Comanche Boy vs. Longacre

An upcoming boxing match, of all things, offers some pointers about Native stereotyping and identity.

Comanche Boy to Longacre:  “You wanted it. Now you’re gonna get it.”

By Coyote Duran“Let’s face it. White people can’t box. Black people box better. Puerto Ricans...even better. It seems the lower you go on the social ladder, the better the boxer. If there’s a Puerto Rican who is a good boxer, there’s a Native American waiting to kick his ass.”

--Chris Rock

Sure, it’s a funny quote but one has to wonder if this is why George Tahdooahnippah, 26-0-1 (20), is still waiting for his shot at a substantial opponent in the middleweight division. Instead, the Native American fighter known as “Comanche Boy” is stuck facing kickboxer Thomas Longacre, who’s making his professional boxing debut, on February 25, at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Although Tahdooahnippah is trying to make the best of the situation, it almost seems like he’s taking a detour off the highway he so desperately wants to bury the pedal on. Primarily, that frustration comes from a common perception of fighters in the Heartland, perhaps specifically, fighters he’s had to face thus far.
And:Although the potential storyline was riveting, “Comanche Boy” wasn’t amused. The conflict almost seemed like the script from a “Rocky” sequel.

“This Thomas Longacre, he came out of nowhere. I was doing a radio interview and someone was like, ‘Aw, this is the fight everybody wants to see. ‘Another Native American fighter!’ and I thought it was gonna be this other guy and then they said, ‘And that’s the fight between you and Thomas ‘Thunderkick’ Longacre!’” said Tahdooahnippah. “I was like, ‘Who?!’ (laughs) I said, ‘No disrespect but I never heard of him!’ They said, ‘You never heard of Thomas Longacre?!’ I said, ‘Naw, never!’ They said, ‘Thunderkick’, you never…?’ I said, ‘No! Is he a boxer?’ They said, ‘No, he’s a world champion kickboxer.’ (Imitating a disbelieving sputter) Pffth, there you go, right there! I’m a boxer! So I asked, ‘What tribe is he?’ And then, ‘Oh, I don’t…I don’t know…’ They didn’t even know what tribe he was. So I just blew it off and then, a little bit later, a YouTube video came out, an interview and [Longacre] was talking about how he could beat me and blah, blah, blah. You know, I just blew it off. It was nothing because he does nothing for my boxing career. He’s 0-0 as a professional boxer but he was clowning all the people I’ve fought. So what’s his record? He ain’t even a pro boxer! So, I’m gonna fight February 25th and I’m gonna fight a guy that’s gonna be a pro debuter and I’m gonna beat him and then it’s gonna look on my record 26-0 at the time, fight a guy who’s 0-0.”

It came off like a bad joke. Although Longacre claims to be half-Creek and Yuchi, adding a tribe vs. tribe subtext to the fight, it’s still a mixed-martial artist-type (who thinks all because he’s great at one combat sport, he’s just as great at another) with a chip on his shoulder vs. the boxer who can’t believe his eyes and ears that he’s having to squander a slot in his career for him.And:As impatient as Tahdooahnippah is with the situation and having to prepare for a fighter he can only study from kickboxing and MMA tape, he’s even more short with the fact that Longacre comes off as a true (ethnically) self-loathing, cracked-mirror, black hat in this fight, somewhat the comic-book villain study. With Tahdooahnippah serving as the Native American Captain Marvel figure, Longacre is definitely Black Adam. Apparently, Longacre’s promoter is Dr. Sivana and his camp and fans are the Monster Society.

“Yeah, that’s what he says,” said Tahdooahnippah, as if fatigued with the thought, when asked how he felt about Longacre’s claims of indigenous pride. “I’m a Native American fighter. The way I live my life, I wake up; I’m a Native American man first. You know, because there are not very many of us, I’ve gotta display the best Native American warrior that anyone’s ever gonna see. But I think that [Longacre] is a fighter that is part Native American and that’s the difference between us. I’ve got native pride and he doesn’t. It was all over our Facebook pages and his promoter, Dale Cook, he’s got his friends calling me…’Oh, they’re just a bunch of ‘injuns.’ All his fans are just a bunch of ‘injuns’ getting drunk off of firewater. That’s why the paleface took their land.’ And I said, ‘What kinda Indian is gonna let his friends talk about his race like that?’ So that right there lets you know how much pride he has for his race. I’m not saying he’s this much or that much. It just lets me know his pride.”Comment:  Interesting how the writer compared the two fighters to comic-book characters. It's sort of an acknowledgment that a real-life boxer "warrior" and a fictional superhero "warrior" aren't that far apart.

For more on Comanche Boy, see "Comanche Boy" Webisodes and Comanche Boxer Does War Dance.

Marty Two Bulls on Johnny Depp

Comment:  This is about how I feel about Depp's playing Tonto. How do we know his performance won't be a farce like his portrayal of Captain Jack Sparrow? How is having a non-Indian with a bit of Indian blood better than having a bona fide Native actor? Why should we settle for a "salute" when we could have the real thing?

For more on the subject, see New Approach to the Lone Ranger? and Depp Goes Native for Tonto.

Documents explain Bear River Massacre

Here's an article that sheds some much-needed light on the claims of American Holocaust-deniers like Bryan Fischer:

Editor's corner:  Shoshone largely forgotten in land they were run from

By Charles McCollumCoincidentally, not long after I started reading the book, a significant date in local Native American history was observed—the 148th anniversary of the Bear River Massacre.

I decided to skip ahead to see how federal agents recorded this day of infamy, a bitterly cold Jan. 29 in 1863 when a U.S. Cavalry detachment led by Col. Patrick E. Connor raided a Shoshone encampment near modern-day Preston and slaughtered an estimated 300 to 400 men, women and children.

Shockingly, there was little mention of it in the book’s collected documents, but one of the notations I did find goes a long way in framing the event from the white man’s point of view at that time.

William P. Dole, U.S. Commissioner of Indian Affairs, wrote these words in a letter that fall to the U.S. secretary of the interior:

“It was perhaps unavoidable that, in taking possession of these territories, hostilities should ensue between our own people and the Indians, as the latter knew but little of the vast disparity between their resources and power and our own, and consequently would not listen to any reasonable propositions on our part. Much credit is due to General Connor and the forces under his command for their prompt and efficient services in chastising these Indians for their outrages and depredations upon the whites ...”

Efficient indeed.

If you’ve read accounts of the massacre, you know that what started out as a battle between cavalrymen and Shoshone braves ended in a genocidal orgy that included the point-blank shootings of children and the rape and murder of women.

The initial attack was not without provocation. Shoshone raids in the preceding months had claimed several settlers’ lives. But the carnage carried out by Connor and his men is beyond explanation or defense in a civilized world. The shameful police action has gone down in history as the worst single atrocity against Native Americans.

Descendants of that day’s victims and Native American sympathizers would argue—with much justification, I believe—that the Shoshone attacks on settlers were not without provocation either. The tribe had been pushed to its limit by the encroachment of whites in the region, and there was plenty of blame to go around for the recent escalation of hostilities.

In the same report that saluted Connor for his service, the aforementioned commissioner of Indian Affairs wrote, “The scarcity of game in these territories, and the occupation of the most fertile portions thereof by our settlements, have reduced these Indians to a state of extreme destitution, and for several years past they have been almost literally compelled to resort to plunder in order to obtain the necessaries of life.”Comment:  The article doesn't explain what kind of "reasonable proposals" the white men made. But they usually went something like this:Yes, we agreed to give you this land "as long as the grass grows and the water runs." But now we want it. We'll give you two choices: You can sell the land to us at outrageously low prices and move somewhere else in an orderly fashion. Or we'll attack you, massacre you, and force the survivors onto a worthless reservation where they'll die of disease and hunger.Not surprisingly, some Indians sold their land and tried to make the best of it, while others fought to the bitter end. Neither choice was great, and the Indians didn't know which one would turn out best for their children and grandchildren. They gambled one way or the other and lost in both cases.

The key factors to note here are the broken treaties and coerced land sales. These acts of aggression had little to do with the Indians' alleged savagery or refusal to adopt Christianity. I'm pretty sure the Indians would've suffered the same fate even if they'd been Christians. As evidence, Christians attacked and killed each other in countless wars in Europe and the Americas (Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Mexican-American War, Civil War, etc.).

When Christians weren't attacking and killing each other, they were subjugating and oppressing each other. In the US, Christianity didn't protect Catholic immigrants, black Baptists, or Mormons from white Protestant bigotry. The Indians' "superstitious" religions and cultures were simply an excuse for Euro-Americans to exercise their rapacious greed.

For more on the Bear River Massacre, see Remembering Bear River and First, Worst, and Forgotten Massacre.

Longest Walk 3--Reversing Diabetes

Tribes 'Walk' to halt diabetes

By Diane A. RhodesA 5,400-mile walk across America will start at La Jolla Shores on Monday and end at Washington D.C. on July 8 as members of Native American tribes throughout the nation unite for The Longest Walk 3--Reversing Diabetes.

The Southern California route includes stops at Pechanga, Soboba and the Morongo Band of Mission Indians before continuing to Agua Caliente in Palm Springs on Saturday.

"If you're not diabetic nobody really moves to action--I was that way two years ago," said Dennis Banks, who is leading this trek across America. "But then I was diagnosed."Tribes to begin cross-country walk against diabetes in La Jolla

By Kathy DayThe Longest Walk 3, a 5,400-mile walk-run relay across America to draw attention to the epidemic of diabetes among Native Americans, will take off from La Jolla Shores Monday morning.

Pre-event presentations will begin at 6 a.m. with the walkers taking off at 9:45. They will spend the night at the San Pasqual reservation. On Tuesday they’ll go from Rincon to Pauma, Pala and then Pechanga reservations.

La Jolla was chosen as the starting point because of its historic significance to the Kumeyaay Nation. Members would stay along the ocean in the winter and journey back to the mountains and deserts as the weather warmed, said Louie Guassac, assistant coordinator for the Walk and a member of the Mesa Grande Band of Mission Indians.And:The event is a combination of a walk-ride-run, he said. Among the participants are the Reservation Riders, a motorcycle club.

A Facebook page describing the walk, being led by A.I.M co-founder Dennis Banks, co-founder of the American Indian Movement, notes the route will cover Southern California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia.

Banks, himself a diabetic, says on the site that “diabetes has reached an epidemic state in Indian Country and the percentage of diabetes amongst Native Americans may be as high as 75 percent,” although the Indian Health Service’s estimate is at 35 percent.Below:  "The Longest Walk 3, an effort to raise awareness and reversal of diabetes, will include a route along Soboba Road on Thursday. From left, Luiseño Women of Soboba president Carmelita Vallejo, State Coordinator Orlando Vigil and Luiseño Women of Soboba secretary/treasurer Lucille Briones, have worked during the past several months to plan the event." (Diane Rhodes/Special to The Press-Enterprise)

Hatewatch criticizes Fischer's column

American Family Association Official Has New Target: Native Americans

By Evelyn SchlatterPicking and choosing his history, Fischer essentially blamed violence between Indians and whites on Indians, who rather than embracing Christianity, murdered missionaries in cold blood, and rejected George Washington’s “direct counsel” to give up their own ways of life and learn, above all, “the religion of Jesus Christ.”

Regarding what he described as the “sexual immorality” of American natives, Fischer noted that certain tribesmen honored the arrival of the Lewis and Clark expedition in the early 19th Century by offering their wives to expedition members for sex. Fischer didn’t explain why such a practice should justify the tribes forfeiting claim to the land–but not so for the white men who took advantage of it.

Fischer said Americans today are as guilty of abominations as were the Native Americans before they were conquered, citing contemporary abortion, adultery, homosexuality and the normalization of sexual immorality. Furthermore, he claimed, we are witnessing “a surge in incest, pedophilia and even bestiality in our midst.” He offered no evidence at all to back up this unusual claim. Fischer also warned that we would soon morally disqualify ourselves from sovereign control of our own land.

Philip J. Deloria, professor of history and noted scholar of Native American history and culture at the University of Michigan, said in an E-mail to Hatewatch that “history … starts with the assumptions of historical people … and then examines how their actions comport with their morality.” A historian, he noted, would not take one moral standard and apply it across time and space, but a fundamentalist “can’t really think in those terms … which means that he or she should probably stay away from history.”Comment:  For more on the subject, see Fischer Defends Pro-Genocide Column and Fischer's Passion for Killing.

Below:  God punishes Indians for not adopting Christianity. Bad Indians!

Adam Beach in The Boom Boom Room

Shirley MacLaine, Chris Walken go Boom Boom Boom for Arclight

By Jeremy KayShirley MacLaine, Christopher Walken, Twilight franchise star Ashley Greene and Adam Beach from the upcoming summer release Cowboys And Aliens will star in mystical drama The Boom Boom Room which Arclight Films is selling here.

Bono serves as executive producer on the project alongside Wim Wenders. Production is scheduled to commence this summer in New Mexico on what the producers describe as a magical tale set in a desert milieu.

When a young woman embarks on a quest to get to the bottom of an old family secret she encounters a pair of retired Vaudeville stars and in the process their lives are changed.Another description seen on Facebook says:In a mystical and magical town in the California desert, once great stars JIMMIE (Christopher Walken) and DIXIE (Shirley MacLaine) have long awaited the day the baby girl they were forced to give up will return to them.Comment:  For more on Adam Beach, see Adam Beach Moves to Vancouver and Adam Beach in Hawaii Five-0.

Fischer defends pro-genocide column

In a second column, bigot Bryan Fischer explains why he pulled his first column castigating Indians as animals who deserved killing. According to him, it wasn't because he's a liar and a hypocrite who turned tail and ran when caught making morally reprehensible claims.

Once again, you can read the whole column at the link below.

It appears Fischer has blocked comments this time. Not because he's a cowardly piece of dung who couldn't argue his way out of a paper bag, but for another reason, presumably. That may be enough to keep Fischer from showing his yellow belly squealing like a stuck pig removing his column again.

Column pulled--here is why

By Bryan FischerOn Tuesday, I posted a column on the settlement of America by Europeans. The column generated so much intense, vitriolic and profane reaction that it threatened to take on a life of its own, and serve as a distraction to the fundamental mission of AFA, even though when I blog I am speaking only for myself and not for the organization. So we took it down.Again, "we took it down" is conservative coward-speak for "we turned tail and ran when caught making morally reprehensible claims."

It's funny that Fischer predicted a "nuclear firestorm" of responses. When that predictable outcome came to pass, he complained about it as if he hadn't predicted it. Here you can see his rank hypocrisy in action. "I'm going to poke people in the eye by making racist comments about Indians," he seems to be saying, "but it's their fault if they react to the eye poking."

I read the comments before Fischer and the AFA removed the column. They weren't profane--unless you think calling someone an idiot, a liar, and a racist is profane. Since these labels are demonstrably accurate, I don't think "profane" applies.

As for the AFA, it hosts the blog and is responsible for its content being there. If it lets a racist "analyst" blog and he blogs about his racist views, it's AFA's fault.

We already know that Fischer and the AFA are homophobes. I can see how revealing that they're also racists, neo-Nazis, and white supremacists would interfere with their mission. Hint: If you're a bigot, it's best to keep your real views under wraps.

If the AFA doesn't like this characterization, too bad. If it disagrees with Fischer's racist views, it can denounce him or fire him. Silence equals agreement.

Fischer wants rational discussion?But the issue I addressed in the column is an important one, and at some point, a rational discussion and debate about it must be held.Someone else apparently will have to hold this "rational" discussion. Fischer hasn't done it in his previous column or this one.

Indeed, with his references to God and the Bible, he doesn't seem to know what rationality is. Religion is irrational by definition, and so is using it as the basis of one's argument.The template that the left has generated is that the displacement of indigenous tribes by European colonists and settlers was irredeemably evil. All the land which now comprises the United States was stolen from its rightful owners. Our very presence on this soil is a guilty, tainted presence.Yes...so? Is Fischer actually going to dispute these claims with something resembling facts and evidence? Or is he going to keep spinning his anti-Indian, pro-genocide column?So the question is whether that template is right, or whether the displacement of indigenous nations was consistent with the laws of nature, nature’s God, and the law of nations and history.Here we go. We've gone from "international legal scholars" to "nature's God." So much for rationality.

What Fischer apparently means is he's abandoning his previous claims about the legality of conquest because critics whipped his butt on that point. Instead, he's going to retreat to fanciful, made-up arguments about what God intended. Or as a Facebook friend put it:Oh, dear...further schmuckery from Mr. Fischer. I'm sorry sir, but: You need to decide--*either* you want a rational debate of what you wrote, *or* you want a "debate" based on "God's law." One or the other. You pick.What to expect from Fischer

My prediction:

In his next column, Fischer will switch from his "Indians were depraved/Europeans had the right to conquer" to a more standard historical argument. You know, land was practically empty, disease killed the few occupants, Europeans came seeking freedom, inevitable friction, both sides fought, the strong defeated the weak.

The last is what he'll call a law of nature. Lions eat lambs...nothing we can do about it. If he were "clever," he might even cast it in evolutionary terms. I.e., the civilization with better "genes" (religion, culture, technology) won. (Wrong again: See The Myth of Western Superiority for more on the subject.)

And because God supposedly invented nature, he'll claim this is God's will. God wanted (white) men to go forth and multiply. If they kill a few animals or Indians along the way, it's unfortunate, but it can't be helped. The Bible is God's user manual for how to conduct human history.

Indians and Indian buffs like me have heard these arguments thousands of times. No one has ever come up with a valid justification for the European genocide of the American Indian. Will Fischer come up with a "rational"--i.e., irrational--argument we haven't heard before? Don't bet on it.

Here's a couple of clues for Fischer and other defenders of genocide:

1) Columbus and his men began the genocide by enslaving or killing the first Indians they met. That was long before plagues wiped out whole tribes, so you can't blame disease for what happened. The Europeans intended to do evil and diseases merely facilitated their un-Christian aims.

2) Bartolomé de las Casas and others denounced the Spanish depredations while they were happening, so this isn't some case of modern hindsight or moral relativism. If you think you understand the situation better than the eyewitnesses did, explain how and why. Good luck with your answer...you'll need it.

Anyone who doesn't address these questions while defending the genocide of Indians is, again, a coward. I'm guessing Fischer is too ignorant to ask these questions, much less answer them. Look for his next column to be as stupid as his last one.

Someone can't handle truth...guess who?So this is a conversation that needs to take place. But based on the reaction to my column of Tuesday, America is not mature enough right now for that robust dialogue to occur. Until it is..."Robust" is funny coming from the crybaby who complained that the responses were too "intense." What he apparently means is that he wants to present his racist views robustly but he doesn't want anyone to challenge them.

"America is not mature enough"...or perhaps he's tacitly admitting he's a liar, a coward, and an ignoramus. Perhaps he'll drop the subject and crawl back under the rock he came from. You know, because he got his butt kicked from here to Sunday and he's afraid of its happening again. We can only hope.

Looking at Fischer's picture, he appears to be about 70. Maybe we can have a rational discussion about the Euro-American history of genocide in 15 or 20 years. Perhaps not coincidentally, Fischer should be gone and forgotten by then.

For more on the subject, see Fischer's Passion for Killing and Critics Slam Fischer's Racism.

Below:  "We didn't mean to shoot these savages dead. God pulled the triggers, not us!"

The constellation Indus

A Native Facebook friend recently said she's getting a tattoo with stars. I'm interested in Natives and astronomy, and that reminded me of a little-known constellation.

Indus (constellation)Indus is a constellation in the southern sky. Created in the sixteenth century, it represents an Indian, a word that could refer at the time to any native of Asia or the Americas.

Notable features

The brightest star in the constellation, Alpha Indi, is visual magnitude 3.11.

Epsilon Indi is one of the closest stars to Earth, approximately 11.82 light years away. The system has been discovered to contain a pair of binary brown dwarfs, and has long been a prime candidate in SETI studies.

History

The constellation was one of twelve created by Petrus Plancius from the observations of Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman and it first appeared on a 35-cm diameter celestial globe published in 1597 (or 1598) in Amsterdam by Plancius with Jodocus Hondius. The first depiction of this constellation in a celestial atlas was in Johann Bayer's Uranometria of 1603. Plancius portrayed the figure as a nude male with arrows in both hands but no bow.

Indus in Military

USS Indus (AKN-1) is a United States Navy ship.Indus the IndianIt is not known whether he is supposed to be a native of the East Indies, or possibly southern Africa or Madagascar (where the Dutch fleet stayed for several months on their way east); perhaps the figure is symbolic, representing all the indigenous peoples the explorers encountered on their various travels, from South America to the Indies. The constellation’s brightest stars are of third magnitude, but none are named.Comment:  For more on the subject, see Asteroids Given Luiseño Names.

Below:  "Indus, an Indian holding a spear and arrows, as shown in the Uranographia of Johann Bode."

Top 10 racist comic-book characters

Top Ten Racially Insensitive Comic Book Characters

By Etrane Martinez10.) Indian Fighter (1950)

Indian Fighter was just that. The book told tales of the old west where the heroic white man helped to tame and battle “injuns.” Not as much of a racist character as it is a racist book all together. Every issue told a western story about the might used to overcome the “savages.” The fact that 99% of all Westerns at the time did the same thing is the main reason why Indian Fighter is #10. Though, “Native American Fighter” just sounds creepy and wrong…or even…wrong..er?

Comment:  Another term for "Indian fighter" is "morally just Christian soldier killing by right of conquest." Just ask Bryan Fischer.

Here is Martinez's no. 1 pick. Not a bad choice:1.) Memin Penguin (1940-?)

Why is Memín Pinguín #1 you ask? Well, for one specific reason. This comic about a young Cuban boy was introduced in Mexico in the 1940′s and is STILL IN PRINT TO THIS DAY! He might be adored in Mexico but he is starting to gain attention from the other side of the border. Though the book did a good job of tackling racial and cultural issues head on, Memin received the majority of its criticism due to the way the characters are portrayed. It would be like animating Martin Luther King giving his famous “I Have a Dream” speech but drawing him in black-face.For more on the subject, see 19th-Century Cartoons About Indians and Native Women = Whores in SCALPED.

Summing up the Giffords shooting

Indian Comics Irregular #201:  Hate Speech Leads to Hate Acts

Fischer's passion for killing

Here's some background on Bryan Fischer, the neo-Nazi pundit for the American Family Association:

A Christian Warmonger on Steroids

By Laurence M. VanceFischer maintains that "we have feminized the Medal of Honor." This is a "disturbing trend" that he has noticed, but "which few others seem to have recognized." He laments that "every Medal of Honor awarded during these two conflicts has been awarded for saving life." He is upset that "not one has been awarded for inflicting casualties on the enemy." Fischer wants U.S. soldiers to do one thing--kill:

So the question is this: when are we going to start awarding the Medal of Honor once again for soldiers who kill people and break things so our families can sleep safely at night?

I would suggest our culture has become so feminized that we have become squeamish at the thought of the valor that is expressed in killing enemy soldiers through acts of bravery.

We rightly honor those who give up their lives to save their comrades. It’s about time we started also honoring those who kill bad guys.
The reaction to Fischer’s column was fierce. The comments posted were overwhelmingly negative.Fischer wrote a second column defending the first column. Vance continues:I guess Fischer’s ideal candidate for the Medal of Honor would be Lt. William Calley or a worker on the Manhattan Project.

After trying to justify his unholy desire with Scripture, which arguments I will examine in due course, Fischer closes his second column thusly:

War is certainly a terrible thing, and should only be waged for the highest and most just of causes. But if the cause is just, then there is great honor in achieving military success, success which should be celebrated and rewarded.

The bottom line here is that the God of the Bible clearly honors those who show valor and gallantry in waging aggressive war in a just cause against the enemies of freedom, even while inflicting massive casualties in the process. What I’m saying is that it’s time we started imitating God’s example again.
There are two issues here that need to be addressed. One, Fischer’s support for U.S. soldiers killing in Iraq and Afghanistan. And two, Fischer’s attempt to justify, with Scripture, his passion for killing.Comment:  Fischer's ideal candidate for the medal probably would be Custer (Washita massacre) or Chivington (Sand Creek massacre). I'm sure he'd agree that our Indian wars were as "just" as any other American war.

This article obviously sheds light on Fischer's column arguing for the slaughter of savage Indians. Summing up his position, if white Christian Americans kill people, it's good by definition.

For more on the subject, see Critics Slam Fischer's Racism and Fischer:  Natives Had No Morals.

Below:  Dead Iraqi child or future terrorist? Does it matter? Either way, Fischer cheers for the Americans who killed him.

"Chiefing" among East Coast Indians

The Newest Indians

By Jack HittThis ethnic apprehension can be found even among the older tribes, where outmarriage, or exogamy, has created a contemporary population that doesn't look nearly as "Indian" as the characters of our movies and HBO westerns. What results from this can get funky. For example, among coastal Indian tribes, who depend upon tourism, it is not uncommon to see them dressed as Plains Indians with full feathered headdresses and other outfits that were never their custom. It is a practice known as "chiefing," and in some tribes it is as regulated as jewelry sales. This is the market force, ethnic-wise: coastal Indians know that they have to look like an outsider's vision of an Indian in order to be accepted by tourists as Indian.

Among the newer tribes, this anxiety can get especially intense. All weekend at the Jaycee Fairgrounds, the Cherokees of Northeast Alabama whom I spoke to were quite nervous that I might pronounce them, as some put it, "ethnic frauds." Hickman, the genealogist, insisted upon knowing if I was "going to make fun of them." In the days leading up to the powwow, he called me repeatedly, his voice filled with panic. Hardly an hour went by over the weekend that the event's spokeswoman, Karen Cooper, didn't sidle up to ask me if there was anything she could do.Comment:  Even if Indians do it, dressing up as Plains chiefs is stereotypical, of course.

If you have to pretend you're something you're not for the tourists, you're not in the Indian "biz" for the right reason. If the choice is tourists + inauthentic culture or no tourists + authentic culture, the latter is infinitely preferable.

For more on the subject, see:

"3 Horses Sly Fox" teaches stereotypes
Half-naked "chief" in Mass. parade
The "honor" of a Plains chief
Debating Chief Zee

Below:  "3 Horses Sly Fox" in Rhode Island.

Amazon Indians petition Brazilian government

Brazil:  Indigenous tribes protest against Amazon damHundreds of indigenous Brazilians have been protesting in the capital, Brasilia, against the construction of what will be the world's third biggest hydro-electric dam.

An indigenous leader delivered a petition opposing the project signed by more than half a million people.

Environmentalists say the dam in the Amazon river basin will harm the world's biggest tropical rainforest.And:"We don't want Belo Monte because it will destroy our rivers, our jungle and our way of life," he added.

Another tribal leader said he and his tribe had not been given enough information about the project.

Ireo Kayapo said that if his tribe were to be driven from its land, "there'll be war and blood will be spilled."Comment:  This is another stereotype buster. While almost every work of fiction portrays Amazon Indians as primitive spearchucking savages, the actual Amazon Indians are organizing worldwide support, gathering hundreds of thousands of signatures, and presenting their demands to the government. The next time you see that in an Indiana Jones movie or FIRST WAVE comic will be the first time.

For more on Amazon Indians in fiction, see No Indians in Off the Map and Twilight's Amazon Coven. For more on Amazon Indians in reality, see Cameron's and Weaver's Anti-Dam Films and Amazon Indian Students on the Net.

Below:  "Kaiapo Indians make their voices heard outside the National Congress in Brasilia." I presume the Kaiapo have dressed this way to make a point. Note that the lead Indian is wearing glasses.

Pamyua blends Inuit music, jazz, funk

For Alaska's Pamyua, 'it's all about relationships'

By Ben AndersonPhillip and his brother Stephen Blanchett and their cousin Ossie Kairiuak founded Pamyua (pronounced bum-yo-ah, after the Yupik word for "tail," used as a call for an encore after a performance) more than 15 years ago, and began by performing at Anchorage-area high schools.

"When I first started dancing here in (Anchorage)," Phillip said, "I couldn't have named another peer my age who was doing Yupik dancing. It was nonexistent."

Soon Kairiuak and the Blanchetts were joined by Karina Moeller, a Greenlandic Inuit singer who moved to Alaska to work full-time with the band after a chance performance together at an Alaska festival. After Moeller arrived on the scene, Pamyua was officially born. They released their first album, "Mengluni" or "The Beginning" in 1998, followed by "Verses" in 2001.

In 2003, they released "Caught in the Act," featuring their most contemporary music to date, blending traditional Inuit music with jazz, funk, soul, and reggae influences. That album won them the Record of the Year award at the Native American Music Awards, popularly known as the "Nammys." In 2005, they returned to their more traditional roots, with a collection of rhythm heavy songs on "Drums of the North."And:Kairiuak recently led a team of Yupik dancers in Alaska Dance Theatre's production of "Qug'yuq," a retelling of the classic "Swan Lake" ballet mixed with Yupik storytelling elements. Stephen Blanchett is spending his winter with other Native American performers for Education through Cultural and Historical Organizations, a program that blends a variety of cultures across the U.S. through performance, and in which he has been active for several years. Pamyua has continued to play shows at a variety of locations across the state, the U.S., and the world.And:Pamyua is keeping busy, tweaking their studio arrangements, and with a remaster and re-release of their debut album, "Mengluni," with a new bonus track added. They've also been getting national exposure by having their music featured on the Discovery Channel's series about Alaska bush pilots, "Flying Wild Alaska." Phillip says he's heard a lot of positive feedback about the program from those living in some of the communities featured on the show.Comment:  For more on Inuit artistry, see Inuit Art in New Jersey and Japan and Mixed Reviews for On the Ice.

Zazzle's "Go Native Americans!" mousepad

AIM Santa Barbara posted a link to another "Native" product on Zazzle.com, the do-it-yourself online vendor:Native Americans

Go Native Americans! No really get lost. To be fair they were here first and they'll probably be here after we'll all gone, just like the cockroaches.

Comment:  Zazzle took this item down soon after AIM Santa Barbara protested it. So I don't have a full-size picture of it. But the text reads:Go Native Americans!
No really, get lostIn addition to the stereotypical teepee, it's noteworthy that someone thought a racist mousepad was acceptable on a mainstream website. It shows just how deeply racial hate is embedded in our society.

For more on Zazzle's products, see Zazzle Removes Offensive T-Shirts and Zazzle's "Indian Name" T-Shirts.

Al Jazeera to visit Fort Berthold

Al Jazeera crew coming to Fort BertholdNorth Dakota's oil boom is drawing the interest of the international broadcaster Al Jazeera English.

A producer, reporter and cameraman plan to travel from Washington, D.C., and New York to New Town late this week. They plan to explore how the Fort Berthold Reservation community and the Three Affiliated Tribes are dealing with the oil boom. They'll meet with Tribal Chairman Tex Hall and also get the views of tribal elders.Comment:  For more on Islam, see Sharia Ban Could Ban Tribal Law and Racists vs. Reformers on Islam.

Critics slam Fischer's racism

Hundreds of people have already posted comments on Bryan Fischer's racist screed against Indians. Here are some of the best ones:I've followed the AFA and its bizarre diatribes for quite a long time...this one takes the cake. Shame on you. By your logic, you just ceded your home.

Genesis 18:26-33 Someone did not do there homework on the native American tribes, for one most tribes had law in place AGAINST adultery not to mention not all Native American tribes were nomadic, also isn't god the only one who is supposed to judge humanity and races. This argument is so full of holes on your part if I were you I would try to delete this off the Internet before someone decides to point out just how full of holes this is.

You and your article are further proof that the "Christian Right" is neither Christian, nor right.

What self serving dribble. What makes Christianity "the" religion? Compared to American Indian spirituality, which dates back tens of thousands of years, Christianity is a cult. This is what the American Family Association supports. As an American Indian person this scares the hell out of me. How soon will the crusades start AGAIN and the genocide begin?

Jesus read this. "And he wept."

Wow. This is a joke, right? This guys is a total idiot!! He knows absolutely nothing about Native American History! He needs to do his research!

Puke on you! Yup I'm sure my ancestors deserved to be murdered, raped, and forced to live on barren lands while settlers came in, took their children to "Christian" schools and abused them sexually and physically until they despised themselves for being Native American. Puke on you!!!

This is a parody of the stupidity of the evangelical right, correct? Nobody is actually this ignorant.

As a Minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ for 45 years, I find this article appalling, assuming,and grossly errant! As is so often the norm, when anyone, or any so-called Christian organization or affiliation ordains themselves as Judge, Jury and hangman, bent on changing people or nations, whom in their view are unlike themselves, and do not measure up to their standards or convictions, they usually become worse than those whom they desire to enlighten or convert!

Such hypocrisy. When reading the "guidelines for posting comments," I noticed these types of comments are banned: "Any display of... racism or 'racialism' including, but not limited to, race-based supremacist and/or separatist advocacy." Well Mr. Fischer, you just broke your own rules with your racist, hate-filled, ignorant commentary. This is what family values is? Justifying genocide?

Put a pin on the map for every place your ancestors have lived over the past 200 years and tell me who's more nomadic!

Bogglingly ignorant and hateful. Reading drivel like this makes it hard to remember that we're living in the 21st century.

You are an intellectual fraud. Despite the nonsense of the entire article, you misquote the least religious of the founding fathers at the end of your article. In fact, you cannot attribute Jefferson's quote because it doesn't exist. You lift the first portion of the quote "The God who gave us life gave us liberty at the same time" is from Jefferson's 1774 publication to the English king, A Summary View of the Rights of British America. If taken in context the meaning is the complete OPPOSITE of the one you are trying to portray. Jefferson states that the rights are not divine and cannot be aligned with religion. Jefferson's work completely contradicts what you are putting forth in--what one would loosely call--your essay.Yeah...those implacable Sioux...they objected to being brutalized and murdered...go figure! So the sexual practices of the European invaders was okay according to Christianity? Raping women and children...bringing in the first pedophiles...all THAT is morally upstanding? Parading around with the severed breasts and uteruses of slain women on their hats and saddles...all THAT was in line with the teachings of Christ???????

Shame on you Bryan Fisher....Christianity could be such a great religion if just one person in this world actually practiced it.

You are a terrible man. I'm a Christian, and an extremely conservative one at that. I even like much of what is on AFA. But you--you are terrible. The words you speak are so filled with vitriol that it cannot possible by classified as Jesus-like. YOU are the one who needs to repent of your hate, and betrayal of the love of Christ.

Wow you took a break from attacking gay people and their families and decided to attack Native Americans. You really are disgusting. You should just wear a white sheet and get it over with.

I took this article to my Bible study class last night, almost all people there agreed with this nut. I will not be going back to my church anymore.

These kind of articles get on an American Christian family site, is this what you are really teaching your people? Wow...you just prove to the world how Christian Americans really are, we have been telling all the world you are this way and always have been and you just proved it for us.

What sort of diseased mind comes up with this twisted perception of reality? Racist, bigoted, sexually repressed. Oh, a Christian diseased mind, right. I'm sure religious groups do some good in the world, but for every good deed they've done there are 100 like this.

Wow! So much for wanting to unite people. This blatant lie is typical of those who want to rewrite history. Let me get this straight..."God" said it's OK to use murder, enslavement, rape, and disease blankets to take the land? What a sick, sick god. Either that or the fact that you find it OK to justify murder by rewriting facts with fiction.

Um...wow. Copies of this article should be reproduced and sent to every newspaper in North America with the headline "The Christian Agenda Exposed." How long until Mr. Fischer and his ilk pass a law mandating conversions to Christianity upon pain of death for noncompliance? How long? ... Thanks Mr. Fischer for officially conceding the culture wars. This article demonstrates EXACTLY what will happen to personal freedom if the religionists get their way.

This fool doesn't believe in God in the slightest. He believes himself to be God.

Is this a joke? Is some one in America actually stupid enough to write something like this? Does some one as imbecilic as Bryan Fischer actually exist or is he a joke created by liberals to show the idiocy of right-wing loonies?None of this is surprising coming from someone who has so much hate for other minority groups including gays. But it's interesting how similar Fischer's rant is to classic anti-Semitic rants. Several years back I heard Pat Robertson say on the 700 Club that Jesus' statement "whatever you do to these my brothers you do it unto me" doesn't apply to 'just anybody' (Robertson's exact words), just to Christians. In other words, it's open season on everyone else.

Could it be that Bryan Fischer is really a wolf in sheep's clothing? He may actually be an atheist trying to destroy the AFA from within. We saw that last year when Democrats infiltrated Tea Party rallies, putting up ridiculous signs to make attendees look dumb and marginalize the movement.

Christianity is better than this hateful and uninformed screed. It is encouraging to see Christians rejecting this editorial. It will be very interesting to see whether the American Family Association denounces it as well, or whether by its silence it acquiesces in this hatred.

If ignorance is bliss, you must be one of the happiest clods on the face of God's green earth. As a follower of Christ, I'm saddened by the stunted state of your inner man. As a graduate of the sixth grade, I'm stunned by your complete lack of knowledge of basic American history (as well as your selective amnesia). As a guy with 12 years experience as a journalist for a number of "legitimate" newspapers, I can't ever recall reading such a pathetic, desperate cry for attention. You're a joke.

You are evil. Your organization is evil. God will smite you for your evil, racist beliefs.

This racist, self-congratulatory drivel is neither Biblical, moral, or just. AFA ought to be ashamed for publishing such ahistorical poppycock, if for no other reason than it makes the organization look like it supports racists with no knowledge of the past, no understanding of the scripture, and no grasp of the present. Your enemies have just been handed a gift wrapped can of fuel to throw on their flames, and for once, I hope they use it. For shame.

"And the Europeans proved superior in battle, taking possession of contested lands through right of conquest." Where do you get this "might is right" philosophy? Certainly not from any civilized convention, or Christian one for that matter. There is no "right of conquest"--read Rousseau.

I have never met a fundamentalist who is a Christian.

As a Christian I am deeply offended by this article. According to what you are saying, Christians basically have the right to take by force the native homelands of all non-Christians. I guess the Crusades were a good thing? It also seems that nomadic people have no rights? And we're talking about a lot of different tribes here...they don't all believe the same things, so it's ignorant to lump them together. We weren't even at 'war' with all of these people. Many of them were simply murdered because it made things convenient. Being 'superstitious' 'savage' and 'sexually immoral' does not make a people eligible for slaughter. As a Christian, you should spend more time reading the teachings of Christ.Missionaries always leave a place worse off than when they found it. If sexual deviancy invites poverty and other misfortunes delivered from God, explain the financial fortunes of the Catholic Church. It has been an oozing pus-pocket of child molestation for 2,000 years, yet it has gotten along quite well monetarily excepting the last 20 years or so. The only purpose ever served by organized Christianity has been to separate gullible people from their money.

I feel creepy even looking at this web site! This is pure Nazi-like evil. I'll keep my children away from all churches and Christians from now on!

Just when I thought the AFA couldn't sink any lower....

First of all, how many Christians are steeped in poverty, alcoholism, adultery, and other forms of sin? The only difference is that you repent in a church. Amerindian culture viewed God differently than Christians, but that does not make their views wrong. They come from a place of unity with the God and all his Creation.

Lord Jesus, please save us from your "followers."

This is one of the many reasons I am not a Christian anymore, because of morally repugnant stories like this by so called Christian writers. If there was a Jesus he would be disgusted with all of you.

Apparently genocide is now a "Family value."

Which tribe would Jesus Christ have slaughtered first?

So, it's OK for Christians to break God's Commandments on non Christians? The murder, rape, theft, internment, and destruction of Native Americans? Sounds like a few commandments got broken there, bub. So many hypocrites...no wonder people are turning their backs on Jesus by the millions.

People constantly ask me why I am an atheist and I confidently answer that if there were a god who was a benevolent being, he'd never allow all of the terrible things done in his name to happen. Now, that still leaves room for an evil god, but I'm not really convinced there. Of course, that's precisely the type of god this author worships.

Obviously suffering from genetic mental degeneration from his ancestors contracting a potent venereal disease.

So people who killed Indians were doing the Lord's work, clearly. Is it still OK to kill Indians? Please let us know ASAP so we know how to proceed....

I teach at a small Christian college. A little while back, one of my students posted something like this as her Facebook "religion" status: "I love Jesus, but his followers kind of creep me out." This mean-spirited and blatantly false diatribe shows why so many people come to feel that way. It makes me sad.

You of course know the people who wrote the Bible didn't know the Americas or China existed. Why did the Chinese and the Indians (India) survive as a people with their lands intact? Why did the Mongols take over most of the known world in the 13th Century? Your whole argument is full of holes. I hope you're prepared for the "arrows" that are sure to come....

Wow. If you don't get fired for this article, I will lose the remaining little faith I do have.

Comment:  A couple of the arguments are worth repeating:

Many tribes had sexual taboos and did not encourage promiscuity. I get the feeling Fischer read about Eskimos giving their wives to strangers in some white man's journal and extrapolated from that to several thousand cultures across two continents.

If the lack of Christianity was responsible for the Indians' downfall and subsequent poverty, why are countries such as China, India, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, and Macau doing so well? I'd love to see Fischer explain how heathen Asia managed to avoid collapse and conquest by God-loving Europeans.

Alas, mass murder and genocide have always been Christian "family values." The latest example is the tens of thousands of innocent civilians killed in Iraq. If a single Christian in America has mourned their deaths, I must've missed it.

For more on the subject, see Fischer:  Natives Had No Morals.

Text of Fischer's racist screed

Perhaps realizing that Bryan Fischer's pro-genocide column wasn't playing well, the American Family Association appears to have taken it down. But they aren't getting away with self-censoring their bigotry that easily. To prevent computer glitches or sanity from eliminating Fischer's column, here it is, exactly as originally published:Bryan Fischer: Native Americans morally disqualified themselves from the land

Tuesday, February 08, 2011 10:38 AM

By Bryan Fischer

Follow me on Twitter: @BryanJFischer

In all the discussions about the European settlement of the New World, one feature has been conspicuously absent: the role that the superstition, savagery and sexual immorality of native Americans played in making them morally disqualified from sovereign control of American soil.

International legal scholars have always recognized that sovereign control of land is legitimately transferred in at least three ways: settlement, purchase, and conquest. Europeans have to this day a legitimate claim on American soil for all three of those reasons.

They established permanent settlements on the land, moving gradually from east to west, while Indian tribes remained relentlessly nomadic.

Much of the early territory in North American that came into possession of the Europeans came into their possession when the land was purchased from local tribes, Peter Minuit’s purchase of Manhattan being merely the first.

And the Europeans proved superior in battle, taking possession of contested lands through right of conquest. So in all respects, Europeans gained rightful and legal sovereign control of American soil.

But another factor has rarely been discussed, and that is the moral factor.

In the ancient tradition of the Hebrews, God made it clear to Abraham that the land of Canaan was promised to his descendants. But he told Abraham the transfer of land to his heirs could not happen for 400 years, for one simple reason: “[T]he iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete” (Gen. 15:16).

The Amorites, or Canaanite peoples, practiced one moral abomination after another, whether it was incest, adultery, sexual immorality, homosexuality, bestiality or child sacrifice, and God finally said “Enough!”

By the time he brought the nascent nation of Israel to the borders of the land flowing with milk and honey, he had already been patient with the native tribes for 400 years, waiting for them to come to the place of repentance for their socially and spiritually degrading practices.

His patience was not rewarded, and finally the day came when the sin had reached its full measure. The slop bucket was full, and it was time to empty it out. Israel under Joshua was God’s custodian to empty the bucket and start over.

The native American tribes at the time of the European settlement and founding of the United States were, virtually without exception, steeped in the basest forms of superstition, had been guilty of savagery in warfare for hundreds of years, and practiced the most debased forms of sexuality.

One of the complaints listed by Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence was that King George “has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.”

The Lewis and Clark journals record the constant warfare between the nomadic Indian tribes on the frontier, and the implacable hostility of the Sioux Indians in particular.

The journals record the morally abhorrent practice of many native American chiefs, who offered their own wives to the Corps of Discovery for their twisted sexual pleasure. (Regrettably, many members of the Corps, Lewis and Clark excepted, took advantage of these offers and contracted numerous and debilitating sexually transmitted diseases as a result.)

The native American tribes ultimately resisted the appeal of Christian Europeans to leave behind their superstition and occult practices for the light of Christianity and civilization. They in the end resisted every attempt to “Christianize the Savages of the Wilderness,” to use George Washington’s phrase.

They rejected Washington’s direct counsel to the Delaware chiefs in 1779, “You do well to wish to learn our arts and ways of life, and above all, the religion of Jesus Christ.”

Thomas Jefferson three times signed legislation appropriating federal tax dollars for the evangelizing of the Native American tribes. It all came to nought, as one tribe after another rejected the offer of spiritual light and advanced civilization.

Missionaries were murdered in cold blood, including Marcus Whitman, who was tomahawked to death in his own house in 1848 by the Cayuse and Umatilla Indians in what became the Oregon Territory.

God explained to the nation of Israel that because of the “abomination(s)” of the indigenous Canaanite tribes, the land had become unclean and “vomited out its inhabitants (Lev. 18:25).”

Is this to say the same holds true for native American tribes today? In many respects, the answer is of course no. But in some senses, the answer is yes. Many of the tribal reservations today remain mired in poverty and alcoholism because many native Americans continue to cling to the darkness of indigenous superstition instead of coming into the light of Christianity and assimilating into Christian culture.

The continued presence of native American superstition was on full display at the memorial service for the victims of the Tucson shooter, when the “invocation” (such as it was) was offered by a native American who sought inspiration from the “Seven Directions,” including “Father Sky” and “Mother Earth,” rather than the God of the Bible.

Sadly, this column will likely generate a firestorm of nuclear proportions among wingers on the left rather than the thoughtful reflection the thesis deserves.

Even worse, the reaction will likely obscure the sobering lesson for today. America in 2011 is as guilty of “abominations” as the native American tribes we replaced. We have the blood of 53 million babies on our hands through abortion. We have normalized sexual immorality, adultery, and homosexuality, all horrors in the eyes of God, and are witnessing a surge in incest, pedophilia and even bestiality in our midst.

God warned the ancient nation of Israel not to lapse into the abominable practices of the native peoples “lest the land vomit you out...as it vomited out the nation that was before you” (Lev. 18:28).

Time eventually ran out for the Canaanites, because they filled up the full measure of their iniquity. Time ran out for the native American tribes for the same reason.

The only question that matters today is this one: how much time does America have left to repent of its superstition, its savagery and its sexual immorality before it is too late, before we will have filled up our own slop bucket and will have morally disqualified ourselves from sovereign control of our own land?

Thomas Jefferson wrote at the time of the Founding, “I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever.” It is long past time for us once again to tremble for our country.

(Unless otherwise noted, the opinions expressed are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the views of the American Family Association or American Family Radio.)Comment:  Yes, this column generated a firestorm of nuclear proportions among wingers on the left. And among wingers on the right. And among conservative Christians. And self-proclaimed fans of the American Family Association.

Apparently this firestorm was too hot to handle, since the AFA withdrew the column. Not only are Fischer and the AFA racists, they're cowardly racists. They're too embarrassed by their own repugnant opinions to stand by them.

For more on the subject, see Critics Slam Fischer's Racism and Fischer:  Natives Had No Morals.

Below:  Jesus weeps over the lies and hypocrisies of so-called Christians like Fischer.

Maya pyramids in Kia commercial

Correspondent DMarks notes another Super Bowl commercial with a Native bit:

2011 Kia Optima:  One Epic Ride--Big Game 2011 CommercialMeet the midsize sedan that everyone is trying to get their hands on.

Featuring superior performance and technology for a midsize sedan, sport truly meets luxury in the new Optima. Bringing together comfort, safety and design, the Kia Optima is built with care and precision inside and out.

Change the way you think about a midsize sedan with the 2011 Kia Optima.

Discover the midsize sedan that is the envy of Poseidon himself.

Comment:  The Kia Optima goes through a series of cinematic adventures--a James Bond-style capture, a grab by the sea god Poseidon, and an alien abduction--before it ends up in the final scene: a crowded Maya-style plaza. The message is that the Optima provides "one epic ride."

A few problems with this:

The commercial obviously means "epic" as in out of the ordinary, exotic, far removed from everyday life. A Maya scene from another place and time seems to qualify.

But the Maya are still alive. Still living in farming communities in rural Central America. Still practicing their traditional culture while using modern resources, tools, and equipment.

Portraying them as car-worshiping savages sends the message that they're dead and gone. That they're as alien to today's world as gods and, well, aliens. It reinforces the message we hear constantly about Indians: that they vanished long ago.

Why not show a Medieval European scene instead of a Mesoamerican scene? After all, Mexico is closer to most of us than Europe. Wouldn't a quaint English or German village qualify as "epic"?

Well, yes and no. Yes, if it included such horrors as the Black Death, drawing and quartering, or bear-baiting. But no, if it merely showed white Anglo-Saxon peasants. According to the prevailing mythology, these people are us. They're the people who founded America and made it great.

We are normal and commonplace--i.e., the default. They--minorities such as blacks, Latinos, and Indians--are something else. Same with our ancestors. Ours read Bibles quietly by firelight; theirs conducted Satanic rites involving human sacrifice. Ours are the good guys; theirs are "the other."

Would an audience accept a village of angry white people burning a witch at the stake? Probably not. Would it accept a village of half-naked African savages shaking their spears? Probably not. Once again, Indians are America's primary source of stereotypes for strange and otherworldly.

For another Native-themed Super Bowl ad, see Native Commercial on Super Bowl Sunday. For more on Indians as the exotic "other," see Shooter on Dark Horse's TUROK, Indian in RETURN OF BRUCE WAYNE #4, and Tiger Lily in Peter Pan:  An Allegory of Anglo-Indian Relations

Lakota protest Baum's editorials

Native Sun News:  Lakota protest set at Wizard of Oz performance

By Evelyn BroecherThe United Urban Warrior Society will conduct a peaceful protest this week at the Civic Center’s presentation of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

The author of the book, L. Frank Baum is still widely known for the Oz books he wrote in the early 1900s. Little known are the editorials he published in Aberdeen Saturday Review which called for the extermination of the Lakota people six days after the Massacre at Wounded Knee in 1890.

James Swan said the Society will protest at the Broadway play which is scheduled to open on Friday, Feb. 11 at 7:30 p.m. The play runs through Saturday at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center.Comment:  The article doesn't state the point of this protest. To get an apology from the Baum estate? To raise awareness of Baum's editorials? I don't think either goal is worth the effort.

One of my Facebook friends offered this objective for the protest:Folks can send an email to the civic center:

http://www.gotmine.com/contact.php

[Sample]

"I am extremely displeased that Rapid City Civic Center is hosting the Wizard of Oz. The writer was terribly racist and advocated the extermination of American Indians. This is unacceptable and shows poorly on your business that you will host a known racist and advocate of genocide."I still don't buy it. Are we going to censor or ban every American who advocated the killing of Indians? Or the owning of slaves? Or support for cruel tyrants, or illegal wars? That would include most Americans, including the presidents from George Washington to Andrew Jackson to Teddy Roosevelt to George W. Bush. And censoring or banning the dead ones won't change what they said or did. I'm not sure what it'll do except make the protesters feel good.

If the goal is to educate, then educate. Write a letter to the editor or post the info on your blog. Then move on to a more substantial issue. Baum's editorials haven't hurt anyone in more than a century, and his Oz books haven't hurt anyone, period. So they're not an issue worth fighting over.

For more on the subject, see Indians in Top 100 Children's Novels and The Indian-Oz Connection.

Black Eyed Pea is Shoshone

Taboo of Black Eyed Peas Rejects Super Bowl Hate, Says He's OK With Role in Group

By Nicki GostinFresh off his halftime performance at the Super Bowl, Black Eyed Peas member Taboo spoke to PopEater about the controversial show and also about his memoir called 'Fallin' Up,' which details his beginnings in east LA and his rise to superstardom. Amazingly, Taboo's troubles really began as the band became an international success. You guessed it, the usual 'Behind the Music' stuff, lots of drugs and alcohol and the birth of a son when he was just 18. He's been clean and sober for more than three years.

In our chat, Taboo (born Jaime Luis Gómez) brushes off criticism of BEP's much-derided set in Dallas and swears that he's comfortable being a side player in the group. He also opens up about the onslaught of misfortune that nearly sunk him just as the Black Eyed Peas were making it big.And:Did you write this book mainly to let people know you're actually not Asian?

(Laughs) Yeah, I let people know I'm a Mexican-American from east LA, and I'm Shoshone Native American, and I represent my Latino culture to the fullest. Everybody always mistakes me for Filipino or Japanese.

I'm also letting people know me as an individual and showing my vulnerable side and that I'm actually a funny dude. I'm not a scary guy with long hair that's a ninja, that's beating up people on stage. There's a perception: Oh, that's the ninja guy, the kung fu guy. All that stuff was me putting up a front because I was high or drunk. I had to pretend I had a hard shell.Comment:  For more on Natives at the Super Bowl, see Maya Pyramids in Kia Commercial and Native Commercial on Super Bowl Sunday.

Critics slam Snyder's hypocrisy

Snyder Tackled for Redskins Hypocrisy

By Rob Capriccioso“[S]hut the fuck up Dan Snyder, you own the most sickeningly racist relic of a brand in all of professional sports,” wrote Hamilton Nolan for Gawker in a piece titled, “Rich Idiot Thinks He Deserves $2 Million for This ‘Anti-Semitic’ Picture.” “How do you even sleep at night, you whore?” The blog also highlighted the following comment in a special post later in the day: “How would I feel if someone--nay, an entire organization--insulted my people by using a racist epithet and caricatures of Native Americans like me? And then refused to do anything about it when repeatedly asked to change it and even sued to do so? Huh. Let’s see. I think what I’d do is tell the jackass who owns the organization to go fuck himself.”

Over at The Nation, usually knowing for its complex policy pieces, Dave Zirin continued the theme: “Also, lest we forget, Dan Snyder owns a team whose name and logo are a celebration of the genocide of our Native American brothers and sisters. Every Sunday the Redskins take the field, their namesakes’ memory is slandered and suffering celebrated. If Dan Snyder was really an opponent of genocide, he’d change the name of his team. Until that happens, this incident reveals him to be worse than an insensitive dullard. It marks him as a hypocrite.”

Barry Petchesky, writing for the popular Deadspin sports blog, added another dimension to the hypocrisy of it all, noting that Snyder’s Six Flags company was alleged to have used stereotypes when recruiting Asian actors to work at its parks, asking for “Charlie Chan”-like behavior in a casting call. However, as the blogger noted, Snyder’s lawyer brushed those complaints aside in a letter to the City Paper, indicating the complaints from Asians were not as important as his charges of anti-Semitism. “No! You can’t put that aside!” admonished Petchesky. “That’s a hell of a lot more racist that doodling Devil horns on your photo, and you can’t cry foul on one and ‘put aside’ the other!”

The calls of support for Native Americans seemed to be everywhere. NPR, The Huffington Post, and many Facebook and Twitter messages lit up with a common message to Snyder: Change the name of the team, and quit being such a hypocrite.Comment:  For more on the subject, see Redskins Owner Sues Over "Anti-Semitic Imagery" and Redskins Make Children Cry.

Ute drummer on Saturday Night Live

‘SNL’ musician to give lecture, performanceThe annual Maytum Convocation Lecture Series will continue its 2010-11 "Faces and Phases of Creativity" theme with a lecture and performance by renowned musician Valerie Dee Naranjo on Monday.

She is currently the percussionist for NBC's Saturday Night Live Band, and has recorded for, and regularly performs with, Broadway's "The Lion King."And:Following the lecture, Naranjo will perform both traditional music and her own compositions that reflect her Native American roots as a member of the Ute Nation of Southern Colorado and her extensive research in world music, especially that of Ghana, West Africa.

Valerie Dee Naranjo has risen through the ranks to become a legendary and accomplished percussionist, vocalist, composer and clinician. She is recognized by many through the various hats that she wears, but is respected by most for her pioneering efforts in West African keyboard percussion music.Comment:  For more on Indians in SNL, see "Chippewa Word" in Saturday Night Live and Kesha Goes Tribal in Saturday Night Live.

Fischer: Natives had no morals

It's still early in 2011, but I think we've found the most stupid, bigoted, and racist screed of the year. It comes from the same Christian cretin who told us Obama intends to give the US to the Indians.

You can read the whole thing at the link below. I've included the key paragraph so casual visitors will know what we're talking about.

Native Americans morally disqualified themselves from the land

By Bryan FischerThe native American tribes at the time of the European settlement and founding of the United States were, virtually without exception, steeped in the basest forms of superstition, had been guilty of savagery in warfare for hundreds of years, and practiced the most debased forms of sexuality.Comment:  Fischer predicts his column will "generate a firestorm of nuclear proportions." Yes, because it's possibly the most racist screed of the year. Is that what you meant, bright boy?

Wow. Could this piece of crap be any more bigoted? Let's rip this conservative liar, hypocrite, and asshole a new orifice by disassembling his column:In all the discussions about the European settlement of the New World, one feature has been conspicuously absent: the role that the superstition, savagery and sexual immorality of native Americans played in making them morally disqualified from sovereign control of American soil.Wrong. This has been a near-constant claim by Euro-Americans against Indians for 500-plus years. "We defeated and destroyed the uncivilized savages, so they don't deserve America. Genocide is its own justification. If you can kill people, they deserve to die. To the victor goes the spoils. Might makes right. Etc."

I probably could find a million examples of this kind of thinking, literally, if I had enough time. It's the default position in standard US history. God took America from the savage Indians and gave it to the civilized white men.

In case you missed it, note how Fischer doesn't capitalize the "native" in "Native American." Like other white racists, he's trying to delegitimize Indians by delegitimizing their name.International legal scholars have always recognized that sovereign control of land is legitimately transferred in at least three ways: settlement, purchase, and conquest. Europeans have to this day a legitimate claim on American soil for all three of those reasons."International legal scholars" from the conquering countries in the previous century, perhaps. I don't think any legal scholars from conquered countries have said that. And I don't think any legal scholars have said that recently. Ever since the 1960s, we've routinely denounced the conquest of foreign territory.

Scholars okay with invasions?

Also, this after-the-fact rationalization obscures the whole morality problem. A century after the onslaught, legal scholars and historians may downplay the moral crimes. But while the Europeans were invading, conquering, subjugating, enslaving, and murdering the Indians, they were violating most of Jesus's commandments. Their actions were pure evil by any religious standard in existence.They established permanent settlements on the land, moving gradually from east to west, while Indian tribes remained relentlessly nomadic.Wrong. Many Indian tribes had permanent settlements. That's why the country is full of Indian mounds and ruins--all examples of fixed settlements. Do you think they built huge monuments and then wandered away, or took them with them?

And how are the foreigners who crossed an ocean to invade an occupied land not nomadic? If they believed in permanent settlements, they should've stayed in their home cities and villages.Much of the early territory in North American that came into possession of the Europeans came into their possession when the land was purchased from local tribes, Peter Minuit’s purchase of Manhattan being merely the first.Partly true but misleading. Many of these sales were committed under duress. When the Europeans used up an area's resources, the tribes had to sell and move or go hungry. Others were crooked deals. The white man violated some 400 treaties--many of which involved land sales.



Conquerors get to keep conquests?And the Europeans proved superior in battle, taking possession of contested lands through right of conquest. So in all respects, Europeans gained rightful and legal sovereign control of American soil.The right of conquest...that's hysterical. If Japan had successfully conquered Hawaii, would we have recognized that as a legal annexation? The way we recognized Nazi Germany's conquest of central Europe? Or Iraq's conquest of Kuwait during the first Gulf War? How freakin' stupid can you get?!

So "all men are created equal," with "certain unalienable rights," including "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." But some people have the right to conquer others and eliminate their lives, liberty, and pursuit of happiness? Does Fischer really think the Founding Fathers would've agreed to Great Britain's "right to conquer" them?

Does Fischer's "right of conquest" permit conquerors to enslave and kill people, or just to subjugate them? I guess he thinks the Holocaust was okay, since the Nazis had the right to conquer the Jews. And anyone else they were "superior in battle" to.

But I must've missed the part where "international legal scholars" recognized the conquests of the Axis powers, the Communist powers, et al. I look forward to Fischer's documentation on this point.The native American tribes at the time of the European settlement and founding of the United States were, virtually without exception, steeped in the basest forms of superstition, had been guilty of savagery in warfare for hundreds of years, and practiced the most debased forms of sexuality."Basest forms of superstition" = any superstitions other than Christian superstitions, obviously. "Savagery in warfare"? Hmm. Which continent was it that launched two world wars with poison-gas attacks, genocidal death camps, and nuclear mass murder? Oh, yeah...the same continent that engaged in hundreds of bloody wars, crusades, and inquisitions throughout its history:

List of conflicts in Europe

"Debased forms of sexuality" = sex outside a Christian marriage between man and woman, presumably. In addition, Fischer's claim that his claims are "virtually without exception" is a flat-out lie. There were countless exceptions.

Jefferson's "merciless savages"One of the complaints listed by Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence was that King George “has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.”I think that line was more of a political statement than a personal belief. But suppose Jefferson meant it. I conclude the man who owned human chattel was almost as bigoted as Fischer. As I discussed in Jefferson's Indian Removal Policy. So what?The Lewis and Clark journals record the constant warfare between the nomadic Indian tribes on the frontier, and the implacable hostility of the Sioux Indians in particular.Lewis and Clark were preoccupied military men, not expert anthropologists. I'm pretty sure they didn't sit around watching tribes war with each other. I suspect a lot of what they recorded was what tribes told them about their enemies--an obvious source of distortion.

Moreover, Lewis and Clark visited only a fraction of the American West for two years. This was after Americans began pressing westward, which forced tribes into unwanted proximity and conflict. Anything that happened centuries after European contact is arguably not a fair measure of tribal cultures.

What Lewis and Clark didn't visit was the rest of the Western Hemisphere over its ten- or twenty-thousand-year history. From the Arctic Circle to Tierra del Fuego, they didn't have a clue what was going on. Generalizing from one small expedition to the entire history of two continents is incredibly asinine.



Where's the warfare?

Here's the only mention of warfare in the Wikipedia entry for Lewis and Clark:The Lewis and Clark Expedition established relations with two dozen indigenous nations. Without their help, the expedition would have starved to death or become hopelessly lost in the Rocky Mountains. The Americans and the Lakota nation (whom the Americans called Sioux or "Teton-wan Sioux") had problems when they met. The fear of attack by hostile Lakota was a constant source of apprehension. During the recent raid the Sioux had killed 75 Omaha Indians. One of their horses disappeared, and they believed the Sioux were responsible. Afterward, the two sides met and there was a disagreement, and the Sioux asked the men the stay or to give more gifts instead before being allowed to pass through their territory. They came close to fighting several times, and both sides finally backed down and the expedition continued on to Arikara territory. Clark wrote they were "warlike" and were the "vilest miscreants of the savage race."Summing it up, the Sioux didn't like white men passing through their territory. They probably realized Lewis and Clark were the forerunners of an onslaught of disease-carrying, treaty-breaking miscreants. They were smart to oppose the white man's passage.The journals record the morally abhorrent practice of many native American chiefs, who offered their own wives to the Corps of Discovery for their twisted sexual pleasure. (Regrettably, many members of the Corps, Lewis and Clark excepted, took advantage of these offers and contracted numerous and debilitating sexually transmitted diseases as a result.)There's no mention of this in Wikipedia. If Fischer isn't lying outright, it was probably a minor issue.

Meanwhile, Fischer's holier-than-thou Christians had about 1,800 years of prostitution, adultery, pedophilia, orgies, rape, etc. under their belts at this point. Jesus probably was the first and last Christian to obey God's commandments.

Washington the "town destroyer"They rejected Washington’s direct counsel to the Delaware chiefs in 1779, “You do well to wish to learn our arts and ways of life, and above all, the religion of Jesus Christ.”I can't imagine why Indians wouldn't trust and obey Washington. Oh, yeah, maybe this:After the Americans invaded Iroquois towns in the Susquehanna Valley in 1778, George Washington, determined to exterminate the Indian threat once and for all, ordered a massive sweep of Iroquois country, specifying that it should "not merely be overrun, but destroyed." Following orders by Washington to "lay waste all the settlements," Gen. John Sullivan's men ravaged 40 villages, burned 500 houses, and destroyed 100,000 bushels of corn. Some units stopped to plunder graves for burial goods; others skinned the bodies of dead Iroquois to make leggings.

Through Indian EyesThomas Jefferson three times signed legislation appropriating federal tax dollars for the evangelizing of the Native American tribes. It all came to nought, as one tribe after another rejected the offer of spiritual light and advanced civilization.So Jefferson wanted to eradicate Indian cultures and religions so he could steal their land to enrich his fellow slaveowners. Again, so what? Presumably he had to keep busy between bouts of impregnating his female slaves. Since they couldn't opt out of sex with him, he was arguably a rapist.

So much for America's "spiritual light and advanced civilization."

Missionaries reaped what they sowedMissionaries were murdered in cold blood, including Marcus Whitman, who was tomahawked to death in his own house in 1848 by the Cayuse and Umatilla Indians in what became the Oregon Territory.Indians were murdered in cold blood too. After they were cheated out of their land by broken treaties, that is. That's the nature of war, unfortunately. But unlike the trespassing missionaries, the Indians were defending their homeland.

As for Whitman, he was murdered in "his own house" in Indian territory, presumably. I wonder if he got a deed from or signed a rental agreement with his Indian landlords. Or was a he just a common trespasser who suffered the fate of other trespassers?Many of the tribal reservations today remain mired in poverty and alcoholism because many native Americans continue to cling to the darkness of indigenous superstition instead of coming into the light of Christianity and assimilating into Christian culture.Many of those reservations already have converted to Christianity. It hasn't made much difference in improving the tribes' lives. But Fischer is too bigoted to understand that. He thinks all Indians are savage beasts by definition. Incredibly, he can't conceive of a Christian Indian, a common occurrence.The continued presence of native American superstition was on full display at the memorial service for the victims of the Tucson shooter, when the “invocation” (such as it was) was offered by a native American who sought inspiration from the “Seven Directions,” including “Father Sky” and “Mother Earth,” rather than the God of the Bible.The continued display of conservative Christian hatemongering and vitriol was the main outcome of the memorial. It couldn't be plainer that conservative Christians like Fischer are stupid, ugly racists. You gotta love someone who defends Nazi-style genocide...not.

Conclusion

Let's sum it up. Fischer repeats the white supremacy claims uttered by five centuries of his ancestors. He depicts Indians as sick, depraved animals, not human beings.

Gee, I can't imagine the connection between that and broken treaties, underfunded programs, violent crime, low-self esteem, depression and suicide, etc. Indians are subhuman beasts...but they have the same rights and privileges as everyone else. It's a level playing with no barriers to Indian advancement.

If Indians aren't as successful as non-Indians, they must be lazy, good-for-nothing bums. It's not because of racism like Fischer's, because that's impossible in utopian America. We judge people on their merits, not on their race or religion.

What a goddamned crock.

For another deconstruction of this racist screed, see:

AFA’s Bryan Fischer:  Native Americans Have Never Had Morals

For more on the subject, see:

Bachmann fibs about America's founding
Obama's UN "coup" is "chilling"
Racist rhetoric fuels hate crime
Conservative website calls Indians "Beringians"
Palin:  Racism is a ploy

And about a thousand other postings in this blog.

Below:  Fischer's ideological bedfellow: "I agree with Herr Fischer! The Aryan race is the pinnacle of civilization! The mud people and homosexuals are nothing but stains on the earth! We rule the lesser races by the right of conquest! Ja wohl!"

Boy Scout "Indian dance teams"

SCOUTER.com, the self-proclaimed largest Scouting web portal in the world, listed the following "American Indian Dance Teams." Presumably they all consist of non-Indians appropriating Indian dances and dressing up like Indians while doing nothing to help actual Indians.

American Indian Dance Teams [link no longer active]Koshare Dancers--Troop 232

Based in LaJunta Colorado, this group often performs at Philmont during the summer as well as their Kiva (Museum). The group travels all over the world & was featured in both SCOUTER and Boys Life Magazines.

Kwahadi Dancers--Venture Crew 9

This incredible group of Dancers travels world wide. They perform at Philmont & other scout camps, they publish a quarterly newspaper, and are very close to building their own Museum and exhibit center in Amarillo Texas.

Aabikta Indian Dancers

This is a Scouting Native American Dance Group from Slidell LA.

Coyote Night Dancers

The Coyote Night Dancers is a non-profit organization which furthers the education of others about the Native American culture. Based in Northern California.

Kaniengehaga Dance Team

The dance team is made up of members from our chapter that want to learn more about the way Native Americans lived and danced. Our dance team performs many dances from Indian tribes such as Sioux, Cherokee, Lakota, and Chippewa Indian tribes.

Kootaga Indian Dancers, Inc.

This Troop & Venture Crew from Parkersburg West Virginia travels in a three state area doing dances and competing in Pow Wow events.

Kossa Indian Dancers

This group of scout dancers are based in Sulphur, Louisiana. They have their own Kiva called Kossa Plaza that includes a performance stage, Trading Post & Native American Artwork.

Lakota Dancers

NWSC, IL Crew 476, Lakota Dancers.

Paumanauke Dance Team

Based in Amityville NY this is a scouting based Dance Team.

Sahawe Indian Dancers

The Sahawe Indian Dancers were originally founded in 1950 as the Comanche Club Indians by Scoutmaster of Troop 81 in Uvalde, Texas.

The Mic-O-Say Dancers

Proudly representing the Tribe of Mic-O-Say, an Honor Camping Organization from the Heart of America Council and the H. Roe Bartle Scout Reservation in the Greater Kansas City area. Founded in 1979.

Tsoyaha Indian Dancers / Mossy Creek

The Tsoyaha Indian Dancers & Mossy Creek Singers, NOAC award winning dancers & singers, teaching boys & girls ages 14 to 21 powwow dancing and singing based in Morristown, TN. Dancing, singing and traveling to councils & powwows throughout the USA.Comment:  We've already seen how the Tribe of Mic-O-Say presents a mishmash of Native stereotypes unrelated to any particular culture. I fear these other dance troupes are just as bad.

The "Coyote Night Dancers" entry probably says it all. Educating people about "the Native American culture"...as if there's only one culture with a common set of attributes: headdresses, buckskins, feathers, teepees, arrows, tomahawks, canoes, etc.

For more on the subject, see Who Are the Kossa Dancers? and Kossa Dancers "Reproduce" Pueblo Ceremonies.

Below:  Big Mic-O-Say chief help little braves learn how to appropriate Native dances for fun and profit.