Changing the master narrative: The problem with dressing children as "Indians" for Thanksgiving plays, selfies, and social media outlets

My Facebook feed has exploded today with images of charming little white kids dressed up in feathered headbands, fake braids, and colorful "Indian" clothing. I try, I really do try to change this master narrative by posting informative pieces from real Native peoples living and working today - from Indian Country Today Media Network, Beyond Buckskin, Native Appropriations, Last Real Indians...in the hope that some of this new information would puncture the master (and incorrect) narrative that we Americans continue to tell ourselves about the origins of Thanksgiving.

And it seems I haven't made a dent. This explosion of images and comments proclaiming how "cute" the kids are...proves that all of my efforts are in vain. No one is paying attention. No one gives a shit. No one wants to change the comfort of the master narrative. And why is that? Are we really so vapid as a people that we can't accept that dressing little white kids up as "Indians" isn't appropriate for Halloween or Thanksgiving or ANY time of year?! Is it really that difficult to suggest that perhaps your child or your child's school focus on the truth about this holiday or at least choose a less racist costume?

Sigh.

We have a responsibility to ourselves, to our youth, and to the actual real living Native peoples existing in this land today to change the master narrative, to speak truth about our past, and to stop dressing little white kids up as "Indians." It isn't that hard, I promise.

It starts by recognizing that dressing little white kids up as "Indians" is reinforcing a stereotype and a belief that Indigenous peoples are no longer with us and therefore, are available to us as a source of mockery to be represented any way we see fit. Ah, and there's the rub. Indigenous nations in North America number in the hundreds today - they are still here - and they see what you do. They are not honored. They are not amused. Some choose to ignore our racist behaviors because, quite frankly, they have enough to worry about with the health and wellness and success of their own communities. But for those who do look up, look around, and see how we think of them - as nothing more than a costume to be used on a fake holiday for the amusement of ourselves and our friends?

Take one moment out of your ever-thankful proceedings to stop for a hot second and consider what that might feel like if it was directed at you. Imagine that your life, your history, your identity, your ideals, your cultural practices were constantly belittled and demeaned in the public domain and no matter how loud you shouted that you deserve more respect than that, instead of being heard, you are ignored and laughed at and told to lighten up. How do you feel now?

Feast away. Be thankful that your white privilege is strong and powerful enough to permit your need to dress your children as a fantasy idea of real living peoples. But dump the "Indian" attire. Your kids are not cute dressed in racist and inappropriate costumes, no matter what your friends and family say. If those people think it's cute, then they also need the same smack-down lesson. Just stop.

You should be teaching your children better than that. And for that more appropriate teaching, here is a list of children's books to get you started. Now is a great time to stop contributing to the problem of racist stereotypes of Native peoples and start changing the master narrative:

Beyond the So-Called First Thanksgiving: 5 Children's Books that Set the Record Straight

The damaging effects of the “indoctrination” accusation

Someone I love dearly told me recently that I indoctrinate students when I teach Native American rhetorics. That, in fact, every time I talk about it, post about it, publicly proclaim about it, that I am indoctrinating people.

Let’s take a look at this word, “indoctrination.”

I’m going to take a page from the college student handbook and include a dictionary definition here:

Indoctrinate: “to teach (someone) to fully accept the ideas, opinions, and beliefs of a particular group and to not consider other ideas, opinions, and beliefs” (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/indoctrinate)

So, my profession has been conveniently boiled down to this negative assumption; an accusation oft thrown around by conservatives and anti-education folks. I am fascinated to know that I teach my students to fully accept the ideas, opinions, and beliefs of Native Americans without any consideration of others’ ideas, opinions, and beliefs. (And ignoring the fact that, as a group, “Native Americans” are a varied bunch with many diverse opinions on a wide variety of subjects.) Of course, that’s not at all what I do, but let’s just go with that for now.

Where exactly does this accusation come from? A simple Google search for “college professors indoctrinate students” had 974,000 results, some of which are linked here:

Student indoctrination. http://triblive.com/opinion/featuredcommentary/4714344-74/academic-professor-students#axzz2l6PJr23b

One-Party Classroom: How Radical Professors at America’s Top Colleges Indoctrinate Students and Undermine Our Democracy. http://www.intellectualtakeout.org/library/books/one-party-classroom-how-radical-professors-america%E2%80%99s-top-colleges-indoctrinate-students-and-undermin

How California's Colleges Indoctrinate Students
A new report on the UC system documents the plague of politicized classrooms. The problem is national in scope. http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303816504577312361540817878

School Has Started And So Has Student Indoctrination. http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials-perspective/091913-671786-using-classroom-to-indoctrinate-students-grounds-for-dismissal.htm

College Professor Tells Students Republicans Are Stupid, White Old Racists- Indoctrination. (And this author takes the official dictionary definition a step further. Her definition of indoctrination: “To imbue with a partisan or ideological point of view.”) http://beforeitsnews.com/opinion-conservative/2013/04/college-professor-tells-students-republicans-are-stupid-white-old-racists-indoctrination-2618916.html

Clearly, this accusation of indoctrinating students is coming from the political Right. My personal opinion as to why this is the case has to do with the Right’s persistent refusal to accept that students are capable of making up their own minds and thinking for themselves when it comes to fraught political or social issues, such as gay marriage, abortion, and in my case, Native American sovereignty, history, cultures, contemporary issues. Okay then.

So, we know this accusation exists in the national conversation. We also know that this assumption exists in the personal spectrum when people who believe that we indoctrinate become personally involved with us as friends, colleagues, partners. Let’s take a look at the damaging effects of this accusation.

First, being accused of indoctrinating students undermines my professionalism, my goals as a professor, and dismisses the import of what I actually do in a classroom. Like most simplifications, it renders a complex and sometimes difficult task down to a very negative and easy process. It also makes huge assumptions about the gullibility and malleability of college-aged students. How quaint to think that my room full of 18 – 21 year olds are so easily swayed to my perspective, my point of view, my opinion; that they, in fact, have no opinions or perspectives of their own. Hence, this accusation not only undermines my professionalism, it also assumes that people in college are empty vessels waiting to be told what to think. And in my professional experience, that assumption is quite far from reality.

Second, accusations of indoctrination evidence a deep disrespect for my profession and for me personally. This accusation, in one simplistic swoop, tells me that the subject I care about deeply enough to invest money, time, and energy into learning about in order to teach students the wide variety of issues inherent in that subject, does not matter, is not worth my time or my students’ time, and is certainly the wrong thing to be teaching.

Third, the accusation of indoctrination puts professors on the defensive. It certainly put me on the defensive. I take what I do very seriously – and personally because of all the time, money, and energy I’ve expended to get here. Putting people who have worked so hard and care so much about a subject on the defensive is an effective strategy because it shifts the focus away from the real problem: that students need to be exposed to a multitude of opinions and information in order to form their own opinions about the world.

And here’s my final word on this for now: If students come away from college with different opinions than yours? That doesn’t mean they have been indoctrinated. It means they were presented with a broad spectrum of information and opinion that you may have never seen, and they decided for themselves what to think. The process of college is scary to some people because it does influence how people think about subjects and realities in the world. But I am tired of being on the defensive – it is exhausting. I know what I do in my classroom and most people have no idea. I invite any of my readers to come to my classrooms and observe for a day. Just a day should be enough to demonstrate how misguided this indoctrination accusation really is.

This is Power

When someone spreads vicious rumors about you that have no basis in fact, when someone acts purely for spite, or to disrupt, or “because they care,” your response should be…


Silence.


Do not protest. Do not defend. Do not retaliate. Tell your friends, your confidantes, your lover. But keep your public voice quiet.

          But it’s not true! My reputation is…

Your reputation is just fine. Because the rumors aren’t true. And everyone who knows you, everyone who matters, knows they aren’t true. You have integrity, character, and class. Do not let the shouting voices of disapproval drown out your progress, your work, your worth.

          But…they lied. They need to know….

They need to know that you are Teflon and unpredictable. Imagine what they will think when you say nothing. When you just go about your business doing good works, raising your child, enjoying your life, unscathed. They will wonder if you will say something. When you will say something. What you might say. And to whom. Let them wonder. Let them have the headaches and the stress and the stomach knots. They’ve earned it.

          But I’ve spent the past two days angrier than I’ve ever been…and crying. I’ve cried so much…

So now it’s out of your system. Good. Now let it go. For the sake of your sanity, stress level, health, and self-esteem, let it go. Do not let your enemies win by showing them they have disrupted your enjoyment of life.

          She hates me.

Yes. She hates you. She will always hate you because you cannot change the things that she hates. She hates your very existence. There will always be people who dislike you, who will talk about you negatively behind your back, who will wish you ill will and try to break you. Do not give them the satisfaction.

          Take the high road?

The hard road, yes. Hold your head up and go about your business and your life. Live, work, love, and keep doing what you do. The people around you see. They see that your enemies are cruel and uncaring. Troublemakers. They see that you remain silent, remain in a good mood, remain productive, and they start to see your critics differently. No longer trustworthy, those gossips continue to lose credibility with every forward step you take.

          I was hurt.

Yes. Blind attacks can be the most painful. But they must also be endured. Only engage with people and situations that are transparent and in your field of vision. Those proverbial slings and arrows sting and grind away at your spirit, but these are surface wounds. Only you can let them go any deeper. You are in control, even if you don’t feel it.

          How can I be in control if I feel like everything is falling apart. People will think less of me…

…if you engage in a protestation defense, yes. They will think better of you if you take the hits and just keep going. Accept that there will always be people who will dislike you, talk about you, want to disrupt your life. Your reaction will determine your course. If you choose the high road, the hard road, and just keeping walking the path, unwilling to let these small minds distract you, this is Power.

For my friends. Much love.