Stopped what? Stopped making snide or disparaging remarks about Native Americans. We are all products of our surroundings, and I grew up in surroundings that like to make jokes about what these people are allowed to do*. Or how they are all alcoholics. Things like that. As I grew older, I started to realize that making fun of other cultures just wasn’t cool, so I worked to stop. This doesn’t mean I always speak up in conversation, like I wish I did, but I don’t say those things on my own.
A video that really altered my perspective on the Native people of the US can be found on the Ted website. A conversation with my mom this week reminded me of it, and I felt moved to share it with you here. I hope you’ll take some time to watch it.
I recommend having a tissue on hand.
Incorrectly using gay or retarded, looking down on Native Americans… let’s make these things a thing of the past.
*I want to be clear that I am not talking specifically about my family here. This reference is to all the people, young and old, who surround us as we live our lives.
September 29th, 2011 on 10:42 am
I think this must be a regional thing. I can honestly saw I’ve never heard a Native American disparaged in conversation with those around me.
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Nodakademic Reply:
September 29th, 2011 at 12:06 pm
It’s definitely regional, in places where a lot of reservations are nearby. I hear this type of thing a lot, and we also have many reservations in our state/region. Other regions probably have other cultures they pick on; I met a girl a few weeks ago who was of Italian background, but had just moved here from a town where Italians were the butt of jokes. (I told her no one would care about/notice that here!!)
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kylydia Reply:
September 29th, 2011 at 12:37 pm
Oh, believe me, we are not without our fair share of racism, sexism, and a general lack of regard for our fellow people here in Kentucky!
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Nodakademic Reply:
September 29th, 2011 at 12:50 pm
For sure! Everybody has their prejudices; I definitely agree with Jenna that we’re a product of our surroundings (community, etc).
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Shanna Reply:
September 30th, 2011 at 12:57 am
Yeah, we just had the usual “Indian giver,” “I got gipped” kind of remarks. I stopped using those once I realized that they had racial significance. I lived in a pretty liberal, PC town, though. I can’t imagine what it would have been like elsewhere.
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Kelli Nicole Reply:
October 2nd, 2011 at 8:56 am
What is gipped?
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Shanna Reply:
October 2nd, 2011 at 4:06 pm
Gypped was a common phrase along with ‘jewed.’ They both mean cheated or screwed, kinda. Gypped/gipped is a derogatory slur against gypsies (Roma) who are still treated horribly in Europe and elsewhere.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/gypped
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Kelli Nicole Reply:
October 2nd, 2011 at 6:23 pm
Interesting. I hadn’t heard of jewed (I imagine that’s derogatory towards Jews).
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Shanna Reply:
October 2nd, 2011 at 6:41 pm
Yep. I think, after the Holocaust, outright anti-Semitism is becoming less common (hopefully) so it’s rare to hear it. I’ve only heard it a couple times but I have read books that use it. Since most people don’t know that gipped is a slur, I have heard that one more frequently and used it myself. Oops.
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Kelli Nicole Reply:
September 29th, 2011 at 3:12 pm
Yeah, I never heard anything like that where I grew up either and I grew up in the south too, so I think it just wasn’t commmon there.
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Michelle Reply:
September 29th, 2011 at 6:36 pm
I also have never heard of Native American bashing. And I grew up in a town that was brutally attacked during King Philip’s War. Of course, that was over 300 years ago…
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September 29th, 2011 on 10:48 am
The organization that I volunteer with works with Pine Ridge. When I think about what Native Americans went through- and still endure today- it makes me really angry, sad, and frustrated.
“The one who takes the best part of the meat for himself”- that is sadly fitting. And it incenses me that people don’t understand their history, and how that has left an enduring impact. We talk about how America was built on hard work, determination, etc. I wish we would remember that what actually happened is that we stole Native Americans’ land, killed them, lied to them, fought with them, raped the women, killed the kids, or stole them and sent them to missionary schools where they were often molested. Then, we worked that land we got by reneging on on treaties with free slave labor for hundreds of years. I often wonder if we’d be such a superpower if we hadn’t had the benefit- for hundreds of years- of stolen land filled with resources, worked by Africans stolen from their own land.** What we did to the Native Americans was just as calculated, disgusting, and hate filled as what the Nazis did to the Jews. It is our Holocaust.
An excellent book to read is “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee”.
**I know that not all people were bad, etc. etc. I know that. But that is what is usually talked about in our history. There really isn’t any need to continue to “remind me that”, when the negatives are so rarely talked about in full, terrible detail they *should* be talked about without being diminished by “oh, don’t be so negative”.
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Meg @ Moments Like This Reply:
September 29th, 2011 at 11:01 am
The American History they teach in schools might as well been created by Disney. Seems like some made up tale a few guys thought of in a board room.
As responsible citizens we have to teach ourselves and our children the real history of this country. The good, the bad..all of it..or else we are doing a serious injustice.
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Sophia Reply:
September 29th, 2011 at 11:03 am
I heartily agree with everything you said, Meg.
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Jenna Reply:
September 29th, 2011 at 11:12 am
TH and I were shocked by Lies My Teacher Told Me. http://www.amazon.com/Lies-My-Teacher-Told-Everything/dp/0684818868
How could I get this old without knowing this stuff?
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Sophia Reply:
September 29th, 2011 at 4:39 pm
That book is great! I recommend it to my students, lol.
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Katie Reply:
September 29th, 2011 at 5:53 pm
I’m a French teacher, but my first endorsement is in history, and I LOVE that book. I wish it were required reading for every American student.
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Mandy Reply:
September 30th, 2011 at 2:20 am
We read a good portion of that in my HS Sophomore English class…definitely a good read!
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Jenna Reply:
September 29th, 2011 at 11:14 am
Sophia I am always impressed by how you already know about everything I am learning AND how you are so involved with things! It’s really inspiring.
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Sophia Reply:
September 29th, 2011 at 4:40 pm
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September 29th, 2011 on 10:54 am
Oh, and the organization with which I volunteer has been working in land reclamation for over a decade. It is a cumbersome, paperwork filled process that can take up to 8 years. Right now, on the reservations, white ranchers can use the farm land for grazing. There is a movement to return buffalo to the lands for sustainable meat production, but the process of getting the land into one’s own name so that one can start the business- with what is technically already one’s own land- is so confusing that many Native Americans on Pine Ridge didn’t even know where to start, or how to do it. So terrible injustices over rights, property, and livelihood are definitely still going on to this day.
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September 29th, 2011 on 10:59 am
What really bothers me is this whole internet movement of “save the people” and then we all forget about it and turn to other things more important in our lives, myself included.
This article is about internet activism and how people rarely step away from the computer to act on the things they stand for: http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-staggers/2011/01/morozov-internet-netroots
“slacktivism” – easy clicks produce big numbers but very little commitment.
I’m all for the spread of information and I understand that people are busy in their lives, me too, and we can’t always act on everything we’re passionate about..But it is annoying when people post things like this and that is it.
This isn’t meant to attack you Jenna, but it just brings up something for me but we are all guilty of it (myself included). I just feel like there needs to be less spreading of social issues on the internet and more action.
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Jenna Reply:
September 29th, 2011 at 11:17 am
Though I don’t disagree with you, I think that it’s not possible for anyone to do much about anything. If you think about it, the majority of people can only affect big change in one area of their lives (and that’s if they’ve already taken care of themselves). I can only handle so many personal, social, and religious responsibilities before I break down in tears and exhaustion each night.
Do I think that this post will make any Native American’s life better? Nope. But I do think that it could change a few people’s attitudes and thoughts, and that is important as well.
I think the danger in criticising people who write posts on things they aren’t doing anything about is that writing this post was certainly better than doing nothing at all. Think of it as good, better, best. Good to be a good person and not make rude remarks, better to spread the word and help people get educated, best to get out and become and activist and make a difference. I can’t choose “best” in all areas of my life.
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Meg @ Moments Like This Reply:
September 29th, 2011 at 12:12 pm
Oh no I agree. I think it’s good to educate people on issues.
But sometimes, even if it’s once a year or once whenever..it’s BEST to get out and DO something. I certainly don’t have the time or energy to go and out do something about every issue important to me..But I do make sure I not only educate but DO something every once and a while (not even yearly sometimes).
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September 29th, 2011 on 11:08 am
I hope this isn’t gauche to do on your blog, Jenna, but if anyone is interested in donating to a legit organization that has been deeply invested in Native American rights and works with Pine Ridge they can go here- http://villageearth.org/global-projects/pine-ridge-reservation
Village Earth was created by the same people who create the Peace Corps, and the Pine Ridge project has been around for well over a decade, helping with land reclamation, buffalo sanctuaries for meat production, etc. It’s an organization that you can feel good about donating to/volunteering for, because they are community driven. It’s not just an NGO swooping in and “rescuing” people. They are empowered to help themselves.
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September 29th, 2011 on 11:24 am
My grandparents were both anthropologists and very involved with the Native American rights movement in various ways (my grandmother co-founded News from Native California, for instance), so I grew up around a lot of American Indians (many of them prefer this term for various reasons). Referring to the specific tribe is even better.
I remember being given Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee (a must read if this topic interests you) while in middle school, by one of their friends (he’s Yurok though not Lakota).
The history is really grim, which I think the video actually only partially conveys (since it’s the same for pretty much every tribe, not just the Lakota). Did you know Indian children were still being forcibly removed from their families and sent (very far) away to boarding schools until the 1970s? I’ve met several people that this happened to. Also, the state of California offered a bounty on Indian scalps until the 1880s.
The Mormon church hasn’t always had the best track record with American Indians (heavy involvement in the forcible removals, for instance), so I think it’s great that you are making a commitment to be more aware. Also, it’s great that you are using your blog to bring attention to this important issue!
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Jenna Reply:
September 29th, 2011 at 11:27 am
I looked on Wikipedia to try to figure out which term was the most appropriate. The guy used Native American in his talk so I figured it was okay?
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Grace Reply:
September 29th, 2011 at 11:37 am
It’s kind of a touchy issue, because some people strongly prefer American Indian, some prefer Native American, some hate both (and only want to be referred to by their tribe), and some don’t care. And because most Indians/Native Americans have been through a lot (of prejudice, suffering, etc.), it can get really emotional.
I think that as long as you are respectful and sensitive, people will understand.
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Life of a Doctor's Wife Reply:
September 29th, 2011 at 12:57 pm
You are so right - being respectful and sensitive is key. And also being willing to change your terminology in recognition that some terms might be more/less acceptable in different areas.
Where I grew up, “Indian” was the term that was used almost exclusively - by whites and Indians alike. It was only once I moved away to college that I realized other populations preferred “Native American.”
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Jackie Reply:
September 29th, 2011 at 1:01 pm
Most people I know simply use the term “Native”. I suspect that usage probably varies region to region. But what it comes down to is usually people prefer being referred to by their tribe, Flathead, Kootenai, Crow, Sioux, etc. But when in doubt (with any race, ethnicity, group) add “person” or “individual” after something. It reminds us that someone is a person first and foremost. You wouldn’t call a guy “a black” so saying something like “a native” or “a indian” could easily be offensive to someone, but if you phrase it like “a person who is native” it’s more humanizing.
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Maggie Reply:
September 29th, 2011 at 12:45 pm
My husband and in utero son are Native American from the Laguna Pueblo tribe in New Mexico. They are a very proud people but a lot of the racism is regional. Out here in California he is like a unicorn and people want to talk to him about his culture and how much money the casino pays him.
For the most part, the Natives I know don’t care what they are called as long as someone calls them something with respect. For the most part on the reservation they refer to themselves as Indin (Not Indian but Indin). Occasionally when they are being fun or snooty they are the First People, Native American, Indigenous American, Original American, Original Homeland Security, etc. but again, if they are called Indian with respect they don’t mind.
They really want non-Indians to have respect for their culture and recognize them as sovereign. They go out of their way to teach people about their history and culture and it’s really beautiful. I’m very grateful for all the stories,experiences and lessons I’ve been taught by my husband’s tribe and I can’t wait to share it with our son.
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Destiny Reply:
September 29th, 2011 at 10:59 pm
My husband is full blooded Sioux/Lakota, most of his family still live on this very reservation mentioned in this video (we live in California). I’m part Cherokee and our son is 1/2 Native American.
The most common word I hear used is “indian” which makes my husband’s skin crawl. Indians are from India….for some reason people don’t understand that. He prefers Native American (or Native) since they were the Native people of America.
Thanks for passing this video along!
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Amber from Girl with the Red Hair Reply:
September 29th, 2011 at 12:00 pm
I think the correct term in Canada is “First Nations” but it seems to have changed over the years.
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sarah Reply:
September 29th, 2011 at 2:33 pm
That is the current accepted term, although Aboriginal is also acceptable. I believe it depends somewhat on context. I had a friend visit from Australia and she didn’t understand why we would give First Nations people “special status” with a name like First Nations…She also didn’t understand the idea that some First Nations extend across the 49 parallel and don’t recognize that border. She felt these groups should all recognize the two nations on either side of the border and give up their nation. Then I went to Australia and learned about the treatment of Aborigines by Australians and it all made sense. There is still not a lot of acceptance and a lot of racism. Much of the settlement history of Australia comes after North America but it was painfully obvious to me that they learned nothing from our mistakes and are still quite far behind Canada (I don’t know about the USA as I’m Canadian) in working to rectify the situation.
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Jackie Reply:
September 29th, 2011 at 3:10 pm
Have you ever seen Rabbit Proof Fence? It’s about two aborigonal girls in Australia. It’s amazing.
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sarah Reply:
September 30th, 2011 at 12:17 pm
I have seen it - it was so good. I cried through most of it (I saw it in Australia when it was first released)
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September 29th, 2011 on 11:43 am
Thank you for sharing the video and for making it known that you have come to a realization of Native Americans survival. I am proud to be a Diné(Navajo), my husband is proud to be Diné & Oglála Thiyóšpaye of the Itéši?a (Red Cloud’s band) and our children are very proud to be Diné & Oglála.
As a Parent, more realization, understanding and education of our tribes will benefit the joy in the lives of my children and their children.
Ahe’hee (thank you)
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September 29th, 2011 on 11:58 am
My fiance is half Native American (well technically Native Canadian since we’re from B.C) but he’s status. Being SO CLOSE to the world he grew up in, I can see why so many of them do go down the path of alcoholism etc.
I took a Native Studies class in my second year of college and it REALLY opened my eyes to the things that Native Americans were put through when Europeans first came to the country and as late as the early 1900′s. Having their children taken away, residential schools etc. etc. It’s so sad. Most people prefer just to judge and look down their noses rather than learning about WHY things are like that.
Thanks for sharing this video, Jenna!
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Jackie Reply:
September 29th, 2011 at 1:05 pm
There is a difference too in how most westerners conceptualize time and community and how native people usually do. We tend to think of time as very linear and focus on the present, where as non-western communities think of time as more “collapsed” in a way - what happened to your ancestors might as well have happened to you. So a lot of times us white people think “Oh well that’s all in the past they should just move on.” or “Well it was their grandparents who went to boarding school, not them, so they shouldn’t complain about it.” But for their community, these insults and damages are still very real and personal, and not to mention the affects of economic setbacks last for generations. We have this “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” mentality that everyone is on an equal playing field from the start, but that’s simply not true. Kids living in rich white suburban communities are going to have much better schools than those growing up on impoverished reservations. So even though it was generations ago that people were screwed over, the effects last for generations and generations and there is still a lot of catching up to do.
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Amber Reply:
September 29th, 2011 at 1:15 pm
I completely agree. That was part of what was so eye-opening for me about my Native Studies class. I also see this going on first-hand every day. My fiance grew up in poverty and some of his cousins/family members in even greater poverty. Out of three children I would say he is the most “westernized” (I use this for lack of a better term). The house he grew up in did not have running water in any room but the kitchen and even then it was ONLY cold water! He also grew up in a two bedroom house with his parents and two siblings.
Growing up THAT poor I can see how it is a hard lifestyle to break free of and I’ve watched his siblings continue to live in it and our nieces and nephews grow up in it. It’s heartbreaking.
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Grace Reply:
September 29th, 2011 at 7:23 pm
Regardless of attitudes about time, the bad stuff that happened isn’t really in the past: I said in a previous post that the boarding school thing went on to the 1970s (in some places, even later), so it’s something that happened to people alive right now.
And (as Jenna points out) the racism/prejudice aren’t a thing of the past either. (Since, for example, a major sports team uses a racial slur for Indians as their team name, and another uses a racist caricature as their mascot.)
Most American institutions (and Americans) are in denial about the past history, too. (For instance, the Catholic church is considering making Fr. Junipero Serra a saint, even though he was the architect of the mission system in California, which enslaved and led to the deaths of a large percentage of California’s Indian population.) I think it’s hard to move on when most people deny anything happened.
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Jackie Reply:
September 29th, 2011 at 8:01 pm
The Catholic Church has a very complicated relationship with Native Americans. In some areas of the country, Jesuit priests were welcomed by the communities. In the 1830s a Nez Perce sent a delegation multiple times to St. Louis to ask for Jesuit priests to come to their community. In many instances, native communities preferred the Catholic missionaries to the protestant ones. An interesting book on Christian-Indian relationships and evolving ideas of spirituality is “Plateau Indians and the Quest for Spiritual Power 1700-1850″ by Larry Cebula is a quick read. Native-Christian relations did deteriorate in the 1850s, but like anything, it is a complicated story.
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Grace Reply:
September 29th, 2011 at 8:25 pm
Oh, for sure (after all, lots of Native Americans ARE Catholic). And Catholic charities and missionaries have done a lot of great work on reservations and elsewhere.
My point was more that if the Catholic church (which has had a positive relationship with many Native groups, especially at certain times) can consider moving to sainthood a man who initiated and presided over the mass enslavement of tens of thousands of people, it is because most people are unaware of that history.
Even in California, most people don’t know that the Spanish, led by Franciscan priests, rounded up all Indians along the coast and put them into prisons where they were forced into doing unpaid manual labor for the rest of their lives (while separated from their families, as frequently men and women were locked in separate facilities). There most coastal California Indians died.
Instead, we know missions as quaint buildings with nice architecture. I think this disconnect is sort of emblematic of the main problem with Native Americans in the US: the ignorance of what happened, and what continues to happen.
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September 29th, 2011 on 12:07 pm
arron huey is an old friend of mine… how wonderful to see his moving talk on your blog!
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September 29th, 2011 on 12:43 pm
I’ve never been exposed to much native prejudice, but have always had a lot of confusion on how best to respect them and help them. Each summer in high school my youth group would visit an Ojibwe reservation (the site of the Red Lake High School shooting in 2005) for a week, doing Vacation Bible School with the kids and helping to fix up houses. I remember the people being so kind and loving, but living in such filthy homes and wondering how or why they could do that. This video is on my mental list of things to watch/read when I’ve got time. Thanks.
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September 29th, 2011 on 12:45 pm
I come from a part of the country where Native Americans are the primary minority, so I know exactly which kinds of slurs and jokes you’re talking about. My parents didn’t grow up in that area, so they didn’t really have the prejudices of the region. Which I feel SO fortunate for. But I feel sad for a lot of the people I grew up with, who felt like it was perfectly normal and acceptable to degrade the Native American population.
(I’m not saying I’m a prejudice free person - I have personal biases but I work hard to eliminate them from my personality.)
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September 29th, 2011 on 12:50 pm
Unfortunately I didn’t find this video eye-opening in the least. Two of my great-grandmothers are Native American. A good friend’s grandmother walked the Trail of Tears. I’ve learned about small pox blankets and Wounded Knee.
I watched this and all I thought was- this is always the way.
Americans did this to the Native Americans.
The British did this to the Irish (and still are doing it to Northern Ireland).
The Chinese are doing this to the Tibetans.
The Israelis are doing this to the Palestinians.
The examples are too many to list.
All I have to say is, Whether it’s Native Americans, Palestinians, Tibetans, or the Irish, it’s always the same. If it isn’t yours, and never was, give it back and leave well enough alone.
Thanks for sharing this.
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Jackie Reply:
September 29th, 2011 at 12:56 pm
Did you know there is no documented evidence of small-pox blankets? There was a case where British soldiers gave one set of clothes that had been worn by someone who had died of small pox to an American Indian during the Revolutionary war. Anthropologist suspect it’s largely an urban legend used to describe the tension between Native Americans and the Government.
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Shanna Reply:
September 29th, 2011 at 1:22 pm
Could you link to research about this? I haven’t heard that and it’s very interesting! Since biological warfare has allegedly been going on for millenia, this is the first I’ve heard about it being an urban legend. I am intrigued!
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Jackie Reply:
September 29th, 2011 at 1:51 pm
Here you go: http://www.jstor.org/stable/541734?&Search=yes&searchText=smallpox&searchText=blankets&list=hide&searchUri=%2Faction%2FdoAdvancedSearch%3Fq0%3Dsmallpox%2Bblankets%26f0%3Dall%26c1%3DAND%26q1%3D%26f1%3Dall%26acc%3Don%26wc%3Don%26Search%3DSearch%26sd%3D%26ed%3D%26la%3D%26jo%3D%26dc.Anthropology%3DAnthropology&prevSearch=&item=1&ttl=122&returnArticleService=showFullText
You’ll have to either have access to a college campus internet system or subscribe to the journal, I think.
A legend doesn’t mean that there is no truth to it…there could have very well been incidents of it. But the lore of the blankets have kind of taken on a life of their own. So there wasn’t one specific “Andrew Jackson sent X number of blankets through Army Corps X on the Trail of Tears on this day” that we generally assume happened.
The author suggests that stories of poisoned gifts and infected textiles are common in mythology and can be used to represent very real social tensions.
So I’m not saying anyone is lying or that it didn’t happen, but evidence of small pox blankets in history can be either hearsay or a repeated legend used to describe everything else going on.
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Courtney Reply:
September 29th, 2011 at 2:20 pm
Well, I think we know that whether intentional or not, disease was far more deadly than warfare for the Native Americans (and all indigenous people who were being exposed to new pathogens to which they were not immune).
And like the English did while they left the Irish to starve to death while still exporting massive amounts of grain from Ireland during the famine- I would guess that the American government was happy to see disease ravage native populations.
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Grace Reply:
September 29th, 2011 at 7:39 pm
Actually, there is evidence that the smallpox blankets were real. See here: http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1088/did-whites-ever-give-native-americans-blankets-infected-with-smallpox
It’s certainly in line with other documented policies (see: states’ bounties on killing Indians, or the numerous massacres as discussed in the video).
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Jackie Reply:
September 29th, 2011 at 7:43 pm
The article I linked to addresses that. That article itself admits there is no evidence the plan was carried out. I’m not saying it wasn’t real or didn’t happen, but that it probably didn’t happen in the way we picture it. I think most people assume the US gov’t stood handing out a smallpox blanket to each person on the Trail of Tears. That didn’t happen. What I’m saying is the smallpox blanket has been used to encompass all the atrocities that did happen between the nations.
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September 29th, 2011 on 12:54 pm
As an anthropologist I could go on about this topic for hours and hours. But I’ll just stick to a few key points.
1) It’s brave of you to talk about this. People forget that racial prejudices don’t tend to pop in places without that specific diversity. Like NYC probably doesn’t have a lot of stereotypes about native people because their just aren’t that many there. But somewhere like Eastern Washington where there are reservations, it’s natural for these things to happen. That doesn’t mean it’s good, but it’s something specific communities have to work through.
2) A lot of the stereotypes are really stereotypes of poverty, not races. Often we’re just making fun of people for being poor, which is really not cool.
3) There are lot of myths and theories surrounding the higher rates of alcoholism in native american communities. There is some truth that native people metabolize alcohol differently, but no evidence that that necessarily leads to higher rates of alcoholism. There are also theories that because of the culture and land loss, groups can suffer a sort of communal depression that lead to alcoholism. Another is that alcohol was introduced to native communities in ways that did not show moderate use, rather trappers and hunters who just got drunk every night, and generations have continued to model that with the cycle not being broken. Whatever it is, it is not “they all just happened to make poor choices and are bad people.” Whenever you see something happening en masse in a community like that, there are usually outside influences at play in addition to individual decisions.
3) Have you ever read any Sherman Alexie? He is a Spokane/Coeur d’Alene Indian who has written a bunch of books. He wrote Tonton and the Lone Ranger Fist Fight in Heaven. Also “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” which is a semi-biographical book about going to the white high school in Reardan. I’m sure being from Eastern Wash you would appreciate them!
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Life of a Doctor's Wife Reply:
September 29th, 2011 at 1:00 pm
I was waiting for you to post on this topic because I knew you’d have something interesting to say. And you did.
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Natalie Reply:
September 29th, 2011 at 1:40 pm
“2) A lot of the stereotypes are really stereotypes of poverty, not races. Often we’re just making fun of people for being poor, which is really not cool.”
That is so profound. And I think we want to put other people down to cover our own insecurities and fears. People slam gay rights because they fear it will take away their own. Fear is a mega problem.
What do you have to say about the speaker’s words on alcohol? Is he right on or is he also playing the stereotype?
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Jackie Reply:
September 29th, 2011 at 3:51 pm
I think there is a difference between stereotypes and reality. The reality is that alcoholism is a problem for many people. Stereotypes though are when we see someone who is native and assume they are an alcoholic, or don’t allow them to apply for a job. Or when we see someone who is an alcohol and we think “oh they are just that way because they are native” and not “I wonder what they have suffered in their life to make them that way.” I think a lot of the problems he mentioned - drug use, gangs, domestic violence, come from poverty and oppression.
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Shanna Reply:
September 29th, 2011 at 5:53 pm
There was an amazing segment recently on NPR lately about drugs, etc on reservations in the U.S. It was heartbreaking to learn how people, kids especially, are targeted ruthlessly and quite deviously. I’ll try to rummage around and find the link, it’s definitely worth listening to.
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Shanna Reply:
September 30th, 2011 at 1:07 am
Here’s the link! http://www.kuow.org/program.php?id=20454
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September 29th, 2011 on 1:26 pm
Yes, we need to stop the stereo-typing, the racism, homophobia and sexism. It’s awful and depressing that these things continue in this day and age. Glad you noticed it too.
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September 29th, 2011 on 1:34 pm
This is fascinating. I grew up in Utah — and I think that so much of this is Disney-fied, especially considering the LDS church-sponsored Indian placement program and that whole mess.
I think a lot of the discrimination that I heard growing up was the misuse or derogatory use of gay, retard, etc.
That is a serious issue — and so is this. It is heartbreaking to hear that we have issues like this in our own country. It always blows my mind.
Sometimes I think it is easier to donate to help AIDS in Africa so we don’t have to think about the causes that we are dealing with on our own soil. Still a good cause - but far away.
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September 29th, 2011 on 1:53 pm
I have an internal struggle to this video. I would like to first say, the American Indian’s culture, customs, and beliefs are very beautiful. The United States has had a very terrible track record with many groups, namely American Indians, Mormons, and even worse the African American slave trade. I am in no-way condoning the US actions. However, I feel the best way for these groups to help their situations are to education themselves. My husband has worked in areas with reservations. The indians he has interacted with call educated indians “apples.” Red on the outside, white on the inside. They persecute their own for getting educations. I have lived and worked with indians. I have found some fit the profile and some do not. People should be judged for their individual actions. I feel, and I know with this group it’s not going to be popular, but them getting an education and wanting to better themselves is the only way out.
At this point it’s not an easy fix. Their circumstances generations back started with the government but no one is making them become alcoholics and unfit parents. The government has conceeded that they have treated the indians poorly. Most have some form of government on issues like taxes, fishing, etc. I guess to summarize what I am thinking is, giving back the lands will not cure the problems and it will not change the perceptions between both people. The only thing that will help is education. Where did personal resonsibility go? Who teaches them how to invest the money the government gives them when they reach 18?
A great example of this is the Mormon community. They were percecuted then and now, they were driven from their lands some killed BUT they are rising above and not blaming their circumstances on the past. They have maintained their own culture and beliefs with still respecting the government ruling the lands.
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Jackie Reply:
September 29th, 2011 at 3:09 pm
I think education is a good thing, but there are a few problems with it. One is saying that people should just educate themselves often serves as an excuse to discriminate against people later because we think “well they made that choice to not have a good job, to be poor, etc. they could’ve gotten financial aid and gone to college. Obviously they didn’t so they are just lazy.”
The problem is that there are huge barriers to education in marginalized communities. For one, the K-12 might suck and put the kid in a very poor position to be able to attend college. For another, family values in native communities often don’t mesh with western academic values. For instance, it could be expected for a person to go take care of their nieces and nephews for a few weeks while sister has surgery. But a professor won’t understand “Well I just had to leave town for a few weeks.” So there can be a lot of cultural misunderstanding that sets people up to fail.
Sometimes people can begrudge others for “acting white” or “getting an education.” I think this is a tough one. I don’t think it’s because people on reservations don’t think people should better themselves or get an education, it’s that often times in the native cultural views, family and community come first before personal betterment, whereas in the larger American society they don’t. (I’m not saying white people don’t value family - they do. But we usually don’t think twice about things like going out of town for college. And most people aren’t splitting their paychecks evenly with their parents, stuff like that). So let’s say someone gets a college degree. There probably aren’t a lot of jobs that are appropriate for them on a reservation, so they end up moving to a city. The community sees that as abandoning them, putting their needs first, which could potentially be a huge insult. There also may simply be jealousy. We like to think that education is equal opportunity, but its not. Even if you get loans, they might not be able to cover supporting an immediate an extended family. Not everyone has the cultural literacy to survive in an academic standing. Some people have mental or physical issues that prevent them from getting educations.
I disagree with the idea that “no one is making them become alcoholics and unfit parents.” This is a pretty western idea, that everyone can just choose what they want to be. But there are sooooo many outside influences. We undervalue the effects of losing one’s culture. We think “well just move on.” But when you have lost generations worth of knowledge about how to live, survive, provide, parent, etc. it’s normal to expect there to be discord. It wasn’t as long ago as we like to think.
While Mormons did suffer persecution, it is important to remember that they were still living in a culturally similar way of life. It isn’t just a matter of losing land. When Indians lost their land, it completely destroyed their economic subsistence. Instead of being able to be hunter gatherers (which required much land), they were forced onto tiny plots and told to farm instead (which is much less healthy for you). Anthropologists suggest that culture is formed around the way we provide for ourselves, and so losing that part of your life is losing in someways, essentially everything you know about life. Mormons were able to maintain their own culture. It would be more analagous if the government had told them “Okay, you are no longer allowed to farm, sew, knit, weave, use any of the animals you had been using, eat any of the foods you had been eating. Now figure out a new way to live.”
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Sophia Reply:
September 29th, 2011 at 4:34 pm
Just to clarify, I’m not trying to minimize what Mormons went through. I have read of some terrible and violent things, and of course, their prophet was murdered which is atrocious. I’m just saying, the scale and depth of the persecution, and the tools they had to fight against it, are very different in my opinion. It’s kind of like the difference between the way the Irish were persecuted, compared to the experience of African Americans. It is terrible to do that to any person, ever, for any reason, but the systemic impacts were much larger on African Americans because of the scale of the oppression.
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Meg Reply:
September 29th, 2011 at 3:27 pm
You should research PTSD and realize that is very prevalent in the lives of people of color and Indians and really trauma in general. It has a huge effect that is passed on from generation to generation. Also, you may want to look up Racial Identity Theories as well and learn why so many people of color struggle with their self identity and how that effects their productivity as human beings. What you speak of, people using the past as an excuse is a very privileged way of thinking.
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Sophia Reply:
September 29th, 2011 at 4:24 pm
With all due respect, what the Mormon community went through is not even on the same level of wholesale destruction as what happened to Native Americans.
Mormons were generally white, usually educated people with a strong cultural identity that bound them together. When they were attacked and marginalized for their religion, this bound them ever closer together, and caused them to set off on their own and found their own territories. The key issue here, however, is that they were *able* to do this. They could move to their own territory, where, despite being disparaged and vilified by others, they could leave in relative isolation and peace, bolstered by their community and their faith. They were very successful in building up what is now Utah, and their women were some of the first to be sent back East to become doctors, lawyers, etc. The government of the U.S. didn’t go to war with them for years, reneging on agreements and treaty. They were not the target of mass extermination (even though, yes, I am aware of the laws on the books for the extermination order). Their children were not stolen from them and taken to boarding schools or sent to other more “respectable” families. All in all, while Mormons faced persecution, they had a wholly different experience with it and they already had a basis of community and education that was portable, that they could take with them to what is now Utah. The Native Americans did not have the same experience.
I’m sorry, but to me this is apples and oranges. Saying “Mormons overcame their persecution, why can’t Native Americans?” is a bit of an oversimplification and an inaccurate comparison, in my opinion.
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Katie Reply:
September 29th, 2011 at 6:14 pm
Ick, I HATE comparing suffering of different groups, but the Mormon community, while persecuted (especially early on), is largely white, and was able to retreat to Utah where they were able to write their own laws and largely left in peace after the late 1800s. Native Americans were killed (directly and indirectly) by Europeans for three hundred years, forced off of their own land, and didn’t gain full civil rights until the 1960s. I don’t see a fair comparison.
I volunteered on the Rosebud reservation in South Dakota for a month after high school, and was absolutely stunned at the level of poverty and lack of access to resources in my own country.
Don’t blame Native Americans for not “getting an education” and for having high rates of alcoholism. It’s hard to get an education when no teachers want to work at the schools on the reservations because they’re often isolated and severely underfunded. You’re also not going to be as focused on school if you have parents who are alcoholics, working off the reservation, are being passed around from relative to relative, or only get one or two meals a day from the local center ; a situation I saw with many of the children I worked with. The high levels of alcoholism are partially genetic, as many are not often able to metabolize alcohol in the same way as other groups.
I feel like these are basically just comments that mean “just fit in already!”. Mormonism is largely influenced by American culture. Philosophically, I’d probably consider it one of the most “American” groups (in the white, European-descended sence) of any out there. Native Americans have their own cultures and values, so I don’t think you can measure with the same yardstick.
Sorry for the rant. I’m a teacher and I see the million advantages my upper-middle class students have every day.
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Katie Reply:
September 29th, 2011 at 6:15 pm
Ugh, *sense*!
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Kristin Reply:
September 29th, 2011 at 10:29 pm
Allison, as member of the LDS church, as well as someone who has a degree in American History, I have to respectfully disagree with your comments likening the struggles of the LDS community and the Native Americans. Though members of our church faced persecution, and were driven west, we were never told that Utah is the ONLY place we were allowed to live. We were not confined to a geographic area by force, nor were the pioneer children taken from their homes and families to live with other more “decent” families in an attempt to eradicate the “savage” aspects of their culture.
You must remember that the people who were driven west and settled in Utah, though poor, were mostly immigrants from Europe. Many were carpenters, blacksmiths, farmers, glass makers, architects, and so forth. They were privy to training that made it possible to compete in the American Economy, and in a social sense they had strong cultural ties (barring religion) to a great majority of America at the time due to a shared European ancestry.
So, though they suffered many hardships and did become prosperous, the two situations are apples and oranges. The Native American population was and continues to be marginalized in mainstream America. They haven be suppressed by the US government in almost every area of life. Religiously, socially, academically, economically, and of course, as already mentioned, geographically. This is not the same, and as others have stated above, the cultural importance of family and community as well as other factors make it a much more complicated issue than simply “getting an education”. I used to think the same way until I saw the reality of life for those in marginalized communities. I saw this same level of cyclical poverty in Brazil, in Mozambique, in South Africa, in Mexico, in Swaziland, and among groups in the United States as well.
To say that education is simply the answer is failing to recognize and address the other factors at play; the differences in culture, and the external forces that are hurting the chances of getting opportunities to study, learn a trade, etc. I think you will find that individually speaking, most people who are marginalized and living in poverty, regardless of where they are from, want to be able to feed their families. They want to work an honest job, they want to see their children succeed, and they want to be treated with respect. But it is not always as simple as just going to school.
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September 29th, 2011 on 2:04 pm
I feel really lucky that I’ve never been surrounded by such ignorance - I can’t imagine what it must like to be immersed in a culture/family/friend group/whatever that propagates such bigotry.
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September 29th, 2011 on 4:12 pm
I haven’t fully watched the video you posted, but I have saved it to view later today.
I recently was in a Cross Cultural Psychology class and it really opened my eyes. We watched The Color of Fear and this made me so upset at the amount of times when I have just sat there when others have used bad language towards or insulted another culture. We are all responsible for making a change.. however little or big. I decided after the movie that I would speak out more towards friends and family.
I encourage everyone to watch The Color of Fear!
Also.. I appreciate Jackie and Meg saying what I think but can’t put into words.
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September 29th, 2011 on 4:13 pm
Values and education are the only ways out of those problems.
I was not saying that if the indians would just start reading a book they would realize their problems. I do understand it’s been bred into them; however, giving them back the land and concessions will not fix it either
I have worked with and lived by many indians. At 18, they were given $20,000 by the government and a county job. All took the money, few took the job.
Thank you for saying that I have privileged thinking. I have had to work for EVERYTHING I have and am still paying on student loans from 20 years ago and have faced several losses (and trauma) in my life.
Believe it or not, I do have compassion for them… but, you cannot fix a society that is unwilling to fix themselves. It still boils down to personal resonsibility.
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Sophia Reply:
September 29th, 2011 at 4:31 pm
I just find it interesting that those who are responsible for oppressing others never seem to have to take “personal responsibility”. Why is it that “personal responsibility” usually only applies to those who have been marginalized, oppressed, persecuted, etc.? What about the personal responsibility of those who were the oppressors? And yes, they’re gone now- but the United States Government is still around, and they did the majority of the oppressing, carried out under their orders.
What happens when personal responsibility wasn’t taken correctly by those in power? Why, then, do marginalized people have to take responsibility to fix a situation that was foisted on them by the lack of integrity and responsibility of those who were stronger than they?
I cannot say that if I were raised on a reservation I would somehow have the fortitude to do something for which I have no role model, or experience with in any way. A great book about oppression and the lasting effects of it is “Pedagogy of the Oppressed”.
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Sophia Reply:
September 29th, 2011 at 4:38 pm
Another issue with personal responsibility- usually any kind of cultural idea that the oppressors were in the wrong doesn’t come about until many generation later. So it is usually virtually impossible to directly address the grievances to those who set the whole thing in motion, but unfortunately those who were victims are still suffering.
This is an inherent problem with the personal responsibility argument. By the time there is cultural awareness that a wrong was committed, the damage has been done for so long it has become entrenched. And then of course comes the bootstraps talk, so we skip right from “wow, that was wrong and terrible!!” to “oh, but wait, that was 100 years ago, why can’t they get it together?” without taking a detour through “dangit, we didn’t condemn this when it was happening, but the damage persists to this day, so how do we rectify this?”. I think it’s incredibly unfair.
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Jackie Reply:
September 29th, 2011 at 4:46 pm
This is a great article that you might be interested in: http://www.pbs.org/race/000_About/002_04-background-03-03.htm
It explains how generational wealth really does makes a difference, and how we don’t all exactly start on equal footing at birth.
(Jenna - TH might be interested in this too, I remember him talkign about affirmative action a while ago on here).
I don’t think you don’t have compassion. But I think what Sophia and I are saying is that these ideas that people should just fix things for themselves, whether they are meant well or not, can end up having harmful effects. They can justify continued racism, they can distract us from fixing unfair social structures.
Personal responsibility isn’t everything. If it was, we would expect to see even rates of issues like alcoholism, poverty, disease, etc. across all groups. But we don’t. And that’s because these things just aren’t personal - they are communal, cultural, social.
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Shanna Reply:
September 30th, 2011 at 12:52 am
YES! While reading this, I couldn’t help but think of TH’s comment that included something like “If I was a black woman…” That comment bothered me when I read it and it stuck with me. Obviously, it still bothers me now.
This idea of personal responsibility and that people should just get an education and fix themselves is extremely insulting to me. I have a hard enough time dealing with my own issues while going to school that I absolutely cannot imagine trying to go to high school, get into college & go through that on my own with no family support. Add in more factors like the likelihood of alchoholic/drug addicted family and having siblings left in foster care, etc. and I can’t fathom the strength of character it would take to break free of these things to succeed in life. I certainly don’t have it. Try doing more research into the life of an average person on the rez and then see if you would do any better with no parents/family to model a good way to live your life. Don’t judge until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes.
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Katie Reply:
September 29th, 2011 at 6:21 pm
We all feel like (and have, to a certain extent) we worked to get “where we are”. But you have that much more of a battle to fight if you live in an area with bad infrastructure, in a community that might regard the school system suspiciouslly (rightfully so, after various boarding school and re-education programs imposed upon Native American populations in the past), and parents that are struggling with severe poverty, alcoholism, unemployment, or are at the highest risk of suicide for any group, or any of the above? You may have, but I’m wondering if you came from a family that accepted or promoted getting an education and establishing a career, as well as peers that did the same. That has an enormous effect. As for the $20k received, I wish I could pull up the statistic I was reading a couple of months ago that said that the middle class far and away benefitted the most from “subsidies”, which do include things like public universities. It’s hard to begrudge a population that has had such a terrible history.
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Shanna Reply:
September 30th, 2011 at 1:00 am
Here’s something from NPR that touches, briefly, on the benefits of having these extra perks that come from a middle income (and in this case, white) household. http://www.kuow.org/kuowpresents/index.php?id=24579
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Meg @ Moments Like This Reply:
September 30th, 2011 at 6:51 am
To me, it doesn’t sound like you have compassion. Your whole second paragraph had the tone (TO ME) of “See! They don’t want help they just want the money! See! They could have had a job but they took the easy way out!”- Which is not compassionate at all.
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September 29th, 2011 on 8:08 pm
I didn’t watch this video but Sean loses his mind whenever someone says that Native Americans are all rich of casino money. I think that the group is under represented and the majority of Americans are out of touch.
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Jackie Reply:
September 30th, 2011 at 9:34 am
A lot of those casinos are owned by people who are not members of the tribe, so the money just flows right back out. They are really terrible.
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September 29th, 2011 on 9:04 pm
Thank you for sharing this! It is very powerful.
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September 30th, 2011 on 9:21 am
Thank you for acknowledging this issue and for stating boldly that there needs to be an end to such foul treatment (verbal and otherwise) regarding American Indians (and others!).
My mother’s family are proud Cherokees who have struggled under the weight of racial suppression for decades. My great grandfather was not even allowed to be a US citizen nor be issued a SSN. Their tribal lands in beautiful Tennessee were taken from them, they hid in the Ozarks of Arkansas in dire poverty so as not to be found and forced onto the reservation in Oklahoma. My grandmother refused to speak of how she grew up because of how she was treated for being half Cherokee. I even remember being called a “damned squaw” and “out to marry into a wealthy family” by my high school boyfriend’s relatives.
I truly believe so many students (and adults!) know little of the American Indian struggle. Thank you for sharing this on your blog.
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October 1st, 2011 on 1:25 am
Another great article for white folks who are struggling with the idea of white privilege (like, I think Alison is) would be Peggy McIntosh’s article about White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack. (http://nymbp.org/reference/WhitePrivilege.pdf)
It was formative in my own thinking.
And Jenna, if you liked Lies My Teacher Told Me, you should check out Peoples History of the US — I use it in teaching a lot and it always blows my kids minds (and mine) — http://www.amazon.com/Peoples-History-United-States-1492-Present/dp/0060926430/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_4
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Sophia Reply:
October 2nd, 2011 at 9:10 am
YES! Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack is great.
Also, I like this talk by Tim Wise- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2mjvFNOwmc&feature=share
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Sophia Reply:
October 2nd, 2011 at 9:11 am
And yes, People’s History. I adore that book.
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October 2nd, 2011 on 8:38 pm
I realize I’m late in contributing to these comments, but this was an amazing post. The comments posted taught me almost as much! I am in grad school and have recently been exposed to some of the historical truths (and atrocities) about Native Americans. It breaks my heart that I have lived on this earth 25 years and never knew the extent to which these people have suffered. I highly recommend “A Different Mirror” by Ronald Takaki. The author examines American history from a multicultural perspective, revealing the truth about how Native Americans, African Americans, Chinese Americans, Irish Americans, and others have all played an important role in the foundation of America. I’m not exaggerating when I say that this book has completely changed my worldview and my life!
I was one of the millions of teenagers who tolerate social studies class in high school. It pains me to think how much is being left out and how much better we could be as a society if we started teaching the truth to America’s high schoolers. I could have avoided years of mistaken prejudicial thinking and probably would have loved history class!
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Jenna Reply:
October 2nd, 2011 at 8:42 pm
Oh I agree. When I learn about stuff like this I almost start to feel angry that some of my teachers did such a terrible job. They really wasted my time!
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Sophia Reply:
October 3rd, 2011 at 8:46 pm
Ah, thank you for reminding me of this book!! Someone else recommended it to me and I totally forgot about it. Much appreciated
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