Celebrating Native American Heritage Month: Dos and Donts | Teen Vogue
Celebrating Native American Heritage Month: Dos and Donts | Teen Vogue
Celebrating Native American Heritage Month: Dos and Don'ts
In this op-ed, Ruth Hopkins, a Dakota/Lakota Sioux writer, biologist, attorney, and former tribal judge, offers advice on avoiding offensive stereotypes and being a better ally to Native nations.
BY RUTH HOPKINS
NOVEMBER 12, 2019
Dancers from Anahuacalmecac International University Preparatory of North America school prepare to dance on Hollywood...
GETTY IMAGES
November is Native American Heritage Month. While I applaud the intention of the celebration, widespread ignorance on all things Native means that November is often replete with shocking instances of anti-Native prejudice, cultural appropriation, and the enforcing of hostile, negative, racist, misogynistic stereotypes about Native people. So I decided to share a handy little guide of dos and don'ts to help everyone celebrate the true spirit of what Native American Heritage Month should embody.
Don't make schoolchildren wear redface and reenact a mythic retelling of the first Thanksgiving.
Have you ever seen the ’90s classic Addams Family Values? Remember the part where Wednesday was forced to wear a Pocahontas costume and participate in a wildly inaccurate Thanksgiving play meant to glorify colonization? Unfortunately, this is not just the stuff of fiction. Thanksgiving reenactments based on a whitewashed version of early U.S. history are as American as apple pie. You’ve likely been subjected to one (or more) personally. The truth isn’t so pretty and is much more reflective of this country’s roots. The Pilgrims did likely partake in a harvest feast with the Indigenous Wampanoag people, who saved them from starvation by teaching them how to live off the land, but harvest feasts were a long-standing Native tradition, and the disease-ridden European immigrants who arrived on this country’s eastern shores warred with the Wampanoag and other local tribes. An official “day of Thanksgiving kept in all the churches for our victories against the Pequots” was said to have been proclaimed by Massachusetts Bay governor William Bradford in 1637, celebrating the slaughter of up to 700 Pequot men, women, and children.
Don’t desecrate sacred Native objects by buying and selling stolen Native artifacts and spiritual items like the canupa (pipe), or by wearing a warbonnet, as Pamela Anderson just did for Halloween.
Practicing Native spirituality was illegal in this country until the passage of the American Indian Religious Freedom Act in 1978. Before then, Native people were beaten, jailed, and even killed for following their ancestral beliefs. What remains of our tribal cultures, customs, and ceremonies has been paid for in blood.
Among my people, the Oceti Sakowin (Great Sioux Nation), the warbonnet was only given to those who earned each and every eagle feather through bravery, self-sacrifice, and great deeds of valor. It is more akin to a war medal than a costume. Disrespecting the warbonnet is a grievous wrong and dishonors the likes of all who earned them with pride, like Sitting Bull and Rain-in-the-Face.
Don’t promote the dehumanizing fetishization of Native women.Reducing Native women to a fetish is an oppressive, objectifying practice grounded in misogyny, exploitation, and the promotion of false, negative stereotypes. Fetishization subjugates Native women while denying their sexual agency and contributes to violence committed against them by men raised in a society that has conditioned them to devalue our dignity and worth. Native women face higher rates of violence than the general population. A report last year by the National Congress of American Indians Policy Research Center found that more than half of Native women have experienced sexual violence in their lifetime and 96% of those who commit sexual violence against Native women are non-Native.
Don’t support race-based mascots.
Sports teams like the Washington R*dskins (which is a literal racial slur) mock Native identity by reinforcing damaging caricatures. This perpetuates hate speech and violent anti-Native imagery and relegates Natives to a bygone era.
Don’t exclude or shout over Native voices, especially on Native topics.
Trust that Native people have expertise in being Native because of their daily lived experience and that they know more about Native heritage than non-Natives do. Silencing Native voices amounts to erasure and cultural genocide.
In addition, don’t assail Natives on social media by sending them the worst instances of cultural appropriation and racial violence that you happen upon while scrolling. Natives who are visible in online spaces see this often. Even if you mean well, for Native people, constant exposure to this sort of toxic environment can be harmful to our mental health. Natives have families, jobs, and lives of their own to attend to and may not have extra time available to expend on educating people who may be determined to misunderstand them or who are just looking for free publicity.
Don't buy culturally appropriative products from major outlets and non-Native vendors.
Stores like Urban Outfitters have been accused of selling Native imitations and even named some products after Native nations without their permission (Urban Outfitters reached a settlement with the Navajo Nation in 2016 after it brought a lawsuit against the company). Many non-Native individuals and companies also sell culturally appropriative goods online.
Under the Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990, “it is illegal to offer or display for sale, or sell any art or craft product in a manner that falsely suggests it is Indian produced, an Indian product, or the product of a particular Indian or Indian tribe or Indian arts and crafts organization, resident within the United States.” Violators may face civil or criminal penalties of a fine up to $250,000 or five years behind bars. Before buying goods from a purported Native vendor, ask them if they are following this law, and what tribe they belong to. It is not offensive to ask a person who claims to be Native what tribe they hail from. Tribal identification is commonplace and accepted among Natives.
Don’t erase Native history by ignoring our status as the sovereign, initial titleholders of this continent.
The United States is comprised of land stolen from its original inhabitants. While many consider Woody Guthrie's folk anthem "This Land Is Your Land" a progressive protest song, I see it as an example of how the erasure of this country’s grisly past of Indigenous genocide and lawless treaty abrogation is continually bolstered by pop culture Americana and settler nostalgia.
Do teach real Native history to kids and incorporate works by Native scholars and authors into instruction.
Invite Native speakers to school events to talk with children about Native history, including harvest feasts. November is a great time to introduce students to Indigenous peoples. It’s also important that children see Natives as contemporary living people, because we are not extinct.
Do respect Native belief systems as you would your own religion and honor Native veterans.
If Native people and organizations ask you to stop engaging in behavior that they find insulting and offensive, listen.
Natives served in the U.S. military in at a higher per capita rate than any other ethnic group in the 20th century, and in the military actions following September 11, 2001, Native men and women veterans served at a higher rate than veterans of all other ethnic groups, according to the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian.
Support legislation and groups that assist veterans, like those that improve and expand medical services for them and combat homelessness.
Do demand that Congress vote on Savanna’s Act and the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).
Both pieces of legislation are presently stalled in the U.S. Senate. The latter has already been passed by the House of Representatives. These laws could stem the high rates of sexual violence that Native women face and provide desperately needed funding for Native communities to assist women and girls who are survivors of rape, sex trafficking, and domestic abuse. You can also help by spreading awareness about the epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women.
Do support the fight to change race-based mascots.
Last month, Minnesota lieutenant governor Peggy Flanagan, who is a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, protested the R*dskins name alongside other Native leaders before a game against the Minnesota Vikings. Be vocal in your opposition, like she is. There are still public schools and colleges using race-based mascots. If you’re attending one or there’s one in your area, push them to change it.
Do boost Native voices.
We’re out here! Check out Native media sites like Indian Country Today, National Native News, APTN News, Censored News and Indianz.com.
Follow Natives on social media. Here are just a few Native voices on Twitter that you should follow: @NativeApprops, @mariahgladstone, @YazzieSays, @travisxthompson, @lilnativeboy, @rebeccanagle, @apihtawikosisan, @Tileiya, @simonmoyasmith, @Terrilltf, @nick_w_estes, @agnauraqtweets, and me, @RuthH_Hopkins. You will find many others through these accounts.
Support Native organizations like NDN Collective, Indigenous Environmental Network, Honor the Earth, Four Directions Vote, and Illuminative.
And as an ally, feel free to correct folks you run across on social media who are committing vile acts of cultural appropriation and racial violence on your own, citing Native writers, scholars, and activists for substantiation.
Do buy authentic Native goods created and sold by Native artisans and businesses.
Beyond Buckskin sells authentic Native goods and provides a listing of other Native businesses that you can shop from.
Do learn about the history of the land you’re standing on and practice Indigenous land acknowledgment.
In 2019, it’s as simple as a Google search. Whether you realize it or not, the land you’re on was once tended to and protected by at least one Native American Indian tribe. Find out who they are and make informing others about it a regular occurrence.
We invite you to celebrate this country’s Native history with us. Here’s hoping we’ve averted some serious disasters and helped non-Natives become better allies to Native nations. Happy Native American Heritage Month.
Want more from Teen Vogue? Check this out: 10 Native Activism Organizations to Show Your Support This Thanksgiving
KEYWORDS
NATIVE AMERICANS
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
MISSING AND MURDERED INDIGENOUS WOMEN AND GIRLS
THANKSGIVING
RACISM
ALLYSHIP
Celebrating Native American Heritage Month: Dos and Don'ts
In this op-ed, Ruth Hopkins, a Dakota/Lakota Sioux writer, biologist, attorney, and former tribal judge, offers advice on avoiding offensive stereotypes and being a better ally to Native nations.
BY RUTH HOPKINS
NOVEMBER 12, 2019
Dancers from Anahuacalmecac International University Preparatory of North America school prepare to dance on Hollywood...
GETTY IMAGES
November is Native American Heritage Month. While I applaud the intention of the celebration, widespread ignorance on all things Native means that November is often replete with shocking instances of anti-Native prejudice, cultural appropriation, and the enforcing of hostile, negative, racist, misogynistic stereotypes about Native people. So I decided to share a handy little guide of dos and don'ts to help everyone celebrate the true spirit of what Native American Heritage Month should embody.
Don't make schoolchildren wear redface and reenact a mythic retelling of the first Thanksgiving.
Have you ever seen the ’90s classic Addams Family Values? Remember the part where Wednesday was forced to wear a Pocahontas costume and participate in a wildly inaccurate Thanksgiving play meant to glorify colonization? Unfortunately, this is not just the stuff of fiction. Thanksgiving reenactments based on a whitewashed version of early U.S. history are as American as apple pie. You’ve likely been subjected to one (or more) personally. The truth isn’t so pretty and is much more reflective of this country’s roots. The Pilgrims did likely partake in a harvest feast with the Indigenous Wampanoag people, who saved them from starvation by teaching them how to live off the land, but harvest feasts were a long-standing Native tradition, and the disease-ridden European immigrants who arrived on this country’s eastern shores warred with the Wampanoag and other local tribes. An official “day of Thanksgiving kept in all the churches for our victories against the Pequots” was said to have been proclaimed by Massachusetts Bay governor William Bradford in 1637, celebrating the slaughter of up to 700 Pequot men, women, and children.
Don’t desecrate sacred Native objects by buying and selling stolen Native artifacts and spiritual items like the canupa (pipe), or by wearing a warbonnet, as Pamela Anderson just did for Halloween.
Practicing Native spirituality was illegal in this country until the passage of the American Indian Religious Freedom Act in 1978. Before then, Native people were beaten, jailed, and even killed for following their ancestral beliefs. What remains of our tribal cultures, customs, and ceremonies has been paid for in blood.
Among my people, the Oceti Sakowin (Great Sioux Nation), the warbonnet was only given to those who earned each and every eagle feather through bravery, self-sacrifice, and great deeds of valor. It is more akin to a war medal than a costume. Disrespecting the warbonnet is a grievous wrong and dishonors the likes of all who earned them with pride, like Sitting Bull and Rain-in-the-Face.
Don’t promote the dehumanizing fetishization of Native women.Reducing Native women to a fetish is an oppressive, objectifying practice grounded in misogyny, exploitation, and the promotion of false, negative stereotypes. Fetishization subjugates Native women while denying their sexual agency and contributes to violence committed against them by men raised in a society that has conditioned them to devalue our dignity and worth. Native women face higher rates of violence than the general population. A report last year by the National Congress of American Indians Policy Research Center found that more than half of Native women have experienced sexual violence in their lifetime and 96% of those who commit sexual violence against Native women are non-Native.
Don’t support race-based mascots.
Sports teams like the Washington R*dskins (which is a literal racial slur) mock Native identity by reinforcing damaging caricatures. This perpetuates hate speech and violent anti-Native imagery and relegates Natives to a bygone era.
Don’t exclude or shout over Native voices, especially on Native topics.
Trust that Native people have expertise in being Native because of their daily lived experience and that they know more about Native heritage than non-Natives do. Silencing Native voices amounts to erasure and cultural genocide.
In addition, don’t assail Natives on social media by sending them the worst instances of cultural appropriation and racial violence that you happen upon while scrolling. Natives who are visible in online spaces see this often. Even if you mean well, for Native people, constant exposure to this sort of toxic environment can be harmful to our mental health. Natives have families, jobs, and lives of their own to attend to and may not have extra time available to expend on educating people who may be determined to misunderstand them or who are just looking for free publicity.
Don't buy culturally appropriative products from major outlets and non-Native vendors.
Stores like Urban Outfitters have been accused of selling Native imitations and even named some products after Native nations without their permission (Urban Outfitters reached a settlement with the Navajo Nation in 2016 after it brought a lawsuit against the company). Many non-Native individuals and companies also sell culturally appropriative goods online.
Under the Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990, “it is illegal to offer or display for sale, or sell any art or craft product in a manner that falsely suggests it is Indian produced, an Indian product, or the product of a particular Indian or Indian tribe or Indian arts and crafts organization, resident within the United States.” Violators may face civil or criminal penalties of a fine up to $250,000 or five years behind bars. Before buying goods from a purported Native vendor, ask them if they are following this law, and what tribe they belong to. It is not offensive to ask a person who claims to be Native what tribe they hail from. Tribal identification is commonplace and accepted among Natives.
Don’t erase Native history by ignoring our status as the sovereign, initial titleholders of this continent.
The United States is comprised of land stolen from its original inhabitants. While many consider Woody Guthrie's folk anthem "This Land Is Your Land" a progressive protest song, I see it as an example of how the erasure of this country’s grisly past of Indigenous genocide and lawless treaty abrogation is continually bolstered by pop culture Americana and settler nostalgia.
Do teach real Native history to kids and incorporate works by Native scholars and authors into instruction.
Invite Native speakers to school events to talk with children about Native history, including harvest feasts. November is a great time to introduce students to Indigenous peoples. It’s also important that children see Natives as contemporary living people, because we are not extinct.
Do respect Native belief systems as you would your own religion and honor Native veterans.
If Native people and organizations ask you to stop engaging in behavior that they find insulting and offensive, listen.
Natives served in the U.S. military in at a higher per capita rate than any other ethnic group in the 20th century, and in the military actions following September 11, 2001, Native men and women veterans served at a higher rate than veterans of all other ethnic groups, according to the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian.
Support legislation and groups that assist veterans, like those that improve and expand medical services for them and combat homelessness.
Do demand that Congress vote on Savanna’s Act and the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA).
Both pieces of legislation are presently stalled in the U.S. Senate. The latter has already been passed by the House of Representatives. These laws could stem the high rates of sexual violence that Native women face and provide desperately needed funding for Native communities to assist women and girls who are survivors of rape, sex trafficking, and domestic abuse. You can also help by spreading awareness about the epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women.
Do support the fight to change race-based mascots.
Last month, Minnesota lieutenant governor Peggy Flanagan, who is a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, protested the R*dskins name alongside other Native leaders before a game against the Minnesota Vikings. Be vocal in your opposition, like she is. There are still public schools and colleges using race-based mascots. If you’re attending one or there’s one in your area, push them to change it.
Do boost Native voices.
We’re out here! Check out Native media sites like Indian Country Today, National Native News, APTN News, Censored News and Indianz.com.
Follow Natives on social media. Here are just a few Native voices on Twitter that you should follow: @NativeApprops, @mariahgladstone, @YazzieSays, @travisxthompson, @lilnativeboy, @rebeccanagle, @apihtawikosisan, @Tileiya, @simonmoyasmith, @Terrilltf, @nick_w_estes, @agnauraqtweets, and me, @RuthH_Hopkins. You will find many others through these accounts.
Support Native organizations like NDN Collective, Indigenous Environmental Network, Honor the Earth, Four Directions Vote, and Illuminative.
And as an ally, feel free to correct folks you run across on social media who are committing vile acts of cultural appropriation and racial violence on your own, citing Native writers, scholars, and activists for substantiation.
Do buy authentic Native goods created and sold by Native artisans and businesses.
Beyond Buckskin sells authentic Native goods and provides a listing of other Native businesses that you can shop from.
Do learn about the history of the land you’re standing on and practice Indigenous land acknowledgment.
In 2019, it’s as simple as a Google search. Whether you realize it or not, the land you’re on was once tended to and protected by at least one Native American Indian tribe. Find out who they are and make informing others about it a regular occurrence.
We invite you to celebrate this country’s Native history with us. Here’s hoping we’ve averted some serious disasters and helped non-Natives become better allies to Native nations. Happy Native American Heritage Month.
Want more from Teen Vogue? Check this out: 10 Native Activism Organizations to Show Your Support This Thanksgiving
KEYWORDS
NATIVE AMERICANS
INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
MISSING AND MURDERED INDIGENOUS WOMEN AND GIRLS
THANKSGIVING
RACISM
ALLYSHIP
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