.

The best that Raza Studies critics do is attempt to dehumanize Mexicans/Chicanos. In their conjured-up narrative, Mexicans/Chicanos are neither legitimate Americans, nor legitimate human beings. Neither are they afforded the status of indigenous peoples. At best, they are mongrels, undeserving of full human rights.Comment:  For more on the subject, see Conservatives Hope Minorities Will Forget and Natives Lead Arizona Law Protest.

White man leads Indian tribe

'Gringo chief' Randy Borman helps Ecuador's Cofan Indians survive, thrive

By Juan ForeroOn a recent day, the man known as the Gringo Chief wore a traditional black smock and a necklace strung with jaguar and wild boar's teeth, perfectly suitable for the Cofan Indian ceremony marking the acquisition of yet another slice of rain forest.

With his fellow Cofan listening, Randy Borman gave a speech celebrating the latest accomplishment for a native people intent on taking back their vast ancestral lands. He spoke flawless Cofan, and no one dwelled on his unusual background: an American born to missionaries who grew up to become the Cofan's most prominent, influential leader.

The blue-eyed, gray-haired Borman, 54, is described by those who know him as an energetic, almost frenetic administrator who over 30 years has helped spearhead the revival of a people buffeted by encroaching settlers and oil companies.

Along the way, he has won respect for his ability to hunt monkeys with a blowgun and spend weeks trudging through an unforgiving jungle.Comment:  This is an excellent example of what it means to be "Indian." As the US Supreme Court ruled, as most Indians understand it, tribal membership is a political or cultural decision. The tribe's choice determines who gets to be a member, not someone's biology. A tribe is perfectly free to expel a full-blooded member and admit a white person instead.

Borman's success also proves that non-Indians can understand Indians well enough to become indistinguishable from them. There's no magical, mystical DNA or soul that makes one an Indian, as Russell Bates once claimed. If you live, act, and think like an Indian for much of your life, Indians may well accept you as one.

Note that I'm not talking about New Agers or wannabes who pretend to be Indians on weekends. Not even if they wear buckskins and live in a teepee full-time--as some European hobbyists may do. I'm talking about someone who faces the same hardship and oppression--who literally slogs through mud--as an Indian. That leaves everyone but a person like Borman out.

For more on the subject, see Are Pure White Indians Possible? and "Actual Indian" Defined.

The myth of the Cherokee princess

Dispelling the Myth of "Was Your Grandmother a Cherokee Princess?"

Cherokee Princess Is Tribal Myth, Joke

By Evening RainIt's inevitable if you're American Indian. Somewhere, when you least expect it, a non-Indian person will step up and say, "My grandmother was a Cherokee Princess, I am trying to find out how to become a member of the tribe."

The speaker always assumes that all American Indians know each other and are experts on tribal enrollment. The question can come from the mechanic, the professor at a large university or a next-door neighbor.

Descendants of the famed Cherokee Princess are everywhere. She is elusive. Few who tell about her can actually remember her name. But she was "quite an old gal" with high cheekbones and brown skin. "You could see the Indian in her," they might say. It's often difficult, but if you're an American Indian, be polite, try not to laugh and direct the person to the Bureau of Indian Affairs for more information.

The mythological Cherokee Princess is a legend in Indian country.Comment:  For more on the subject, see Liv Tyler = Cherokee Pocahontas?! and Determining Indians = Waste of Time?

Jonah Hex shows Hollywood's "thinking"

A critic discusses how the Jonah Hex movie went wrong. In part, by using mystical Indians to give Hex supernatural powers.

Hexed Weekend

By Greg Hatcher"When you're looking at making a wide release feature film, you have to appeal to as many people as possible and as I've said many times before a western is a hard sell regardless of the medium. With the monthly book we write, [readers get] a mash-up of straight western with spaghetti and grindhouse, stories that have a pulp nature, but are firmly rooted in the realism of the old west. I really think the way the film is shot and the differences will appeal to a young audience, and that's what makes sense in terms of marketing."

In other words, the movie people clearly decided, Jonah Hex as a straight western isn't going to be big enough and loud enough for a summer comic book movie. We better tweak it to be bigger and louder. Because we can't sell a western.

Speaking as someone who loves Westerns in general and Jonah Hex in particular, this notion is maddening. Because it seems obvious to me that the core film of Jonah Hex started as something good, the filmmakers clearly meant to do right by the character...but it slowly got tweaked and edited to death in an atmosphere of increasing panic over how to market the thing. And all because "we can't sell a western."

Hollywood can't sell a western? Are you kidding me? Westerns have been successful in movies and television for the better part of a century. Stagecoach. Gunsmoke. The Searchers. Bonanza. True Grit. Rio Bravo. Ride the High Country. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. The Wild Bunch. The Magnificent Seven and the three sequels and TV series that spun out of it. A Fistful of Dollars. High Plains Drifter. And so on.

Oh, sure, those are classics. But they mean you can't market a Western movie to modern audiences.

Uh-huh. So I guess we just won't count Silverado, Tombstone, Wyatt Earp, Unforgiven, Broken Trail, The Quick and the Dead, Young Guns, Lonesome Dove, Deadwood, 3:10 to Yuma, Pale Rider, Dances With Wolves, or any of a dozen others I could name. I didn't even mention the successful series of Louis L'Amour adaptations done for TNT starring Tom Selleck and Sam Elliott, or the Hallmark Channel's equally-successful series of made-for-TV westerns starring Kevin Sorbo, Luke Perry, and Lou Diamond Phillips.Hatcher sums it up:This "westerns are dead" business is one of those things where I can't figure out how the idiot idea ever took hold in the first place, there's a mountain of evidence to contradict it, but it did. The moviemakers got it lodged in their heads that Westerns are a hard sell and so they decreed that Jonah Hex can't look like a Western. Instead, they front-loaded it with Megan Fox and a heavy-metal soundtrack and a lot of CGI and prayed something would stick.Comment:  This Hollywood mentality also explains why studios won't make movies featuring normal or modern Indians. Because the racists people in charge don't think Indians are interesting or "sexy" enough to move audiences. Indians are good only if they're savage warriors or mystical shamans.

Jonah Hex is already tanking at the box office. Once again, we see that Hollywood doesn't know anything. Hundreds of Native filmmakers could take the same actors, equipment, and money and make a better and more profitable movie.

For more on the subject, see Hollywood's Cultural Conservatism and Indians Hold Steady at 0.3%.

Below:  Big explosions always make a movie more exciting.

Great White Father's Day

An essay notes why Natives don't necessarily see holidays the same way as non-Natives:

All Hail the Great White Father

By Brenda GoldenFather’s Day--a time to reflect and remember one’s father with sadness, gratefulness, sorrow, happiness or even soul searching. For the Native American, we will never forget what the Great White Father promised but did not deliver.

Here is a brief excerpt from the book The Road to Disappearance by Angie Debo: “Two hundred years ago when the activities of the white man in North America were dominated by clashing imperial ambitions and colonial hardships and struggles, the great Creek Confederacy rested in savage contentment under the reign of native law. The reputation of the Creeks as warriors and native diplomats extended to the most distant reaches of the Indian country and the lonely settler hated them with a ferocity inspired by fear; but secure in their careless strength, they had no guile to match that of the white man, and no disciplined courage to oppose his ruthlessness. They met encroachment with angry and sporadic reprisals, but in the main, they were held in check by specious arguments and pledges of friendship until their power was worn down and their spirits tamed. Piece by piece their land was wrested from them and they submitted with grumbling, always believing that this time the treaty would be kept. In the end they were dragged from their ancient homes and flung down upon a raw western frontier to conquer it or die.”

Such is the case of thousands of First Americans treated equally as sovereign nations, entering into agreements and treaties to keep the peace and attempt to live along side the exploding Non Native settlers.Golden's conclusion:Let us stop and acknowledge what the Great White Father has done for us, the Native peoples so no one will forget.Comment:  Father's Day obviously has no political component...or does it? If you look at our holidays, they're basically about celebrating the triumph of Euro-Americans and the greatness of the status quo. Hence we say "as American as mom, baseball, and apple pie" and celebrate Mother's and Father's Day.

How many holidays actually challenge the dominant mindset? Labor Day, perhaps, but we've denuded that of any meaning. Martin Luther King Day, certainly, and look how controversial that was.

Meanwhile, other countries celebrate holidays such as Guy Fawkes Night or Bastille Day. Unlike us, they're not afraid to acknowledge that the status quo sometimes sucks.

We could use a day to celebrate not just freedom (July 4) but the revolutionary spirit of freedom. A day where conservatives and liberals could come together to agitate for their causes. Teabaggers could rail against black presidents big government and rational people could rail against corporate greed (Wall Street and BP) and wasteful wars (Afghanistan and Iraq).

We could call it We Shall Overcome Day or Fight the Power Day. Or for some historical perspective, Little Bighorn Day. Is there a better example of how the Great White Father was wrong and got the punishment it justly deserved?

For more on the subject, see Divisive St. Patrick's Day and Liberation Day, not Presidents Day.

Twilight screwed Native actors?

‘Twilight’ Werewolf Rick Mora: Flick Was Shot in Oregon—to Gyp the Local Natives“There are reasons why movies like Twilight were shot in Oregon and cast with Oregon natives,” he tells host Neyom Friday.

“It’s because they didn’t want to pay Hollywood Natives. It was easier for them to get local extras who didn’t understand the business and pay ’em, you know, a flat rate--versus taking the talent that’s worked very hard in Hollywood.

“I can give you a list of very over-qualified actors who would be more than willing to take a scale rate to participate in a project, you know?” adds Rick, who played an uncredited native werewolf in Twilight, and has a starring role in the upcoming feature Big Money Rustlas, co-starring Brigitte Nielsen and Vanilla Ice.

“As much growth as we’ve had, there are subtle changes in the arena of Native American contribution. It’s sad for me to say that there are still productions that are putting wigs on Caucasians and painting their skin,” he continues.Comment:  I'd say the ideal would've been to film on the Quileute reservation using Quileute Indians as extras. But for whatever reason, that probably wasn't an option.

If the choice was filming in Oregon using local Indians as extras or filming in Washington using professional Indian actors...hmm, tough call. I don't have any particular loyalty to professional actors. If the cost impels filmmakers to use amateur actors, I'm okay with that. Making films "real" with real Natives is the main thing I care about.

Note that an Oregon tribe is reasonably close, physically and culturally, to a Washington tribe. From an authenticity standpoint, you could say using nearby Indians is better than importing Indians from around the country. So I'm not sure I agree with Mora's main point.

Putting non-Natives in wigs and makeup to play Natives is culturally unacceptable, of course. And Twilight screwed Native actors enough by hiring Taylor Lautner, Tinsel Korey, and Boo Boo Stewart.

For more on the subject, see TeenHollywood Interviews Wolf Pack and Doors Open for New Moon's Indians.

P.S. Someone on Facebook made an obvious point about the article's title:It's unfortunate that the author used the ethnic slur "to gyp" in the headline.I presume the word "gyp" didn't come from Mora.

Auditions for Everybody Loves Whales

Auditions begin in Anchorage for Barrow whale movie

'X' marks the spot for star-struck tryouts

By Kyle HopkinsAuditions have begun for "Everybody Loves Whales," the upcoming Universal Pictures movie that begins filming in Anchorage and Barrow this fall. With an estimated budget of $30 million and Drew Barrymore and John Krasinski set to star, the movie tells a dramatized story of the 1988 attempt to rescue three gray whales trapped in sea ice near Barrow.

News of the project--and filmmakers' plans to cast dozens of Alaskans in speaking roles, if possible--have stirred Hollywood dreams in would-be actors across the state and beyond. More than 1,000 people have e-mailed or called in hopes of winning speaking parts or extras work, said Deborah Schildt, one of two Alaska casting directors.Here's how you find Inupiaq actors. Hint to M. Night Shyamalan: It's not by publishing an open casting call in the Hollywood trades:The auditions move to Barrow next weekend, in time for the spring whaling festival, Nalukataq. After that it's Western Alaska, then off to Fairbanks for the World Eskimo-Indian Olympics in late July. Multiple auditions are planned for Anchorage, Schildt said, with the filmmakers looking to cast Russian-speaking sailors, a helicopter pilot who can actually fly a helicopter, cameramen and restaurant workers, and an army of extras.

On Friday, Schildt saw about 20 kids for the role of an Inupiaq boy, about 10 to 13 years old. Two children arrived from the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta village of Chevak. One from Bethel. On Sunday, the casting directors were looking mostly at an Alaska Native elder and whaling captain roles.A small example of why authenticity matters:Steve MacLean said he's hoping the moviemakers do their homework and do right by Inupiaq culture in the movie.

"There are some things that were not exactly right in some of the lines that were given. Some misperceptions of some small details," he said after the audition.Comment:  For more on the subject, see Preview of Everybody Loves Whales and The Best Indian Movies.

Below:  "Teddy Smith auditioned Sunday, June 20, 2010, for a part in the movie Everybody Loves Whales, set to start filming this fall in Alaska." (Bill Roth/Anchorage Daily News)

The Dead Can't Dance to premiere

Rodrick Pocowatchit’s ‘The Dead Can’t Dance’ to Have Canadian Premiere

By The Moving ArtsAward-winning Wichita filmmaker Rodrick Pocowatchit’s Native American zombie comedy “The Dead Can’t Dance” will have its international and Canadian premiere in Montreal on Saturday, June 19, at the renowned First Peoples Festival.

The film is screening in competition, and will start at 7 p.m. at Cinema DuParc in Montreal’s famous arts district.

Filmed on location in Wichita with a local cast and crew, “The Dead Can’t Dance” is the story of Dax, his brother, Ray, and nephew, Eddie, as they embark on Eddie’s journey across the Plains to become the first in his family to attend college. But along the way, the trio quickly finds their trip side-tracked in a sinister twist: Something has begun to sicken and kill everyone—everyone, that is, except them! Why are these three Comanche men—and, it turns out, a gas station attendant they meet along the way—spared the fates befalling all the others? The ensuing journey lasts the night, and it’s a tale of horror, comedy, familial love and identity that will move you—and turn your American history book on its head.Comment:  This is a good example of mainstreaming Indians--i.e., putting them in a story that has little to do with their history and culture. When movies like this become the norm, people will stop seeing Indians as exotic creatures.

For more on the subject, see The Best Indian Movies.

Michael Horse in Sons of Tucson

Michael Horse guest-starred in the Father's Day episode of Sons of Tucson (airdate: 6/20/10). He played Mike, an employee at the sporting goods store where Ron works. Ron tried to persuade him to come to a Father's Day barbecue, and later he attended.

In two scenes, he got about a minute of screen time. He didn't say anything wise or funny, and no one mentioned his being an Indian. Viewers probably wouldn't have guessed his ethnicity, although his long white hair was a clue.

It's good to see an Indian in a mainstream role like this, even if it's a bit part. It's especially good since Tucson is infused with Indian culture, which hasn't been evident on-screen. Indeed, other than perhaps some exterior shots, I'm not sure Sons of Tucson is filmed in Tucson.

For more on the subject, see TV Shows Featuring Indians.

Memoir for Father's Day

Here's a story about my dad for Father's Day. It has nothing to do with Indians, but it tells you a bit about where I'm coming from.

Besides, Dad was a Stanford Indian, and I think he flew Piper Cherokees. That's enough of an Indian connection for me.

Endless Flights:  The Forgotten Astronaut and His Friend