Miss Navajo: Reconceptualizing Native American Beauty

Renee blogs:

Yolanda Charley, recently won the title of Miss. Navajo Nation.  I am normally against beauty contests, as I see them as nothing more than the performance of femininity for the male gaze.  The Miss Navajo Nation is like no other pageant I have ever come across.

…

What I love about this contest is that it is more than women parading around with fake smiles, with their bathing suits taped to their skin, to avoid being swallowed by their asses.  Miss Navajo is about celebration, and the perpetuation of  culture.

The Native Media and American Politics

The Angry Indian blogs on Native American news outlets:

We were never meant to be a part of the colonial system and I find it embarrassing that those who are chosen to represent us do not have the courage to speak about this in real, coherent and tangible terms. Instead, we talk of what it like for Indians to be a part of the DNC and RNC conventions and who got to speak before large crowds and which “tribe” will adopt a candidate who in the end will do absolutely nothing for our people but keep us in our respective place at the bottom of the U.S. totem pole. And we ask ourselves why we get so little respect.

No Olympics on Stolen Land

Verbena-19 reposts an article on her blog:

“By them choosing to have the Olympics here, it’s opening up our land, our sacred sites, our medicine grounds,” says Kanahus Pellkey. “We want investors to know our land is not for sale.” Pre-Olympic fever occupies the province of BC, and the economic excitement has massively accelerated gentrification and the building of highways, resorts, and condos. The construction of infrastructure for the 2010 Olympics itself is adding to extensive destruction of traditional homelands of the local Indigenous peoples.

Lakota Nation Renounces US Citizenship

Yolanda blogs:

This is huge. The decision by the Lakota leadership to withdraw from the United States was announced three days ago, but I only heard about it just this second. The Lakota have declared their independence from the US after over 150 years of broken treaties, oppression, and violence. The Lakota cite both the US Constitution and the United Nations’ Vienna Convention as legal precedent for their decision. The Nation has not only delivered official notice to the State Department, but have appealed to the embassies of several UN member nations, such as South Africa and Venezuela, for support and recognition.

The official press release is below. More information here and here.

Kid GenocidalNation

Rob Schmidt blogs about the “reality” TV show Kid Nation in where a bunch of kids “go back to the basics” and live in the “Wild” West in Arizona. In one of the shows the kids meet Native Americans in where a whole slew of stereotypes, tepees and all, take place:

Let’s sum up what the kids (and the viewers) have learned about Indians from “Where’s Bonanza, Dude?”

Indians lived here “centuries ago” but are now (almost) gone. You’ll find them only out in the wilderness somewhere if you search long enough. Led by a chief, they live in teepees and do colorful dances. They impart sage advice around flickering fires.

Since the Indians have vanished, the land is empty. It’s okay to to claim this vacant land as your own–to move in and raise towns on it. No Indian people stand in the way of this, your manifest destiny.

So Kid Nation is built on the bones of Indian nations. In that sense, it’s much like the American nation. Greedy, selfish pioneers took what they saw and thought nothing of it. They acted just like children.

[Hat Tip: Racialicious]

Nationality

No Snow Here blogs:

Earlier this week, I saw a commercial on TV. Several shots of people saying things like “I am American,” “I am Korean,” and “I am Indian.” When I heard the words, “I am Israeli,” I shouted some expletives at the screen. WTF!? And I shouted some more expletives when I learned that apparently the “right” to a nationality is Youth For Human Rights International’s 15th human right (just not for Palestinians, who have no rights, human or otherwise).  First, Israelis and Americans have no “right” to a national identity. Israelis and Americans have a national identity that exists on the backs and dead bodies of indigenous people, so I don’t even want to hear that bullsh#@. Second, most people in this world have a national identity that was entirely invented and forced upon them by colonizers. Who drew those lines on the map? Who constructed and named those countries? Uh huh.

The Exotic Redman and Theatre

Rob Schmidt, of NativeVue, writes:

Soon after meeting the strange and exotic “redmen,” Americans began staging shows about them. The efforts included Wild West exhibitions such as Buffalo Bill’s and historical romances such as They were usually stereotypical, with savage braves, swooning maidens, and stoic chiefs.

Since then, playwrights have gotten serious about Indians. They’ve tackled subjects ranging from spirituality to substance abuse to suicide. The last few years have seen an explosion of genuine Native-themed dramas and comedies.

Immigrants the Modern Day Pilgrims?

Brownfemipower comments on some recent cartoons depicting  Native Americans as anti-immigration opponents and the pilgrims as the immigrants of today.  She takes exception with these cartoons as they don’t portray history correctly and view the Native Americans as allowing to be rolled over by the Europeans:

They imply that the colonization of indigenous land is parallel to or equivalent to the migration of brown people over falsely created borders. Let’s be real clear here. Pilgrims came here to colonize the land. They created permanent settlements by which they could steal the resources of the land to pay for their “adventure” while at the same time creating the God blessed “communnity on a hill”. They came here with no intention of leaving–they came here with the investment and backing of companies and government officials back home. We can whine all we want about their noble deeds, but they. were. colonizers.

Canadian Independence Day

Thinking Girl blogs about Canada Day:

However, I can’t help but feel this year that, because I love my country, I should talk about what I consider to be the greatest and most serious blight on the face of our nation, and that is the ongoing brutal colonization of Canada’s indigenous peoples.  It’s something that I feel all non-indigenous Canadians should be extremely embarrassed by, and should be actively trying to correct. We have all benefitted from the brutalization, ghettoization, displacement, colonization, and genocide of First Nations people here in Canada, and we should be ashamed.

Howard Admits to Land Grab

Ridwan reports:

Thanks to Eugene for bringing the article Aboriginal Children Overboard to our attention. There are several other follow-up stories available on Perth IndyMedia so please check them out.

Now it seems like the arrogant Prime Minister is not even hiding his reason for invading the Northern Territory. See this breaking story: John Howard Admits Aboriginal Land Grab Intent.” I have copied the article below.

Porn and Liquor Made Them Do It!

Ridwan blogs about Prime Minister Howard’s latest attempt to “save” the Australian Aboriginal population:

Luckily, Australia is led by a ‘great-white’ leader who has a plan to save the Aboriginal from extinction. Prime Minister John Howard, the Grand-Wizard of Australian racism, wants Aboriginals to live beyond their pathological destructiveness.

According to the BBC, the benevolent Howard has decided to ban alcohol and pornography in almost all of the Northern Territory’s Aboriginal communities. And, to show that he is serious, he is going to use the police and the military to protect the Aboriginals from themselves.

What a great plan hey? Ignore all the destruction of racist colonialism and instead blame the Aboriginals for not living up to the wonders of white civilization. And, typically forget the fact that Australia stands on the backs of those who once walked everywhere without the paternalism that now reduces them to no more than children.

Violence and the Rez

Tracy Rector blogs on NativeVue about representations of Native Americans in the media:

During our recent three month Native Lens Workshop at Muckleshoot, we attended a number of teen gatherings, talking groups and family health meetings. We listened to the youth as they voiced their concerns about issues negatively impacting their lives. They expressed concerns not only about the immediate situations happening on the rez but also how distressing it is to always see the news, newspapers, media making violence especially domestic violence look cool or glamorous. Some of the girls felt that the media was directly responsible for so many people staying in bad relationships because all the negative hype makes the abusive situation seem normal!

Sexual Abuse and Aboriginal Children in Australia

Brownfemipower links a report entitled “Bringing Them Home report: an Australian inquiry into the forced removal of aboriginal children in Australia from their communities/families.”

Mankato and the American Indian Movement

Ravenmn writes:

I watched the HBO movie based on the book by Dee Brown.

This book, plus the rise of the American Indian Movement had a direct effect on my life when I was in junior high in Mankato, Minnesota.

Think about the stories you hear about young Germans in the 1960s not being educated about the camps. It was the same for us. We were surrounded by this horrible history, and yet nobody talked about it. Mankato is the site of the largest mass execution in U.S. history shown below in an etching

Chief Fontaine Warns of Breaking Point

The Radical Indian, a Canadian blogger, writes:

“Many of our communities have reached the breaking point,” said Fontaine. “Many people ask why First Nations peoples are so angry. At this point you must realize we have a right to be.”

Colorado Continues to Celebrate Genocide

Fire Witch, at the blog Fire Witch Rising, blogs about a recent protest in Colorado to ban the celebration of Columbus Day:

Glenn Morris specifically challenged the Denver press to report Columbus and the genocide of American Indians with the same unequivocal wording they use for the Jewish Holocaust or the African slave trade. No journalist ever writes that protestors “allege” or “say” that Africans were brought to America as slaves, or that Jewish people “view” Hitler as responsible for the Holocaust and “accuse” the Nazis of genocide.

“O Canada! Our Home and Racist Land!”

Kersplebedeb blogs about a First Nation student who refused to stand for the Candadian national anthem and was kicked out of class for it, in the blog Sketchy Thoughts:

Does it really take a white rocket scientist to see what Indigenous kids across this continent have no trouble grasping? Does colonial privilege really make people that stupid?

This is a song celebrating the establishment of Canada (“with glowing hearts we see you rise”), and its military defense (“we stand on guard for thee”). What exactly do you think the establishment of Canada meant, every step of the way? Dispossession, rape, exile, and death for Indigenous people is what it meant. That’s why one of the main groups against whom military defense was necessary were the land’s first inhabitants.

And you can add to this the special sexist allegiance owed to it by young men; “true patriot love in all thy sons command” – just some masculine quid pro quo for getting to rape Indigenous women and children would be my guess.

“O Canada! Our Home and Racist Land!”

Kersplebedeb blogs about a First Nation student who refused to stand for the Candadian national anthem and was kicked out of class for it, in the blog Sketchy Thoughts:

Does it really take a white rocket scientist to see what Indigenous kids across this continent have no trouble grasping? Does colonial privilege really make people that stupid?

This is a song celebrating the establishment of Canada (“with glowing hearts we see you rise”), and its military defense (“we stand on guard for thee”). What exactly do you think the establishment of Canada meant, every step of the way? Dispossession, rape, exile, and death for Indigenous people is what it meant. That’s why one of the main groups against whom military defense was necessary were the land’s first inhabitants.

And you can add to this the special sexist allegiance owed to it by young men; “true patriot love in all thy sons command” – just some masculine quid pro quo for getting to rape Indigenous women and children would be my guess.

The Left and Racism

Eugene, of the blog Pudgy Indian, writes about his experiences with racism in a leftist peace movement:

In this blog I have had to deal with racists. It started with folks using my race to drive home a point, and then telling me that isn’t racist. In my pain and anger, which the comment was designed to hurt me (paraphrased: I support the troops coming home, not killing, having health care, therefore I have no right to say anything about what America did to my folks) I treated them with the same racism they put forth.

After battling these folks for a couple of weeks, I experienced racism at the one place I truly thought I was safe from it. What a fool. It, too, is a lefty organization.

Being a Native American Woman

Stephanie links an article she found on Native American women:

Here’s a very disturbing report on the plight of Native American women. The Native American women are far more likely to be assaulted than other women. It’s due to lack of police and tribal funding as well as lack of societal concern for such women and girls.

Appropriating Native Culture

Rachels, on the blog Ally Work, writes about a recent press release:

The American Sociological Association has released a statement in opposition to the use of Native American nicknames, mascots, and logos. The statement cites research indicating that these representations “reinforce racial stereotypes of Native Americans, and have negative psychological, educational and social effects.” You can read more about those specific outcomes in the press release and statement.

Your Very Own Mini-Natives!

Spottedele blogs about miniature figurines she found in a mail-in catalog which represented Native Americans:

In case you didn’t notice it, there’s a problem with the representation of sexuality in these figures**. The context here involves making “jokes” about people of color. White people have treated people of color as less than human, and we’ve tried to control their sexuality as well. Women of color are usually represented as having high sex drives and willingly having sex with anyone. These supposed traits make them fair game for white men in America, and frankly, I can’t bring myself to imagine what the cacti as breasts really represent. No, it isn’t just harmless fun. Men of color are either demonized as a threat to all white women due to their raging, animalistic*** sexuality, or they’re mocked as impotent. This planter encourages people to keep that tradition alive.

Black Cherokees

Spencer Overton blogs on blackprof.com about the expulsion of Blacks from the Cherokee tribe:

Advocates of last week’s expulsion didn’t want to share the $350 million from casino and federal funds with the freedmen: “Don’t get taken advantage of by these people. They will suck you dry,” wrote Darren Buzzard in an e-mail. “Don’t let black freedmen back you into a corner. Protect Cherokee culture for our children.”

An Angry Indian on Indianz.com

The Angry Indian blogs about Indianz.com on his blogsite IntelligentaIndigena:

Any website that purports to present news for Indian Country that regards the leading neo-conservative racist rag FP as factual repotage and regulary posts the non-sensical drivel defecated by Dr. David Yeagley is not truly for Indian people.

A Navajo Says Goodbye to the Blogosphere

George Joe posts his last blog on Navajo Blogger: News, analysis, and media:

Being one of the first to use this new medium in Indian Country certainly has brought me great scorn. Because in the end, after everyone has had their say, I was held accountable. I’ve received phone calls from three highly placed Navajo politicos telling me to delete comments, some threatening; one even threatened legal action. I’ve received anonymous hate e-mail, been cursed and called names on this board, some are still here as I’ve only deleted the one’s that were very, very bad. In the end I learned that many did not understand this new media called blogging.