A Native American head dress is a sacred and honored object among our culture. I've never touched one. I know how I have felt standing in the same room as The Constitution. I would be lying if I said that it, The Constitution, felt more important. Honestly, it feels very similar to me. Both only survived by the sacrifice of many lives, many wars, and many tears. No one has an issue with non-Indians buying authentic Native-made art, jewelry, and pottery and then wearing it or displaying it. This should not be confused with any regalia. I have read where some Native Americans do have a problem sometimes with other American Indians wearing a cowboy hat. I personally do not, but a cowboy hat is not a sacred object and after all there's Will Rogers. What most people think of as separate worlds is something I don't think of as divided. It is complex.
It's more like the current descendants of colonial-Americans and American Indians are in an abusive pre-arranged marriage, that neither party can walk away from, and is getting bad councilling. Because, even after a long, long time nothing is improving much. One party is oblivious to the problems of the other party. Specifically, often and pervasive in America, non-Indians and our mutual Federal authority refuse recognition of the things we consider sacred or our status as citizens of another sovereign American Nation. They use Native Mascotry in sports despite our best efforts for almost half a century to get the Mascotry to stop. Barely any portrayals of American Indians that we can relate to exist in movies since the invention of the motion picture industry. The other party, us Natives, keep trying different tactics to live together happily or die trying. We have one thing in common. We both love America. Even that means something different sometimes.
So, here we are, forced to co-exist. I don't think all non-Indians have blissful lives. I do not think all non-Indians are unaware. I do think most non-Indians are just trying to survive. I do think most non-Indians haven't got the time to think about Indian Country. It is easier and nicer to either let someone else handle the issues or be ignorant of them. However, that's a bad mistake. American children are dying in high numbers and all due to ignorance.
I mentioned in a #NotYourTonto tweet once that in my mind I rewrote the character backgrounds of most things I watched. I have no choice but to do that. After all, no characters exists in media anywhere that I can easily identify with 99.9 percent of the time. It is probably why I like writing so much. For once, I don't have to mentally fix all the inaccuracies I get presented with just to make what I'm engaged in more palatable. The sad part is, I know nothing but one dimensional stereotypes wait for the child who doesn't make the leap I did.
You may think that isn't important. However, ponder this for a moment, how would you feel bereft in a world that didn't offer you enough of music, art, history, theater, television programming, or films that you could see yourself in easily. I imagine it's a very cold and lonely place. So dark that you can't see yourself in it and so death seems pretty good. I know that's deep, but it hurts less than the high Native youth suicide statistics.
Am I blaming Native suicides on not enough engagement in societal arts, music, and movies? Not totally, like most things it's a compound issue. I do look at this as one problem that we can fix if we work together. Yes, it requires a sacrifice of having total dominance in all those areas. America has a responsiblity to help replace what got removed by being supportive and not hemming us in with stereotypes.
When I said we understand and love western lore, I wasn't writing about the kind where all the heros are white cowboys that kill Indians. It's true I read a lot of Zane Grey when I was about ten until I was about twelve. By the time I was thirteen I was bored correcting the Manifest Destiny out of the tan hardcovers. I started reading Shakespeare and science books in my spare time. Then, one summer I came across a book that literally changed my life. Girl In Buckskin by Dorothy Gilman was a story of an indentured servant that ran away from the colonies and found life worth living among American Indians. I haven't read it in many years, and it would probably apear different now.
It wasn't a complete picture of what I needed, but it seemed so close to me then. Because, after all, I don't know how many times I've ran to the home of my culture to find peace, people that understand, and also have trouble feeling accepted by a colonial dominated society that deliberately excludes me. We have the same beloved country, but different histories. We have the same beloved shows, books, and movies, but I must mentally modify them to feel acceptance.
It should not be this way. I don't see an America that is moving forward to a place that includes American Indians. Most already consider us dead. A dear man, I just came in contact with, spent literally his last moments in this world tweeting that America must change. I feel that same death is waiting for me. Because, although I don't have faith in America changing I do have hope in the many understanding non-Indians I've met, like Ethan Keller, an Indigenous activist and musician. Assuredly, most important is my husband who having grown up in Louisiana believes, as I do, that America must do something different. So I keep reaching out for those people that light the dark pit of exclusion. I am the mother of three Cherokee children. I must make it brighter for them.
The constant conditioning of United States children to dehumanize American Indian children is brutally cruel. The constant ignorance of United States politicians on their responsibility to uphold the treaties guaranteed by The Constitution is genocidal. The constant portrayal in Hollywood of the death of Native Americans with no survivors is wishing for a reality that threatens the soul of this generation. We can change it, we must change it, and it must not wait 500 years more.
Thanks Jennie you are a hip mom
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