And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Sun, 16 May 1999 14:24:02 EDT
Subject: Asheville Times article-April 11th
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
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Here is the article you requested-
PEOPLE SHOULD RESPECT IMAGES OF AMERICAN INDIANS
On the surface, I agree with Joe Martin's column (April 2) that the
mascot issue is not the mostr important fight we face. It couldn't be, not
when 20% of our youth attempt suicide. Not consider, attempt. Not when we, as
Indian people, have the highest drug addiction rate, alcoholism rate, infant
mortality rate, and just about every other type of social-ill rate you can
imagine. Surely, this caricaturing and stereotyping isn't as bad as all that!
Again, on the surface, it pales in comparison, but on the surface, a
bottle of whiskey doesn't look like it can kill someone, either. Very little
in life is as it seems, on the surface.
But ask someone who believes in tradition how Indian mascots make
them feel. I don't mean someone who believes in dressing like an Indian for
money, or staying at the redskin motel. I mean a person who prays, smudges,
sweats, sacrifices, dances, and sings, in short, LIVES traditionally. As a 6,
or a 10 year-old who lives traditionally and has to endure these mascots
firsthand what an Indian mascot makes him or her feel like.
There are many known quantities here. First, Indian youth suffe from
a poor self-image. And, this poor self-image leads to the highest drop-out
rate in this country, and the aforementioned addictions. Can you allow that
seeing caricatures of what they and others see as "their people" only damages
this self esteem, beginning a wicked chain reaction of self-destruction?
Countless studies corroborate that poor self image leads to poor performance
in the classroom. Poor ferformance in the classroom leads to whatever you
want to fill in the blank with, as long as it's destructive, and hurts our
people.
Can it be that one of the underlying reasons we are still fighting
As for sovereignty, I agree with you, that sovereignty is an issue of
paramount importance. We must retain our sovereignty, at all costs, less we
cease to exist. But isn't this, too, a soverignty issue? Don't we retain
theSOVEREIGN to decide how we are and are not portrayed in a public arena? Do
we have less of this soverign right than African Americans, or Hispanic
Americans? Didn't these people have the sovereign right to rid the the
landscape of the Sambo, and the Frito Bandito? Or, does sovereign as an
Indian mean less than sovereign as an American? You tell me. Of course, all
races have their version of Uncle Toms, those who didn't mind drinking from
a different fountain, or riding in the back of the bus in the fifties.
for this most basic of sovereign rights is that the dominant society doesn't
take our claims seriously? Do you really think the Charles Taylors and the
Slade Gordons take Indians seriously as ethnic group? do you think that, in
their minds, we are not as deserving of "certain inalienable rights"? If this
is so, then why? Because we are the only ethnic group anyone would openly,
and corporately, make fun of these days? Because some that call themselves
Indians sit and allow others to make fun of us, perhaps even join in this
mockery? Coould there be a connection between a society which still practices
genocide, denies sovereignty to these people it kills, then mocks the same
group of people? Well, if you can't see that, if morality, logic, and
quantified research don't get the point across, let's talk about historic
precedent, and international law.
I'm sure you know Adolph Hitler was inspired to slaughter the Jews by
looking at what America was doing to "it's" Indigenous peoples. (see Mein
Kempf) It is true that the treatment of our people here inspired the genocide
of other ethnic and social groups. Afterwards, in WAR CRIMES TRIBUNALS, in
Nuremberg, men and women were convicted and put to death for crimes against
humanity. Some for doing nothing more than drawing anti-semitic caricatures
earily similar to today's Indian mascots, and writing anti-semitic articles.
It was judged they had contributed to genocide by creating an environment of
at least disinterest, and probably hatred towards a people so their society
would acquiesce to their murder.
The documentation is overwhelming that using any group as a mascot is
dehumanizing and harmful. Perhaps that is why is isn't done anywhere in the
world anymore, except here.
In closing, I want you to know that there are some Eastern Band
Cherokee who do not condone this selling out. We do not drive Cherokees, or
do the tomahawk chop. We do not chime in with the "massa" and say, "their
only honoring us". As one of the ANI YUN WIYA, I say to you, get to the back
of the bus.
Lawrence Sampson-
Guest Columnist
Reprinted under the fair use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html
doctrine of international copyright law.
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Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit)
Unenh onhwa' Awayaton
http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/
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