Week in the life of a Stereotypical Indian: Native Approps Style

Today on Indian Country Today, columnist Vincent Schilling wrote a column detailing his numerous encounters with the "stereotypical Indian" over the course of one week, demonstrating how inundated we are with these images on a daily basis (the purpose of my blog!). I absolutely LOVE the idea, and I want to get a bunch of us to do it as well!

So, this week, I want you to document every instance of Indian stereotyping you come across. Include the things you would normally dismiss as "not a big deal"--The girl wearing a shirt with a stereotypical Indian design, the use of terms like "sitting Indian style" or "Let's have a powwow about this", the man wearing a Redskins jersey on the bus, the newspaper article that characterizes Indians as extinct, a bumper sticker, an old western on TV, etc. Write it all down, email it to me at the end of the week, and I'll share the experiences on the blog. When possible, snap a picture! You can email me, or if you're on Twitter, you can tweet things to me as they happen, use the hashtag  #n8vStereotype (kinda long, any better ideas?).

I'll document my own encounters as well, though admittedly mine are way more prevalent than normal because I have google alerts and reader emails sending me constant images--but I'll hone in on the everyday experiences to share with you.

In summary:

This week (January 30th-Feb 3rd)--"Week in the life of a Stereotypical Indian"

Document every instance of Indian/Native stereotyping

Email me

Tweet me (#n8vstereotype)

...and I'll share it all next week!

For background, here's Vincent's experience:

So over the course of one week – I decide to pay very close attention to the stimulus that entered my brain regarding the definition of an American Indian person. I don’t know if it was coincidence – much like if you have ever ridden in a VW bug and you suddenly notice all of the other VW Bugs on the freeway – but I was absolutely amazed at what I experienced from all visceral fronts.

It started with television, of course. I was watching an episode of Storage Wars, when the auctioneer is talking with the other guy that has purchased a unit of Native American artifacts. I was frustrated that ancestral property was being sold for a few hundred bucks but then fuel was added to the fire; unsurprisingly within 30 seconds the comments about scalping started. And so began a telling week.

In my car driving all over Hampton Roads in Virginia, the NFL team adopted by the region is the Washington Redskins. Bumper stickers, T-shirts, jackets, sweatpants, window decals all made their way into my brain for what seemed a hundred times a day. I have been tempted many times to hire a graphic artist to create a giant decal of other “skin-color”-Skins characters alongside the Redskins logo – but then I fear coming across as racist. Truth be told I don’t want to offend another ethnicity – but why is it okay that we are still portrayed this way?

The week continued, I went to a local thrift store – admittedly a guilty pleasure of my wife Delores and myself – and once again I was surprised at the amount of American Indian “education.” In the first glass case sat a large plastic Indian chief next to Mickey Mouse and Santa Claus and a few aisles over was a cheap dream catcher in a plastic bag with a 99 cent tag. I also saw a lunch bag with Indian markings and found in a stack of comic books daffy duck with an Indian headdress standing next to a tipi on the front cover.

I'm excited--I think this could be really cool. I think it's important (on a personal level, as well as a public level) to start to be aware of just how prevalent these images are. It really is incredible, when you start to open your eyes to it all.

Indian Country Today: A Week in the life of a stereotypical Indian 

Share any questions/concerns in the comments below!

Complicating the 2010 US Census Native Data

Back in 2010 when the census came in the mail, I remember sitting with my roommate at the kitchen table filling out our forms together, laughing and joking about our "household." When we got to the race category listed above, my roommate quickly checked the "Black, African Am, or Negro" box, with a snide comment about how it still says "Negro" in 2010, and moved on. I sat, contemplating the boxes for a bit, wondering how to identify to best capture "me".

I knew, from my prior work in admissions, that checking Native "alone" would mean something very different than checking Native "in combination," in terms of statistics and reporting, but I also am Native "in combination," so it felt disingenuous to check only Indian. I thought about it for a bit, checked American Indian/Alaska Native, and wrote in "Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma"--then checked the White box too. My roommate thought I was weird for thinking so deeply about it. But it mattered to me, because I was already anticipating the statistics that the US Census released yesterday. I am Native. Period. But when you try and fit a political/citizenship category into a racialized one, the results get complicated, as you'll see.

The lead headline for the census press release is "2010 Census Shows Nearly Half of American Indians and Alaska Natives Report Multiple Races." I already, right there, see that as problematic, wrought with assumptions, and loaded with colonial underpinnings. But we all know I think that about most things. ha.

The Stanford "Indian": Then and Now

I just came back from an amazing long weekend in the Bay Area, where I was at a training to be on my reunion homecoming committee (5th year reunion! I'm either really old or really young, depending on your perspective). I seriously love my alma mater more than is probably healthy. But this is a place that I credit with the development of my activist and social-justice oriented frame of mind, and also credit my work in admissions after graduation with opening my eyes to the disparities in higher ed for Native students--which is now my research in grad school. In many ways, it could be seen as ironic that the place that supported and nurtured my Native identity and allowed me to major in Native American Studies/Critical Studies of Race and Ethnicity has a past that includes that image above.

That shirt in the picture came from a thrift store in San Diego years ago, where I paid $15 for it. Fifteen dollars. For an old tshirt. But I bought it because I couldn't bear the thought of someone else picking it up, finding it "cool" and "vintage" and strutting around town in it. So I bought it, and then gave it to the Assistant Director of the Native program at Stanford, because I didn't want it lying around my house. I imagined it like the Tell-Tale Heart...beating in my drawer...::shudder::

This past weekend when I was on campus, I stopped by her office and saw it sticking out of a drawer. I pulled it out, we laughed about it, and talked about ways it could be used in an educational exhibit of some sort, and how it's important to remember the mascot's history.

The quick version of that history, from the Stanford Native Center website:

In February of 1972, 55 Native American students and staff at Stanford presented a petition to the University Ombudsperson who, in turn, presented it to President Lyman.  The 1972 petition urged that "the use of the Indian symbol be permanently discontinued"--and further urged that the University "fulfill its promise to the students of its Native American Program by improving and supporting the program and thereby making its promise to improve Native American education a reality."  The petition further stated that the Stanford community was not sensitive to the humanity of Native Americans, that the lack of understanding displayed by the name of a race being placed on its entertainment, and that a race of humans cannot be entertainment.  The mascot in all its manifestations was, the Indian group maintained, stereotypical, offensive, and a mockery of Indian cultures.  The group suggested that the "University would be renouncing a grotesque ignorance that it has previously condoned" by removing the Indian as Stanford's symbol, and by "retracting its misuse of the Indian symbol" Stanford would be displaying a "readily progressive concern for the American Indians of the United States."

Later that year, the University removed the mascot. I love that the mascot issue was born out of Native student activism on campus. Read the rest of the history here on the NACC website. 

So after I left the Native program offices, I walked over to the Alumni Center for my training. As I was flipping through the packet they gave us, I found this, The "Policy Regarding American Indian Images":

Apologies for the cell phone picture. But basically it sends a big stfu to any old alums who want to pull out their feathers and face paint for their reunion homecoming publicity or mailings. From the policy:

"We acknowledge that such imagery was not meant to be offensive when adopted. However, these images perpetuate stereotypes, are hurtful and offensive to American Indians and others, and are particularly inappropriate and insensitive in light of the history of forced assimilation that American Indian people have endured in this country."

lululu's to that. I was so happy to see this in the packet--and I as I sat there at the table in the alumni center, it made me think about all the Native students who had come before me and who worked so hard to get rid of the mascot. As the only Native on any of the reunion committees this year, I hope I'm making them proud.

Stanford still has a LONG way to go in making the campus climate a completely safe and supportive environment for Native students, and definitely needs work in supporting the ethnic community centers and staff, but personally I find it awesome that there is at least some explicit institutional support around the contentious mascot issue, especially when sending out those mailings with the Indian on them to old alums would probably bring in some more donations to the university.

I'm the first to admit that I've completely and totally drank the Stanford kool-aid (but it's so tasty and full of palm trees!), so if anyone has differing opinions on how the administration has dealt with the mascot issue over the years (and it continues to be an issue, believe me)--definitely send me an email.

I'm also curious how other institutions with an Indian mascot past deal with their alums and images, if you've got stories, share them in the comments!

(Thanks Miss Denni!)

PS--Also, a while back I shared one Stanford Alum's story about how reading Native Approps changed his mind about Indian Mascots. It's worth a read if you're somehow still on the fence.

Gawker uses "Mail of Tears" for a cheap pun

This, my friends, is a post about how the internet is a slow learner. A few days ago Gawker writer Leah Beckmann posted a round-up of crappy reader mail, and in a clear lapse of judgment and lack of awareness of American history, or a blog in her own network's history, entitled it "Mail of Tears"--complete with a picture of Iron Eyes Cody (the Italian actor who played the "crying Indian" in that famous PSA).

Longtime readers of the blog might think this sounds eerily familiar...and that's because in 2010, Jezebel (Gawker's "sister site") wrote about Meghan McCain crying  and gave it the hashtag #trailoftears. I was, clearly and similarly, enraged. So why recreate the wheel? I'll just quote directly from that post here:

Hey Kardashians: Why you so obsessed with me?

Another Kardashian transgression to add to the (growing) list: E! Online posted this pic of the Jenner girls with Kourtney Kardashian and Mason, taken at Mason's 2nd birthday party back in December. Looks like they were uber creative and went with a "Cowboys and Indians" theme. Wow. Adding insult to injury is the fact that E! used the headline "Cute Alert!"--I, personally, don't find racial drag "cute".* If little Mason and his mama were sporting some blackface, would that be "cute"? (Answer: no. A Cowboys and Indians Party is just as bad as a Blackface Party)

Here's how they "came up" with the theme (via an interview in OK! Magazine):

How did you come up with the Western theme for Mason's party?

Kourtney: Actually, Scott came up with it. We were just walking in the Hamptons, and he said, "Let's do cowboys and Indians." I thought it was cute, so I made Mason a little cowboy.

So many points for creativity! ::eyeroll::

But there's a bigger issue here. I really don't know what the Kardashians have against Natives, or why they seem to be so obsessed. As a proud Armenian/Cherokee, I don't appreciate one of my cultures denigrating the other. It creates confusionz in my head. But let's list off some of the Kardashian fails in the past year or so, shall we?

Top 11 posts of 2011!

Hi Friends,

It's almost 2012! How are these for some slightly embarassing statistics--my 2010 blog post count: 158 and 2011? only 58. (Where did those 100 posts go?) But don't worry, my goal for 2012: 5 million blog posts!!! Or at least more than once every three weeks. Also look for a blog re-design in the new year, as well as some other exciting things in the world of Native Approps.

I've been inspired by Jessica over at Beyond Buckskin--she's been doing some great round-up posts to close out 2011, so I thought I would throw together one of my own. Also, if you haven't already, check out Beyond Buckskin's new design, twitter, and facebook page. Show the Native blog-o-sphere some love!

So without further ado, here are the most clicked on posts this year for Native Appropriations:

11. A "Cowboys and Indians" party is just as bad as a blackface party.
I talked about the strange world that we live in in which dressing up in redface for a party is A-ok, and blackface is the ultimate taboo. Really, it's so frustrating when you think about it.

10. Love in the Time of Blood Quantum
The post that originated the term "unicorn" to describe an educated, motivated, culturally connected Native man--a term that has snuck into our everyday lexicon out here on the East Coast. I still want someone to do a follow up on this from the Unicorn perspective, or a non-heteronormative perspective...you know you want to!

(the rest after the jump)

Students respond to ABC's "Children of the Plains"

"I know what you probably think of us...we saw the special too. Maybe you saw a picture, or read an article. But we want you to know, we're more than that...We have so much more than poverty."
I know many of you saw the Diane Sawyer 20/20 special "Children of the Plains," and I let it pass by without much comment on the blog. I had plenty to say, but I knew a lot of folks from the community, and some of my friends, thought it was great--so I let it go, and didn't think it was really my place to barge in with my super-critical lens on the whole thing.

But some awesome kids from Pine Ridge Rosebud, SD put together this short, but powerful video in response to the special, which I love:

Reminded me of this quote from Adam Sings in the Timber: "It often seems as if America has only two frames through which to view its Native culture: ceremony and pageantry or poverty and addiction."

There's a lot of power when we get to represent ourselves.

Youtube: More Than That

If you're interested in some of the criticisms of the special:  
Indian Country Today: Children of the Plains was little more than "Poverty Porn"

The actual special:
ABC 20/20: "Hidden America: Children of the Plains"

Earlier:
Between Pageantry and Poverty: Representing Ourselves