Comm. 363: Stereotypes still exist: Native Americans are extinct…?

1. Comm. 363:Stereotypes still exist:Native Americans are extinct…? By: Janelle Kluczynski October, 22, 2012 In Loving Memory of: My Grandmother Theota Plath

2. Where did all of the Native Americans go? • Answer: Absolutely nowhere! There is still a large population of Native Americans prevalent in today’s society. They are respected and active members of today’s society and world. …But really how many are there, and why do we assume natives to look and act a particular way? Image: http://www.nativeamericanchamber.org/chamber.php

3. Native Americans today… According to the U.S. Census Bureau, of 2010… • The Native American population totaled at 5.2 million, making up 1.7% of the total U.S. population. • There were 334 federal and state recognized Native American reservations. • There are 565 federally recognized Native American tribes. • 28% of Native Americans 5 years old or older , were recorded to speak another language other than English in their homes. (Specific languages were not specified). **The image above is attained from the 1990 U.S. Census Bureau. Image: http://bflibrary.blogspot.com/2011/11/noverber-american-indian-month.html. Statistics: http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0192524.html

4. Native Americans still exist…. • The problem with information attained from the U.S. Census Bureau is that it includes everyone who claims to be Native American, so the population numbers might differ somewhat from reality. • Despite the variations in numbers, the numbers do still live as long as Native Americans are still in existence, and tribal reservations may be larger than the recorded numbers because there are still tribes or reservations that still go unrecognized from the federal and state governments. • Regardless of the reality of the numbers, Native Americans still exist!

5. So why would we be led to believe a stereotype that supports the idea of racial extinction? • Media representation of Native Americans as a savage, inferior race. • Media representation of the appearance of the “accepted, trusted, and traditional Native American. • The many historical attempts to wipe Native American’s culture and traditional moral beliefs, values, and languages, only to make the conform to the accepted ways of the predominantly white culture. Image: http://funhdwallpaper.blogspot.com/2011/09/wisdom-quote-those-who-do-not-remember.html

6. The Savage Native in Media • This stereotype can be traced in many forms of media throughout history. It was solely formed to instill fear into the white people, from Native American’s difference in culture. Their culture was unknown and unfamiliar to “outsiders”; therefore, a savage complex was assigned to their culture through media. • According to tvtropes.org, this is shown in movies such as, Fort Apache (1948) and Damn Yankees (1958). • Tvtropes.org also mentions literature forms of media emphasizing this identity, such as The Last of the Mohicans, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, and Robinson Crusoe. Image and Information: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheSavageIndian

7. Which Native American is more familiar to you? Traditional Media Portrayal Today’s Everyday Native American http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2011/08/17/identity-and-theory-47857 http://www.millelacsband.com/Page_Photos.aspx

8. Why is there the assumption Native Americans are extinct? • Is it because the historic savage image imposed on us by media, doesn’t exist in society, or isn’t supported by the realities of Natives today? • Is it because we no longer see the traditional image associated with how Native Americans are framed to look, live, and act? • …OR is it because of the many attempts our white patriarchal community has tried to dismiss them of and wipe away their root culture, historical values, and native languages?

9. Our Americanized version of racial execution… • From the late 1800’s to the late 1970’s, churches and the U.S. government worked together to force Native American children into boarding schools, away from their families, in attempt to erase the native culture and language from them. • According to Charla Bear’s article on NPR.org, Richard Pratt founded the first of these schools promoting his philosophy, “kill the Indian in him, but save the man”. • According to a documentary, Our Spirits Don’t Speak English: Indian Boarding School (2008), “despite the numerous migrations many Native’s were faced with throughout history from being forced out of their mainlands for many reasons including spreading of diseases, sicknesses, and British and English colonists taking over their land, in the 1900’s they were then terrorized and forced to cope with these horrifying boarding schools. ***This research was found from a documentary from Rich-Heape Films ( A Native American Owned Company), called “Our Spirits Don’t Speak English: Indian Boarding School”, (2008). Bear’s article: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16516865 http://chilocco1.blogspot.com/2011/03/from-reservation-to-boarding-school.html

10. Why children??? • “According to Tsianina Lomawaima, head of the American Indian Studies program at the University of Arizona, the intent was to completely transform people, inside and outby targeting language, religion, family structure, economics, to the way one expresses emotion,” said Charla Bear in her article (npr.org). • There were over 100 boarding schools on and off of reservations; the off reservation one housing thousands of children • “Children were beaten, malnourished and forced to do heavy labor. In the 1960s, a congressional report found that many teachers still saw their role as civilizing American Indian students, not educating them. The report said the schools still had a "major emphasis on discipline and punishment,“ Bear said. • According to this same article, Bear mentioned that not all Native American’s experiences of boarding schools were bad. Some of them met spouses and learned valuable lessons. Others had horrifying experiences, and if they lived through them, they would never be able to forget http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16516865 Image: http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/incorp/native/school.html

11. Conclusion… • Forced and driven by fear, many people lost their connection to their Native American roots. For so many years they were beaten into losing their embedded culture. It is horrifying and tragic to know people had their native language beaten out of them, even if that were their only way of communicating. They were forced to abandon everything they ever knew. Some were even killed in extreme punishment, only for lies to cover the method of killing. The attempted extermination of the Native American’s cultures could possibly be the origin of the stereotype claiming Native Americans to be extinct.

12. Video of an interview with Andrew Windyboy about his memories of the boarding school • http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=qDshQTBh5d4 If there is time available… check out this interview on YouTube. It is emotionally tolling to hear his recalled memories of his experience. **Our Spirits Don't Speak English: Indian Boarding School **

13. Bibliography Bear, C. (2008, May, 12). American indian boarding schools haunt many. NPR.org. Retrieved October 16, 2012 from: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16516865. Heape, S. R. (Producer), & Richie, C. (Director). (2008). Our spirits don’t speak english: Indian boarding school [Videotape]. Dallas, TX: Rich- Heape Films, Inc. Received from YouTube on October 10, 2012 from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=qDshQTBh5d4. TvTropes.org. (2012). The savage indian: Television tropes & idioms. Official website of television tropes. Received October 14, 2012 from: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheSavageIndian. U.S. Census Bureau. (2007). American indians by the numbers. Infoplease.org. Pearson Education. Received on October 14, 2012 from: http://www.infoplease.com/spot/aihmcensus1.html. Images: Slide 2: Native American Chamber of Commerce members image received on October 16, 2012 from: http://www.nativeamericanchamber.org/chamber.php. Slide 3: 1990 U.S. Census Bureau Native American population map image received on October 16, 2012 from: http://bflibrary.blogspot.com/2011/11/noverber-american-indian-month.html. Slide 5: Quote image received on October 16, 2012 from: http://funhdwallpaper.blogspot.com/2011/09/wisdom-quote-those-who-do-not-remember.html. Slide 6: Savage Native American image received on October 16, 2012 from: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheSavageIndian. Slide 7: Traditional Indian Portrayal image received on October 16, 2012 from: http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2011/08/17/identity-and-theory-47857. Slide 7: Today’s Everyday Native American image received on October 16, 2012 from: http://www.millelacsband.com/Page_Photos.aspx. Slide 9: Indian Boarding School Silence image received on October 16, 2012 from: http://chilocco1.blogspot.com/2011/03/from-reservation-to-boarding-school.html. Slide 10: Indian Boarding school: thousands of children image received on October 16, 2012 from: http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/incorp/native/school.html.