An email I sent directly to the writer, but I received an overwhelmingly positive response from many of my friends who want to share this message with more people:
Hi, Veronica,
I am an Anishinaabe undergraduate student at the University of Minnesota – Morris, and one of my majors is American Indian Studies. I read your piece “People Are Now Finding A DISNEY PRINCESS Performance Offensive, Because Sorority Girls.” Although I try to avoid comment sections, your email address was given at the end of your article. I thought this email would be an opportunity to write directly to you in order to express some thoughts on why this is an important issue, despite your idea of “the overly sensitive manner” in which Native people and our allies are reacting in.
In your piece you mention that the students did not intend to offend. I completely believe that they did not. However, they did offend, and thus an apology was issued. I am so glad the sorority acknowledged their performance was insensitive. Kudos to them, but your defense of their performance is what I want to examine.
Your claim that “the girls were not dressed up as ‘Native Americans’ […] They were dressed up as the characters from Pocahontas” is inaccurate; some of the male characters in the film wear war paint, but never once in the movie does Pocahontas wear it. So, the argument that the sorority members were trying to portray only one character, not an entire ethnic group, is null.
The students created costumes based on what they believe a stereotypical Native woman looks like, thus perpetuating the (inaccurate) belief that Native women wear face paint. It is not only the stereotypes that they perpetuated that I find offensive but the fact that the students wore the paint at all. I cannot speak for all tribes or Indigenous people; however, for many of us face paint is a sacred, meaningful practice. Much like controversies such as the one over Chief Illiniwek at the University of Illinois (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chief_Illiniwek) in which the school disrespected many Native peoples by allowing their mascot to don a genuine eagle feather headdress and entertain an audience while wearing it, donning war paint and performing as a stereotypical Native American woman is viewed by many as disgraceful, false, and offensive. Face paint is a sacred tradition meant to be practiced by certain people who have earned the right. There are many of us who do not appreciate the misrepresentations of our sacred traditions such as the misrepresentations displayed by the students’ performance.
Your argument that walking on eggshells prolongs racism is wrong. If the ethnic group who you are misrepresenting tells you it is offensive to them and you should stop, then the respectful thing to do would be to apologize and stop. It is IGNORANCE that prolongs racism, like the type of ignorance in which even the well-educated think it is acceptable to perform as an offensive stereotypical representation. Skirting the issues, ignoring histories of oppression, disrespecting ethnic groups, and perpetuating stereotypes is racism. Walking on eggshells – AKA being sensitive to the feelings and desires of other cultures – is admirable, and it would do the world good for people to stop being so fucking ethnocentric.
An email I sent directly to the writer, but I received an overwhelmingly positive response from many of my friends who want to share this message with more people:
Hi, Veronica,
I am an Anishinaabe undergraduate student at the University of Minnesota – Morris, and one of my majors is American Indian Studies. I read your piece “People Are Now Finding A DISNEY PRINCESS Performance Offensive, Because Sorority Girls.” Although I try to avoid comment sections, your email address was given at the end of your article. I thought this email would be an opportunity to write directly to you in order to express some thoughts on why this is an important issue, despite your idea of “the overly sensitive manner” in which Native people and our allies are reacting in.
In your piece you mention that the students did not intend to offend. I completely believe that they did not. However, they did offend, and thus an apology was issued. I am so glad the sorority acknowledged their performance was insensitive. Kudos to them, but your defense of their performance is what I want to examine.
Your claim that “the girls were not dressed up as ‘Native Americans’ […] They were dressed up as the characters from Pocahontas” is inaccurate; some of the male characters in the film wear war paint, but never once in the movie does Pocahontas wear it. So, the argument that the sorority members were trying to portray only one character, not an entire ethnic group, is null.
The students created costumes based on what they believe a stereotypical Native woman looks like, thus perpetuating the (inaccurate) belief that Native women wear face paint. It is not only the stereotypes that they perpetuated that I find offensive but the fact that the students wore the paint at all. I cannot speak for all tribes or Indigenous people; however, for many of us face paint is a sacred, meaningful practice. Much like controversies such as the one over Chief Illiniwek at the University of Illinois (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chief_Illiniwek) in which the school disrespected many Native peoples by allowing their mascot to don a genuine eagle feather headdress and entertain an audience while wearing it, donning war paint and performing as a stereotypical Native American woman is viewed by many as disgraceful, false, and offensive. Face paint is a sacred tradition meant to be practiced by certain people who have earned the right. There are many of us who do not appreciate the misrepresentations of our sacred traditions such as the misrepresentations displayed by the students’ performance.
Your argument that walking on eggshells prolongs racism is wrong. If the ethnic group who you are misrepresenting tells you it is offensive to them and you should stop, then the respectful thing to do would be to apologize and stop. It is IGNORANCE that prolongs racism, like the type of ignorance in which even the well-educated think it is acceptable to perform as an offensive stereotypical representation. Skirting the issues, ignoring histories of oppression, disrespecting ethnic groups, and perpetuating stereotypes is racism. Walking on eggshells – AKA being sensitive to the feelings and desires of other cultures – is admirable, and it would do the world good for people to stop being so fucking ethnocentric.
Miigwech (thanks),
Ashleigh