In Which We Find Out Why People Dress The Way They Do When They Say They Are "honoring" Native People -- OR You realize you are just dressing like a stereotype of a Native and not like an actual Native person right? OR Stop Wearing Headdresses, dummy.

Let me start with why I haven't responded to or written about the whole Christina Fallin debacle of a few weeks ago or the newest, latest and greatest "Siouxper Drunk" frat party racism at the University of North Dakota.  First, I'm busy. Second, Native Appropriations already wrote a really good letter in response to Christina Fallin. Third, how many "don't wear headdresses dummy" posts does one person have to do before they start to feel like they are just being trolled by spoiled, self-centered people who could care less?

I figured, my gut reaction response would probably be an effort to try and explain to Christina Fallin (daughter of Governor Mary Fallin of Oklahoma, home to the second largest population of Native American people in the United States) and the spoiled brat racists at the University of North Dakota, why they should not wear headdresses or shirts that say racist things about Native people and how they can better, in the words of Christina Fallin, "innocently adorn" themselves in our beautiful things (blech). I would have said (1) try buying some contemporary jewelry made by contemporary Native artists and supporting this continued cultural art form rather than picking stereotypical things to wear (2) don't wear headdresses, dummy. 

But, then I started feeling like I was being trolled. Especially now, when everyone is yelling at each other on Twitter and there's a bunch of spoiled brat college students wondering how they can be racist if other people are racist? That seems to be the defense "hey, other people do this too, how come we're in trouble? That means it's okay or otherwise those other people wouldn't do it!" It doesn't make any sense, don't try to make it make sense. The more they write back and favorite each other's tweets and pass around each others 140 character diatribe on "political correctness" the more I start to feel like I'm being trolled. 

Maybe I just want to feel that way. I want to feel like this couldn't possibly be yet another instance of ANOTHER person who HONESTLY thinks that wearing a headdress, or a tshirt that makes fun of Native people as "drunks" and/or dressing up like an Indian is "honoring" or "respecting" Native people or "not that serious." Just as soon as we finish with a Governor's daughter who thinks she's cute because she wears a Native headdress and then thinks it's okay to be dismissive of criticism of that action we have to deal with a bunch of riled up kids from North Dakota.  It all seems so attention seeking. I'd never heard of Christina Fallin, or her band (I can't remember their name) before she put a headdress on. She's in national newspapers now talking about how cool she is because Native people are protesting her and I suddenly had this thought ---

"Is offending Native people the new 'oops somebody released my sex tape, oh well I'll go with it and become famous'?" Is this an easy way to get attention, some news, and possibly your own reality show where you sit around and do nothing?

I'm feeling trolled.

This doesn't mean I'm going to stop trying to get everyone to "just stop wearing headdresses dummy", but it means that I'm trying to take a different path. I am relying on education and knowledge. I have seen, first hand, that there are many people out there who really want to learn and listen. These are not the Christina Fallins of the world. These are not the Dan Snyders of the world.  Those types of people want to use Native people as props, as objects in their continued attempts to legitimize their snobby, self-centered view of the world. They believe that Native peoples are there for the consuming. Their mentality is infected by the ongoing colonization of the spaces they inhabit where Native peoples were consumed - consumed by genocide, consumed by slavery, consumed by assimilation. This country was built on the consumption of Native people. This consumption continues. 

But, there are also those that benefit from and want to learn and understand Native peoples, their cultures, their survivance, their humor. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. This is why I teach Native American Studies. This is why EVERY SINGLE PERSON should have to take a Native American Studies class. Not because I want to yell into the wind tunnel that is Christina Fallin, but because I know that many of the students and people I encounter are open to learning and discussion and change. 

What they learn -- what I teach, is that all of these things are interconnected. The representations we have of Native people in the mass media, in our heads, in our history books, those stay with us and they contribute to contemporary issues in Native communities, into politics, into our own culture and who we are as people living here in these Indigenous spaces (all peoples, everyone, we are all affected). 

So, in an effort to extend my educational reach beyond my classroom I am going to offer another presentation (as I did before) but this time we're going to talk about why people dress the way they do when they think they are "honoring" Native people. Or -- You realize you are just dressing like a stereotype of a Native and not like an actual Native person right? Or-- Stop Wearing Headdresses, Dummy. 

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In Which We Find Out Why People Dress The Way They Do When They Say They Are "honoring" Native People -- OR You realize you are just dressing like a stereotype of a Native and not like an actual Native person right? OR Stop Wearing Headdresses, dummy. 

First, close your eyes and draw a picture of a Native American in your head. What does your Native American look like? 

Lemme guess. He/She looks like this: (I know, I know, many of you will say "but mine looked a little different." It's okay. Go with me.)

What do these Native people have in common? Here we go: 

• They are wearing a headband that has a feather sticking out of it. (or a headdress, maybe you close your eyes and see a headdress Indian. There will be feathers however, somewhere, hopefully your Indian could get some cool feathers not just Chicken feathers.)
  
• They are wearing fringe or fringed clothing that is tan, or brown, or the color of the earth. 
  
• They have dark, long hair, maybe in braids or flowing in the wind in a way that highlights their gorgeous cheekbones. 
  
• They may have a bow and arrow or be wearing a necklace. 
  
• A lot of them will have face paint. 
  
• Moccasins are key. They keep your feet looking trendy. 
  

Now watch this: 

Disney's "Peter Pan": "What Makes the Redman Red?" (1953)

Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you. Take notes. Keep track of what the Native people look like and what the story of the song is. 

Okay first - what is the story of the song? 

This song is part of the movie Peter Pan, where Peter has rescued Tiger Lily from Captain Hook. In response, Tiger Lily's father is very happy and grateful that his daughter wasn't drowned in the ocean by a Pirate (which shows, to me, he has human emotion, good for him). Now, in response he decides to give Peter Pan an Indian name ("Flying Eagle") and this makes Peter Pan very happy. After that he offers to teach the visiting little children about Native Americans and the children proceed to ask him racist questions like: 

• What makes the red man red? 
  
• When did he first say "ugh?" 
  
• and "Why does he askem how?" 
  

Short answer: he kissed a pretty girl and that made him blush, then saw his mother in law and that made him say "ugh!" and he asked a lot of questions about how things work so he could learn stuff. 

To help my students dissect this video we first talk about what the Natives look like. But there soooo much going on in this video I feel like I can't skip over it so let's start with the sound. The music here is supposed to represent Native people and culture. It's a deep, dark sounding drum with ugh and mumbling sounds and it mirrors this idea that Native peoples music was always war like and full of menace. The Indians here hoot, hollar, jump around, act crazy, sing about nonsense and offer children pipes to smoke while also ordering around women and allowing the men to play. 

The fantasy here is that Native people allow a stuffy, uppercrust group of children to chillax for a minute and dance around fires while singing. Except Wendy, who doesn't like that in this society she is nothing more than a "squ*w" and so she storms off. Also Wendy is really uptight.

Now, let's look at what the Native people are wearing...

• They are wearing a headband that has a feather sticking out of it. (Some of them are headdress Indians. There are be feathers however, everywhere, hopefully they could get the good feathers not just Chicken feathers.)
• They are wearing fringe or fringed clothing that is tan, or brown, or the color of the earth. 
  
• They have dark, long hair, maybe in braids or flowing in the wind in a way that highlights their gorgeous cheekbones. 
  
• They may have a bow and arrow or be wearing a necklace. 
  
• A lot of them will have face paint. 
  
• Moccasins are key. They keep your feet looking trendy. 

Next... video number 2. 

Judy Garland - "I'm an Indian Too" from Annie Get Your Gun (1950)

Are you gonna spend the rest of the day singing "I'm an Indian too!" or is that just me? Actually I sing that sometimes to myself when I do something like put the dishes away. There's me, super Indian, putting dishes away cause "I'm an Indian too!" 

Okay, what's the story in the song? 

The story is there is this little woman who wants to be an Indian. So the Chief tells her she is an Indian now and she sings a song about what she will do now that she is an Indian too. This consists of - having a lot of Indian stuff like totem poles, running off with men and having lots of babies (the full song, not what Judy Garland sings, mentions these plans even more). 

So why is being an Indian so cool? Because then she doesn't have to be uptight and tied in to societies expectations of her.  Again, it's a rejection of these norms, saying that being an Indian means that you don't have to worry about the pressure of society and instead you can live in whatever wild, and crazy way you want. There is a deep longing here for freedom, something that these outsiders for some reason think is tied to (1) having lots of sex and (2) having lots of babies (and /or running off with someone else). 

Just like in Peter Pan the message is: you can become an Indian. If you become an Indian, you are awesome. I would say it was flattering in a really messed up way but I hate giving credit where credit isn't due. 

The music. Think about the music too. The drums, the moans, the calls, the dancing around  in a circle. It's all there. And how does Judy Garland become an Indian? -- they put a feather on it. (I guess they liked it... so they put a feather on it. Timely Beyonce joke for the win!)

Also -- how is she dressed? Say it with me now... 

• She is wearing a headband that has a feather sticking out of it. (It's probably a chicken feather.)
• She is wearing fringe or fringed clothing. 
• She has her hair in braids
• She is wearing a bunch of necklaces, I can't decide what the really big one is, it looks like rocks (which yes, that happens A LOT, where people dressing like "Indians" also sometimes veer into "Caveman.")
  
• She has face paint.
  
• Moccasins are key. They keep her feet looking trendy. 

Granted, some people say "well you know this was a long time ago and it's not like we don't know this stuff is racist NOW but back then it was a different time. People didn't KNOW it was racist then. You can't be critical of it now that we know how racist it is." 

Okay, so let's start with "it was a long time ago..." 

Here are some videos from the last few years of high schools doing this song dressed up as Native people singing about how they are Indians too. (Notice what they wear) Not... a... long...time...ago. 

PS. I'm not trying to say that these students should be ridiculed or made fun of, I'm saying, that here are just two of the many examples of this "obviously racist" portrayal of Native peoples that continues. People (supposedly) KNOW it's wrong now and they do it anyway. 

But maybe they don't know that it's wrong? Another thing that people have said to me. 

They probably should know it's wrong, but I get that there are contradictory messages out there. For every #NotYourTonto tweet there is some guy saying "But I asked this Native person I know and they said it was okay." For the thousands who say "No more Indian Mascots" there are the Native peoples who say "it's fine with me." 

There are many images of Native peoples "out there" and most of them are messed up and deserving of criticism. Yet, they are constantly portrayed as the "norm" or socially acceptable (There are also many positive portrayals and images, and they get MUCH less attention). But even if some people are okay with it, it's still racist. 

It's a great big cycle of crudity that dates back to the first movies made in Hollywood which demanded that Native peoples (1) all wear feathers and look essentially the same to make them easily identifiable to the audience; (2) all wear headbands (and this was not because Native people's wear headbands all the time, but because they needed to hold wigs on to actors heads); (3) wear costumes with fringe and (4) be primitive, lacking in humor, education, words, ideas because the movies were about displacing, killing and eradicating Native peoples and that isn't as easy to do to people who are "real." (Want to know more? Watch REEL INJUN). 

Hollywood's Indian is not a real Indian. Yes, there are parts of this Hollywood Indian that comes from various tribes. Maybe some Natives wore headdresses but others wore basket caps. Maybe some wore fringed clothing, but others wore bark skirts. And they wore these things with responsibility. They did not just put a headdress on to look cute. They did not wear a feather in their hair to make a better "costume." 

The costumed Indian is the Hollywood Indian. There is no tribe that fits the Hollywood stereotype because it's an imaginary abomination meant to justify genocide. When you can make a whole people into a cartoon, a caricature, you feel less tied to them, you feel far away from them, like they don't matter. Then, it's easier to dismiss them. 

When people "dress up" in feathers and fringe and Halloween Costumes, and hipster costumes and rave outfits or whatever. When they have frat parties and make racist t-shirts. When they paint their face and put on "war bonnets" and head to football/baseball games they are not honoring Native people. 

They are honoring Disney's "Red Man", they are honoring Hollywood's Indian. That's why their wear the headband and the feather on the back of their head. That's why they paint their face and play their music the way they do. That's why they jump and hoot and holler and say nonsensical things and act a fool -- to honor an imaginary character that does not exist. A character that we KNOW is racist. A character that is a clear demonstration of derogatory stereotypes. A character that literally makes students turn away when I play these clips in classrooms. I have seen people watch these clips through their open fingers like they are watching a horror movie. 

So this "honoring" of Native people, that's not real. It's a way to erase the real Native people. Some people would rather have their non-sensical Native that they can own, than a real life Native who challenges their legitimacy and "manifest destiny." 

This is why representation matters, because these images, left unchecked, lead to the dismissal of Native people as living. It leads to the dismissal of Native people as intellectuals. It leads to the dismissal of Native people as allies in education, science, technology and research. We all lose when we cannot learn from each other. 

Now watch this video. (it' s not a very good version of the video, you know why, they took it down because it was racist... so this is the best I can do.)

No Doubt - "Looking Hot" (2012)

This happened in 2012. 

2012. Sometimes people will say "but we know better now." And then this will happen. I already wrote about it before which you can read here. 

But let's just point this out right quick. Gwen Stefani dresses up as an Indian for her music video and how is she dressed?

• She is wearing a headband that has a feather sticking out of it. (or a headdress, sometimes she is a headdress Indian. I hope it's not a real headdress, I hope it's some fake feathers.)
  
• She is wearing fringe or fringed clothing. 
  
• She has long hair, maybe in braids or flowing in the wind in a way that highlights her face. 
  
• She is wearing a necklace, sometimes she is throwing a spear/staff or dancing around a fire. 
  
• Instead of moccasins she wears heels or combat boots. 
• She's an Indian too.

To No Doubt's credit, they took the video down and you can't really find very many versions of it. Of course they said the didn't KNOW it was racist when they were making it, watching it in the editing room, watching the final version, uploading it to You Tube... but they agreed to take it down because they didn't want to offend anyone. 

So now we know-- this video is racist and offensive. Dressing up like a Native Person is not honoring them, it's honoring a stereotype. Take the information and run, run to your closest headdress wearing friend, sit them down, look them in the eye and with a sincere and open heart say: 

Stop wearing headdresses, dummy.