“You might fancy running say, the Jewish Relocation Office, or the German railroads system – agencies which, come to think of it, may have some crossover… “
Anyone think a European journalist would ever dare to write the above paragraph in an article? How about one writing for the BBC?
I didn’t think so.
Except it seems perfectly acceptable for a BBC journalist to do just that, when the topic refers to Native Americans.
Witness the article about the incoming US Administration’s quest for replacements for a myriad of government jobs and appointments, which includes this paragraph.
You might fancy running say, the Office of Hopi and Navajo Indian Relocation, or the American Battle Monuments Commission – agencies which, come to think of it, may have some crossover…
Both this paragraph and the hypothetic one I opened this entry with make light of genocide. I realize that most Brits (and Americans, come to think of it) still think of Native Americans through the lens of John Wayne movies, or TV shows such as Gunsmoke or High Chaparral, but the truth is the US has been responsible for the continuing ethnic cleansing and genocide towards Native Americans for centuries.
So why exactly should some prat of a journalist be allowed to make such an offhanded joke about that genocide, when the same joke applied to the Holocaust would cause such a furore the BBC would be facing even more criticism from the moron they have running their country?
That such a comment can be tossed out so casually without nary a murmor from intelligent people is one more piece of evidence supporting just how successful the US has been in brushing the genocide of Native Americans under the table. The whole “Noble Primitive” attitude is still there, still strong, and still perpetuated by comments such as the one Richard Lister made in his article.
It shouldn’t surprise me really, the BBC has been racist when it comes to Native American issues before – its reporting of the “Live Earth” event continuously and pointedly refused to make any mention whatsoever of the Native American contribution to the event, hosted it right here in the nation’s capital.
Al Gore made a passing reference to that contribution at the opening of Live Earth, saying words to the effect of how it was the Indians riding to the rescue, yet the whole thing was pointedly and deliberately omitted from the BBC’s coverage. Even when the BBC listed all the venues for that event, it never said one word about the Native American one.
But ignoring Native American contributions completely like that is nowhere near as egregiously offensive as cracking jokes about genocide and ethnic cleansing by a so-called reporter such as Richard Lister.
It would never even be considered appropriate if it referred to the Holocaust – yet obviously when it comes to Native Americans, it’s not only perfectly acceptable, it’s “funny”? More Native Americans have suffered and died at the hands of the US Government than the number of Jews murdered in the Holocaust, but the two are totally dissimilar in the minds of people, if this sort of thing is considered acceptable in a civilized society.
Did it even occur to Richard Lister to question why there might be an Office of Hopi and Navajo Indian Relocation in the first place, and just what its existence implies?
The only way people, especially Europeans, will ever begin to see Native Americans as people is if comments such as the one above are stomped on, hard.
The BBC is especially susceptible to criticism right now because the British Government has pushed to make it vulnerable so it can prevent any further disclosures such as the Dr Kelley issue, so now is the best time to complain about this and similar remarks demeaning and marginalizing the history and current practices towards Native Americans.
I urge people to use the BBC Complaints link to file a formal complaint about this racist section of Richard Lister’s article with the BBC. It is only by showing them that they’re totally out of line, how patently offensive such attitudes are in these “enlightened” times, that the continued propaganda minimizing or ignoring US policy and cultural bias against Native Americans can begin to be countered
Sphere: Related ContentThis entry was posted on Saturday, November 15th, 2008 at 1:45 pm and was filed under First Nations. It was last updated November 15, 2008 @ 1:46 pm
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3 Comments(+Add)
Here are some facts, coming from a US government educated First Nations member with degrees in both History and Cultural Anthropology-and yes, I specialize in First Nations cultures.
Fact: Adolph Hitler used the US policy of racial extermination for First Nations people as inspiration for the Final Solution the Jewish Question.
Fact: US government policy on sterilization of Native women was copied almost entirely by the Third Reich in the mid 1930’s. The difference-here in the US that policy was still in effect and being enforced as late as 1980. You read it right-1980.
Fact: Behavioral protocols for guards in Concentration and Extermination Camps mirror, and in some cases duplicate precisly many of the same protocols implemented on Native Reservations by Indian Agents in the late 19th and 20th centuries. All of the common elements-deception, duplicity, and cultural oppression were used first here in the US on Indian people more than 100 years before the Nazi German Government began using them against Jewish people.
One astounding fact than is not commonly know: The swastika is actually a First Nations symbol used by almost every tribe in North America before 1932. It represented the four directions, the movement of the sun and moon across the earth, the changing of the seasons and cycles of life. It was used quite often by the Dine (Navajo), Hopi and Zuni until it was stolen and bastardized by the Nazis. It has since that time come to have a totally different meaning, one of hatred and racism, and we no longer use it. Another piece of our culture that has been stolen from us, alas.
Don’t believe me? You have a computer-google it.
Miika has made a comparision that is not only completely accurate, but an historical fact. Coming from the perspective of a First Nations woman, they are the same thing-only the victims are different. Without a doubt, had there been Indians in Europe during the Nazi era, we would have found ourselves interred alongside all the Jews, Poles, Czechs, Hungarians, Russians, Gypsys, Homosexuals, Mentally Disabled, and Politically Incorrect people who did not fit the standard of “Pure Human” as defined by the Third Reichs office of racial purity (deliberately left uncapitalized as a way of stressing the inanity of such an agency). Ironically, in Germany today there is strong interest in our culture to the point of obsession. There are groups of re-inactors who imitate us in every aspect of our pre-colonial lives from dress to dance to spending weeks living “traditionally”.
In the Plum Book there are hundreds of occupations listed. I wonder what made Lister choose the one he did?
I can only deduce that Richard Lister is sorely lacking in several areas including sensitivity, and more importantly, EDUCATION. His article comes off as sarcastically stupid and I would be glad to teach him, but I doubt it would do much good. How sad to think that some of my ancestors actually allied themselves with the British.
I am constantly surrounded by people in this country who bend over backwards to be Politically Correct, even though the PC terminology currently used to refer to us is so very incorrect, that I might find Listers sarcasm refreshing if it were not so ignorant.
Any of you folks in the UK who want to are quite welcome to forward my name to Mr. Lister, just in case he happens to be inclined towards enlightenment. I won’t hold my breath waiting for him to contact me though.
Rie Miller
Catawba Indian Nation
Thank you for your feedback about my piece on the Plum book. I am sorry if you were offended by it, as that was certainly not my intention. Neither did I intend to belittle the appalling history suffered by so many Native Americans in the United States, which is something I have actually paid close attention to in my years as a correspondent here.
I for one cringe every time when I get a email asking for funds to help the various genocide protection efforts around the world, when there is so much that needs to be done still here in the States.