Every year, there’s always a slew of “Indian” costumes, and plenty of thoughtless, ignorant people to use us and our cultures as a shallow dress up day. Social media on Halloween is especially bad for Indians, as you see one asshole after another, most often white, tweeting or facebooking their oh so cool gonna be an Indian for a day costumes, bristling with defensiveness over their right to appropriation, and how awful us damn Indians are for speaking out about it, that’s just bullying poor white people who aren’t doing anything wrong!
This year sees yet another celebrity who thinks Indian dress up is cool and fun:
Hillary Duff and Boyfriend Jason Walsh Dress as Pilgrim and Native American ‘Chief’ – MICHAEL KOVAC/GETTY IMAGES.
UPDATE: Apologies proffered by Duff and Walsh. Walsh’s, um, apology, trotted out the standard “I meant no disrespect, I have nothing but admiration!” yada, yada, yada. No, you don’t have admiration, and that’s not wanted anyway. There are, of course, a number of people who are upset any apology was offered, tweets at the link. Some non-native people have also posted photos of themselves dressed up as “Indian” and have posted to #NoDAPL. As for Natives who play dress up, Dr. Keene addresses that at Native Appropriations.
This year, 2016, sees a new twist on the bigotry and appropriation. It seems some people think it’s really cool to depict those NoDAPL water protectors for what they are – lazy, shiftless, drunken injuns living on handouts from all those hard working white people:
These are Ndakotans, people we are surrounded by. I can’t say anything right now, this is one lousy way to start the day. You can read more here.
Let me guess, none of those people have actually been to the camp(s)…?
And I guess I shouldn’t be, but I’m honestly surprised by the assumption that the protectors out there are uneducated and illiterate. Because apparently they’ve never heard of all the leaders and lawyers and other specialists out there. And then there’s the myriad of reasons why Indians might have worse education on average, so fucking funny, haha.
Anyway.
Mandan is downstream from Lake Oahe, right? And these people dress up as caricatures of the people fighting against pollution upstream. Stupid is a word that comes to mind. As for the rest, I bet they deny being racist.
Just submitted this both to RSTDT and WTFIWWY. And you thought awful Halloween costumes had his rock bottom with the Sexy Green Turd.
Ice Swimmer:
Stupid, yes, combined with a full immersed colonial mindset. When it comes to Indians, most Dakotans don’t deny their racism at all, they justify it. That’s why it’s not unusual to hear things like ‘drunk welfare injuns [sucking white people dry]’* and ‘prairie niggers’.
*See Responding to #YesDAPL for that one.
I can’t believe how many people are perfectly, consciously willing to make the world a worse place for them and their descendants, their own children, just to be able to, for a split of a second, spite the people they hate (see also: rolling coal.) Do they think their whiteness makes them immune to the poison they spew? Do they think environmental problems will solve themselves? What. Is. Wrong. With. Them?!?!
I’m close to 100% certain pilgrim women didn’t dress like that either.
If white people didn’t have so much social and political power*, they’d be the laughing stock of the world.
I suppose if they didn’t have all the power, they wouldn’t be able to behave like this in the first place.
* and this power is ultimately backed by firepower, so it’s the classic bullying version of power
Saad:
As she’s dressed in faux puritan dress, I’m pretty sure if any woman back in the day did dress like that, it wouldn’t be long before she was stoned, tied to a stake, or locked up in an asylum.
I’m still pondering the implications of the pilgrim woman + Indian brave pairing.
It’s a Hallowe’en costume for a woman, so of course it’s Sexy Puritan.
rq:
Pocahottie with the gender roles reversed.
Handouts. RIGHT. It’s amazing to me that people who clearly have a computer -- because they are posting shit on the internet -- fail to check and see whether or not that’s true. It is SO EASY to look up whether Indigenous people get handouts from anyone and the answer is a resounding NO. THEY DO NOT. Look it up, you fools!
Apparently mocking things without bothering to try and understand them is pretty common but it’s also pretty stupid. I’m starting to conclude that the white population of ND is just not very smart, due entirely to their own efforts.
Kestrel:
A great many of them aren’t terribly keen on examining their beliefs.
Caine @10
That part I got. When the words come, I will write them.
kestrel @ 11
Also, some Indigenous leaders like Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, AFAIK, were against their people taking the stuff the U.S. govt. gave them back in the 19th century in order to make them dependent on them and move to reservations. They got imprisoned and killed by the U.S. for their efforts to keep their people independent. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t and damned if they think you do and don’t.
I woke up, I read the news, I learned about a pipeline explosion a few hours back. No terrorist necessary, just lack of proper safety protocols during maintenance (allegedly the pipe exploded after being hit by the excavator).
I wonder if those two smug dumb chicks and the equaly dumb pair are at least able to comprehend that if such accident happens near them or up the river of them the damage does not remain contained to those indians they are so happy to mock. The water and the earth do not have their prejudices, the water will not decide “oil remains here in the reservation, and where whites live only clean water will flow”.
And it seems that major spill is just a question of time in US with its lack of functional regulations and oversight -- all it takes is one careless and/or inadequately schooled and/or heavily overworked employee and/or manager(s) cutting corners where they should not. And from my experience with US companies, there are at least two of those present at all times in any process.
Duff made a weak apology about not having properly thought through this. Amazing. They must have put quite a lot of thought into those costumes but never a single though in whether they were OK or not…
+++
Charly
Mr works in the world’s biggest chemical compound. Two weeks ago they had a horrible explosion with three dead. That’s with rescue and firefighters being on site all the time…