Graduating to Prison: Native Americans Sue School District

[nosmokes]

i guess, since it is the american way, we'll never stop destroying the first americans, or anyone else that stands in the way of what passes for progress as defined by the haves and the have mores. damn.
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original-the progressive

Graduating to Prison: Native Americans Sue School District
By Mary Annette Pember

February 2007 Issue

Nearly all the motels in Winner, South Dakota, are booked solid as folks make the annual trek back for the high school homecoming celebration. Businesses are festooned with banners lauding the “Warriors” football team. The little main street seems to shiver in anticipation of the big parade. On this weekend, all the restaurants and fraternal halls will be filled to capacity with revelers.

Everyone is coming home. Everyone except the Indians. Most of them are already home, and if they’re not, they seldom return for homecoming. This celebration is for the conquerors, not the conquered.

Birdie Ward is a nicely dressed woman with a warm smile who talks easily with strangers in the lobby of a fine Winner motel. A former homecoming “Indian princess,” she graduated in 1950 from Winner High School and currently lives in Rapid City.

She and her fellow alumni who are gathered in the lobby ruefully lament the loss of the old Indian-themed team mascots. The current Roman Warrior just “isn’t the same,” they declare. The homecoming warrior and princess used to be presented to the community in Plains-style garb as they emerged from their fake tepee on the school stage. The alumni nod in agreement, expressing a note of disgust regarding the Native community’s insistence that the Indian theme be dropped a few years ago. Ward and her friends declare that it was really an honor to the tribe and cannot understand how the Indians could be angry at such a noble gesture.

Ward and her friends sigh. “We’ve tried to help the Indians over the years, but you can’t get them to get an education, and it just breaks your heart to see how they live,” Ward says. While she acknowledges some discrimination, she adds: “I blame the Indians for much of what happens to them; they refuse to blend in. They insist on keeping to their old ways. After all, they are a conquered people.”

Ward also expresses disgust at the numerous government handouts she believes Indian people get. “They all receive checks, you know. Every Indian who has at least 1/8 degree of Indian blood receives a monthly check from the government,” she says.

She seems genuinely shocked and a bit embarrassed when I tell her I have 50 percent Ojibwe tribal blood quantum, and I receive no payments whatsoever from the government. She quickly responds, “Yes, well, you Ojibwe are so much more industrious.”
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complete article here

[Solly Mack]

1. "After all, they are a conquered people.”

What a petrified piece of human excrement she is

[Chulanowa]

2. It's things like this that really strain the whole nonviolence thing I follow...

I have to wonder how these people would react if the native school had a "The shining hillbillies" football team, and a boy and girl in whiteface came out of a shack and after proclaiming themselves to be brother and sister, mimed various sexual acts on stage, to the cheers of "GO WHITEY!"

How does Mrs. Ward think about Poles, I wonder?

[nosmokes]

4. and 50 thousand crackers doing the tomahawk chop in turner stadium while

singing some guttural mishmash and chief knockahoma dances around in generic indian costume is meant as a sign of respect doncha know. forget all about that trail of tears thing and the genocide and the diaspora, huh? how long you wanna hold a grudge anyhow? look how we honor your ancestors today! casinos and reservations with all the luxeries ofthe late 19th century.

what? i spose you want more beads and trinkets now huh?

[Warpy]

3. Oh, good grief!

“I blame the Indians for much of what happens to them; they refuse to blend in. They insist on keeping to their old ways. After all, they are a conquered people.”

Ethnocentric pinheads need to realize the "old ways" are often all a conquered people have left!

I've read a bit about those "old ways" she sniffs at with contempt and they range from the benign to the downright admirable, at least outside warfare.

The problem is the lack of hope a formerly proud, nomadic people are faced with when they've been forced into dependency in permanent settlements.

This is a rich country. The First Nations preserved its wealth untouched, and we came along and increased it. We've always been good at that. We just need to figure out how to distribute it.

I'm perfectly happy to share this country with people who have a completely different system than my own. In fact, I find it fascinating.

[scarletwoman]

5. Hoo boy. Bernie Wards are legion. This country is full to the brim with whites who simply can't

understand why American Indians don't feel "honored" by white people dressing up like them, and making caricatures of sacred tribal traditions.

Long before I ended up on DU, the bulk of my online life consisted of fighting against the use of Indian "mascots" by white schools and sports teams. To this day, it blows my mind that this country still has a NFL football team called the "Redskins". It's no different than if there were a team named the "Niggers". How many people would stand for THAT?

There is a very special form of racism reserved for Natives in this country. White people prefer their mythological stereotypes of the "Noble Savage" to the reality of a people decimated by government-sponsored genocide. It's a form of asserting ownership over the heritage of the First Peoples. White America decides what defines the Native people, and the opinions of the Native peoples themselves count for nothing.

sw