Symbols
There is something insidiously ironic about being American Indian during the fall of the 21st century.
The negative representations of American Indians have recently caught national attention in the news and on the Internet.
With football and the fall season—which is always tough for Native folks because of the U.S.’s insistence on honoring Columbus, the awful Pocahontas Halloween costumes, and the ever-present Thanksgiving mythology of the goodness of the pilgrims and the simple-mindedness of Indigenous people—fast
It is predictable. At Halloween, thousands of children (and adults) trick-or-treat in Indian costumes. At Thanksgiving, thousands of children parade in school pageants wearing plastic headdresses and pseudo-buckskin clothing.
While the misappropriation of American Indian cultures and imagery by western society has persisted for decades, there's been a gradual uptick in the misrepresentation of Native peoples in the past several years.
Congress established the National Museum of the American Indian in 1989, noting that the establishment of the museum within the Smithsonian would “give all Americans the opportunity to learn of the cultural legac
Included in the millions of people throughout the United States and around the world who welcomed the demise of Osama Bin Laden were American Indians. Not since Adolf Hitler has there been such a universally despised figure, so replete with immoral sentience.
I’m opposed to the death penalty, as most judges are in private. It’s not something we can say out loud when the most common reason is not trusting our own lives to the system that decides life or death for others. We can’t make a habit of admitting the system makes mistakes.
The Indian nickname and mascot debate continues. The most prevalent argument in favor of them is that they “honor” Indians. The real question is, “Where is the ‘honor’ in being a mascot?”