Tired of phony Indians
Going Native
Kathy Dickerson is fed up with people pretending to be American Indians.Kathy Dickerson grew up in St. Louis in the 1970s, a time when it wasn't "cool" to be an Indian. "The kids in the schoolyard teased me terribly," Dickerson recalls. "They called me a savage. I wanted no part of my Indian blood."
Three decades later, the 43-year-old Dickerson has embraced her ancestry. The daughter of a full-blooded Kiowa Indian woman from Oklahoma and an Italian man from St. Louis, Dickerson spends her days curing animal hides with cow brains—a natural way of tanning leather—and crafting ornate moccasins and jewelry out of her south-city home. When her fingers and eyes grow tired, Dickerson pushes aside ancient traditions and logs on to her Web site, www.kiowakat.com.
Originally designed to market her handiwork, the site now serves as Dickerson's main tool for exposing people she believes are masquerading as Indians. These frauds, says Dickerson, distort the true heritage of Native Americans and rob them of what little income they can generate by selling craftwork and participating in demonstrations. 
Kathy Dickerson is fed up with people pretending to be American Indians.
Three decades later, the 43-year-old Dickerson has embraced her ancestry. The daughter of a full-blooded Kiowa Indian woman from Oklahoma and an Italian man from St. Louis, Dickerson spends her days curing animal hides with cow brains—a natural way of tanning leather—and crafting ornate moccasins and jewelry out of her south-city home. When her fingers and eyes grow tired, Dickerson pushes aside ancient traditions and logs on to her Web site, www.kiowakat.com.
Originally designed to market her handiwork, the site now serves as Dickerson's main tool for exposing people she believes are masquerading as Indians. These frauds, says Dickerson, distort the true heritage of Native Americans and rob them of what little income they can generate by selling craftwork and participating in demonstrations.
posted by Rob at 2:05 PM
5 Comments:
Writerfella here --
And this is exactly what writerfella was talking about: groups that lobby and posture and pretend and then get slowly advancing recognition for being something they absolutely are not. And if they ever achieve Federal recognition, as did the Pequots, they are Natives by government edict. Apparently that is enough for appreciators of the nondescript, but it never will be enough for writerfella...
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'
As you may have heard, the federal government terminated a lot of legitimate tribes. If a tribe can pass the feds' stringent criteria to become recognized, it deserves our support. The majority of tribes seeking recognition fail to get it, which proves the criteria is tough. That's why every tribe (including the Kiowa) accepts the validity of the recognition standard.
Meanwhile, the Chickasaws whom you denigrate have an unbroken record of both heredity and history. So what's your criteria for recognizing a tribe as valid? Is it based on blood quantum? Or what, exactly?
I think what Ms. Dickerson is trying to say is that she is sick and tired of white people with no Indian blood or with minuscule Indian blood playing Indian. These people are a blight on Indian society, not to mention their behavior is often fraudulent. I came across this article in ICT which is exactly what Ms. Dickerson is talking about. These people claim Indian decent and have formed their own tribe in Lakeland FL. They allow anyone to join who believe they have Native American ancestry. Not only do they let anybody in, they have ingratiated themselves into the school districts giving talks to children in full regalia because "kids respond to exotic attire." Please go to this web address and judge for yourself.
http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061101/NEWS/611010333/1326
Writerfella here --
No, blood quanta have little to do with determining who is Native and who is not, because for many tribes it is a quarter or more by ancestry, and for some like the Cherokee it can be as little as 1/1000. The various tribes set their own quantum, as ostensibly is their right as self-governing nations.
What actually is occurring is that who is Native and who is not shortly could become the same question, and that is the most insidious form of cultural genocide possible. In fewest words, 'you are Native because I say you are, and you are not Native because I say you're not.' Period.
Whoever happens to displease those with such say-so could find themselves stripped of the recognition, and those who inveigle and cozy up to the same authorities suddenly find themselves acceptable as 'Native.' One thing would be for certain: there would no longer be any stereotypes because authority would be the final arbiter and whatever they wished to accept would be the rule of the day. 'Hmm, you look like us, so you're Native. But you don't, so you must be something else.'
That's what is happening with the 'Kennewick Man' debacle. That supposed fossil human cleverly is being said to highly resemble early European Man, so Europeans must have been the first inhabitants of both New World continents. And you who call yourself "The First Americans" must have come along and wiped out our peers! WE are The First Americans and so all we did was reclaim what rightfully was ours. Go back where you came from!'
A rare earth examination of the Kennewick remains most likely will show that they do not match North American types and quantities but indeed match those of central Europe. And just who is it that handles 12,000 year old European remains every day? Why, only the scientists who just happened also to pronounce upon Kennewick Man! Imagine that?
The moment is coming when anyone can say that they are Native because they were born here and thus there no longer is any special status attached because everyone will be Native. And the last of the lands and the peoples and their cultures and their languages and their histories at last will disappear because there no longer will be anyone left to regard them as unique, either in content or originality, or even beauty. And EuroMan finally will have mongrelized a last bastion of resistance to his Manifest Destiny...
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'
I'm tired of white people with no or a minuscule amount of Indian blood playing Indian too. On the other hand, many "white" or "black" people with a small amount of Indian blood are legitimate members of legitimate tribes such as the Cherokees--and Pequots.
So what's the difference? The only difference that comes to mind is that some tribes have achieved federal recognition. This standard may be flawed or arbitrary, but it's about all we've got. It's better than saying everybody or nobody is an Indian.
If Russ has defined a standard for determining who's a legitimate Indian--a verifiable standard that includes him; excludes Chickasaws, Pequots, and wannabes; and doesn't rely on blood quantum--I must've missed it. When I see such a standard, we can discuss it.
P.S. I thought I was already the final arbiter of what's stereotypical and what isn't. ;-)
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home