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No I don’t know Jon Stewart. When Jon Stewart reads this (cause you know he’s sitting at his desk waiting for his Google Alerts to bleep like “OOOO who is writing about me now!”) I hope he goes “man I should listen to her, she has her own blog!” I have been thinking for a while about representation of Native people on TV. In my academic life I analyze the rare appearances of Native people who pop in and out of television shows as acceptable ways of “othering” Native people, as if they are only cameos in our society and culture. Also, these character tend to be male and do not have Native female counterparts. Native women are rarely mentioned as being part of a modern Native American culture and community. The same goes for something like The Daily Show where we get a spectrum of “correspondents” (who, yes, tend to be comedians in disguise/character) who speak about various issues but we have not had a Native voice as part of this discussion. (*Look, I know we haven’t had a lot of different representative voices. It’s not like The Daily Show has put together a perfect melting pot of voices. But I want a Native correspondent on The Daily Show so that’s where I’m putting my energy.) Sometimes Native people enter the realm of the show (see this episode about the Washington *RACIAL SLUR* team) but again… as cameos, people who can speak only about a particular issue almost like we have no stake in these other, very important issues that are a part of The Daily Show discourse. Also, when you have a non-Native filing this report, some of the things that get left out are the racism experienced by Native people from Washington fans, or the continued degradation of Native people who dare to go to the game. I have also been thinking about the many important issues that affect Native peoples and set global conversations, policies, ideas, directions for development, education, economy, cultural revitalization… etc. And yet, when I ask students, or audience members at presentations how many federally recognized tribes there are in the US I get answers that range from 2 – 10,000. (Right now there are 566, write it down, memorize it, there will be a quiz later). That’s right, people just don’t know. They don’t know because we don’t teach them and that’s why I teach Native American Studies, because they need to know. Native peoples are a significant part of our culture and society. We represent a past, present and future and our issues, news stories and events are not divorced from the rest of this space we now call the United States. Our representation has been decided for us on more than one occasion. People close their eyes and imagine an outdated Hollywood stereotype or a cameo. Natives become fictionalized so that their issues are treated as fiction. But we are fighting for water, fighting for fish, fighting to keep the environment safe for everyone, fighting to help Native parents keep their children, fighting to heal, fighting to represent ourselves. That’s a lot to take on for a correspondent, but I think it’s time. One of my students wrote this when I asked them to reflect on what they learned in my Native Studies course and for me it summed up exactly the reason why everyone should take a Native Studies course and why The Daily Show needs a Native correspondent: "It's almost as if we are trying to classify Native Americans as fictional beings other than people that were here long before the settlers were. If we view them in a fictional sense then it's easier for people to not take them seriously and to shrug off the oppression that occurred to them. It would be nice to see a shift in schools to teach the true history of the Native American people instead of just the fairy-tale parts. Which isn't even fair to the Native Americans because in a sense we are regarding their religious beliefs and culture as just whimsical stories instead of delving behind the true meanings of that too." So here goes… first blog post of the year.  In Which I Write An Open Letter To Jon Stewart After I Promised Myself I Wouldn’t Do Open Letters Because They Are So Last Year or It’s Time for The Daily Show to have a Native CorrespondentDear Jon Stewart It’s time for The Daily Show to have a Native American correspondent. Heck, why not two? Why you ask? I made you a list: 5 Reasons Why The Daily Show should have a Native American Correspondent  5. People can’t remember the last time they saw a Native on TV talking about news issues that are important to our country, our society, our communities and who we are as a civilization (all of us) like The Daily Show tends to do... That’s right Jon Stewart. I said it. The Daily Show, despite its claim to be nothing more than a comedy show that makes fun of the news, becomes an important part of the conversation. It’s comedy, but not in the sad way Fox News is comedy, instead in the happy way where people learn something, laugh, and (perhaps) have anecdotes for later that can help them to put in to words, gifs, clips, Facebook posts something they have been trying to say. Also, people look to The Daily Show as an illustration of what shows SHOULD look like. For instance, SHOULDN’T women of color be allowed to make reports about issues that face women of color? Yes (thank you Jessica Williams for being awesome). What happens when you put a woman of color on TV? (She drops the mic). What about a cool as a cucumber African American man? (He gets his own show). What about an arrogant white guy reporter (he gets his own show and then his own late show). So often Native voices are left out of this cultural response. Native people aren’t even invited to comment on Native issues and there is an assumption that Native issues don’t have a lot to do with what is going on in the rest of the world. And this representation (or non-representation) matters. Because it is here that we become stereotypes, mascots, fashion but not cultural lexicon and commentary. One of the exercises I do in my class is to ask students to tell me (1) the last time they saw a Native American on TV and (2) the last time they heard about a news story or issue that Native people are involved in. Here are some highlights for you from the past three years that I’ve been teaching:
I nominate that character to be your new correspondent! (PS. I’m sure your new Native correspondent will find many ways to make white people feel guilty, so I’m not that worried about filling that requirement actually.) 4. There are a lot of really important issues that are being led by, informed by, set by, made possible because of Native peoples Legal scholars call Native tribes the “miners canary.” It’s not just because the Supreme Court and Federal Government (and State and local governments and agencies) have historically made horrible decisions in regards to Native people, their sovereignty, their rights and their self-determination which then become the law of the land and (eventually) affect everyone else who suddenly discovers things like
But it is also because Native peoples are leading the way in a number of very important issues like:
Native people can speak to these, among many other issues that deserve an Indigenous analysis. For instance, lets say you want to do a report about how people are leading national/international protests against police violence. Well ask a Native. We are the group most likely to be killed by the police after all. 3. Representation combats mis-appropriation and encourages education. WHA! DROP…THE…MIC That’s right, representation matters. Help me, help you Jon Stewart. Help me, help you, to help all of us, better know a Native so that people will say “yeah I saw a Native on TV telling me about how awesome it is that Obama is vetoing the Keystone XL Pipeline because it is only going to be another environment polluting danger to our planet” instead of “Well, I did see Khloe Kardashian wearing a headdress on a re-run the other day…” 2. Native people are funny In 1969 Vine Deloria, Jr. wrote a chapter for his book Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto called “Indian Humor” where he noted that we are damn funny. Actually, he said this: “It has always been a great disappointment to Indian people that the humorous side of Indian life has not been mentioned by professed experts on Indian Affairs. Rather the image of the granite-faced grunting redskin has been perpetuated by American mythology.  That’s right, we are experts on cutting edge humor and satire that educates and informs. We are the original Daily Show. If you didn’t know this, it’s because our cameos, our representations, were and are stripped of humor because of the “tragedy” of the American Indian. That narrative was created to dehumanize us and to forward the American Dream - that American Indians were tragic people, who were slowly riding into the sunset of tragedy and would eventually disappear. And the new Americans would become the “Natives” of the future. Plus, Natives are supposed to be mean, rough and tough people, because that makes it easier to kill them. Despite all of this… genocide and tragedy… we are a funny people. You know that group of people in the restaurant laughing very loudly and telling stories, that’s us. It will not be hard to find a funny Native person to correspond on your show, I promise. Bonus List: Here are some people that would make good Native correspondents… Jim Ruel (I know him!)
Actually any of the comedians from this special. (RIP Charlie Hill!) Or this group. The 1491s.
Natalie Diaz Tiffany Midge Don't worry, I can go on if you need more.
Thank you Jon Stewart for all that you do, for your time, and because I know you will immediately compose an email to your producers saying "I had this great idea. We need to get a Native correspondent on the show." You're welcome. Sincerely with all sincerity, -Me
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AuthorCutcha Risling Baldy is an Associate Professor and Department Chair of Native American Studies at Humboldt State University. She received her PhD in Native American Studies from the University of California, Davis. She is also a writer, mother, volunteer Executive Director for the Native Women's Collective and is currently re-watching My Name is Earl... (5) Top PostsOn telling Native people to just "get over it" or why I teach about the Walking Dead in my Native Studies classes... *Spoiler Alert!*
Hokay -- In which I lead a presentation on what happens when you Google "Native American Women" and critically analyze the images or "Hupas be like dang where'd you get that dentalium cape girl? Showing off all your money! PS: Suck it Victorias Secret"
In which we establish that there was a genocide against Native Americans, yes there was, it was genocide, yes or this is why I teach Native Studies part 3 million
5 Reasons I Wear "Indian" Jewelry or Hupas...we been bling-blingin' since Year 1
Pope Francis decides to make Father Junipero Serra a saint or In Which I Tell Pope Francis he needs to take a Native Studies class like stat
I need to read more Native blogs!A few that I read...
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