Sherrod incident shows conservative tactics

Thrown to the Wolves

By Bob HerbertThe Shirley Sherrod story tells us so much about ourselves, and none of it is pretty. The most obvious and shameful fact is that the Obama administration, which runs from race issues the way thoroughbreds bolt from the starting gate, did not offer this woman anything resembling fair or respectful treatment before firing and publicly humiliating her.

Moving with the swiftness of fanatics on a hanging jury, big shots in the administration and Bill O’Reilly of Fox News came to exactly the same conclusion: Shirley Sherrod had to go—immediately! No time for facts. No time for justice. And:This sorry episode shows the extent to which we’ve lost sight of the most basic elements of fair play, responsible reporting and common decency in this society. And we’ve turned the race issue entirely on its head. While racial discrimination is overwhelmingly directed against black people in the U.S., much of the nation and the media are poised to go berserk over the most specious allegations of racism against whites. Even the N.A.A.C.P. rushed to condemn Ms. Sherrod, calling her actions “shameful,” without bothering to seek out the facts—which, incredibly, had unfolded at an N.A.A.C.P. event!

Later, after officials at the organization had found and released a tape of Ms. Sherrod’s entire 45-minute speech, the group’s president, Ben Jealous, apologized and said the N.A.A.C.P. had been “snookered.”Rachel Maddow puts the Sherrod incident in context:

Rachel Maddow's Mega-Takedown Of Fox News' 'Scare White People' Tactics (VIDEO)

By Jillian RayfieldRachel Maddow explained last night that the right-wing tactic of characterizing black people--like, say, former USDA employee Shirley Sherrod--as being racist against white people is nothing new in this country. In fact, as Maddow documented, "the political strategy of terrifying white people about the threat posed by black people" goes back to the 1960s, with the campaign of Alabama Gov. George Wallace, and the "Southern Strategy" that was a part of Richard Nixon's presidential campaign.

Maddow continued that now, "making white people feel like they are victims of black people" is one of the "Fox News agenda items" designed to fear-monger about race.

(Click on the barely visible pause button if you don't want to watch the whole video.)

Finally, Herbert tells us the deeper meaning of the Sherrod incident:Which brings us to the most important part of the Shirley Sherrod story. The point that Ms. Sherrod was making as she talked in her speech about the white farmer who had come to her for help was that we are all being sold a tragic bill of goods by the powerful forces that insist on pitting blacks, whites and other ethnic groups against one another.

Ms. Sherrod came to the realization, as she witnessed the plight of poverty-stricken white farmers in the South more than two decades ago, that the essential issue in this country “is really about those who have versus those who don’t.”

She explained how the wealthier classes have benefited from whites and blacks constantly being at each other’s throats, and how rampant racism has insidiously kept so many struggling whites from recognizing those many things they and their families have in common with economically struggling blacks, Hispanics and so on.

“It’s sad that we don’t have a roomful of whites and blacks here tonight,” she said, “because we have to overcome the divisions that we have.”Comment:  Needless to say, this analysis applies to other minorities too. For Latinos, it's "the illegal immigrants are coming to get you." For Muslims, it's "the terrorists are coming to get you." For Indians, it's "the greedy casino owners are coming to get you--to take your money, your land, and your rights."

In short, the brown-skins are coming to get you. Only the Republican Tea Party, the party of whites, can save you. Vote for one of your own kind.

For more on the connection between racism and classism, see Is Racism Really Classism? For more on conservative fearmongering, see White Conservatives "Angry About Racism," Why Americans Hate Welfare, and Conservative Worldview = Fear of Cooties. For a history of conservative race-baiting, see America the Conservative.

Americans refuse to acknowledge prejudice

After Shirley Sherrod, we all need to slow down and listen

By Charles J. Ogletree Jr. and Johanna WaldUnfortunately, our news and political cycles make it impossible for any of us to stay in a room long enough to reach that transformative moment. At the barest suggestion of race, we line up at opposite corners and start hurling accusations. Attorney General Eric Holder was widely criticized last year for suggesting that we are a "nation of cowards" when it comes to such discussions. The reaction to his comments is a reminder that we cannot continue to ignore this challenge. Yet Americans refuse to acknowledge that, in today's society, racial attitudes are often complicated, multi-layered and conflicted.

Racial inequality is perpetuated less by individuals than by structural racism and implicit bias. Evidence of structural inequality is everywhere: in the grossly disproportionate numbers of young black men and women in prison; in the color of students shunted into remedial and special education tracks; in the stubborn segregation of our neighborhoods and schools; in the lack of recreational and academic opportunities for children of color in poor communities; in the inferior medical treatment that people of color receive; and in the still appallingly small numbers of men and women of color in law firms, corporations and government. It is evident, too, in the history of blatant discrimination against black farmers practiced by the Agricultural Department.

But that does not make doctors, nurses, police officers, judges, teachers, lawyers, city planners, admission officers or others prejudiced. Most are well-intentioned professionals who believe themselves to be free of racial bias. From their perspective, it is not easy to connect individual actions and decisions to broader structural conditions and environments built up over decades and even centuries.

Implicit bias is a reality we must confront far more openly. A growing mass of compelling research reveals the unconscious racial stereotypes many of us harbor that affect our decisions. Such attitudes do not make us prejudiced; they make us human. Those who take the Implicit Association Test often express shock when results show that their unconscious biases conflict with their explicit egalitarian values and ideals. Nonetheless, white and black test-takers match black faces more quickly than white ones with words representing violent concepts and are more likely to mistake a harmless object for a gun when it is carried by a black person. One study found that the more stereotypically black the features of a criminal defendant, the harsher the sentence he or she is likely to receive. Implicit bias has been shown to factor into hiring decisions and into the quality of health care that individuals receive. Mazharin Banaji and Jerry Kang, leading scholars on implicit bias, have noted: "As disturbing as this evidence is, there is too much of it to be ignored." Comment:  The US Dept. of Agriculture also has a history of discrimination against Native farmers. Some problem, same source.

This is a good analysis, but I disagree with the claim that implicit bias doesn't make us prejudiced. Making pre-judgments that affect our decisions is the textbook definition of prejudice.

The authors must think "prejudice" means a conscious feeling of superiority or hatred toward others. Wrong, as a dictionary would reveal.

In other words, the authors' claim that "it makes us human" is another way of saying humans are prejudiced. The authors may be afraid to hurt their readers' feelings, but I'm not. Some people are explicitly prejudiced and more are implicitly prejudiced. The latter group includes everyone who thinks The Dudesons, hipster headdresses, and Indian mascots are okay.

No one is saying these people are "bad," but we're also not saying they're perfectly good. They have a problem and they need to work to overcome it. Ignorance and apathy aren't acceptable.

If you think it's okay to believe Indians are chiefs, savages, or drunks, think again. Stop acting like a child who believes in Santa Claus and start learning. Educate yourself about Indians and other minorities to alleviate your implicit prejudice.

For more on the subject, see:

Minorities suffer microaggression
Hollywood's cultural conservatism
Subconscious racism proved
Study shows people ignore racism
No discrimination if Indians happy?
Meyer's unconscious racism

Below:  Explicit prejudice then...



...has become implicit prejudice now.

Didier: Stop "protecting the weak"

'Self-made' myth divides us

By Danny WestneatClint Didier—farmer, footballer, tamer of sagebrush—told why he's running for U.S. Senate. In short, to preserve the America of "rugged individualism" from socialism's creep.

People can take care of their own, he explained. So the entire system of support we've constructed, from medical aid for the elderly to financial boosts for public schools, should be slashed. Not only to save money. But so we don't become a society of flabby collectivists jonesing for the next handout.

"We've got to get rid of this 'protecting the weak,'" Didier said. "If we keep the weak alive all the time, it eats up the strong."

Of all stories we tell ourselves, the one about how we're a merit-based nation of lone wolves has got to be the most enduring. The most intoxicating. And the most baloney.

Nowhere is the myth as confused with reality as in rock-ribbed Eastern Washington. The place depends utterly on the government and communal resources for its existence, from the New Deal irrigation system still being paid for by taxpayers elsewhere, to farming subsidies and crop price supports. Yet in their own minds, they are mavericks living off the land.

"We don't need the government to come in and try to prop things up," a Lincoln County grain buyer told me as the economy was collapsing in the fall of 2008. As if the local economy weren't already propped up.Comment:  Thanks for summing up the Sarah Palin/teabagger view of things, Didier. Real Americans pull themselves up by their bootstraps. Socialists, America haters, and terrorists--i.e., anyone who voted for Obama--take the hard-earned money of white people and redistribute it to the brown-skins. These parasites leech off society because they're corrupt, immoral, and inferior.

We know this because we conquered them and might makes right. To the victors go the spoils. Giving away something you've "earned," like apologizing for your mistakes, is for women and other weaklings.

Back in the real world, "protecting the weak" means helping the poor, huddled masses. You know, minorities, elders, the sick and disabled, et al. I gather Didier is some sort of libertarian/social Darwinist. "Let 'em die so that strong white Christians can live comfortably in their middle-class suburbs."

We see examples of this explicitly or implicitly racist viewpoint several times a week. For instance:

Ron Hart is a racist
Tea Party leader posts racist "satire"
Native children = unsafe community?
New Hampshire Republican = racist

It's basically what the healthcare debate was about and what the immigration debate is about. "Why should we suffer one iota of inconvenience to help someone other than friends and family? They can help themselves or die trying. Either way, I don't care."

In other words, "I hate anyone who isn't white like me. I won't say it because it's socially unacceptable, but I'm racist."

How ironic that protecting the weak is a central tenet of Jesus's teaching. Perhaps Didier is an atheist who doesn't believe in Christianity. Or perhaps he's a goddamned hypocrite.

For more on the subject, see Why Americans Hate Welfare and The Myth of American Self-Reliance.

Below:  Oklahomans rush for free government land taken from Indians so they can be rugged individualists.

Anti-government extremists pose as "Indians"

Tribal claims causing Charlotte controversy

By Chris GerbasiA code violation dispute in Charlotte County has highlighted a national trend of individuals claiming that membership in a purported Native American tribe makes them exempt from U.S. laws.

Charlotte County attorneys plan to seek an injunction to force Robert Chancey Sumner to correct building and zoning violations at his residence and auto junkyard on Taylor Road in Punta Gorda. Sumner says he is a member of a legitimate tribe--the Pembina Nation Little Shell Band of North America. The Anti-Defamation League, however, describes it as a fake tribe concocted by anti-government extremists to help them avoid paying taxes and other fees.

Mark Pitcavage is director of investigative research for the New York-based ADL, which monitors extremist groups. He said the Little Shell Pembina Band of North America, as he refers to it, was created by Ronald K. Delorme of North Dakota. In 2001, Delorme claimed Indian ancestry and sued the U.S. government for appropriations, but the case was dismissed and the group is not a federally recognized tribe, he said. Pitcavage says that in 2003, Delorme's band became a sovereign citizen group, accepting members for a small fee whether they have Indian ancestry or not.

"It's completely dysfunctional," Pitcavage said. "Anybody can now claim they're in the group."Comment:  Many Indians decry the federal recognition process, saying it's a government imposition on the right to be Indian. This posting shows why it's necessary.

I hate to reiterate the obvious, but this is another result of Native stereotyping. People use stereotypes to create this scofflaw environment. The process goes like this:

Real Indians vanished long ago. Now Native beliefs and attributes belong to everyone. We're all Redskins, Blackhawks, Fighting Sioux, et al. We all have the right to be Indian.

Thus, we get Hollywood casting anyone with brown skin in Native roles. The Dudesons mocking Indians for fun and profit. James Ray inadvertently killing three people in a Native sweat lodge. And these criminals using their alleged Indian ancestry to avoid paying taxes.

For more on the subject, see Self-Proclaimed "Indian" Secedes from City and "Grand Chief" Webber Sent to Jail.

Below:  "Robert Sumner, 74, says he is a member of the Pembina Nation Little Shell Band of North America, a group the Anti-Defamation League describes as a fake tribe." (E. Skylar Litherland)

Cowboy defends Cowboy Day

A Nez Perce/Cayuse man and proud "Cowbindian" defends the National Day of the American Cowboy:The Cowboys of the cattle trails between 1866 and 1889 were mostly Blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans not the John Wayne Hollywood stereotype you suggest. In modern times those of us that still work as "Cowboys" come in all colors, creeds and nationalities, we work long hours for low pay doing what we do and none of it has anything to do with "America's white, Christian philosophy of Manifest Destiny." As one who decries stereotypes I'm surprised to see you embrace this one so wholeheartedly. But then, propaganda and stereotyping is just the bending of an image to fit one's own agenda, isn't it?‎"Mostly" blacks, Hispanics, and Natives? Some were, but the majority? I doubt it.

"Modern times"? That's nice, but the resolution isn't solely about the modern cowboy. Read it again if you're not clear on that point.

The first part of the resolution says cowboys helped "establish" America. How exactly did they do that? Give me a rundown on all the establishing tasks they did that didn't interfere with Native land and treaty rights. Don't include the cattle drives you mentioned because those did interfere with Native land and treaty rights.

Even more than the cowboys of the past, the resolution is talking about the iconic, archetypal cowboy of legend. Not the actual cowboys of any era, including a narrow 23-year range in our 230-year history. This iconic figure was indeed a white male Christian who was indeed involved in the genocide of Indians, either directly or indirectly.

If the resolution were talking about real cowboys, it wouldn't describe how transcendent they are. It wouldn't talk about them in gushing terms reserved for Founding Fathers and other national heroes. It would talk about people with flaws and shortcomings as well as positive qualities, not saints.

In short, no sale. Try again.

Round 2I think, Rob, The term "celebrate" would indicate an acknowledgment and respect for the traditions of the skills, lifeways and work of the American Cowboy not their "flaws and shortcomings" as those are evident in all human beings. As a Nez Perce/Cayuse man and proud "Cowbindian," my family comes from many generations of the ranching cowboy life style. The resolution describes the cowboy as "transcending" ethnicity, gender, geographic boundaries, and political affiliations not as "how transcendent they are" and in my experience, this is true. I guess honesty, integrity, courage, compassion, respect, a strong work ethic, and patriotism, strength of character, sound family values, and good common sense, and being an excellent steward of the land and its creatures, living off the land and working to protect and enhance the environment are really crappy things to aspire to, in your point of view.

Not tryin' to sell you a thing, Rob. Just livin' the life and thought it was kinda nice that a nominal "National Cowboy Day" was called to recognize those that do.JRey Crow responds to this:This gushing and unqualified language of this "proclamation" suggests it originated on the desk of a lobbyist or public relations practitioner for a ranching related trade organization.

Marketers of every product, industry, etc. want to have a day, week, or month in "honor" of whatever they're selling. There are countless examples of successful efforts to this end.

It is no more reasonable or truthful to say that all "cowboys" (or any other group) possess "honesty, integrity, etc." by virtue of their membership in the group than it would be to say the opposite--that as a group, "cowboys" are dishonest, lacking in integrity, compassion, and so forth.

Though this proclamation is an example of an attempt to promote a "positive" stereotype, it's still stereotyping as I see it.

Likewise, claiming that ranching as an industry is "beneficial to all states," much less an excellent example of "stewardship" of land or animals, is highly controversial. I prefer strong wolf populations to private profit, for just one illustration.

My understanding is that, at most levels of government, these kinds of petitions are often granted, if for no other reason than they cause no apparent harm.

No offense intended to cowboys--who ever they are, who I admit I have no standing to judge as individuals.Good response, JRey. I agree.

Final thoughts

Our cowboy didn't address most of my points, but I'll add a few more:

Cowboy demographics are almost irrelevant to my argument. America has always had minorities and so has the subset of America known as cowboys. The presence of minorities doesn't negate the fact that white male Christians have dominated America since the beginning.

If people transcend things, they're transcendent by definition. Transcending ethnicity means cowboys existed in some transcendent state where their ethnicity didn't matter. Wrong.

Most cowboys were white and they contributed to America's white Christian philosophy of Manifest Destiny. They didn't transcend ethnicity, they were as ethnic as their fellow Americans. No doubt most of them believed in white superiority.

This proclamation isn't about what cowboys "aspire" to. It's about what they've already achieved. I'm challenging that propaganda message: that mostly white cowboys made America great by taming the land, turning wilderness into fenced-off ranches, and--not coincidentally--ignoring Indian treaties and rights.

I'm glad you're living your life, cowboy friend. If the proclamation had limited itself to today's cowboys, I probably wouldn't have criticized it. But it made sweeping claims about the cowboys' role in history and legend. Those I criticize.

Anyway, have a happy Cowboy Day, everyone!

For more on the subject, see How America Became Cowboy Country, Movies Convey "America's Master Narrative," and "Cowboys and Indians" Images.

Below:  Cowboys and Indians who failed to transcend their ethnicity or political affiliations.

(Native) soldiers aren't heroes

“Our American Heroes”:  Why It’s Wrong to Equate Military Service with Heroism

By William J. Astore[E]ven if elevating our troops to hero status has become something of a national mania, is there really any harm done? What’s wrong with praising our troops to the rafters? What’s wrong with adding them to our pantheon of heroes?

The short answer is: There’s a good deal wrong, and a good deal of harm done, not so much to them as to us.

To wit:

*By making our military a league of heroes, we ensure that the brutalizing aspects and effects of war will be played down. In celebrating isolated heroic feats, we often forget that war is guaranteed to degrade humanity. “War,” as writer and cultural historian Louis Menand noted, “is specially terrible not because it destroys human beings, who can be destroyed in plenty of other ways, but because it turns human beings into destroyers.”

When we create a legion of heroes in our minds, we blind ourselves to evidence of their destructive, sometimes atrocious, behavior. Heroes, after all, don’t commit atrocities. They don’t, for instance, dig bullets out of pregnant women’s bodies in an attempt to cover up deadly mistakes. They don’t fire on a good Samaritan and his two children as he attempts to aid a grievously wounded civilian. Such atrocities and murderous blunders, so common to war’s brutal chaos, produce cognitive dissonance in the minds of many Americans who simply can’t imagine their “heroes” killing innocents. How much easier it is to see the acts of violence of our troops as necessary, admirable, even noble.Comment:  I agree, and I don't equate military service with heroism. When soldiers come under fire and don't run away, then I'll consider calling them heroic. Or at least courageous. But just for enlisting and serving? No.

As few people are willing to acknowledge, we haven't fought an enemy who threatened our country since WW II. You don't get a lot of credit from me for participating in stupid and unnecessary wars. Someone who protests these wars, even when the wars are popular, is arguably more heroic.

A commenter on Facebook concurs:Making sure that you're actually standing for the right cause regardless of the cost--that's heroism.He adds:This is not just an American tendency...Native Americans as a whole have a thing with turning soldiers into heroes as propaganda.I agree with that too. As longtime readers know, I've criticized the Native obsession with warriors many times. For instance:

Shawn Hawk the "Sioux Warrior"
Weaponized drone = Indian savage
Gang culture in Indian country
Indians join military for paycheck?

Bottom line: Many (Native) soldiers are heroes and many aren't. But nobody's a hero automatically. Do something heroic and then we'll call you a hero, not before.

For more on the definition of "warrior," see Billy Mills Defines "Warrior" and Sitting Bull Defines "Warrior." For more on the subject in general, see Indians in the Military and Diplomacy Works, Violence Doesn't.

Defying Expectations with Native art

'Defying Expectations' is much more than 'Indians and horses'

By James ChuteThere are no horses, but there are plenty of American Indians in this show. Nelson-Rodriguez’s paintings picture them as lost souls, abused women, figures full of fear, pain and loneliness. Only the very young children in her works seem to have any sense of peace.

A self-taught artist whose work has a literal, elemental technique similar to outsider art, Nelson-Rodriguez inserts typewritten texts into many of her paintings. In a work like “Fear” (1991), the text can be horrifying in its depiction of brutality, alcoholism and disenfranchisement.

“Tribally, that’s like current affairs,” said Nelson-Rodriquez, a member of the Luiseño tribe, sitting on a plush chair in her living-room-like section of the gallery. “That has to do with our lives now, that doesn’t have to do with what life was like for natives a long time ago.

“It’s like contemporary cultural events that affect all of us. It’s not even cultural, it’s just stuff we’re real familiar with because we have such small communities.”

You won’t soon forget time spent with her extremely personal paintings. “The Gallery” (1994), which shows a woman enveloped by a black ball in an art gallery, has typewritten text inlaid into the painting, “No one understands. I’m dead inside. …”And:If references to life on the reservation are overt in Nelson-Rodriguez’s work, Lafferty’s are more subtle in his abstract panels.

“For years, I’ve been deliberating how to incorporate my own culture, without incorporating my own culture,” Lafferty said.

He points to links between his own art and the work of the Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky and the American abstract expressionist Jackson Pollock, whose art was influenced by ritual sandpainting.

“I had this idea: What if an Indian took back, reclaimed abstract art?” said Lafferty, a member of the Mesa Grande tribe.Comment:  Slight correction about Nelson-Rodriguez's heritage: There are several Luiseño tribes, not just one tribe.

For more on the subject, see Native Art Continues from Past to Present and Contemporary Art at Coconino Center.

Below:  "In Catherine Nelson-Rodriguez's The Gallery, she's curled up in a dark ball while everything proceeds as normal around her."

Order of the Arrow's Indian play

Scouts mark end of Order of the Arrow week with Indian dramaThe 52nd Annual Pee Dee Area Boy Scout Council, Order of the Arrow outdoor drama, was presented Friday night before a crowd of campers, leaders and parents at Camp Coker.

The drama, Ode on a Burial Mound, is one of 17 original scripts of the Order, Santee Lodge 116.

“This is our O-A Week Indian Pageant. We have one every year. We bring in a pageant director, sometimes it’s a member of the lodge and they’ll write it and direct it and it all comes together. We don’t know how, it just does,” CJ McIllrath, a Myrtle Beach Eagle Scout, said.Comment:  Hmm. From glimpses of the play in the video and photographs, it looks more authentic than inauthentic. The title Ode on a Burial Mound suggests a lament for the vanishing Indian, which would be problematical. But we can't say for sure without knowing more.

In general, whites shouldn't be playing Indians. But since this is a private, amateur performance rather than a public, professional one, it doesn't take jobs from Native actors or spread misinformation widely. Therefore, it's not a big problem.

Of course, the Order of the Arrow has offended Indians in the past by using Plains stereotypes in its ceremonies and performances. I don't know whether it's still engaging in this behavior.

For more on Boy Scouts and Indians, see Scouts Want Land to Mock Indians, Indian Origin of the Boy Scouts, and Scouts Perform Cherokee Dances.

Below:  "Boy Scouts playing members of the Cheraw Indian Tribe stand on stage during the presentation of the Ode on a Burial Mound at Camp Coker in Cheraw, SC, on Friday, July 23, 2010. The play, presented by Order of the Arrow Santee Lodge 116, marked the end of the Order’s week at camp."

Flying car for Amazon Indians

Mission organization’s flying car may be just the ticket for indigenous people

By Clint CooperWhen Steve Saint asked the Waodani Indians of Ecuador—the same tribe that killed his missionary father in 1956—how he could help them some years ago, they mentioned the concept of a flying machine.

He never forgot the idea and earlier this week drove through Chattanooga with the Maverick Sport Flying Car he helped engineer and which he intends the South American tribe will have one day.

“It’s meeting people where they feel the need,” said Mr. Swift, who established the nonprofit Indigenous People’s Technology and Education Center (I-TEC) that assists the “hidden church” toward independence, self-sustenance and maturity.

The flying car is just that—an actual road legal car with a wing deployment system like a paraglider that would allow it to fly over the Amazon River Basin jungles to reach the area in which the Waodani live.

“There are no roads,” said Mr. Saint, author of “The End of the Spear” and inspiration for the 2006 movie by the same name, “and they have 30 feet of rain a year.”

Ultimately, he envisions indigenous people everywhere having such a craft—they can learn to operate it in six hours, he says—that would allow them to fly their sickest people into areas where they could receive medical help.Comment:  For more on Amazon Indians, see Indiana Jones and the Stereotypes of Doom.

Tribal perspectives in Glacier exhibit

Tribal life focus of new Glacier exhibitA new Glacier National Park exhibit seeks to educate visitors about tribal perspectives on the area.

The exhibit, "At Home in This Place," at the St. Mary Visitor Center was dedicated earlier this month during a ceremony that featured remarks from area Native American tribal leaders. The exhibit is on permanent display at the St. Mary Visitor Center, which is open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily in the summer.

There are five parts that make up the new exhibit. The first is welcome panels for each of the tribes that had a historic and current relationship with the park land, including the Blackfeet, Kootenai and Salish, and Pend d'Oreille tribes.

Another section, "Bittersweet Meanings," looks at changes that these tribes faced with the creation of the park—some good, others difficult. "Backbone of the World" provides Native American perspectives on the land, mountains, creation stories and place names, according to a press release.

"The Wisdom in Spoken Words" features oral histories and traditions with video of stories about Glacier Park by tribal elders in an indoor setting for sitting and listening.

Finally, "Animal Lessons" is a large winter scene diorama featuring elk, wolves, coyote and a grizzly bear with animal stories told by tribal leaders.
Comment:  For more on the subject, see Before There Were Parks and Blackfeet Tours of Glacier.

Did the Norse invent lacrosse?

On the heels of the Iroquois passport controversy comes this potential shocker:

Is Lacrosse Proof The Norse Reached The Great Lakes?

By George and Darril FostyIt was the Norwegian historian Ebbe Hertzberg, in his 1904 article entitled: "Old Ball Games of the Norsemen" (‘Nordboernes Gamle Boldspil’), who first pointed to the similarities between the ancient Norse stick and ball game of knattleikr and lacrosse.

Hertzberg argued both games were in fact the same and were evidence of early Norse contact with the Americas. Hertzberg’s arguments concluded the game of knattleikr was given from the Norse to the tribes of the Americas. Perhaps, Hertzberg would have been more correct if he had concluded the opposite; that knattleikr was a game adopted by the Norse from their contact with the Indians. Archaeological evidence suggests the game of lacrosse dates back to at least c.800 AD. This is well before the first Norse expeditions to America. Regardless, Hertzberg’s arguments of similarities have continued to stand the test of time and to conclusively link the two games.Comment:  For more on lacrosse, see Iroquois Team Bows Out of Tournament and Iroquois Team Fights for Sovereignty.

NMAI will tell "difficult" stories

‘Our story needs to be told’:  Smithsonian museum director gathers feedback in Red Lake on future exhibition

Kevin Gover hopes to rewrite history books about the life of American Indians, and a visit to Red Lake will bring him one step closer to achieving just that.

By Anne WilliamsGover, who became director of the museum in 2007, said he is in the beginning stages of designing an exhibition on American Indian treaties. He said the purpose of his visit to Red Lake was to meet with tribal council leaders and community members and to hear their feedback on the future exhibition.

“This is our first real effort to address the harder, more tragic parts of native history and their relationships with the United States,” Gover said. “The Smithsonian has enormous potential to change people’s understanding of Native American studies--what we’re taught in school.”

Gover is a member of the Pawnee and Comanche tribes. He is a former professor of law at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University in Tempe, Ariz.

Since the museum opened in 2004, Gover said, it has shied away from exhibiting difficult Native American topics.

“We knew the time would come when we’d have to tell the whole story,” Gover said. “There will be some who don’t want to hear it, but we think it’s time. This treaties exhibit will be our first venture into telling that difficult story.”

The exhibition, Gover said, will be designed in layers. A main exhibition will be designed for viewing at the national museum at the National Mall. A traveling exhibition will also be designed to travel around the country. A third exhibition will be created travel throughout Minnesota to tell the story of American Indian treaties in Minnesota.Comment:  As you may recall, several critics have taken the NMAI to task for telling only positive stories. Now it's about to start telling negative stories.

The question the critics would ask is: "What took you so long?" They and the fans, I think, have always wanted a more critical approach. The only ones who didn't seem to were the Indians.

Indians have lived with their own tragic histories since the beginning. They frequently demand these histories' inclusion when people leave them out. So why would they want the NMAI to be only positive?

Gover saysy, "We think it's time." Okay, but what's changed since the museum opened five years ago? Why now and not five years from now?

It doesn't quite make sense. There must be more to the story.

For more on the subject, see Museums as Ethnic Advertising and The Feel-Good National Museum:  Reviews of the National Museum of the American Indian.

Below:  "Kevin Gover, director of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C., spoke at the Red Lake Tribal Headquarters Thursday afternoon in Red Lake about a future exhibition on American Indian treaties." (Pioneer Photo/Monte Draper)

Kiowa Gordon in a headdress

The latest news about a Twilight werewolf:

Actor Kiowa Gordon says he owes his career to 'Twilight'

By Jeff ViceGordon said his mother and manager, Camille Nighthorse, has been responsible for his cultural upbringing.

And that will certainly be on Gordon's mind when he appears in Utah this weekend. He is one of the celebrity participants in the Native American Celebration Golf Tournament in Lehi July 23. And on July 24, Pioneer Day, he's appearing at the 16th annual Intertribal Competition Powwow in Liberty Park.

Gordon will be signing autographs in the afternoon and will be joined by other Native American entertainers, including his mother and actor/stuntman Patrick Shining Elk.

Gordon said he is "looking forward to enjoying the traditional music and entertainment."

In fact, he said he is a fan of many different music styles. He describes his band, Touche, as "progressive metal."

He and Touche got to perform at the red-carpet premiere of "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse" earlier this year.Then there's this photo accompanying the article:



Comment:  Wow. Does that look as phony to anyone else as it does to me? A 20-year-old in a headdress and a sleeveless shirt--because chiefs like having buffed bodies. A Hualapai Indian in a headdress from a region a thousand miles distant from his own. A "chief" on a horse next to a cactus.

I don't care if you're a Native celebrity like Kiowa Gordon or Q'orianka Kilcher. Don't wear a headdress unless you've earned the right from a Plains tribe where it's part of the culture. Otherwise, it's stereotypical.

For more on the subject, see The "Honor" of a Plains Chief and Why Hipster Headdresses Aren't Okay.

Thoughts on the Comic-Con protest

Some thoughts to accompany my report and pix of the 2010 Comic-Con--specifically the anti-gay protest:

When comic-book nerds support gay rights, you can believe the issue has gone mainstream. That makes it safe for others to think and say, "You know, maybe gays really are harmless. Maybe it's okay to let them marry."

This is one way protests influence public opinion: by moving the needle on what's acceptable or unacceptable. Claim that "fags are beasts" and hundreds of normal people will shout you down. You can rethink your position or become a reviled outcast...your choice.

The same thing happens with protests against racism and stereotyping. If you protest often enough and get enough people behind you, it'll shift the needle on the acceptability of these things. Beliefs and expressions that were acceptable won't be any longer.

For more on particular protests, see:

Asians protest Last Airbender
Zazzle's "Indian name" t-shirts
Natives lead Arizona law protest
Anti-Dudesons protest at MTV Awards

For more on protests in general, see:

Indians shouldn't act uppity?
Do protests work?
Protesting stereotypes = cop-out?

Self-proclaimed "Indian" secedes from city

Homeowner 'secedes' from Lima; judge doesn't buy it

Man claims to form own Indian reservation in property-maintenance dispute

By Bob BlakeJudge Richard Warren told Bowersock he has 30 days to abate two properties on Lakewood Avenue the city calls a nuisance. The order comes after the city filed a motion for declaratory judgment and to abate a public nuisance in March after saying Bowersock failed to maintain his properties at 1806 and 1808 Lakewood Ave. for more than a decade.

The city began receiving complaints about Bowersock's property in the early 1990s and has issued him a succession of orders over the years.

But Bowersock says Lima has no authority to enforce property code regulations on his properties. According to Bowersock, he's an American Indian on his mother's side of the family. Based on that assertion, Bowersock said he seceded from the city, county and state and formed his own Indian reservation.

"I just think what they're doing is prejudiced. I have no objection to doing my part to make this look clean here," Bowersock said. "I do my best, though. As far as shirking my duties, I want to be a good citizen and I am a good citizen. This is terrible on the records to put down that I'm a public nuisance and I object to that."Comment:  Uh, duh. I've rarely heard anything so stupid. There's no right to call yourself a tribe or establish your own reservation because you have some Indian blood. Bowersock is obviously a scofflaw who knows what he's doing is wrong but doesn't care.

For a similar con artist, see "Grand Chief" Webber Sent to Jail. For more on the subject, see Self-Identification as an Indian.

Pix of Comic-Con 2010

Here are some pictures to accompany my report on the 2010 Comic-Con and the anti-gay protest:

San Diego Comic-Con--July 22, 2010 (morning)
San Diego Comic-Con--July 22, 2010 (lunch)
San Diego Comic-Con--July 22, 2010 (afternoon)

Plus:

Super Heroes vs. the Westboro Baptist Church
Victor Rocha's Photos--Comic-Con 2010

Starring Iron Man, Green Lantern, Lord Voldemort, Boba Fett, Stormtroopers, Neytiri, Bender, the Pope, Jesus, Hitler, the Big Bang Theory cast, zombies, robots, monsters, Indians, and more.

For more on the subject, see Comic Books Featuring Indians.

Report on Comic-Con 2010

Thursday I attended the opening day of this year's San Diego Comic-Con. As usual, I went with my pal Victor, an enrolled Pechanga Indian. This time his young friends Rebecca and Eric accompanied us.

As always, I looked for signs of Native and multicultural work. Here's what we saw:

Zombies, vampires, and post-apocalyptic worlds continued to be big. Among licensed properties, Star Wars seems to be the perennial champ.

The movies getting the biggest push included Green Hornet, Tron: Legacy, and Battle: Los Angeles. I don't know how big they'll be, but they don't have the same cachet as Iron Man, Harry Potter, or Lord of the Rings.

Avatar had almost no presence. There was one giant statue of Neytiri, the hot Indian Na'vi princess, and one vendor was selling a few Neytiri figurines. She may have been there only because she's a sexy fantasy female, not because anyone is demanding Avatar merchandise.

Twilight also had almost no presence, which was a bit surprising. I guess comics and sci-fi fans don't overlap much with Twilight fans.

The Last Airbender also had almost no presence, which probably wasn't surprising given its critical drubbing. I did see one or two kids dressed as Aang, the Asian hero played by a white actor.

Jonah Hex had no presence at all. That must be one of the biggest losers that could've been a franchise.

Native and multicultural aspects

A couple of booths were selling black comic books. Other than that and the usual Japanese anime and manga, I didn't see many signs of minority-themed creative projects.

One t-shirt artist says he was donating part of the proceeds to the fight against SB 1070, Arizona's anti-immigrant law. Nice touch, but it would've been better if he were advertising his opposition on a sign rather than telling to a few customers.

I believe this artist also was working on "Aliens vs. Predators" video. I.e., immigrants vs. enforcers...get it? The one second of video I saw showed Latinos firing futuristic weapons at somebody.

The Blacklava booth was selling Racebending and other t-shirts with pro-Asian messages. It may have been the only booth with an overt message about racial politics.

The Neytiri statue was the biggest example of an "indigenous" presence, and she's a Smurf-cat alien. That's sad.

We saw a poster of Tonto as a knife-wielding savage and a painting of Turok as a dinosaur-killing savage. We saw a few pages of old Western comic-book art featuring Indians, and Victor bought a copy of INDIANS #17 (Spring 1953). A vendor had a Deftones poster with an Aztec priest and a winged serpent.

And that's about it for the Native presence. It was about as close as you can get to zero without being zero.

A genuine protest

We did have one notable multicultural encounter. Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church, the people who protested gays at a military funeral, showed up at lunchtime to harangue the fans and motorists. They carried signs saying "Fags Are Beasts" and the like.

But the Comic-Con people were prepared. Some had counter-signs such as "God Hates Fred Phelps." Others used hyperbole such as "God Hates Kittens" and "Kill All Humans." This did an effective job of parodying the protesters' fanaticism.

You can read more about it here. Eventually the anti-gay protesters left. Victor tweeted the following:The Comic-Conners chased Fred Phelps & his haters away from the event. The Force is strong with the nerds.It makes sense that people who love aliens, monsters, and elves would be tolerant toward gays. But there's a huge contingent of fans who love vigilantes, warriors, and serial killers. I wonder if they're pro-gay too. Did they join the counter-protest or stay indoors with their ultra-macho, ultra-violent "heroes"? Overall impressions The Con may have been slightly less crowded this year. Since the crowds are a huge problem, that's good. Trends: Toys and video games were up this year. Movies and TV shows were down. Comics held their ground: Marvel and DC were down, but smaller publishers were up. Some people have proposed a Creator-Con as an alternative to Comic-Con. This would return the focus to comics. My pal Victor proposed a similar idea called Comic-Con for Comics. Good one, Vic. Comic-Con is becoming a Wal-Mart of pop culture. It needs to stop kowtowing to vendors selling merchandise and return to satisfying fans. For more on the subject, see Pix of Comic-Con 2009 and Report on Comic-Con 2009.

National Day of the American Cowboy

A Senate resolution to honor the American cowboy:

National Day of the American CowboyWhereas pioneering men and women, recognized as `cowboys', helped establish the American West;

Whereas the cowboy embodies honesty, integrity, courage, compassion, respect, a strong work ethic, and patriotism;

Whereas the cowboy spirit exemplifies strength of character, sound family values, and good common sense;

Whereas the cowboy archetype transcends ethnicity, gender, geographic boundaries, and political affiliations;

Whereas the cowboy is an excellent steward of the land and its creatures, who lives off the land and works to protect and enhance the environment;

Whereas cowboy traditions have been a part of American culture for generations;

Whereas the cowboy continues to be an important part of the economy through the work of many thousands of ranchers across the Nation who contribute to the economic well-being of every State;

Whereas millions of fans watch professional and working ranch rodeo events annually, and rodeo is one of the most-watched sports in the Nation;

Whereas membership and participation in rodeo and other organizations that promote and encompass the livelihood of cowboys span every generation and transcend race and gender;

Whereas the cowboy is a central figure in literature, film, and music and occupies a central place in the public imagination;

Whereas the cowboy is an American icon; and

Whereas the ongoing contributions made by cowboys and cowgirls to their communities should be recognized and encouraged: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the Senate--

(1) designates July 24, 2010, as `National Day of the American Cowboy'; and

(2) encourages the people of the United States to observe the day with appropriate ceremonies and activities.Comment:  This is standard pro-cowboy propaganda. Let's look at these claims:Whereas pioneering men and women, recognized as `cowboys', helped establish the American West;Yes, by dispossessing the Indians, destroying their cultures, and sometimes killing them outright.Whereas the cowboy embodies honesty, integrity, courage, compassion, respect, a strong work ethic, and patriotism;I guess it was someone else who broke Indian treaties, hunted down stray Indians like dogs, and massacred them while they slept. Maybe it was America's cowboy Army or cowboy government, not its cowboy cowboys.Whereas the cowboy spirit exemplifies strength of character, sound family values, and good common sense;See above.Whereas the cowboy archetype transcends ethnicity, gender, geographic boundaries, and political affiliations;Yeah, because no one would dream of cowboys being involved in ethnic cleansing. I mean, who ever heard of "cowboys 'n' Indians"?

Funny, I think of the cowboy as the embodiment of America's white, Christian philosophy of Manifest Destiny. That has everything to do with ethnicity, geographic boundaries, and political affiliations.Whereas the cowboy is an excellent steward of the land and its creatures, who lives off the land and works to protect and enhance the environment;Water wars, range destruction, buffalo extermination, etc.Whereas the cowboy is a central figure in literature, film, and music and occupies a central place in the public imagination;

Whereas the cowboy is an American icon;I'll agree with that much. Unfortunately, what America stands for is the rugged individualist who takes what he wants without regard for others. In other words, the libertarian, the greedy capitalist, or the conquering "hero."

For more on the subject, see How America Became Cowboy Country, Movies Convey "America's Master Narrative," and "Cowboys and Indians" Images.

Below:  The ultimate cowboy.

"Product of his time" = rationalization

JRey Crow responds to my Custer Just a Product of His Time? posting:Exactly, Rob. People who take this approach usually don't know their history too well.

It is simply not the case that war, slavery, conquest and colonization came first and the objections only much later.

I suspect that just about every time someone was about to do something evil to another person in the presence of witnesses, there was someone who objected.

These things are not and never have been about "reason" or justice or any genuine belief that the oppressors are doing "god's work"--it is about greed, money, power and control.

I like to think of the example of Lincoln--it makes the US as a political unit look much better to "forget" that Lincoln was not willing to wage Civil War to emancipate anyone--he did so to preserve the union. At least Lincoln was honest about his motives and limits in that regard, but we "need" to remember the situation falsely to feel better about ourselves collectively.Comment:  For more on the subject, see Those Evil Europeans.

Guilt-ridden liberals give Indians gaming?

The last of the Mohegans–Casino

By Ron HartIn 1978 the Shinnecock Indian Nation applied to be recognized by the Federal Government; the same year Roman Polanski skipped bail on rape charges. They are now getting some finality on both, so as you can see, the Feds are working through their inbox quite briskly.

As I remember history, the Native Americans lost this country when they did not heed the warning of an Arizona tribe about immigration. U.S. authorities estimate 15 million illegal immigrants are here now, but if you ask the Shinnecock Indians, that number is more like 310 million.

The Shinnecocks applied for federal recognition to “preserve ancient grounds,” but their ulterior motive is to build casinos in the Hamptons outside of New York City. To do so, they will have to deal with the more traditional area tribes who like to control the vices up there, most notable the Gambino’s, Greenbaum’s, Gotti’s and Governor David Paterson’s office.

The ritzy Hamptons live with the fear that if the casinos come they will bring something they also left New York to escape: Donald Trump. Trump will now scheme to bring his own special brand of tacky all over that venerable refuge.

White people make a show of supporting Native Americans much as they did Barack Obama—to avoid any accusations of racism. Society is too willing to give both anything, whether they deserve it or not to alleviate the guilt society places on us. We send our kids to private schools to avoid the low test scores of the “diverse” schools, but spend an awful lot of guilt time talking of our love of “diversity”—and that time they gave that Haitian guy money at the stoplight.

Liberal yuppies always seek wisdom from Native American traditions as it is presumed that any other culture is wiser, deeper and more spiritual than their own, especially if it is oddly mystic. Too they know any hint of Native American blood in them can get them into Harvard with an 850 SAT score.Comment:  Hart's last claim is flatly ridiculous. There may be some scholarships or student aid programs that apply only to Indians. But no school is lowering its standards to let Indians in as some sort of affirmative action program. Indeed, that's something of a racist assertion.

Let's summarize Hart's key claims: The Shinnecock Indians wanted federal recognition to enrich themselves. The feds gave it to them because they're soft-hearted liberals. Got that?

The commenters on this column nicely demolished these claims:mediasteve

Dear Ron: If you had done a shred of research you would have a shred of credibility. The Shinnecock applied for federal recognition at least a decade before the concept of Indian casinos ever saw the light of day in the United States. They did it for the federal benefits that accrue to federally recognized tribes. And they got recognized despite the overwhelming odds that were stacked against them by Congress when it wrote the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, which was fueled by lobbyists trying to protect Las Vegas non-Indian gaming interests.

tuschkahouma

As this writer sounds like an uneducated Caucasian needing a history lesson; here’s the lesson; before Hudson, Stuyvesant, and Kieft, there were the Corchaug, Canarsee, Esopus, Haverstraw, Housatonic, Hackensack, Jamaica, Montauk, Massepequa, Manhasset, Merrick, Matinecock, Nissquog, Nyack, Poosepatuck, Patchogue, Ramapaugh, Rankokas, Raritan, Rockaway, Seconke, Siwinoy, Setauket, Tappan, and Wappinger indigenous peoples. In 2010, there are still Shinnecock, Poosapatuck, and Montauk peoples on Long Island. Two of these tribes have had state reservations since the 1700s. Railroads and rich people stole lands from the Shinnecock and Montauk peoples in the 1850s. This is how the Shinnecock Hills Golf Course, the Long Island Railroad, and the Hamptons exist by virtue of theft. If a tribe has had documented existence and Episcopal intervention since the 1750s, how can they be viewed as casino pursuing as this uneducated writer states? Was there gaming in 1978 when the tribe wanted federal recognition? No.

I love how the thieves always call out the people they victimize but this has long been a conservative behavior. The Shinnecocks will be federally recognized long before conservatives have any sense of history and the disappearance of jealousy.

Southern Plains

Well my fellow Americans, someone had to teach Natives how to count cash, and it sure wasn’t Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin or Howdy Doody. I am glad that most of you Americans are now feeling the pinch of what its like to have big government crammed up your wigwams. The casino card is such a lame venue to spew your traditional Americana ignoramic fecal rhetoric.

After nearly 600 years of white privilege and fist waiving obscenities at England, France and the rest of the so-called inferior globe while blaming indigenous peoples, blacks, Asians, and currently intensified blame towards Mexicans, Hart is just another modern L. Frank Baum continuing the road to Oz where Democracy hides behind a curtain and capitalism floats back to Kansas without it poor little tribe of American Anglos repeating, “There’s no place like someone else’s home, there’s no place like someone else’s home!”

Most of you conservative spots on this map don’t even remember that it was Reagan and Nixon whom afforded Natives the rights to gaming and returning sacred lands, so before you blow a conservative piston hating on liberals and Obama, do some research and get out more often to see the world for what it is. Native Americans have not had their day in court nor their rights honored for over 500 years.

Non-Indians feel a little loss of privilege and liberty and you’d think they ran out of white toilet paper to stain brown.

Do what most Native Americans have done for over 500 years. Join the military and fight a war not of your making, get a job off the reservation, pay taxes for someone else’s community, go to someone else’s church and pray to someone else’s god, go to a college or fraternity where you are banned, open a business without BIG GOVERNMENT breathing down your neck and vote for a politician that will never serve your community.

If you wussies, Hart included, can accomplish this for at least the remainder of President Obama’s term, then you can call yourselves patriots, until then, my indigenous people have you beaten by a few centuries!

Oh, and another thing, 500 years is a very long time to be living rent free and if Americans cannot see the eviction notice hanging on the door, perhaps the earth has not spoken loud enough!Note:  I've edited these responses slightly for the sake of clarity.

Not only did Reagan sign the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, but I believe many Republicans helped to shape and pass it through Congress. There was no big partisan divide over gaming: Democrats for it and Republicans against it.

Since then liberals and conservatives have taken sides over gaming. Nowadays, many liberals may feel a "let's help the poor Indians" impulse. And conservatives feel the opposite:Oh, my God! What have we done? We thought the ignorant Indians would build little bingo halls that wouldn't have any economic impact. Instead, they built huge casinos that made money and lifted their people out of poverty. How dare they do something we didn't explicitly allow them to do?

Now they're voting and lobbying and waving their dollars around just like white people. They actually think they're as good as us. It's an outrage and we've got to stop it. Otherwise, other minorities will get uppity too. And then we'll have to help them.

We've learned a painful lesson here: Don't help the brown-skins if you want to stay on top. Helping people is for suckers, pantywaists, and liberals.For more on the subject, see Why Americans Hate Welfare, Columnist Shows How Racists View Indians, and Conservatives' Pro-White Agenda. For more on the subject in general, see The Facts About Indian Gaming and The Facts About Tribal Sovereignty.