InAppropriate

I believe the photo credit belongs to Elizabeth LaPensée;
it appears at Indian Country Today Media Network.

Last October, in one my final editions of my Monday round-up of Native news (before connectivity and site-loading issues made further editions impossible), I wrote about Indian imagery and identity, and the importance of maintaining our sovereignty over both: 

As I was putting together the stories for today's edition, I noticed two distinct and interrelated patterns emerging: themes of imagery and identity, intertwining, diverging, separating and merging again at different points along the continuum of what it means to be Indian in 2013. 

There are many other stories out there right now, true, and they are important. But so are these — and despite the fact that the corporate media would regard these topics as "not hard news," that's incorrect. Today's stories encompass the existential conundrum of being Indian today, the requirement that we walk in two worlds at every moment of our lives when one of those worlds has done its damnedest to exterminate the other, and failing that, still actively works to neutralize its existence. And they do so in an equally dualistic way: in the public perception of who and what we are and what sovereignty and autonomy we have over that identity; and in the most private, intimate of spaces, in our own image of ourselves, both as individuals and as part of the collective culture labeled "Indian. 

To that end, I'm leading with what other coverage would relegate to the "C" Section of the newspaper. It's a story about asserting and affirming ownership of our identities and images, and doing so in a way that forces the dominant culture to face us in all our beautiful, complex diversity.

That story was about Drunktown's Finest, a film by a Diné woman that, among other things, explored the disconnect between what the dominant culture sees in her beautiful town of Gallup, New Mexico, and what she and her fellow Navajo Nation members see, love, and live on a daily basis. [Thanks to a Kickstarter campaign, she got the film wrapped in time for Sundance, and it's now premiering in Europe, too. And, yes, we kicked in a little to the film project.]

Lately, i've seen a spate of news items about racist appropriation —of our images, our languages, our cultures, our very identities. It's another form of colonizing, and it carries with it all the carpetbagging exploitation and appropriation — in other words, abuse and theft — that are part and parcel, an inherent element of, colonialism.

Exhibit A, of course, is Dan Snyder and his persistent, obstinate, in-your-face racism. no, Dan, we are #NotYourRedskins, and never will be. Then there are Warner Brothers and Joe Wright, and no, we're #NotYourTigerLily, either. Nor is white actor Rooney Mara. Of course, the movie itself is guaranteed to be a horror show; the Indian plot line in Peter Pan is irredeemably racist. And then there's last year's dead-crow abomination. No, Bruckheimer and Depp, we are also #NotYourTonto. [And, no, I don't want to hear about how these are innocent children's tales. There's nothing innocent about racism. And it's a very immature worldview that insists that your dominant-culture childhood mythologies must trump our lives. Your myth is a tool of my oppression, and I will not be complicit.]

But lately, there's more. A lot more. Over the jump, a look at some of the insidious ways this practice has taken root.

SPORTS

It's not news that, despite being named for a local Indian nation, Spokane, Washington, is conservative (and worse). As Sports Grid's Rick Chandler notes, it's home to a bar that was the subject of a nation-wide social media protest because of its promotion of a house drink with the misogynistic name "Date Grape." [Get it? "Date Grape?" Oh, those funny, funny guys.]

Spokane [the city, not the tribal nation] is also home to a Class-A Short Season baseball team. The Spokane Indians. Because of course.

After some pushback, the team thought up a new angle: Hey! We'll just translate the word "Indians" into Salish and print that on jerseys! Problem solved!

Well, no.

Chandler gets it. He dispenses first with the excuses:

Benjamin Hill of MiLB.com says that the jerseys were produced in collaboration with the Salish Tribe. Hill:

Indians co-owner/senior advisor Andy Billig and senior vice president Otto Klein have both been with the team for more than two decades, and throughout the entirety of that time they’ve maintained an open dialogue with members of the local Spokane tribe. Their goal in doing so, simply stated, is to make sure they celebrate, rather than denigrate, the people their franchise purports to represent.  

As Chandler points out, it's the same old paternalism:

So it’s the old, ‘We’re actually honoring them’ argument, which Washington Deafskins (our spelling) owner Daniel Snyder uses time and again. Snyder has upped his game lately, by the way. See below:

Dan Snyder bought some Native Americans a bunch of coats and a backhoe so you can't call his team racist anymore http://t.co/EJCYtkcCOp 

— Kissing Suzy Kolber (@KissMeSuzy) March 25, 2014

Note to Mr. Chandler: While I appreciate the point you're trying to make — i.e., that Snyder doesn't listen to the very people he's hurting while claiming to be trying to help them — "Deafskins" is not acceptable, either. It appropriates the identity of the hearing-imparied/deaf community while simultaneously mocking them. While you may not mean to mock them, intent isn't what matters here. And I know you understand what I'm saying, because of your conclusion here:

What Snyder and the Spokane Indians fail to get is that all of these efforts come off, to many, as superficial and insincere. Changing your branding hits you hard in the wallet, upsets much of your fan base and makes you seem weak. In Snyder’s case, it’s the latter point that stokes his stubbornness — he won’t change his team’s name until forced to do so by the league (and I predict that is coming, sooner rather than later). 

The case of the Spokane Indians is a little harder to read. It’s unclear whether there’s any significant faction who want a name change there. But even if there isn’t, it’s the right thing to do. If they were the Spokane Japs, would spelling the name on the jersey in Japanese make any difference?

No. This has been another edition of SATSQ.

BUSINESS

So, Victoria's Secret and the Powwow Monkey weren't enough: Now international business conglomerates have to horn in on the act.

And an act it is; there's nothing authentic about any of these examples of exploitative theft.

An American-born businessman who owns and operates an advertising company in Germany has responded to complaints of cultural appropriation by stating he has Native American friends and that his company incorporates Native American values in its philosophy. 

Gary Lin, CEO of Glispa (GmbH), a company geared to generate web traffic through marketing campaigns, allegedly erected a tipi and hired several women to dress in faux Native American garb at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, California, on March 19.

Of course, it's not enough to rip off Native imagery and identity; Lin had to exploit demeaning sexist and misogynistic stereotypes in the service of his racism, too. Non-Indian women in skimpy faux "regalia," as usual.

Unfortunately for Lin, there are Indian game developers now. more, there are Indian women game developers. One of them is Elizabeth LaPensée (Anishinaabe/Métis), and she was at the conference — in a professional capacity.

Ms. LaPensée took photos. And sent them viral. 

A friend and colleague of hers, Melissa Bennett (Umatilla/Nez Percé/Diné/Lakota) filed a complaint with Lin's company. The response was positively Snyder-esque:

In his defiant email, which can be read at length on Bennett’s website, Lin, who wrote that he is Chinese-American, declared he understands “the sensitivities around race and culture fully” and that since he founded the company more than a decade ago, Bennett’s complaint is the first he has received concerning his co-opting of Native American cultures. 

Lin goes on to declare that he has a bevy of Native American friends, seeing that he was born in the Midwest.  

He added that the name Glispa “comes from Navajo mythology” and that he has “adopted many of the values of Native American culture” and incorporated them into his company’s philosophy.
. . .  

Based in Berlin, Lin has even included Native American images on Glispa’s website. The background visual on the homepage includes indigenous people sitting and working near a large collection of tipis.

So much fail, so little time patience.

First, let's dispense with the "Glispa" business. A cursory Google search turns up no, you know, actual Navajo sources for the word. It does turn up plenty of twinkie sites calling "Glispa" the "Navajo Goddess of Healing," which is pretty clearly a complete misunderstanding of Navajo spiritual traditions in the first place. Even if it is a Navajo word representing an element of Navajo tradition, it is not Lin's to appropriate.

Second, being born in the Midwest not only guarantees lots of Indians as friends but gives him license to steal from them? Interesting. Particularly since, you know, the Navajo are not in the Midwest. I wonder whether Lin can name a single tribe from his part of the country. I doubt it. I also doubt that he even knows any Indians, much less can call them "friends."

I don't expect to see any positive changes to Lin's business name, business model, or business marketing methods. But I do know that he goes onto my boycott list.

HIGHER EDUCATION

This one is geographically close to home, and it's a more common problem than you might think. Appropriation is rife in academic circles; it's one of the dirty little secrets of higher education in this country.

Every year, New Mexico State University hosts the J. Paul Taylor Social Justice Symposium, scheduled this year for April 3rd and 4th. This year's symposium, the 10th annual, is entitled “Justice for Native Peoples: Historical Trauma, Contemporary Images, and Human Rights.”

Sounds great, right?

So why is the keynote speaker non-Indian?

That speaker is Luís J. Rodriguez, a highly regarded author an poet originally from Los Angeles.

Yes, he's Chicano. And "Chicano" as an ethnic classification implies indigenous blood as well as Spanish ancestry. But "Chicano" ≠ "Native American," with all of the ethnic and cultural identity that he latter implies — to say nothing of the existential experience, which, while it has definite similarities in some areas, remains nonetheless very different.

Don't get me wrong. Mr. Rodriguez has stellar reputation as a writer. His contributions to the body of Chicano literature should never be underestimated. His writing is credited with evoking the cultural and existential nuances of barrio life, and he has not shrunk from portrayals of Mexican-American life in all its dimensions, including the gang culture of L.A.

And, in fact, his contribution to symposium — as one of the regular speakers or participants — would be extremely valuable. It could speak especially to a disconnect found here in New Mexico, where "Spanish" identity is prized above all else, and the non-European element of ancestry is marginalized and even rendered invisible. I'd love to see a symposium take on that issue.

But the keynote position implies that one is representing, speaking for the subject of the symposium. And when the subject is "Justice for Native Peoples," that should be a Native representative.

It's not as though the symposium is lacking in Native participants and subject matter:

Guest speakers include Charlene Teters, artist, teacher and native rights activist; Michael Bird, public health consultant; and keynote speaker Luis Rodriguez, award-winning poet and author. The symposium includes a screening of three films, including “In Whose Honor,” about the sports mascot opposition movement and “Two Year Promise,” a documentary about Chiricahua Apache prisoners of war. “Inequality for All” will also be screened at the close of the symposium.

The symposium's organizer is also Indian:

“Through this event, I hope the audience gains knowledge of the historical trauma that native people have experienced since European contact and how that still has a presence today in their lives, and the obstacles they face as a result,” said Justin McHorse, NMSU’s American Indian Program director. “Primarily, the public is exposed to what’s in the media – the stereotypes.”

All commendable. All Important.

So why, in New Mexico of all places, where we are fortunate enough to have a large number of tribal nations with strong, powerful representatives in every conceivable field, is the main role at the symposium not allocated to one of them?

As academic appropriation goes, this is relatively mild. I've seen far worse, up to and including outright fakery. But it's still disheartening. Even at an event billed as working for "justice for Native peoples," it appears the "Native peoples" still command little respect.




Copyright Ajijaakwe, 2014; all rights reserved.