UNDER CONSTRUCTION - not a complete list
CON-Against Mascots
How to Argue Against Racist Mascots (2017)
https://everydayfeminism.com/2015/01/argue-against-racist-mascots/
The Washington Football Team Can Legally Keep Its Racist Name. But It Shouldn’t (2017)
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/washington-football-team-can-legally-keep-its-racist-name-it-shouldnt-180964039
CityLine: Native Americans Racist Mascots and Imagery (2017)
http://www.wcvb.com/article/cityline-native-americans-racist-mascots-and-imagery/10284939
This site has a video and discusses the Massachusetts Bill that has been filed and Native American "consent."
The lack of education on Indigenous People's history (2017)
https://soundcloud.com/lmartirosyan/native-american-student-association
This site has an audio recording
Why the “Chief Wahoo” logo isn’t just a Native American problem (2017)
http://thyblackman.com/2017/07/13/why-the-chief-wahoo-logo-isnt-just-a-native-american-problem/
"Prior and during World War II, there were plenty of racist images that Americans were exposed to that depicted the Japanese as dangerous and un-trustworthy. Those images were depicted through cartoons, posters, and comics to influence people psychologically into fearing the Japanese and to develop a negative perception of them."'
During the 19th century, fictional characters like the Buck and the Pickaninny were blackface characters that were created as racist stereotypes of African-Americans. Each character had specific set of characteristics that displayed negative stereotypes about African-Americans. Those characters were used in television, cartoons, movies, and other pop culture to show that African-Americans were inferior. Native Americans are facing similar depictions in regards to “Chief Wahoo”. More importantly, the racist image of characters like “Chief Wahoo” have been studied as has having a negative impact on the social identity development and self-esteem of American Indian young people.
What's in a name? In Tewksbury, it depends who you ask (2015)
The Sun conducted an online poll asking whether Tewksbury sports should keep the Redmen name or change it. The poll received 532 responses: * Change it: 53.9% * Keep it: 46.1% http://www.lowellsun.com/todaysheadlines/ci_29314610/critics-time-has-passed-redmen#ixzz4ml5ZYayz http://www.lowellsun.com/todaysheadlines/ci_29314610/critics-time-has-passed-redmen
On Warpath over Redskins (2014)
https://commonwealthmagazine.org/the-download/707-on-warpath-over-redskins/
The Pentucket Sachem? (2013)
http://pentucketnews.com/811/news/the-pentucket-sachem/
PRO-Mixed Mascot
Among Mass. Natives, Mascot Issue Reveals A Mix Of Pride And Pain (2017)
http://www.wbur.org/edify/2017/07/13/native-american-mascots-massachusetts
This site included a map of schools with "names." The older powwow attendees agree: The mascots don't offend them if they're presented respectfully.
"Maybe it didn't damage us — maybe we came to understand our identity as more of an adult with an adult brain. But the research is clear about how damaging these are" to young people, Fox Tree says. What's more, Fox Tree says, the images force a paradoxical invisibility on natives like her — many Americans know the cartoon mascots better than the real people they represent.
Showing posts with label News. Show all posts
Showing posts with label News. Show all posts
Thursday, July 13, 2017
Wednesday, May 20, 2015
Stereotoypes, Mascots, and Absence of Broad, Diverse, Accurate Images
To put it all in one place - What's it like to live in your own country and never see yourself accurately represented?
News Stories - John Sanchez, Pennsylvania State University Study.
An extensive study between 1990 and 1999 of the “big three” television networks – ABC, CBS, and NBC.
Movies - Matika Wilbur, photographer.
—A photographic documentary of Native Americans called Project 562. Matika states that between 1990 and 2000, there were 5,868 blockbuster released films.
Textbooks - Sarah Shear, Pennsylvania State University in Altoon
—An analysis of the states’ academic standards, including names of important people, dates, events and concepts.
FURTHER INFORMATION
Anti-Defamation and Mascots
http://www.ncai.org/policy-issues/community-and-culture/anti-defamation-mascots
In general, NCAI strongly opposes the use of derogatory Native sports mascots. However, in the case where mascots refer to a particular Native nation or nations, NCAI respects the right of individual tribal nations to work with universities and athletic programs to decide how to protect and celebrate their respective tribal heritage.
National Congress of American Indians - Resolutions
NCAI is pleased that tribal advocates have succeeded in eliminating over two-thirds of derogatory Indian sports mascots and logos over the past 50 years. Today, there are fewer than 1,000 of these mascots left. In 2005, the National Collegiate Athletic Association, the governing body of college athletics, formally condemned the use of disparaging mascots and banned the use of Indian names, logos, and mascots during its championship tournaments.
National Congress of the American Indian Resolutions
http://www.ncai.org/policy-issues/community-and-culture/anti-defamation-mascots/resolutions
"Praying Indian" Towns is not something to be proud of
http://nativeamericannetroots.net/diary/tag/Praying%20Towns
Waban, the Massachusetts leader who had requested the foundation of Natick, was less than enthusiastic about Christianity. However, he was afraid that the English would kill him if he didn’t pretend to embrace their religion. In addition, the English provided him with good food.
While the Indians in the praying towns were doing their best to shed their Indian-ness and to become English, the English colonists did not trust them. When King Philip’s War broke out in 1675, the praying villages declared their neutrality. The English colonists confined all of the “friendly” Indians to a few of the eastern praying towns, The colonists then confiscated the crops and tools in the praying towns of Wamesit, Hassanamisset, Magunkaquag, and Chabanakongkomun. The Indians were confined to the village limits on penalty of death.
In spite of the pledges of neutrality and declarations of their friendly feelings toward the English, the colonists continued to accuse the Christian Indians of supporting King Philip. The residents of Okommakamesit were arrested and marched to jail in Boston. The Natick were forced from their homes and interred on Deer Island in Boston Harbor. Deer Island was a windswept rock with little fuel and little shelter from the cold sea wind. In spite of the English hostility, the Christian Indians continued to declare their loyalty to the English and about 100 Indian men enlisted in the colonial army as scouts.
News Stories - John Sanchez, Pennsylvania State University Study.
An extensive study between 1990 and 1999 of the “big three” television networks – ABC, CBS, and NBC.
- —During that timeframe, the 3 networks produced 175,889 news reports. Of those, a combined total of 98 reports were about Native Americans or Native American issues.
- —The majority of these stories were framed by stereotypical 18th century imagery, such as Native Americans in buckskin clothing riding horses and wearing traditional headdresses.
- —The least common type of story were those representing 21st century Native Americans in a positive light.
- —Most Americans believe that Native Americans are either assimilated, or extinct – that we don’t exist anymore.
Movies - Matika Wilbur, photographer.
—A photographic documentary of Native Americans called Project 562. Matika states that between 1990 and 2000, there were 5,868 blockbuster released films.
- —12 included Native Americans.
- —All showed NA’s as spiritual or in tune with nature.
- —10 showed NA’s impoverished or beaten by down by society.
- —10 depicted NA’s continually in conflict with whites.
Textbooks - Sarah Shear, Pennsylvania State University in Altoon
—An analysis of the states’ academic standards, including names of important people, dates, events and concepts.
- —Across all the states, 87 percent of references to Natives portray them prior to 1900, with no clear vision of what happened after that.
- —In half of the states, no individual Natives or specific tribes are named.
- —The most commonly named are Sacagawea, Squanto, Sequoyah and Sitting Bull.
- —Only 62 Nations are named in standards; most mentioned by only one state.
- —One nation, the Iroquois, is mentioned in six states.
- —4 states (AZ, WA, OK, and KS) include boarding schools.
- —New Mexico is the only state to mention, by name, a member of AIM.
- —Washington is the only state to use the word “genocide” in relation to Natives. That word is used in the standards for fifth grade U.S. history.
- —Nebraska textbooks portray Natives as lazy, drunk or criminal.
- —90% of all manuscripts written about Native people are authored by non-Native writers.
FURTHER INFORMATION
Anti-Defamation and Mascots
http://www.ncai.org/policy-issues/community-and-culture/anti-defamation-mascots
In general, NCAI strongly opposes the use of derogatory Native sports mascots. However, in the case where mascots refer to a particular Native nation or nations, NCAI respects the right of individual tribal nations to work with universities and athletic programs to decide how to protect and celebrate their respective tribal heritage.
National Congress of American Indians - Resolutions
NCAI is pleased that tribal advocates have succeeded in eliminating over two-thirds of derogatory Indian sports mascots and logos over the past 50 years. Today, there are fewer than 1,000 of these mascots left. In 2005, the National Collegiate Athletic Association, the governing body of college athletics, formally condemned the use of disparaging mascots and banned the use of Indian names, logos, and mascots during its championship tournaments.
National Congress of the American Indian Resolutions
http://www.ncai.org/policy-issues/community-and-culture/anti-defamation-mascots/resolutions
"Praying Indian" Towns is not something to be proud of
http://nativeamericannetroots.net/diary/tag/Praying%20Towns
Waban, the Massachusetts leader who had requested the foundation of Natick, was less than enthusiastic about Christianity. However, he was afraid that the English would kill him if he didn’t pretend to embrace their religion. In addition, the English provided him with good food.
While the Indians in the praying towns were doing their best to shed their Indian-ness and to become English, the English colonists did not trust them. When King Philip’s War broke out in 1675, the praying villages declared their neutrality. The English colonists confined all of the “friendly” Indians to a few of the eastern praying towns, The colonists then confiscated the crops and tools in the praying towns of Wamesit, Hassanamisset, Magunkaquag, and Chabanakongkomun. The Indians were confined to the village limits on penalty of death.
In spite of the pledges of neutrality and declarations of their friendly feelings toward the English, the colonists continued to accuse the Christian Indians of supporting King Philip. The residents of Okommakamesit were arrested and marched to jail in Boston. The Natick were forced from their homes and interred on Deer Island in Boston Harbor. Deer Island was a windswept rock with little fuel and little shelter from the cold sea wind. In spite of the English hostility, the Christian Indians continued to declare their loyalty to the English and about 100 Indian men enlisted in the colonial army as scouts.
Monday, October 13, 2014
In the News 2014
Nearly 1,200 Missing, Murdered Aboriginal Women in Canada: RCMP
http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/05/03/nearly-1200-missing-murdered-aboriginal-women-canada-rcmp-154722 The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) on Thursday May 1 confirmed to reporters that its own data search had yielded 1,186 cases of indigenous women—1,026 who had been murdered and 160 of whom are missing—over the past 30 years. This dwarfed the previous high number of 824 determined by a researcher in Ottawa earlier this year, as the Winnipeg Free Press reported in January. Even that number was higher than figures compiled by the Native Women’s Association of Canada, which had documented 582 cases.
No natives' sign taped to restaurant's door
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2011/03/16/17638176.html?utm_source=addThis&utm_medium=addthis_button_facebook&utm_campaign=%27No+natives%27+sign+taped+to+restaurant%27s+door#.UzyZ49eyDOU.facebook
Olympic Games in Fairbanks, Alaska - Where Culture Counts
http://projects.aljazeera.com/2014/eskimo-olympics/ “Traditionally you had to rely on your own physical strength and mental preparedness to survive,” she said. “You also had to rely on your community to survive.”
The Education System Is Failing Native American Students. Here's Proof
STATISTICS and CHARTS
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/18/native-american-education_n_5593253.html
1. Native American Students Have The Lowest High School Graduation Rates In The Country
2. In Recent Years, Their Average ACT Scores Have Declined Substantially...
...And Their SAT Scores Are Substantially Lower Than White Students' Scores
3. Native Students Have Less Access To High-Level High School Courses
4. Most Are Not Proficient In Reading Or Math By Eighth Grade
http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/05/03/nearly-1200-missing-murdered-aboriginal-women-canada-rcmp-154722 The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) on Thursday May 1 confirmed to reporters that its own data search had yielded 1,186 cases of indigenous women—1,026 who had been murdered and 160 of whom are missing—over the past 30 years. This dwarfed the previous high number of 824 determined by a researcher in Ottawa earlier this year, as the Winnipeg Free Press reported in January. Even that number was higher than figures compiled by the Native Women’s Association of Canada, which had documented 582 cases.
No natives' sign taped to restaurant's door
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2011/03/16/17638176.html?utm_source=addThis&utm_medium=addthis_button_facebook&utm_campaign=%27No+natives%27+sign+taped+to+restaurant%27s+door#.UzyZ49eyDOU.facebook
Olympic Games in Fairbanks, Alaska - Where Culture Counts
http://projects.aljazeera.com/2014/eskimo-olympics/ “Traditionally you had to rely on your own physical strength and mental preparedness to survive,” she said. “You also had to rely on your community to survive.”
The Education System Is Failing Native American Students. Here's Proof
STATISTICS and CHARTS
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/18/native-american-education_n_5593253.html
1. Native American Students Have The Lowest High School Graduation Rates In The Country
2. In Recent Years, Their Average ACT Scores Have Declined Substantially...
...And Their SAT Scores Are Substantially Lower Than White Students' Scores
3. Native Students Have Less Access To High-Level High School Courses
4. Most Are Not Proficient In Reading Or Math By Eighth Grade
Racism in Indian
Education
Native Times
A meeting in Rapid City in
October 2007, one of the first of its kind in that state, had people reporting
that racism is alive and well in the public ...
Saturday, September 27, 2014
Appropriation vs. Appreciation - What is Cultural Appropriation? What's the Big Deal?
Native American imagery in Pop Culture
http://missoulanews.bigskypress.com/missoula/whats-the-big-deal/Content?oid=1986718
Why Seventeen Magazine in 1973 Was Different than What is Seen Today
http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/06/13/appropriation-fight-vogue-vs-elle-and-pharrell-seventeen-vs-itself-155281 We're talking about two different but obviously related types of appropriation here. The "Hipster Headdress" kind involves taking a sacred item of regalia out of context and using it as a fashion statement, because it "looks cool." What you might call the Urban Outfitters kind is about using the identity of a people to sell products that they didn't create or endorse. Pick your poison -- whether it's abusing someone's sacred symbols or cheapening someone's cultural identity, all in the name of fashion and commerce, both practices ought to stop.
But Elle UK really screwed up good with its Pharrell Williams cover last week. It's mystifying that a magazine about fashion and (apparently sometimes) music could be so unaware of appropriation issues surrounding feather headdresses; seems nobody was paying attention to the foulups of Victoria's Secret, Paul Frank Industries, Germany's Next Top Model, and Alessandra Ambrosio; and the music-aficionado editors who wrangled Pharrell hadn't ever noticed the backlash against No Doubt, Outkast, Emerson Windy and the rest.
In Fashion
When it comes to wearing or designing fashion based on other cultures, it’s hard to know if you’re being tacky, cool, or offensive. The dangers of cultural appropriation go beyond offending people, appropriation continues patterns of disempowering groups that are already marginalized. Looks shouldn’t be THAT important. Ideally, we can feel cute while empowering people with what we wear.“THAT’S RAD, BUT HOW CAN I TELL IF I’M APPROPRIATING?”Well, before you put on that bindi, kimono, “street wear” or adorn yourself with cornrows, a headdress or turban, here’s some easy questions to ask yourself:
http://interruptmag.com/article/appropriation-vs-appreciation#.VCRylTLG4EQ.facebook
#1. What culture does this style reference, and what is my relation to that culture?
#2. Why are you wearing it?
OKAY, YOU MIGHT GET A PASS: “It is part of a cultural event I am a part of or invited to.” (Examples: celebrating a marriage or holiday)
#3. Who made the product, and who's selling it?
#4. How accurate/respectful is it to the source?
Excuse Me, That’s My Beadwork!
http://www.powwows.com/2014/05/13/excuse-me-thats-my-beadwork/
We’ve heard the story time and time again in Indian country: Stolen beadwork, stolen eagle feathers, even entire outfits stolen. Since my family just had this unfortunate experience, it must be a sign to talk about it.
http://missoulanews.bigskypress.com/missoula/whats-the-big-deal/Content?oid=1986718
Why Seventeen Magazine in 1973 Was Different than What is Seen Today
http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/06/13/appropriation-fight-vogue-vs-elle-and-pharrell-seventeen-vs-itself-155281 We're talking about two different but obviously related types of appropriation here. The "Hipster Headdress" kind involves taking a sacred item of regalia out of context and using it as a fashion statement, because it "looks cool." What you might call the Urban Outfitters kind is about using the identity of a people to sell products that they didn't create or endorse. Pick your poison -- whether it's abusing someone's sacred symbols or cheapening someone's cultural identity, all in the name of fashion and commerce, both practices ought to stop.
But Elle UK really screwed up good with its Pharrell Williams cover last week. It's mystifying that a magazine about fashion and (apparently sometimes) music could be so unaware of appropriation issues surrounding feather headdresses; seems nobody was paying attention to the foulups of Victoria's Secret, Paul Frank Industries, Germany's Next Top Model, and Alessandra Ambrosio; and the music-aficionado editors who wrangled Pharrell hadn't ever noticed the backlash against No Doubt, Outkast, Emerson Windy and the rest.
In Fashion
When it comes to wearing or designing fashion based on other cultures, it’s hard to know if you’re being tacky, cool, or offensive. The dangers of cultural appropriation go beyond offending people, appropriation continues patterns of disempowering groups that are already marginalized. Looks shouldn’t be THAT important. Ideally, we can feel cute while empowering people with what we wear.“THAT’S RAD, BUT HOW CAN I TELL IF I’M APPROPRIATING?”Well, before you put on that bindi, kimono, “street wear” or adorn yourself with cornrows, a headdress or turban, here’s some easy questions to ask yourself:
http://interruptmag.com/article/appropriation-vs-appreciation#.VCRylTLG4EQ.facebook
#1. What culture does this style reference, and what is my relation to that culture?
#2. Why are you wearing it?
OKAY, YOU MIGHT GET A PASS: “It is part of a cultural event I am a part of or invited to.” (Examples: celebrating a marriage or holiday)
#3. Who made the product, and who's selling it?
#4. How accurate/respectful is it to the source?
4 Ways To Honor Native Americans
Without Appropriating Our Culture
http://everydayfeminism.com/2014/08/honor-native-americans-without-appropriating/?utm_content=buffer05b0f&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer
Chilliwack woman takes a stand against racism
The young mom was standing
in a grocery line with her 20-month-old daughter Layla. She was exhausted, as
moms of toddlers tend to be, and was doing everything she could to hold her
daughter at bay while they waited to pay for their groceries.
A grandmotherly woman
standing in front of Peters turned and started cooing at Layla, playing
peak-a-boo with her, asking questions, anything to help distract the curious
toddler from pulling chocolate bars off the shelves.
One aisle over, another mom
of First Nations descent stood with her child, the same age and seeming
curiosity as Layla.
Peters, a knowing smile on
her face, looked up at the woman still playing with her daughter, about to
laugh that she wasn't the only one.
Instead, she faced a cold
stare. The friendly grandmother was gone.
"They just shouldn't
fucking breed," she hissed.
Is anything sacred left to us?
http://www.powwows.com/2014/04/08/white-men-cant-dance/#ixzz37B9SUjYG
As a dismal result of this extirpation, it’s a fact that nearly all our original dances, songs, ceremonies, religion, and arts have been eradicated, marginalized, and sanitized. Some tribes have lost their spoken languages. It is no wonder that tribes fight fiercely to protect what little is left of these sacred cultures and traditions. In my opinion, this is the main reason why non-Indians and “Wannabe” Indians have typically not been welcomed or encouraged when they assert their presence in tribal events. There are tribes that even strictly prohibit “other Indians” from participation in certain events and ceremonies. This earns my utmost respect and understanding.
Meanwhile, the whole “not Indian, can’t dance” theme has been turning over in my mind for 6 months now. I reflect on today’s powwows which are far removed from what they originally were, and I seriously question if there is anything sacred left to us. Today at many modern contest powwows, the dancers/participants submit to a scheduled, rules-and-regulations choreographed event which typically involves large sums of money; tradition and culture is secondary. I personally see nothing wrong with non-Indians participating in dancing at powwows as long as they are doing it with sincere intent and respect. It takes a lot of gumption for a non-Indian to enter the dance arbor; I’ve seen some laughed at and belittled while others are treated with the same respect as Indians. There are many people in European countries that hold their own versions of powwows complete with grand entries and contest dancing. I was astounded to learn that some were wearing authentic regalia. It was both humorous and disconcerting. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt that they are emulating the powwow out of respect and admiration. Still, it’s disquieting to see it displayed on YouTube videos because it’s such a familiar experience of yet another taking of our people’s traditional ways.
Is anything sacred left to us?
http://www.powwows.com/2014/04/08/white-men-cant-dance/#ixzz37B9SUjYG
As a dismal result of this extirpation, it’s a fact that nearly all our original dances, songs, ceremonies, religion, and arts have been eradicated, marginalized, and sanitized. Some tribes have lost their spoken languages. It is no wonder that tribes fight fiercely to protect what little is left of these sacred cultures and traditions. In my opinion, this is the main reason why non-Indians and “Wannabe” Indians have typically not been welcomed or encouraged when they assert their presence in tribal events. There are tribes that even strictly prohibit “other Indians” from participation in certain events and ceremonies. This earns my utmost respect and understanding.
Meanwhile, the whole “not Indian, can’t dance” theme has been turning over in my mind for 6 months now. I reflect on today’s powwows which are far removed from what they originally were, and I seriously question if there is anything sacred left to us. Today at many modern contest powwows, the dancers/participants submit to a scheduled, rules-and-regulations choreographed event which typically involves large sums of money; tradition and culture is secondary. I personally see nothing wrong with non-Indians participating in dancing at powwows as long as they are doing it with sincere intent and respect. It takes a lot of gumption for a non-Indian to enter the dance arbor; I’ve seen some laughed at and belittled while others are treated with the same respect as Indians. There are many people in European countries that hold their own versions of powwows complete with grand entries and contest dancing. I was astounded to learn that some were wearing authentic regalia. It was both humorous and disconcerting. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt that they are emulating the powwow out of respect and admiration. Still, it’s disquieting to see it displayed on YouTube videos because it’s such a familiar experience of yet another taking of our people’s traditional ways.
Excuse Me, That’s My Beadwork!
http://www.powwows.com/2014/05/13/excuse-me-thats-my-beadwork/
We’ve heard the story time and time again in Indian country: Stolen beadwork, stolen eagle feathers, even entire outfits stolen. Since my family just had this unfortunate experience, it must be a sign to talk about it.
Native American “Black
Face” Equivalent
We are supposed to be having a particularly earnest
conversation with each other (and ourselves) this autumn about
whether the continuing use of the nickname "Redskins" for
Washington's professional football team perpetuates stereotypes against Native
Americans. Of course it does. If you want to better understand why,
if you want to better appreciate the enormity of the problem, if
you want a sense of the challenge American Indians face as they seek to fight
back against these hoary symbols, watch this clip from Saturday's
"College Gameday" on ESPN.
This unseemly episode is the result of
two traditions. The first has to do with Florida State University, which
has taken the nickname "Seminoles" from the Native American tribe
with a long and unfortunate history in
Florida. The university's tradition, since 1978 anyway, is
to have a man, dressed up like a tribal "chief" named Osceola (né William
Powell), ride out atop a horse named "Renegade" onto Doak Campbell
Stadium in Tallahassee before home games and throw a flaming spear into the ground
at midfield while the crowd goes wild. Here
is the list of "Osceolas" (and "Renegades") over the years.
The second tradition has to do with ESPN and this particular
show. Each week, Lee Corso, a nationally known college football
commentator, dons the garb of the team he is picking to win the feature game of
the weekend. Sometimes, Corso wears a
mascot head. Sometimes he dresses up. The college kids eat it up.
It's great fun and great for the show's ratings. On Saturday, Corso, an alum of
FSU, happened to pick his alma mater to beat Clemson (which FSU did,
by a lot), which is why he was dressed up like Osceola. (Update: I don't mean
to suggest this is the first time he has done this. Here
is how he did it last year)
Thursday, July 17, 2014
The Homestead Act
How The Cliven Bundy Saga Exposes America's Most Enduring Myth
In the last century several different models were tried to encourage ranchers like Bundy’s ancestors to use public lands – property owned by all Americans, in common – to graze cattle, including the U.S. Grazing Service (a creation of the Taylor Grazing Act of 1934) and today’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM), founded in the 1940s. Both federal agencies installed token costs per head of livestock called a grazing fee, and issued grazing permits that were periodically renewed.
Cliven Bundy tore up his grazing permit in 1992 because he disagreed with its terms. Since that time he has grazed his cattle with no permit on government lands. This makes him worse than a “moocher” – it makes him a trespasser, on property that every one of us owns in common.
The two most visible legacies of the Homestead Act and its successors remain our nation’s huge rural middle class and the checkerboard grid of quarter-sections you can see from the window of an airplane flying seven miles up. But a third can be found hidden in our current, still-unresolved debates about race and the role of government.
In the last century several different models were tried to encourage ranchers like Bundy’s ancestors to use public lands – property owned by all Americans, in common – to graze cattle, including the U.S. Grazing Service (a creation of the Taylor Grazing Act of 1934) and today’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM), founded in the 1940s. Both federal agencies installed token costs per head of livestock called a grazing fee, and issued grazing permits that were periodically renewed.
Cliven Bundy tore up his grazing permit in 1992 because he disagreed with its terms. Since that time he has grazed his cattle with no permit on government lands. This makes him worse than a “moocher” – it makes him a trespasser, on property that every one of us owns in common.
The two most visible legacies of the Homestead Act and its successors remain our nation’s huge rural middle class and the checkerboard grid of quarter-sections you can see from the window of an airplane flying seven miles up. But a third can be found hidden in our current, still-unresolved debates about race and the role of government.
Sunday, May 18, 2014
New Discovery in DNA Research!
New Discovery Confirms Native American Views on Their Ancestry
Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/05/18/new-discovery-confirms-native-american-views-their-ancestry-154927
For the past 15 years the question of whether modern American Indians were descended from the ancient people who lived in North and South America more than 10,000 years ago has been the subject of a contentious and bruising scientific debate. This debate has had profound legal implications, since under the current laws in the United States, the custody and control of human remains is dependent on whether or not there is a relationship to a modern Indian tribe.
Naia, believed to have been a young girl of 15 or 16, apparently fell to her death in the sinkhole sometime between 12,000 and 13,000 years ago. About 10,000 years ago, as the Ice Ages came to an end and melting glaciers raised sea levels around the world, the cave system was flooded. Her remains, now 130 feet below sea level, were preserved. Under Mexican law her skeleton could not be disturbed, even for scientific study, but the cave systems are a popular tourist dive location and divers had been found digging around her, prompting the government and scientists to recover her.
Girl’s 12,000-year-old skeleton may solve a mystery
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/girls-12000-year-old-skeleton-may-solve-a-mystery/2014/05/15/e45a6330-da90-11e3-8009-71de85b9c527_story.html
A paper published Thursday online in the journal Science argues that the discrepancy in appearance between the Paleoamericans and later Native Americans is most likely the result of recent, and relatively rapid, human evolution — and not the result of subsequent migrations of people into the Americas.
Tests on mitochondrial DNA taken from Naia show that she had a genetic marker common today across the Americas, one that scientists say evolved in a prehistoric population that had been isolated for thousands of years in Beringia, the land mass between Alaska and Siberia that formed a bridge between the continents during the Ice Ages.
Adding to the mystery is that the Paleoamericans, such as Naia, didn’t look like later Native Americans. Naia had a small, projecting face, with narrow cheekbones, wide-set eyes and a prominent forehead. Native Americans of later millennia tended to have broader, longer, flatter faces, and rounder skulls, said James Chatters, an independent researcher based in Washington state and the lead author of the paper.
The distinct morphology of the Paleoamericans is most famously found in the “Kennewick Man,” a 9,000-year-old skeleton discovered two decades ago along the Columbia River in Washington state. Facial reconstruction resulted in someone who looked a bit like the actor Patrick Stewart (“Star Trek: The Next Generation,” “X-Men”). Scientists theorized that he could have been related to populations in East Asia that spread along the coast and eventually colonized Polynesia. Under that scenario, more recent Native Americans could be descended from a separate migratory population.
DNA Analysis Shows That Native American Genealogy Is One of the Most Unique in the World
http://www.whitewolfpack.com/2014/08/dna-analysis-shows-that-native-american.htm
and
http://www.wisdompills.com/2014/06/13/dna-testing-proves-native-american-genealogy-to-be-among-the-most-unique-in-the-world/
The importance of such efforts cannot be overstated. The threads of these ancient cultures – having existed here for tens of thousands of years prior to the arrival of the ‘pioneers’ – no matter how tenuous they may currently be, must be preserved, strengthened and woven back into a quilt that tells the unique story of not only their past, but of their bright future as well.
The study follows up on earlier research that found a unique variant of a genetic marker in the DNA of modern descendants of Native Americans. “While earlier studies have already supported this conclusion, what’s different about our work is that it provides the first solid data that simply cannot be reconciled with multiple ancestral populations,” said Kari Britt Schroeder of the University of California, one of the authors of the study.
As a result of the previous research, the so-called “9-repeat allele” (or variant) was found in all of the 41 Native American and Asian (from the western side of the Bering Strait) populations that were sampled. At the same time, the allele was absent in all 54 of the Eurasian, African and Oceanian groups that were also sampled in the study.The researchers supposed that the distribution of the allele was due to the fact that all these ethnic groups (modern Native Americans, Greenlanders and western Beringians) derived from a common founder population, which had been isolated from the rest of the Asian continent thousands of years prior to their migration to the Americas.
“Our work provides strong evidence that, in general, Native Americans are more closely related to each other than to any other existing Asian populations, except those that live at the very edge of the Bering Strait,” concluded Schroeder. (Source)
The results of the study were published in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution.
http://mbe.oxfordjournals.org/content/26/5/995
Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/05/18/new-discovery-confirms-native-american-views-their-ancestry-154927
For the past 15 years the question of whether modern American Indians were descended from the ancient people who lived in North and South America more than 10,000 years ago has been the subject of a contentious and bruising scientific debate. This debate has had profound legal implications, since under the current laws in the United States, the custody and control of human remains is dependent on whether or not there is a relationship to a modern Indian tribe.
Naia, believed to have been a young girl of 15 or 16, apparently fell to her death in the sinkhole sometime between 12,000 and 13,000 years ago. About 10,000 years ago, as the Ice Ages came to an end and melting glaciers raised sea levels around the world, the cave system was flooded. Her remains, now 130 feet below sea level, were preserved. Under Mexican law her skeleton could not be disturbed, even for scientific study, but the cave systems are a popular tourist dive location and divers had been found digging around her, prompting the government and scientists to recover her.
Girl’s 12,000-year-old skeleton may solve a mystery
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/girls-12000-year-old-skeleton-may-solve-a-mystery/2014/05/15/e45a6330-da90-11e3-8009-71de85b9c527_story.html
A paper published Thursday online in the journal Science argues that the discrepancy in appearance between the Paleoamericans and later Native Americans is most likely the result of recent, and relatively rapid, human evolution — and not the result of subsequent migrations of people into the Americas.
Tests on mitochondrial DNA taken from Naia show that she had a genetic marker common today across the Americas, one that scientists say evolved in a prehistoric population that had been isolated for thousands of years in Beringia, the land mass between Alaska and Siberia that formed a bridge between the continents during the Ice Ages.
Adding to the mystery is that the Paleoamericans, such as Naia, didn’t look like later Native Americans. Naia had a small, projecting face, with narrow cheekbones, wide-set eyes and a prominent forehead. Native Americans of later millennia tended to have broader, longer, flatter faces, and rounder skulls, said James Chatters, an independent researcher based in Washington state and the lead author of the paper.
The distinct morphology of the Paleoamericans is most famously found in the “Kennewick Man,” a 9,000-year-old skeleton discovered two decades ago along the Columbia River in Washington state. Facial reconstruction resulted in someone who looked a bit like the actor Patrick Stewart (“Star Trek: The Next Generation,” “X-Men”). Scientists theorized that he could have been related to populations in East Asia that spread along the coast and eventually colonized Polynesia. Under that scenario, more recent Native Americans could be descended from a separate migratory population.
NEW - THE OLMECS WERE AMERINDIANS NOT AFRICANS - AND THE MALIANS & IGNERIS CREATED THE GARIFUNA - A NEW CARIBBEAN PEOPLE!
A lot of Afrocentrists have a cherished THEORY that the entire Olmec
civilization was an African one - just because of Colossal heads that
resemble African warriors - yet on scientific scrutiny they do not
LITERALLY resemble ANY real human - what human has eye sockets so huge?
An Alien-human hybrid? This is a simple fact overlooked when one WANTS
to believe in something but CANNOT prove it, but they cannot explain
either why 99% of ALL the OTHER Olmec artifacts (as you can see in the 3
videos below) DO NOT have anything that remotely hints at anything
African Negroid - only the usual Amerindian culture of Meso-America,
neither have DNA tests of Olmec descendants today revealed ANY genetic
connection to Africa, only to Asia and the Mongoloid race.DNA Analysis Shows That Native American Genealogy Is One of the Most Unique in the World
http://www.whitewolfpack.com/2014/08/dna-analysis-shows-that-native-american.htm
and
http://www.wisdompills.com/2014/06/13/dna-testing-proves-native-american-genealogy-to-be-among-the-most-unique-in-the-world/
The importance of such efforts cannot be overstated. The threads of these ancient cultures – having existed here for tens of thousands of years prior to the arrival of the ‘pioneers’ – no matter how tenuous they may currently be, must be preserved, strengthened and woven back into a quilt that tells the unique story of not only their past, but of their bright future as well.
The study follows up on earlier research that found a unique variant of a genetic marker in the DNA of modern descendants of Native Americans. “While earlier studies have already supported this conclusion, what’s different about our work is that it provides the first solid data that simply cannot be reconciled with multiple ancestral populations,” said Kari Britt Schroeder of the University of California, one of the authors of the study.
As a result of the previous research, the so-called “9-repeat allele” (or variant) was found in all of the 41 Native American and Asian (from the western side of the Bering Strait) populations that were sampled. At the same time, the allele was absent in all 54 of the Eurasian, African and Oceanian groups that were also sampled in the study.The researchers supposed that the distribution of the allele was due to the fact that all these ethnic groups (modern Native Americans, Greenlanders and western Beringians) derived from a common founder population, which had been isolated from the rest of the Asian continent thousands of years prior to their migration to the Americas.
“Our work provides strong evidence that, in general, Native Americans are more closely related to each other than to any other existing Asian populations, except those that live at the very edge of the Bering Strait,” concluded Schroeder. (Source)
The results of the study were published in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution.
http://mbe.oxfordjournals.org/content/26/5/995
Saturday, April 26, 2014
History and Culture In The News
2014 Gathering of Nations Long Hair Contest
http://www.powwows.com/2014/04/25/long-hair-contest-2014-gathering-of-nations/
What if people told European history like they told Native American history?
indigenoushistory.wordpress.com/2013/05/09/what-if-people-told-european-history-like-they-told-native-american-history/ This is a FABULOUS ARTICLE which forces a perspective change.
25 Portraits of American Indians You Might Not Have Seen (No Curtis!) http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/gallery/photo/25-portraits-american-indians-you-might-not-have-seen-no-curtis-154583
Artists Challenge Old Imagery With 'Regarding Curtis'
http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/11/29/smudging-colonizers-lens-artists-challenge-old-imagery-regarding-curtis-158055
Kid's Refusing to be Stereotyped
http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/gallery/photo/these-10-kids-wont-be-stereotyped-edward-s-curtis-photos-158053
http://www.powwows.com/2014/04/25/long-hair-contest-2014-gathering-of-nations/
What if people told European history like they told Native American history?
indigenoushistory.wordpress.com/2013/05/09/what-if-people-told-european-history-like-they-told-native-american-history/ This is a FABULOUS ARTICLE which forces a perspective change.
25 Portraits of American Indians You Might Not Have Seen (No Curtis!) http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/gallery/photo/25-portraits-american-indians-you-might-not-have-seen-no-curtis-154583
Artists Challenge Old Imagery With 'Regarding Curtis'
http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/11/29/smudging-colonizers-lens-artists-challenge-old-imagery-regarding-curtis-158055
Kid's Refusing to be Stereotyped
http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/gallery/photo/these-10-kids-wont-be-stereotyped-edward-s-curtis-photos-158053
Thursday, April 3, 2014
Native American Super Hero
The
first images of the new DC Comics teenage superhero inspired by Mighty
Girl Cree education activist Shannen Koostachin were unveiled this week.
The character named Equinox, a 16-year-old girl from the largely Cree
community of Moose Factory, Ontario, will appear in a five-issue story
arc in the forthcoming Justice League Canada series later this month.
To read about Shannen's inspiration for the character athttp://bit.ly/17tYHR1 or more about the new superhero athttp://bit.ly/1hhVdTH or
To read more about Shannen and her school advocacy efforts, visit http://huff.to/w4yOr8 or learn more about Shannen’s Dream
at http://bit.ly/1dSGPCb
For Mighty Girl stories starring Native American and Aboriginal girls and women, visit our blog post athttp://www.amightygirl.com/
For more empowering depictions of strong and courageous female superheroes like Wonder Woman, Batgirl, Supergirl, Buffy, Black Widow, and others in toys, costumes, t-shirts, and books, visit our "Superhero Collection" athttp://www.amightygirl.com/
For over 100 graphic novels starring girls and women for all ages, visit our special feature on the "Top Graphic Novels Starring Mighty Girls" athttp://www.amightygirl.com/
And, to inspire your children with more stories of both real-life and fictional girls who have made a difference in the world, visit our "Mighty Girls" section athttp://www.amightygirl.com/
Saturday, February 1, 2014
Proud To Be (not a Redskin)
This is THE BEST video on Native American identity, watch it:
No Honor
Here is some background history to racist logos:
Cleveland Indians are Hurting Their Bottom Line
http://qz.com/199397/the-cleveland-indians-controversial-mascot-is-hurting-their-bottom-line/
"Redskins": A Native's Guide To Debating An Inglorious Word
deadspin.com/redskins-a-natives-guide-to-debating-an-inglorious-1445909360
The
"Redskins" debate is similar to the "nigger" debate, yet unlike with
the "nigger" debate, outsiders feel perfectly comfortable telling Native
people how they should feel. I suppose that's the most
frustrating part of the debate—that we Native people, the folks who are
the only meaningful stakeholders in this debate—are not allowed to have a
voice in the matter. Correct that: We can have an opinion so long as it
is pro-Redskin. Otherwise, we're being "too sensitive."
Yet, there
is a crucial difference: It is black folks who debate the merits and
demerits of the word "nigger." White folks understand that, as a matter
of propriety, it would be the ultimate in tastelessness and disrespect
to take the lead in the discussion of the word "nigger." Yet, here are
outsiders—black, white, Asian, Latino—telling Native people how we
should feel about the word "redskins" and what we should be offended by.
If white people tried to pull the "we're going to tell you what words
you should be offended by" shit with the word "nigger," there would, as
NWA eloquently put it above, be serious problems. Apparently, though,
while it's racist and condescending to tell some people what should
offend them, it's somehow OK to do the same with Native people.
Native Americans of all
political stripes have been taking this issue on for decades before President
Barack Obama lent his support to changing the name in a recent Associated Press
interview. Conservative members of Congress, including House leadership team
member Tom Cole (R-Oklahoma), have pressed the NFL to get rid of the racist
name. Even tea party member and Cherokee Nation citizen Markwayne Mullin
(R-Oklahoma) has reportedly told his pals that he has experienced culture shock
in seeing the name and mascot plastered everywhere in Washington, D.C. since
being elected to Congress last fall.
“Native Americans throughout the country consider the term ‘redskin’ a racial,
derogatory slur akin to the ‘N-word' among African Americans or the ‘W-word'
among Latinos,” Cole and nine other lawmakers wrote in a letter earlier this
year to team owner Daniel Snyder. “Such offensive epithets would no doubt draw
widespread disapproval among the NFL's fan base. Yet the national coverage of
Washington's NFL football team profits from a term that is equally disparaging
to Native Americans.”
Mash-up! PETA Endorses NFL Washington Redskin Potatoes
http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/10/16/mash-peta-endorses-nfl-washington-redskin-potatoes-151778
The Redskins Issue: An Internal Discussion and Question
http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/10/16/redskins-issue-internal-discussion-and-question-please-repost-151784
So, the R-word is okay to say on the radio, but the N-word isn't… http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/10/19/breaking-news-dc-radio-stations-wont-run-anti-mascot-ad-151842
AIM Minneapolis Will Protest When Redskins Play Vikings
November 7
http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/10/16/aim-minneapolis-will-protest-when-redskins-play-vikings-november-7-151780
On October 14, two affiliated AIM
(American Indian Movement) groups, the AIM of Twin Cities and AIM Patrol of
Minneapolis, released a statement condemning the use of the name
"Redskins" by the Washington NFL team, and soon thereafter announced plans
for a public protest when the team comes to town for a matchup with the
Minnesota Vikings.
Mash-up! PETA Endorses NFL Washington Redskin Potatoes
The Washington Senators, the Washington
Renegades and even the Washington Hogs
are some of the
suggestions fans are offering to Dan Snyder to replace his beloved
Redskins.
The Redskins Issue: An Internal Discussion and Question
Think about it: why hasn’t there been
any polling, that originated from Natives, about if the Redskins mascot/name is
offensive to you? Native people are smart enough and capable to make our
own decisions without someone determining for us. NOBODY—whether they are
pro-Redskins or anti-Redskins—should be speaking for you and saying what is
offensive to you.
So, the R-word is okay to say on the radio, but the N-word isn't… http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/10/19/breaking-news-dc-radio-stations-wont-run-anti-mascot-ad-151842
“It is unfortunate and un-American that
the station permits the team to slander Native Americans on the public airwaves
with the use of the r-word, but doesn't permit Native Americans to use the same
airwaves to object to the use of a racial slur,” Oneida Indian Nation
Representative Ray Halbritter said in a news release. “We will not be
silent mascots. This issue is not going away, as evidenced by the growing
and diverse support this effort gains by the day."
Native Americans Give Other Groups A Taste Of CasualSports Team Racism
How the Redskins Debate Goes Over in Indian Country
Native Americans Give Other Groups A Taste Of CasualSports Team Racism
How the Redskins Debate Goes Over in Indian Country
“I don’t really worry about
it,” said Elaine YellowHorse, a college student and EMT on the reservation,
told me. “There are just so many other things that I need to worry about before
that.” But YellowHorse gives the lie to
the idea that 58% of the survey respondents actively condone the name. While
she said she wouldn’t bother to change it, YellowHorse also told me that she
found “Redskins” offensive and was upset by the idea that there were non-Native
fans running around in headdresses in the nation’s capital. It’s a difficult
sentiment to understand — to find something offensive but not worth worrying
about — but when the whole world around you is tinged with racism, you have a
high bar for what you deem worthy of worrying about.
June, 2014 Trademark Rescinded!
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/06/washington-football-team-108213.html#ixzz35lS6Db7X
The heinous origins and history of the D.C. team’s name should tell you why the overwhelming majority of Native American peoples support litigation against the Washington franchise – and why our fight is far from over. Last week, in a historic decision, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board canceled the Washington team’s trademarks, pending appeals. The TTAB held that the six trademark licenses issued to Pro Football, Inc. between 1967 and 1990 were “disparaging” to a “substantial composite” of Native American people. That was the second time the TTAB – the expert judges on trademark law – ruled against the team’s name; the first was in 1999 in Harjo et al v. Pro Football, Inc.
June, 2014 Trademark Rescinded!
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/06/washington-football-team-108213.html#ixzz35lS6Db7X
The heinous origins and history of the D.C. team’s name should tell you why the overwhelming majority of Native American peoples support litigation against the Washington franchise – and why our fight is far from over. Last week, in a historic decision, the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board canceled the Washington team’s trademarks, pending appeals. The TTAB held that the six trademark licenses issued to Pro Football, Inc. between 1967 and 1990 were “disparaging” to a “substantial composite” of Native American people. That was the second time the TTAB – the expert judges on trademark law – ruled against the team’s name; the first was in 1999 in Harjo et al v. Pro Football, Inc.
A Listing of Who Has Spoken Out About the Redskins
Namehttp://nativeappropriations.com/2014/06/who-has-spoken-out-against-the-redskns.html
Racial Slurs Are Not an Honor
http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/06/19/redskins-lawyer-claims-there-no-momentum-name-change-155396
A Document that shows how "redskins" represent scalps and dead Native People http://www.esquire.com/blogs/news/redskin-name-update?src=soc_fcbks
The excerpt is from The Daily Republican newspaper in Winona, Minnesota from Sept. 24, 1863.
Cheerleaders do their own blunder
http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/06/25/pocahottie-pride-redskins-cheerleaders-arent-getting-memo-either-155480
If You Want To Understand Why Mascots Like ‘Redskins’ Are A Problem, Listen To This 15-Year-Old Native American
thinkprogress.org/sports/2014/07/23/3463085/15-year-old-native-american-explains-why-names-like-redskins-are-offensive/
Missing the Point: The Real Impact of Mascots and Team Names...
http://www.americanprogress.org/events/2014/07/14/93821/missing-the-point-the-real-impact-of-native-mascots-and-team-names-on-american-indian-and-alaska-native-youth/
CLICK LINK FOR VIDEO (1 hours 30 minutes streamed live)The debate over the Washington football team’s racist name and mascot has reached a fevered pitch in recent months. But too much of the debate has missed the point. It is not just about a name, a logo, a business, or a matter of intent. Racist and derogatory team names have a real and harmful impact on American Indian and Alaska Native, or AI/AN, people every day, particularly young people. The Center for American Progress will release a new report examining the research about the harmful impact of these representations on the self-esteem of AI/AN youth, how they create a hostile learning environments in K-12 and postsecondary schools, and the decades-long movement to retire them. It will also propose new recommendations to local, state, and federal education agencies to transform learning environments that are hostile and unwelcoming to AI/AN students and their families into ones that are supportive.
Native American “Black
Face” Equivalent
We are supposed to be having a particularly earnest
conversation with each other (and ourselves) this autumn about
whether the continuing use of the nickname "Redskins" for
Washington's professional football team perpetuates stereotypes against Native
Americans. Of course it does. If you want to better understand why,
if you want to better appreciate the enormity of the problem, if
you want a sense of the challenge American Indians face as they seek to fight
back against these hoary symbols, watch this clip from Saturday's
"College Gameday" on ESPN.
This unseemly episode is the result of
two traditions. The first has to do with Florida State University, which
has taken the nickname "Seminoles" from the Native American tribe
with a long and unfortunate history in
Florida. The university's tradition, since 1978 anyway, is
to have a man, dressed up like a tribal "chief" named Osceola (né William
Powell), ride out atop a horse named "Renegade" onto Doak Campbell
Stadium in Tallahassee before home games and throw a flaming spear into the ground
at midfield while the crowd goes wild. Here
is the list of "Osceolas" (and "Renegades") over the years.
The second tradition has to do with ESPN and this particular
show. Each week, Lee Corso, a nationally known college football
commentator, dons the garb of the team he is picking to win the feature game of
the weekend. Sometimes, Corso wears a
mascot head. Sometimes he dresses up. The college kids eat it up.
It's great fun and great for the show's ratings. On Saturday, Corso, an alum of
FSU, happened to pick his alma mater to beat Clemson (which FSU did,
by a lot), which is why he was dressed up like Osceola. (Update: I don't mean
to suggest this is the first time he has done this. Here
is how he did it last year).
Redskins vs. Bears
Today: What's in a Name?
African-American men, women, and children struggled in the
mid-century fight for civil rights here in the United States. It was a long and
brutal fight fought with sticks, stones, laws, words, and names like the N-word
and all the brutality it still conjures today. Some died so that future
generations, this generation included, could be equal and respected. The
Two-Spirit community struggled for rights of recognition and is inching away
from hateful names and acts, and towards equality and the freedoms found
therein. A brighter dawn breaks for them. The political world is crashing in on
itself and people are seeing dysfunction. Wanting to be heard, they are raising
their voices and calling for change.
Yet for Native people, the harsh reality of deep-seated
racism continues to smack us in the face. Dan Snyder and the onerous name of
his football team are under scrutiny. The public is questioning whether the
term “redskin” is racist or not. The Native community is reminded that we are
still at war, a perpetual fight to establish ourselves in this society as
people deserving of respect and dignity afforded everyone else.
Every time a racist mascot (usually a white guy in red face
dressed in an Indian “costume”) rears its ugly head, Natives are reminded that
we are not equal; we are not respected. We will be told if something should
offend us. It is arrogance in its purist form for a non-Native to tell a Native
whether an image of a dancing, whooping, cartoony Indian is offensive or not.
It is arrogance for a non-Native to tell a Native the word “redskin” is a great
honor from the Great White Father and we should all be so pleased with their
generous mercy and wisdom.
Obama Supports Redskin Name Change
http://www.wtsp.com/story/news/politics/2015/11/06/obama-again-urges-redskins-name-change/75281872/
Adidas Offers to Eliminate Mascots at High Schools and ReBrand
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/11/05/adidas-offers-help-eliminate-native-american-mascots/LLd7EhkayYGZ5mfvJ0meoO/story.html?event=event25
Obama Supports Redskin Name Change
http://www.wtsp.com/story/news/politics/2015/11/06/obama-again-urges-redskins-name-change/75281872/
Adidas Offers to Eliminate Mascots at High Schools and ReBrand
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/11/05/adidas-offers-help-eliminate-native-american-mascots/LLd7EhkayYGZ5mfvJ0meoO/story.html?event=event25
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
4th Largest Tribe in US? Mexicans Who Call Themselves American Indian
A January 2012 report from the U.S. Census Bureau—“The American Indian and Alaska Native Population: 2010”—says
that 175,494 Mexicans (Mexican, Mexican-American, Chicano)
self-identified as American Indian, making them the fourth largest
tribal group in the country, says Think Mexican.
The group also pointed out on its tumblr page that the 2010 United States Census form was “deliberately disorienting” and that some Census workers were encouraging Mexicans to identify as white.
They refer specifically to question No. 9 on the form, which asks to which race residents of a home belong. The choices included: White, Black, American Indian, Alaska Native, various Asian descents, Hawaiian, Pacific Islanders, and “some other race.”
“It was confusing. I came to that question, and I just stopped. I didn’t know what to put,” Jessica Valenzuela, a schoolteacher from Avondale, told The Arizona Republic in 2010. “Obviously, I’m not White. I would consider myself Hispanic or Mexican-American, but definitely not White. The form doesn’t really leave you with another option, though.”
Think Mexican says that while 175,494 out of 31 million Mexicans in 2010 may not seem like that much, but despite of the confusing form and centuries of Catholic indoctrination, it’s a “powerful statement.”
“It says that indigenous identity amongst many Mexicans is strong, and although this group is numerically relatively small, it represents a much larger group with a similar heritage,” the group says.
They also say Mexicans making up the fourth largest tribal group directly challenges Manifest Destiny by saying: “This land is still Native.”
Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/08/05/fourth-largest-tribe-united-states-mexicans-150740
The group also pointed out on its tumblr page that the 2010 United States Census form was “deliberately disorienting” and that some Census workers were encouraging Mexicans to identify as white.
They refer specifically to question No. 9 on the form, which asks to which race residents of a home belong. The choices included: White, Black, American Indian, Alaska Native, various Asian descents, Hawaiian, Pacific Islanders, and “some other race.”
“It was confusing. I came to that question, and I just stopped. I didn’t know what to put,” Jessica Valenzuela, a schoolteacher from Avondale, told The Arizona Republic in 2010. “Obviously, I’m not White. I would consider myself Hispanic or Mexican-American, but definitely not White. The form doesn’t really leave you with another option, though.”
Think Mexican says that while 175,494 out of 31 million Mexicans in 2010 may not seem like that much, but despite of the confusing form and centuries of Catholic indoctrination, it’s a “powerful statement.”
“It says that indigenous identity amongst many Mexicans is strong, and although this group is numerically relatively small, it represents a much larger group with a similar heritage,” the group says.
They also say Mexicans making up the fourth largest tribal group directly challenges Manifest Destiny by saying: “This land is still Native.”
Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/08/05/fourth-largest-tribe-united-states-mexicans-150740
Thursday, August 1, 2013
Status Indians Could be Extinct
Status Indians Could be Extinct
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/status-indians-could-be-extinct-132123088.html
When thousands of children and grandchildren of women who lost their Indian status were recently entitled to restore their Indian status for up to two generations, the downside was never mentioned, the professor said.
"You went from a situation that was gender discriminatory you were supposed to fix to a situation now where it will guarantee the extinction of status Indians," Palmater said.
"There are some First Nations that in less than 75 years will be legally extinct. The people will still be living. They will still be there but that means there will be no legal land owners... and the land goes back to the Crown.
"So your land's gone. You're no longer a community. You can't exercise your aboriginal rights. Then what about the treaties? If there are no treaty beneficiaries, I guess you don't have to worry about treaty rights, either."
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/status-indians-could-be-extinct-132123088.html
When thousands of children and grandchildren of women who lost their Indian status were recently entitled to restore their Indian status for up to two generations, the downside was never mentioned, the professor said.
"You went from a situation that was gender discriminatory you were supposed to fix to a situation now where it will guarantee the extinction of status Indians," Palmater said.
"There are some First Nations that in less than 75 years will be legally extinct. The people will still be living. They will still be there but that means there will be no legal land owners... and the land goes back to the Crown.
"So your land's gone. You're no longer a community. You can't exercise your aboriginal rights. Then what about the treaties? If there are no treaty beneficiaries, I guess you don't have to worry about treaty rights, either."
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
NAs in the News
Obama Establishes White House Council on Native American Affairs
“This order establishes a national policy to ensure that the Federal Government engages in a true and lasting government-to-government relationship with federally recognized tribes in a more coordinated and effective manner, including by better carrying out its trust responsibilities,” Obama said in the Order.
Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/06/26/obama-establishes-white-house-council-native-american-affairs-150136 White people, here’s your one-time Canada Day special: Native people apologize back!
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/commentary/white-people-heres-your-one-time-canada-day-special-native-people-apologize-back/article4382016/
So in the spirit of cooperation, I would like to offer up these apologies to the people of Canada on behalf of the NAFNIP (native/aboriginal/first nations/indigenous people):
We hereby apologize for being so inconsiderate as to occupy land that, one day, your people would want. Even though we did not have a postal system or an Internet, this was an inexcusable oversight. We hope you are enjoying it.
We apologize for having so many politically correct and incorrect names for you to call us – everything from native to aboriginal to first nations to wagon burner to status-card number 48759375876-1.
In retrospect, to make things easier for you, we should have stayed in India, where we were originally thought to have come from. Unfortunately today it is really hard to get decent palak paneer on the reserve.
We hereby apologize for not understanding the subtle connections between God, children and sexual abuse. Some are still struggling with appreciating this association.
They are forgetting that, early in the Bible, it says, “Let there be white. And it was good.”
We apologize for wanting rights to minerals and other natural resources that exist beneath our feet. When you negotiated for our land, you meant to the Earth’s core.
We did not fully comprehend that when we were put on reserves where our rights to the land only went two or three feet below the surface.
Anything that falls down a sewer grate basically belongs to the Federal Government.
We apologize for being so concerned about the disappearances of so many native women.
We did not realize that the professional attitude of most law-enforcement agencies towards this issue was basically “out of sight, out of mind.” From now on, we’ll report any native women that go missing as white women with dark tans. That should speed up response time.
No need to thank us.
We hereby apologize for straining the Canadian health system due to our propensity towards diseases like diabetes. I know it has been said we put the word “die” in diabetes, but being introduced to all that Kraft Dinner and potato chips was definitely worth giving up the steady diet of salmon and deer.
I am sure the vegetarians are happy.
We apologize for launching so many land claims against the federal and provincial governments. One of our most ancient teachings tells us it is our sacred responsibility to make sure as many lawyers as possible are fed and looked after.
Where would they be without us?
We hereby apologize for wanting autonomy from the Federal bureaucracy of the DIA (Department of Indian Affairs). … Wait a minute, make that DIAND (Department of Indian and Northern Development). … Sorry, but I think it’s now called INAC (Indian and Northern Affairs Canada). … No, I have just been informed the Ministry’s official name is now AANDC – short for Aboriginal Affairs Northern Development Canada. ... Now I forget what my original point was.
And though it had nothing to do with us, we are sorry for obvious reasons for the unique acronym of a once-testy office known as the Government of Ontario Native Affairs Directorate.
Finally, and perhaps most of all, we apologize for helping Canada/Great Britain win the War of 1812 against the Americans. There are many in the native community who feel Barack Obama would be a far more interesting leader than Mr. Harper.
“This order establishes a national policy to ensure that the Federal Government engages in a true and lasting government-to-government relationship with federally recognized tribes in a more coordinated and effective manner, including by better carrying out its trust responsibilities,” Obama said in the Order.
Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2013/06/26/obama-establishes-white-house-council-native-american-affairs-150136 White people, here’s your one-time Canada Day special: Native people apologize back!
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/commentary/white-people-heres-your-one-time-canada-day-special-native-people-apologize-back/article4382016/
So in the spirit of cooperation, I would like to offer up these apologies to the people of Canada on behalf of the NAFNIP (native/aboriginal/first nations/indigenous people):
We hereby apologize for being so inconsiderate as to occupy land that, one day, your people would want. Even though we did not have a postal system or an Internet, this was an inexcusable oversight. We hope you are enjoying it.
We apologize for having so many politically correct and incorrect names for you to call us – everything from native to aboriginal to first nations to wagon burner to status-card number 48759375876-1.
In retrospect, to make things easier for you, we should have stayed in India, where we were originally thought to have come from. Unfortunately today it is really hard to get decent palak paneer on the reserve.
We hereby apologize for not understanding the subtle connections between God, children and sexual abuse. Some are still struggling with appreciating this association.
They are forgetting that, early in the Bible, it says, “Let there be white. And it was good.”
We apologize for wanting rights to minerals and other natural resources that exist beneath our feet. When you negotiated for our land, you meant to the Earth’s core.
We did not fully comprehend that when we were put on reserves where our rights to the land only went two or three feet below the surface.
Anything that falls down a sewer grate basically belongs to the Federal Government.
We apologize for being so concerned about the disappearances of so many native women.
We did not realize that the professional attitude of most law-enforcement agencies towards this issue was basically “out of sight, out of mind.” From now on, we’ll report any native women that go missing as white women with dark tans. That should speed up response time.
No need to thank us.
We hereby apologize for straining the Canadian health system due to our propensity towards diseases like diabetes. I know it has been said we put the word “die” in diabetes, but being introduced to all that Kraft Dinner and potato chips was definitely worth giving up the steady diet of salmon and deer.
I am sure the vegetarians are happy.
We apologize for launching so many land claims against the federal and provincial governments. One of our most ancient teachings tells us it is our sacred responsibility to make sure as many lawyers as possible are fed and looked after.
Where would they be without us?
We hereby apologize for wanting autonomy from the Federal bureaucracy of the DIA (Department of Indian Affairs). … Wait a minute, make that DIAND (Department of Indian and Northern Development). … Sorry, but I think it’s now called INAC (Indian and Northern Affairs Canada). … No, I have just been informed the Ministry’s official name is now AANDC – short for Aboriginal Affairs Northern Development Canada. ... Now I forget what my original point was.
And though it had nothing to do with us, we are sorry for obvious reasons for the unique acronym of a once-testy office known as the Government of Ontario Native Affairs Directorate.
Finally, and perhaps most of all, we apologize for helping Canada/Great Britain win the War of 1812 against the Americans. There are many in the native community who feel Barack Obama would be a far more interesting leader than Mr. Harper.
Friday, June 7, 2013
Native American Student Denied High School Diploma For Wearing Tribal Feather
Native American Student Denied High School Diploma For Wearing Tribal Feather http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/06/03/native-american-student-denied-high-school-diploma-for-wearing-tribal-feather/
A high school graduate in Alabama is being denied her diploma after being fined $1,000 for wearing a feather reflecting her Native American heritage.
The school sent a contract for graduating seniors to sign before the May 23 event, but Ramer told the station she never signed it. Escambia is now withholding her diploma until she pays the fine.
“About two months ago, me and the other Indian seniors from the graduating class asked our headmaster if we could wear the feathers on our caps,” Ramer told Indian Country Today Media Network. “She told us ‘no’ and that if we did, she would pull us off the field.”
However, Ramer attended and walked in the ceremony without incident. Indian Country Today reported that the headmaster who denied Ramer’s request, Betty Warren, has been replaced by David Walker, who coaches Escambia’s girl’s basketball team.
A high school graduate in Alabama is being denied her diploma after being fined $1,000 for wearing a feather reflecting her Native American heritage.
The school sent a contract for graduating seniors to sign before the May 23 event, but Ramer told the station she never signed it. Escambia is now withholding her diploma until she pays the fine.
“About two months ago, me and the other Indian seniors from the graduating class asked our headmaster if we could wear the feathers on our caps,” Ramer told Indian Country Today Media Network. “She told us ‘no’ and that if we did, she would pull us off the field.”
However, Ramer attended and walked in the ceremony without incident. Indian Country Today reported that the headmaster who denied Ramer’s request, Betty Warren, has been replaced by David Walker, who coaches Escambia’s girl’s basketball team.
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
2011-2014 Issues Gracing the Media
"I’ve always felt that it is impossible to engage properly with a place or a person without engaging with all of the stories of that place and that person. The consequence of the single story is this: It robs people of dignity. It makes our recognition of our equal humanity difficult. It emphasizes how we are different rather than how we are similar.”
CULTURAL APPROPRIATION or CULTURAL MISAPPROPRIATION (What IS it? http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/02/19/if-only-columbus-day-cancelled-9-other-long-overdue-headlines-153634?page=0%2C1
Native Appropriations is a forum for discussing representations of Native peoples, including stereotypes, cultural appropriation, news, activism, and more.
Victoria’s Secret's Karlie Kloss’s overtly insensitive sexy Indian chief ensemble.
Wearing a Native American headdress, when you are not a Native American and/or have not earned it, is, at best, culturally insensitive, and, at worst, racist. However, this is what the uneducated, insensitive think is okay because "nobody ever cared before." I challenge you to think who that "nobody" is and what accurate Native American images you can see to counteract this inappropriate stuff. Here's another article with the insensitive perspective. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/thom-nickels/mummers-skit-native-american-philadelphia_b_2442941.html
Drink like an Indian and 28 Other Tasteless Thanksgiving Day Promotion.
Hooters advertising campaign. And online COMMENTS http://www.reddit.com/r/femalefashionadvice/comments/1vuaz5/native_fashion_101_not_doing_it_wrong_at_least/
“It is America and you can wear whatever you want,” says Sarah Deer, Muscogee Creek of Oklahoma, assistant professor at William Mitchell College of Law in St. Paul. “But this advertising campaign presents a problematic image. Hooters, which presents a sexualized image of women anyway, has perpetuated what I would call the fetishization of American Indian women, who are typically seen as really sexy. This is the only ethnic group in the country where women are generally seen as ‘hot.’ The truth is Native women are the poorest and most victimized population in the U.S.”
Long-time activist Gray Wolf, Yoeme Tribe, has called for a boycott of Hooters. “This is the sexualization of Native women at a time when one in three Native women is being raped and most of the rapes and other sexual abuse they suffer is committed by non-Native men. Hooters is expressing the conquest mentality that leads to that kind of victimization.” Furthermore, said Gray Wolf, “No Native woman would dress like that. It’s like dressing up in blackface and having an African-American Day.”
AIM Director for Southern California Corine Fairbanks, Oglala Lakota, says such forms of marketing are not only cultural appropriation, but cultural prostitution. “Corporations put out these images of Native peoples and get away with it because most people do not know about our issues and the corporations do not have a sense of moral responsibility. They wouldn’t do this with other ethnic groups. It’s socially irresponsible.” Fairbanks says an appropriate response would be for Hooters to make a formal apology and donate the proceeds from this promotion to help Native communities or to support domestic violence programs.
Jeff Gaer, assistant manager at Hooters of Greenwood just outside Indianapolis, said he received no negative feedback while the promotion was on yesterday, but he had received 50 or 60 phone calls by mid-afternoon today.
Gray Wolf says, “As we told Victoria’s Secret, Native headdresses are not a fashion statement.” He notes that AIM has been successful in making that point to corporate America. Gap pulled its “Manifest Destiny” t-shirt from shelves and issued what could be mistaken for an apology. Victoria’s Secret retracted a photo of supermodel and Victoria’s Secret Angel Karlie Kloss wearing a headdress and not much else and issued an apology, saying the outfit would be removed from its December 4 fashion show broadcast.
Read more:http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2012/11/16/hooters-launches-culturally-offensive-marketing-campaign-146095 http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2012/11/16/hooters-launches-culturally-offensive-marketing-campaign-146095#ixzz2ChqSkfMy
~Chimamanda Adichie,
“The Danger of a Single Story” (TED Talk)
CULTURAL APPROPRIATION or CULTURAL MISAPPROPRIATION (What IS it? http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/02/19/if-only-columbus-day-cancelled-9-other-long-overdue-headlines-153634?page=0%2C1
2011
This is a great blog with a focus on appropriation.
http://nativeappropriations.com/2011/09/oh-miss-canada.html
Native Appropriations is a forum for discussing representations of Native peoples, including stereotypes, cultural appropriation, news, activism, and more.
2012
No Doubt’s Controversial Video with Native American imagery.Victoria’s Secret's Karlie Kloss’s overtly insensitive sexy Indian chief ensemble.
Drink like an Indian and 28 Other Tasteless Thanksgiving Day Promotion.
Hooters advertising campaign. And online COMMENTS http://www.reddit.com/r/femalefashionadvice/comments/1vuaz5/native_fashion_101_not_doing_it_wrong_at_least/
Long-time activist Gray Wolf, Yoeme Tribe, has called for a boycott of Hooters. “This is the sexualization of Native women at a time when one in three Native women is being raped and most of the rapes and other sexual abuse they suffer is committed by non-Native men. Hooters is expressing the conquest mentality that leads to that kind of victimization.” Furthermore, said Gray Wolf, “No Native woman would dress like that. It’s like dressing up in blackface and having an African-American Day.”
AIM Director for Southern California Corine Fairbanks, Oglala Lakota, says such forms of marketing are not only cultural appropriation, but cultural prostitution. “Corporations put out these images of Native peoples and get away with it because most people do not know about our issues and the corporations do not have a sense of moral responsibility. They wouldn’t do this with other ethnic groups. It’s socially irresponsible.” Fairbanks says an appropriate response would be for Hooters to make a formal apology and donate the proceeds from this promotion to help Native communities or to support domestic violence programs.
Jeff Gaer, assistant manager at Hooters of Greenwood just outside Indianapolis, said he received no negative feedback while the promotion was on yesterday, but he had received 50 or 60 phone calls by mid-afternoon today.
Gray Wolf says, “As we told Victoria’s Secret, Native headdresses are not a fashion statement.” He notes that AIM has been successful in making that point to corporate America. Gap pulled its “Manifest Destiny” t-shirt from shelves and issued what could be mistaken for an apology. Victoria’s Secret retracted a photo of supermodel and Victoria’s Secret Angel Karlie Kloss wearing a headdress and not much else and issued an apology, saying the outfit would be removed from its December 4 fashion show broadcast.
Read more:http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2012/11/16/hooters-launches-culturally-offensive-marketing-campaign-146095 http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2012/11/16/hooters-launches-culturally-offensive-marketing-campaign-146095#ixzz2ChqSkfMy
2014
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: Culture as Commodity
http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/04/24/good-bad-and-ugly-culture-commodity
What’s the big deal? Native American imagery in pop culture
m.bigskypress.com/missoula/whats-the-big-deal/Content?oid=1986718&showFullText=true
UNCC Apologizes for Sigma Kappa Redface Act, but Sorority Remains Mum
Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/04/25/uncc-apologizes-sigma-kappa-redface-act-sorority-remains-mum-154600
On Friday April 11th, members of the Sigma Kappa Sorority at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte performed a “Disney Dancing with the Princesses,” for an event called "Air Band Dance," part of the campus' Greek Week activities. The presentation included a Pocahontas dance in which sorority members wore in Indian costumes and were painted with "tribal" markings.
Photographs of the event hit social media and drew criticism from the school’s Native students as well as at a National level. In response to the event, Arthur Jackson, the Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs issued a statement via the UNCC Public Relations website that read, in part:
Regrettably, as part of the Pocahontas dance, the dancers wore Native clothing and displayed tribal-like markings on their faces and arms. The symbolic representations proved offensive to Native Americans in North Carolina and nationally, some of whom have contacted the University or the Sigma Kappa sorority.
We apologize. Although we have every reason to believe that the sorority intended no offense, we consider this a teachable moment for them and for our entire campus community to deepen our sensitivity on issues of race and culture, and to ensure that we maintain a welcoming campus environment for all people.
http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/04/24/good-bad-and-ugly-culture-commodity
What’s the big deal? Native American imagery in pop culture
m.bigskypress.com/missoula/whats-the-big-deal/Content?oid=1986718&showFullText=true
UNCC Apologizes for Sigma Kappa Redface Act, but Sorority Remains Mum
Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/04/25/uncc-apologizes-sigma-kappa-redface-act-sorority-remains-mum-154600
On Friday April 11th, members of the Sigma Kappa Sorority at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte performed a “Disney Dancing with the Princesses,” for an event called "Air Band Dance," part of the campus' Greek Week activities. The presentation included a Pocahontas dance in which sorority members wore in Indian costumes and were painted with "tribal" markings.
Photographs of the event hit social media and drew criticism from the school’s Native students as well as at a National level. In response to the event, Arthur Jackson, the Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs issued a statement via the UNCC Public Relations website that read, in part:
Regrettably, as part of the Pocahontas dance, the dancers wore Native clothing and displayed tribal-like markings on their faces and arms. The symbolic representations proved offensive to Native Americans in North Carolina and nationally, some of whom have contacted the University or the Sigma Kappa sorority.
We apologize. Although we have every reason to believe that the sorority intended no offense, we consider this a teachable moment for them and for our entire campus community to deepen our sensitivity on issues of race and culture, and to ensure that we maintain a welcoming campus environment for all people.
For entire article, read: gawker.com/how-the-flaming-lips-lost-a-drummer-over-native-america-1570423161
On March 6,
Christina Fallin—Mary's daughter and the lead singer of the band Pink
Pony—proudly posted a photo to Instagram that showed her wearing a
headdress, seemingly unaware that it might anger scores of people in her
mother's state, which is still 9 percent American Indian. In response to social media blowback against that picture,
Fallin, who is 27, released a statement along with her band, asking
Oklahoma's native community to "forgive us if we innocently adorn
ourselves in your beautiful things."
If you've been to a music festival in the last few years, you've probably noticed young, white people parading around in traditional Native American headdresses.
It is a gross bit of cultural appropriation. Because the drummer for
the Flaming Lips thought so, he was kicked out of the band after 12
years, in a controversy that involves the daughter of Oklahoma governor
Mary Fallin.
Rather than
shaming Fallin, the protests apparently egged her on. According to
witnesses, Fallin, who was wearing a shawl with the word "SHEEP"
stitched on the back, "performed a fake war dance while her boyfriend
Steven Battles ridiculed the protestors and flipped them off from the
stage."
On April
26, Pink Pony performed at the Norman Music Festival in Oklahoma. The
crowd included not just festival attendees and those curious to see a
band led by the governor's daughter, but also members of the activist
group Eradicating Offensive Native Mascotry, who had organized a protest
of the set because of Fallin's recent history. At the festival, protestors held signs that said "NOT A FASHION ACCESSORY" and "CULTURE IS NOT COSTUME."
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