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Help[Opinions] Re: Native American names (U.S. only)
in reply to a message by holeyg
But people of non-white races haven't been as involved in the oppression, and so it doesn't carry the same weight when they use the names. People also use "admiration" and a tenuous, vague "ancestor a few generations back" explanation to don headdresses and war paint and buckskins when they don't even remotely identify as Indigenous. If we all cringe at that, how is it somehow okay to take a different symbol of that race such as a name and make their child wear it for life?
There are very few things that bother my husband about races misappropriating his culture, actually. The rest of his family is much more likely to be hurt by the actions of others. But even he can go on a pretty fair rant about dreamcatchers. Most of the ones people have are manufactured in other countries like China and purchased from non-Native-run novelty shops, often with semi-precious, badly researched explanations about what they're supposed to do and represent. Even the ones sold from reservations can be inauthentic. It's difficult for reservations to have business infrastructure. Governments typically staked out the land because nobody else wanted it... awful soil for growing things, remote or inaccessible location, rocky or swampy ground, etc. And at least where I'm from, owning property on a reservation is not like owning property off of it. So no big business is going to come to a reserve if they can't have true ownership and can’t be sure if the government is going to snatch the land out from under them at any time. And it's hard for small, family-owned businesses to build up around nothing, especially when they have the same land ownership problems. There are only a few businesses that ever seem to do well: casinos, tobacco shops and places that sell kitchy, touristy crap. So even if your soul is dying by selling those things, you still need to feed your family, so you're going to do it. You usually can find beautiful examples of local Native artistry at those same shops and it's wonderful to support those endeavours. But the big sellers are the iconic but less authentic cheap crap.
Are you seriously suggesting that because my one common example happens to be female that I'm feeding the misogynists and neo-nazis and buying into their propaganda? If you truly believe that and aren't just using it as a gateway to start a different set of arguments, then no amount of rational explanation or critical thinking on my part is going to allow us to agree.
There are very few things that bother my husband about races misappropriating his culture, actually. The rest of his family is much more likely to be hurt by the actions of others. But even he can go on a pretty fair rant about dreamcatchers. Most of the ones people have are manufactured in other countries like China and purchased from non-Native-run novelty shops, often with semi-precious, badly researched explanations about what they're supposed to do and represent. Even the ones sold from reservations can be inauthentic. It's difficult for reservations to have business infrastructure. Governments typically staked out the land because nobody else wanted it... awful soil for growing things, remote or inaccessible location, rocky or swampy ground, etc. And at least where I'm from, owning property on a reservation is not like owning property off of it. So no big business is going to come to a reserve if they can't have true ownership and can’t be sure if the government is going to snatch the land out from under them at any time. And it's hard for small, family-owned businesses to build up around nothing, especially when they have the same land ownership problems. There are only a few businesses that ever seem to do well: casinos, tobacco shops and places that sell kitchy, touristy crap. So even if your soul is dying by selling those things, you still need to feed your family, so you're going to do it. You usually can find beautiful examples of local Native artistry at those same shops and it's wonderful to support those endeavours. But the big sellers are the iconic but less authentic cheap crap.
Are you seriously suggesting that because my one common example happens to be female that I'm feeding the misogynists and neo-nazis and buying into their propaganda? If you truly believe that and aren't just using it as a gateway to start a different set of arguments, then no amount of rational explanation or critical thinking on my part is going to allow us to agree.
This message was edited 10/3/2019, 5:45 AM
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