A conversation with Patrick a few days ago reminded me of a post I wrote in 2004, so I thought I’d add a little to it and bring it up to date.  Original post is down below.

The conversation was pretty innocuous, talking about the way the sidewalks were totally impassable due to the snow being plowed onto them creating mega berms that will take ages to be cleared, and how it meant we’d have to travel on the road itself to reach the stores.

As an aside, Pat let slip that at one of the Powwows we attended a few years ago, someone had come up to him and said “You know you’re not really dancing, don’t you?”.

I should explain a little.

We go to powwows on a regular basis, those that we can reach in the Metro DC area.  Both of us go out during inter-tribal dances.  Now, we know we don’t “dance” the way everyone else does, physically – we can’t (although I have a design for a fancy shawl rig for my manual chair in mind that might actually surprise some people!).  We know this as well as everyone else does.

But dancing in the circle isn’t just about the physical.  The arena is Sacred Space, dancing is also about what you bring into that space in your heart.

My Tank has its own regalia, which either tells my story, or for the Veteran’s Day Powwows at George Mason University carries regalia I created specifically as a Patriot Guard Rider to show honor to my brothers and sisters in arms.  That brings even more energy into that Sacred Space, with purpose.

The fact both of us are on wheels makes no difference to us – in some ways it amplifies and focuses us on that spiritual side of the dancing.  We don’t “just wiggle our controller joysticks around” randomly, we let the song the Drum sings and the energy of the dancers around us guide us, our chairs, and yes our bodies as they will.

And, I hope, the other dancers in the arena can join our energy to theirs as we do theirs to ours.  I still remember a pair of young dancers at one BAIC powwow in Baltimore dancing around the Tank as we went around the arena during an intertribal, making it and me part of their dance – even to jumping over my footplate with that grace and fearlessness of kids

Until Pat mentioned that remark, I hadn’t even really thought about the question “Are we dancing, or just playing?”.  I have a feeling the answer I’ll get from Rie if she reads this will be censored for language, but I have to ask myself, why would anyone ask it to begin with?

I think some of it goes back to the points I made all the way back in 2004, reprinted below.

The question Pat was asked was “You know you’re not really dancing?”, based on our not behaving as people expect wheelies to behave.  Did this person think that we should just be sitting off in the corner, out of sight and out of mind?  Worse, was he judging out matter of fact dancing against the dancing of everyone else and finding us wanting?

At the very least, he did actually say something, but I now wonder how many at Powwows share his question but are afraid to ask?

And that’s where the drive for political correctness really holds us back – How can we explain all of what I’ve written above to them, when we can’t be sure who has that question in their minds – or even if any of them have that question.  This “fear” surrounding people with disabilities created by political correctness holds us back far more than any pseudo-advantage political correctness is supposed to give us.

At the end of the day, my feeling on this (I won’t speak for Pat with it) is that I know in my heart why I enter the circle, and I know that the energy I offer is accepted where it matters.  If someone has a problem, they’re perfectly entitled to it, but as long as I continue to respect the Sacred Space, where is the problem?

When I first entered an arena at Powwow, it was after a lot of searching for answers along a similar vein – I knew I couldn’t physically dance as everyone else would, so I asked myself constantly would my going into the arena somehow be embarrassing or an insult to those dancers. Would I be able to reach that place people go when they dance in that Sacred Space?

Eventually I got my answer – it’s not about me. It’s about the dance. I’m not dancing for the people who are watching, I’m not dancing for me.

I’m dancing for my ancestors, my history, the people who matter to me, the people who need the energy, and (for me especially), for my brothers and sisters in arms who can’t be there.

So we handle it all as perfectly normal, everyday – we’re oblivious to the wheels we use instead of feet.

Hopefully, people will read this and understand that we’re not “too” normal.  We’re just like everyone else, we’d just like to be treated the same.

Originally Posted August 2004

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It’’s kind of frightening to wonder if I might have blown a recent job interview by being too “normal”.

Most of the time, people seem to be very confused as to how they”re supposed to “behave” around people with disabilities, at least in my experience with someone in a wheelchair at any rate. There’’s been such an upsurge in “political correctness” that many people are concerned almost to the level of paranoia as to how to handle talking to disabled people.

For example. Is it politically correct to tell someone they have a really cool looking wheelchair? Is it politically correct to ask them questions about how hard it was to learn to use it when they first got it?

Is it politically correct to tell someone they have a really cool looking car, or a very nice outfit on that day? Is it politically correct to ask someone questions about how hard it was to learn to drive that powerful sportscar, or to say how “brave” someone is to go out wearing a particularly scandalous outfit – “I”d never dare go out in something like that”?

It all depends on the wheelie really, and the attitude of the questioner. But somehow we”ve managed to lose sight that someone could possibly ask such questions because they”re actually interested. The disabled community has somehow, in trying to combat the real discrimination out there, create an atmosphere of fear and paranoia that I believe is actually working against us. How? Because it prevents the only true way to battle discrimination – Education, showing people that we”re no different than they are.

When someone has to be concerned at a potential backlash for trying to learn more about us, who we are, why we”re that way, they”re never going to see how we maintain our dignity and humanity despite the obstacles we”re encountering. We”re always going to remain an “unknown” because we”ve somehow persuaded the world that to try to learn anything about us is rude, anti-social, bigoted, discriminatory, and worse. We”re isolating ourselves by creating a shield of ignorance that prevents others from finding out that we”re real people.

I”m kind of odd, really. Once I got used to the Tank (my Quantum Blast 650 – aptly nicknamed!), as far as my own image of myself was concerned, my feet were wheels, and my legs became 300 lbs of steel, plastic, and batteries. And that’’s as far as I notice the Tank – I pay as much attention to being in it as I did to being stood upright and walking when I could. I can”t change the fact that I”m in the Tank, so I just accepted it as being a part of my body, no more “different” than my legs and feet.

So for me, someone saying the Tank is a really cool looking powered chair (in purple no less) (which it is, by the way), it’’s the same as someone saying that I have pretty ankles (They do, and I do ). I”m not going to complain if someone pays me a compliment, and I”m certainly not going to complain if someone can wrap their head around the same fact of life I had to accept when I got the Tank – It’’s a part of me, but it doesn”t define me.

Perhaps that’’s the real problem in society … Discrimination wants to define wheelies as being “the person in the wheelchair”, with the emphasis on “the wheelchair”. I define myself as “the person in the wheelchair”, with the emphasis on “the person”. The problem is, the wheelchair is a part of me, so when people look at me, they”re scared they might cause offence, because of “political correctness”. The easiest solution for them is to tiptoe around me at every opportunity, which means they”ll never really get to know me, or be as at ease with this hunk of metal attached to my ass, as I am.

I don”t pay any attention to my Tank, although I”m quite proud to point out it’’s just so perfect (thanks to the wizardry of Mark E Smith) it even has a cup holder, and makes large holes in bedroom doors (don”t ask). But it seems to throw people for a loop that I don”t pay attention to it. They”re unsure how to handle a wheelie who is so matter-of-fact about an extension to their body. I don”t act the way wheelies are “supposed” to, that such topics are totally off limits, uncomfortable, or that if you bring it up I”m going to slap you with a discrimination suit. It’’s a part of me, it”ll always be a part of me, and you”re just going to have to deal with it. But you can”t deal with it if you don”t know about it, and are afraid to ask.

As long as we have this blanket attitude of “keep away” when it comes to discussing those things that are a -part- of who we are, we”ll never really remove discrimination. If we make such a big deal out of those things that -we- believe separate us from the able-bodied, then those things will always be a big deal to the able bodied. We have to demystify these things through education and starting to -act- like we”re normal people, or else discrimination will never leave – it”ll just stay hidden.

While we”re on the subject, BBC News Online has an amusing article about a pregant woman turned away from a nightclub by the moron on the door.

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• Helen Henderson: A wheelchair doesn’t make an employee perfect (thestar.com)

“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

Comments

• November 15, 2008, CatawbaNDNLady (1 comments) writes: 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
• April 30, 2009, Richard Lister (1 comments) writes: 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.
• July 13, 2009, Kokoro Fasching (2 comments) writes: 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.

There’s nothing quite like a Powwow to help bring you back on track inside your own head – Especially when you go to two of them in the space of three days, both social ones.

The second one, George Mason University’s Veteran’s Day powwow, is going to be one of the “memorable” ones.

After two years of effort and work, and with the help of 10+ pounds of steel, I finally got to dance standing up (Well, dancing if you use a rather loose interpretation of “dancing”).

It was kind of funny to see the expressions on people’s faces, who are used to seeing me being 4′ tall (all people in wheelchairs are 4′ tall) as they got to see that I’m still 6′2″ tall when vertical

I’m kind of paying the price for being slightly … umm … stubborn, I may have pushed the envelope just a tad.  But it was certainly worth it – especially when I realized I was the tallest person in the circle all but one time (a drummer from Black Bear is only slightly taller than I am ).

But it was more than worth it.

Now I have to start re-interpreting the dances again though.  It was stubbornness at the idea that wheels meant I couldn’t dance in the arena that led me to try to come up with analogs in the chair.

If I keep working on building up stamina and strength enough to do more than one circuit of the arena before needing to sit again using the legs (that 10+ pounds of steel), that same stubbornness will help me rethink the dances again – it’s hard to sway and bounce using your knees and ankles when they’re locked into a solid straight line

But I have a feeling the same community spirit that helped me develop analogs in the chair will come forwards again, and people will come up with suggestions and helpful ideas on how to do it.

And on the subject of which, special gratitude goes to Rie, who had no idea what I planned until she saw me get up to tower over her, and responded to my plaintive “I need a crash course in dancing standing up so I don’t look like an idiot” request so readily

Also kudos to tainee for not letting me postpone the whole idea for another year as we got ready that morning

Of course, now I have a perfect excuse to get started on making new regalia – all my old dresses were designed to be used in my chair, and look daft if worn when vertical

Hopefully I can download the pictures from this weekend to my computer soon, and we can get them cleaned up and online – only, as usual, don’t expect any of them to feature me … I have a reputation to live down to, y’know!

Comments

• February 27, 2009, RiK (1 comments) writes: That's AWESOME stuff. It wasn't that long back you were proudly telling me you'd managed 30 steps.
• November 24, 2009, Moonwolf (11 comments) writes: Back then it was 10 ... With the legs I'm up to a mile and a half now - although I've only pushed it to that once, and it took me a couple of weeks to recover :P

Oh dear, it seems someone has stolen “Chief Zee“’s tomahawk.

My heart goes out to the dear gent … OK, no, that would be a lie – it doesn’t.

The guy still seems totally incapable of understanding just how downright offensive and racist his antics are considered by many.

I guess it can only be a total ignorance of the issues he ends up being a caricature of that he thinks it must be a “prank”. It doesn’t seem to even remotely cross his mind, given his remarks, that anyone might just have taken his tomahawk because of how racist his portrayal of NDNs is.

It’s kind of funny though. You’d never call tearing down a KKK cross, or swiping the noose from someone who showed up at a football game dressed like a Klansman, “theft” (petty or otherwise) so it’s kind of a stretch for anyone to say this was “stolen”, as some media have portrayed it.

Whatever the reason behind it being taken, I honestly hope someone has tossed it in the Chesapeake Bay or something. I don’t care if the guy has been carrying it for 25 years, it’s no different in context than a KKK cross or a noose.

It’s too much to hope that some “well meaning” person won’t replace it for the guy, however. What do they care? Thanks to people like Zema Williams, racism against the People seems perfectly acceptable to the majority of the population.

One only has to look at the recent legal judgment that returns a fraction of the $60+ billion owed to the People from the Land Trust debacle to see it – or the legal system preserving the football team’s name to preserve the sheer volume of money they makes from the franchise, racism be damned.

The media is all about how today is doubly historic – 45 years to the day the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. made his “I have a dream” speech and the day Barack Obama will become the first black presidential nominee for a major political party …

The theft of Zema Williams’ tomahawk isn’t anywhere near “up there” with those events, or Rosa Parks refusing to be forced to sit in the back of a bus, but it’s still funny as hell and a huge poke in the eye to this “icon” of a racially hypocritical group – the fans themselves.

I just guess the first inhabitants of this land are going to be the last beneficiaries of the end of racism.

We’re at the BAIC powwow this weekend, and honoured to get to listen to the music of Nammy-award winner Arvil Bird.

One of the things he mentioned this weekend is his take on the difference between a soldier and a warrior – a soldier serves and follows orders, but a warrior serves and follows his/her heart to do the right thing.

I love powwows, you always get a fresh perspective on things!

It’s been a great powwow so far, it’s been good to reconnect with our friends. This is the “start” of powwow season for us, as it’s one of the few powwows locally we can get to.  We met up with Becca as planned, and she loves the beadwork Pat’s been working on for her!

I’ve been bragging on Tainee’s beadwork to anyone I can corner

I used the Patriot Guard Rider regalia on the Tank yesterday, and happily showed it off to a professional photographer.

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Hopefully we can actually get some pictures of our own today. It’s hard to remember to take any when we’re so entranced by the great dancers and fantastic singers!  I did manage to get one of Cuz Louis though, in full regalia!

Woohoo!!! Baltimore American Indian Center (BAIC) has posted details about their next powwow.

Happily, it’s going to be at Patterson Park in Baltimore again this year. It’s a wonderful place – not to mention we know we can reach it in chairs

I have pictures from last year’s powwow up on my Picasa pictures page. We’re looking forwards to meeting everyone again this year!

Now I just need to start working on regalia for the Tank and Pat’s new chair

Junk mail tends to get skipped over around here pretty quickly, but I guess advertisers have finally figured this out, and will do anything to get people’s attention.

They certainly did with the copy of “Auto Selector” that arrived here the other day. Right on the front page, ignoring the large black GMC SUV covering most of it, is a picture of some black guy dressed up in some caricature of American Indian regalia, complete with obligatory mini-skirted-and-high-heeled girl beside him.

Underneath the picture however reads the text “Spotlight on Chief Zee” with a page.

Oh dear.

It’s hard to describe the page people are directed to, so here’s a scanned copy of the top half of it (click for the full sized image).

This is all for a large car dealership in Maryland and Virginia, who also bought the entire back page for their map, which gives a URL. Their website is even worse, if that even be possible. They have a series of videos there, and if the full page advertisement above made me ill, one video in particular makes me downright sick to my stomach¹.

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

Now, not so long ago, the head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Julie Myers, managed to get into seriously hot water for awarding a prize for “Most original costume” to an employee who showed up wearing striped clothing, fake dreadlocks, and in blackface. The employee was placed on administrative leave, questions were asked in Congress, Ms Myers had to apologize profusely to people for how offensive the costume had been, and for her lack of judgment in awarding it a prize.

So I’m curious. I’m pretty sure (as are others) that Zema Williams (AKA “Chief Zee”) would be rightfully offended (as would everyone else) if I showed up dressed in blackface, with fake dreadlocks, at a football game and jumped up and down shouting “Go niggers, go!”. If the head of the second most powerful law enforcement agency in the country has to eat humble pie because one of the 16,000 employees under her command showed up in a “racially insensitive” costume, why is it that still, in the Capital of the United States, a black man can wander around, make commercials, dressed up as a “Native American”, be used as a sales tool, make stupid videos, have a day named after him, and there’s nary a peep from these “racial minority” groups?

The cynic in me wants to think that the reason for the silence is selective racism – African-Americans have gotten to the stage where they have “clout” enough to jump on racism, but as long as they’re OK, they don’t care about (and indeed participate in) racism directed at Native Americans. Somehow, racism is alright, as long as it’s not directed at them? Marion Barry, also an African-American, was the Mayor of Washington DC, and he named a day after “Chief Zee” – I guess he didn’t mind the that he was honouring a racist caricature of American Indians. After all, it wasn’t his race that was being stereotyped, right?

If the advertisement is to be believed, Zema Williams tries to do good work throughout the area – but every single appearance he makes dressed like that, whether it be for charity, senior citizens, kids, or anything else, is poisoned. He is effectively promoting that same racial bigotry that he would be up in arms about if, for example, someone went to a senior citizens event dressed in blackface. I bet he was pretty steamed when he heard about the ICE halloween party, but his appearances are just as bad, just as bigoted, just as racist, as that incident.

Robertson’s, a manufacturer of preserves, had a well known brand image called a “Golliwog”, and it had to stop using it as it was deemed “racially insensitive”. The Golliwog dolls, likewise, have fallen out of fashion, as being “racially insensitive” and no more do performers on stage don blackface – all of these things are the result of changing perceptions of race. What was once perfectly acceptable has been gradually weeded out as people have grown to understand that racism is unacceptable and divisive.

Yet Zema Williams seems perfectly happy to do exactly what his forefathers spent decades, even centuries, fighting against, and the nation’s capital cheers every weekend for a football team whose name screams out memories of genocidal policies and acts of brutality. In one hundred years time, people will look back on pictures of Zema Williams, and the football team, and all they will see, all they will know, is that all they stood for was a legacy of racism. It won’t matter if Zema Williams did charity work, helped people who needed it – all people will see is a man dressing up as a warped parody of an American Indian.

The NFL permits the football team to have a “racially insensitive” name because it’s all about the money – and who cares, it’s only a bunch of Indians, right? The NFL seems to believe it can can take that stance because the general population has come to that prejudiced point of view themselves – blacks, hispanics, asians all. Somehow, it even managed to permeate the halls of “Justice”, so one lone judge felt perfectly confident in arbitrarily overturning the decision of three copyright judges, seemingly placing money over racial equality. Worse is the attempts by a new style of Holocaust Deniers to brush the past under the carpet, things which, if were done with respect towards any other minority in the US, would result in massive media coverage, demonstrations and boycotts.

The car dealership in question, Eastern Motors, will never admit it’s promoting racial stereotypes – but I bet they won’t ever hire someone to do pseudo-voodoo dances in their promotional videos, or dress up in blackface with fake dreadlocks and appear in their print advertisements.

Racism is resurgent in the United States in recent years – all the noose incidents garner international attention, and the authorities rightfully jump on such things fast – Is it really any wonder why racism is still so prevalent though, when those who complain about it turn around and do it themselves? Letting one instance of racism pass as somehow being acceptable opens the doors to others, and racists aren’t selective – they hate anything “different”. When you celebrate racism, you can only expect racism to be aimed right back at you.

It’s very hard to be sympathetic towards African-Americans facing the sordid memories nooses bring back, of unenlightened times when racism was rampant and they were considered something less than human – when a large number of them practice those self same racist beliefs on a weekly basis. Only this week, I commented in my blog about the bigotry some had aimed towards the victims of the illegal street race in Accokeek and how despicable it was – then I see things like this.

Zema Williams may be the unofficial mascot of the local football team, but in his “costume”, he’s a mascot of racism too. The football team’s name enshrines one of the darkest periods in US history², and his dress trivializes and mocks the victims of those times, as well as the traditions and cultures which have survived even so.

I guess they just don’t get it.

Comments

• February 22, 2008, The Den....Join other posting addicts in here! - Page 760 - PowWows.com Gathering writes: [...] day by rattling a few (racists') cages. Miika wrote it all up much more eloquently than I can : They just don`t get it, do they? | Moonwolf`s Lair __________________ ========================================= "The cavalry didn't come [...]
• February 22, 2008, Chief Zee - PowWows.com Gathering writes: [...] up as a Leprechaun all the time. Thankfully, the 'Net lets people make noise rather well - They just don`t get it, do they? | Moonwolf`s Lair :) __________________ It is by caffeine alone I set my mind in motion. It is by the beans of [...]

1. [Edit February 26th 2008] I discovered that the dealership in question actually has a YouTube account showing many of their commercials – this isn’t the only one there featuring Zema Williams, but the end of it is pretty representative of some disgusting racial mockery [back]
2. “Back not so long ago, when there was a bounty on the heads of the Indian people… the trappers would bring in Indian scalps along with the other skins that they had managed to trap or shoot,” says Holder, whose arguments were included in a recent court filing in support of Harjo’s claim. “Trappers and hunters began using the term ‘redskin’ …they would tell the owner that they had bearskin, deerskins…and ‘redskins.’ The term came from the bloody mess that one saw when looking at the scalp …thus the term ‘red’…skin… So, you see when we see or hear that term…we don’t see a football team… we don’t see a game being played…we don’t see any ‘honor’…we see the bloody pieces of scalps that were hacked off of our men, women and even our children… we hear the screams as our people were killed…and ‘skinned’ just like animals. So, yes, …you can safely say that the term is considered extremely offensive.”

   - Tina Holder, Source: New America Media [back]

I discovered SoundClick has a widget that I can embed here that plays more Nakoda Lodge, so, here it is

Yes, I used the N word. I did it on purpose.

The United States football team for the Capital city itself is called the Washington Redskins.

That’s the same level of racial epithet as calling the team the “Washington Niggers”.

It’s got nothing to do with the racial makeup of the team, it’s about the team’s name itself.

“Redskins” is a word loaded with racist hatred, bigotry, and was commonly associated with the attempted genocide perpetrated on the Native American Indians by the white settlers.

It has enough history of that hatred, of that genocidal approach, that is is certainly as offensive in daily use as the N word.

Yet for some reason, no-one cares. You can bet if the team was named that way, there’s be an uproar of outcry, demonstrations, riots – all quite understandable and justifiable.

So why is the same level of racism celebrated in the nation’s capital, plastered over cars and flags, mentioned on respectable TV channels?

Using it this way is celebrating the murder of millions – more than died in the Holocaust, celebrating stealing the land, celebrating trying to wipe the Amerindians out. Using the N word would be celebrating slavery, segregation, discrimination.

Why is one condoned when the other would most certainly be despised?

People say that the term is a mark of respect to the Amerindians. What they really mean is that the mega millions the NFL and the team rakes in time and again, merchandising rights and everything else, is more important than recognizing the deeply racist use of the word.

That this happens in the nations capital is simply a reflection of the continued bigotry and discrimination against the American Indians by the descendants of mass murdering settlers.

The fight for civil rights, the fight for an end to racism, stopped when one racial group got somewhere. They support it as long as it doesn’t target them. They don’t care, they got a start on equality.

The civil rights version of “I’m alright now Jack, screw you.”

So when you want to rant and rail at me for using the N word, remember this the next time you use the word “Redskins”. if you can use that to describe Amerindians, I can use it back. Fair’s fair, right?

Or does discrimination go so deeply that people will think they’re somehow “better”, and so can be bigoted but be immune in return?

Does it really take an 800lb gorilla to notice racism now?