Hi, I'm a Native American, and I'm fed up with the appropriation of my culture by those desperate to be trendy, hip, ironic etc.
Being a Native comes with a history of decidedly un-trendy events, such as the cultural genocide of an entire continent, residential schools, racism, stolen generations, and the eradication of entire tribes of people and their cultural traditions.
This blog is devoted to calling out those who might think that it is fun to dress like a native for a photo-shoot, or what have you. Just because it's popular, doesn't make it right, and to me, it is just as offensive as blackface.
Although we are a mostly invisible culture, that does not grant anyone the right to appropriate what little pieces of our past we have, robbing them of their dignity.
Part of being seen as "trendy" also makes an entire culture not only a commodity, but also something that people will (and can) tire of; therefore being disposable. And to me, that is unacceptable.
I can be contacted at flight.of.fancy@live.com, if you'd like to see something I've missed up on the site.
“You have taken the land which is rightfully ours. Years from now my people will be forced to live in mobile homes on reservations. Your people will wear cardigans, and drink highballs. We will sell our bracelets by the road sides, you will play golf, and enjoy hot hors d’oeuvres. My people will have pain and degradation. Your people will have stick shifts. The gods of my tribe have spoken. They have said, ‘Do not trust the Pilgrims, especially Sarah Miller.’
“…And for all these reasons I have decided to scalp you and burn your village to the ground.”
<3
fiddlersgreen:midnightmonster / monkeyknifefight
Wednesday: You have taken the land which is rightfully ours. Years from now my people will be forced to live in mobile homes on reservations. Your people will wear cardigans, and drink highballs. We will sell our bracelets by the road sides, you will play golf, and enjoy hot hors d’oeuvres. My people will have pain and degradation. Your people will have stick shifts. The gods of my tribe have spoken. They have said, “Do not trust the Pilgrims, especially Sarah Miller.”
Amanda: Gary, she’s changing the words.
Wednesday: And for all these reasons I have decided to scalp you and burn your village to the ground.Personal hero.
YES.
This is awesome, and so spot on. There’s a way to wear it without disrespecting it!
Sam Durant
Ignore the [wo]man behind the curtain
Hi, It’s me here. I’ve purposefully left this blog anonymous to deter any conflict that might be directed at my person, but also to let it be a real forum for this issue, unburdened by the individual facets of my life that might predispose people to agreeing/disagreeing with me. My own sister followed me for two weeks before I let her in on my little secret, because that way, I could really find out her views on the subject, uncensored and honest. This weekend, I had the pleasure of having another such experience. A group of us went out to a bar, and were having great conversation. We all knew my sister from various avenues, yet out of the group of 6 or so people, none of us had ever met more than 2 of the others. Four of the six of us keep one or more active tumblr accounts, and were discussing some of the ways people interact online. All of the people knew that my sister and myself were native, so when the topic of “mycultureisnotatrend.tumblr.com” came up, it seemed like a good launch pad for an epic conversation.
I’ll explain the situation further. I operate many tumblr’s aside from this one, and have quite a huge number of people that I follow. Whenever I stumble upon material that might work for this blog, I toss it in. This often results in re-blogging items from other people’s tumblr’s that I may not even follow, or don’t show up as being followed by mycultureisnotatrend. One such photo was re-blogged from a girl whose tumblr I do very much enjoy following. For this blog, I generally take issue with the subject matter/depiction of natives, and wish to draw attention to it, but in my attempt to start something controversial, I’ve inadvertently stepped on a few toes. This tumblette had become hurt by my re-blogging of her material, and naturally assumed that because I had chosen her tumblr to pick it from, I was calling her out as a racist. This has never been my intention whatsoever. My sister, observing this comedy of errors, called me out immediately, which plunged us into one of the best conversations that I’ve had on the subject since I began this blog about a month ago.
We discussed the gray areas of reappropriation, the untactful way my eagerness to promote dialogue has wounded people, and the state of affairs which cultural identity (not just native, but all identities, be they visible or not) and it’s place have taken in a rapidly modernizing society which has little to no national identity (we were talking about Canada… which is usually defined as being “not the U.S.” or “Tim Hortons”).
All in all, we both walked away on the same page, and realized that our viewpoints were almost identical, and even though it was a rough start, we might never have had this conversation without the dramas that sparked it. All in all, I left feeling inspired, and also humbled. I know I’m not out to humiliate, or shake the racist finger at people, and no matter how many long-winded explanations I write on this blog, people will inevitably just browse the pictures, and be horrified that they had a tacit hand in landing them on here. This isn’t a “burn book,” but rather a collection of thoughts and feelings for a people who are largely ignored in today’s world. Let’s listen to each other, and find out that we might be more alike than we even know.
