Decolonize your mind: read these books!
Fools Crow by James Welch
Tracks by Louise Erdich
House Made of Dawn by N. Scott Momaday
Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko
Reservation Blues by Sherman Alexie
The Bean Trees by Barbara Kingsolver
Hunter Danyale
University of Wyoming. Policy Debate. Native Identity.
Armie Hammer apparently talked to some Natives who love Lone Ranger- ha!
The casting of a non-Native thing has kinda gone by the wayside for me. While I was initially super mad that they cast JD and didn’t give the role to a Native person (blah blah Johnny has Indian heritage blah blah he was adopted by the Comanche Naiton–Not the point right now. That doesn’t excuse anything.), the more that has come out about the film, the more I’m glad that a Native actor isn’t embroiled in this mess. So Armie, the casting is only part of the issue. The bigger issue is the mountain of stereotypes Depp’s portrayal of Tonto represents–from his hot mess of a costume with a freaking dead crow on his head, to the horrible stereotypical mystical warrior BS that we can see in the trailers, to the ridiculous and demeaning use of Tonto-speak broken English that has haunted Native communities since the first spaghetti westerns.
-Native Appropriations
Waawaate Fobister, a gay/two-spirit Anishinaabe from Grassy Narrows First Nations, gives a talk at TEDxToronto about telling personal stories and his play, Agokwe.
If you’ve never read up on Two-Spirit People you really should go do that now.
Pop Culture… fucking racist.
The Best Take Down of Hipster Racism You Will Ever See
While I would find this video a lot more uplifting if I didn’t get it played against me in a debate round to prove my epistemology wrong, I still believe that it is something that everyone needs to be aware of. Just because you think you are being “culturally aware,” doesn’t mean that the way you are broadcasting your awareness isn’t offensive to the culture you think you are being aware of. This video is predominantly about black culture and civil society, but I think it is even more true today with the Native American hipster bullshit that people are wearing across this country. Just because you think a (very small) period of our culture was beautiful or spiritually uplifting doesn’t mean you need to erase our identity by trying to make it your own. I could go on and on about this, but I’ll just leave this small insight for now. Just remember: you are white. Stick to your own cultural appearance, and stop masking mine.
(Source: caylosm)
A little late, but another major shoutout to Emporia. Attached is a link to the final round (it automatically cuts to the 2ar, but you can go back to the beginning) and an article.
the youtube link to his speech:article
“To the wife who took the beatings so her kids wouldn’t have to
To the daughter who found a man as abusive as her dad
To the coed who will never ever go to the nine again
To the restraining order as strong as the paper its made from
To the shelter with not enough beds…”—-Ryan Red Corn
Mountain dew is to Wyoming debate
as Reptar cereal is to tommy
Sooo true. :)
