Watch It Again: Sh*t People Say to Natives

White Women and Headdresses

I'm on a mission to find out when white women started wearing Plains Indian headdresses as a part of 'fashion'.

One of my friends, Ross Chaney, found this gem:

A unusual vaudeville act - USA, 1940s
"Wearing her authentic Native American headdress, Enid Mutterbucket would leap up and down on two mini trampolines, ululating while she performed various movements of an arcane nature. She was accompanied by Signor Prosciutto on his accordion, who played his own arrangements of Lakota folk songs interspersed with popular Glen Miller hits of the day. (Well, I did tell you it was an "unusual" act!)"

Callaloo Parade and the Sexualization of Native American Women

Sexual Violence is a Tool of Conquest
"Sexual assault rates and violence against Native American women did not just drop from the sky. They are a process of history." - Jacqueline Agtuca

So I just got word of another Native-themed Parade from my friend Melissa. She wrote:

I got a call from a woman today who was livid over a Caribana parade that's going to be happening in Toronto in the next month or so where the theme is "Native America." Here's the website http://callaloo.net/. I passed this around work and we're going to try to do something here to bring attention as to why this is wrong and provide some education as to how this image they are putting forth perpetuates violence against Aboriginal women.

Pride Parade - Playing Indian?

Hello blog friends!

This is just a quick post to let you all know of a recent situation that occurred in Santa Fe -

Today was the annual Santa Fe Pride Parade, and a few of my friends attended and were shocked to find 'white boys' playing 'Indian.' This is particularly shocking because the whole point of Pride Parade is, as my friend states below, 'to abolish hate and stereotypes in order to celebrate equality, difference, diversity and tolerance.'

Since this blog focuses on issues related to representation, and encourages people to think 'beyond buckskin', I wanted to post the letter that my friend sent earlier today.

UPDATE: Please click here to add your name to another letter written in response to the presence of the "Cowboys and Indians" parade float.

(This is not Santa Fe's Parade, this was Miami Pride Parade 2010 - is 'Playing Indian' an acceptable Pride Parade thing? Photo by Jessica R. Metcalfe)

(Santa Fe Pride Parade 2011. Playin Indian photo by Joslyn Baker, Soluna Studio, Commercial Photography)

Hi All,

I attended the Santa Fe Pride parade in the railyard this morning and was shocked with what was included in the parade - a truck load of white boys playing indian. I approached the Santa Fe Human Rights Alliance and asked them to take responsibility and to address it immediately and publicly since they had the platform. The Vice-president blew me off so I waited to hear the speeches by all political constituents expressing Santa Fe's tolerance of all. Upon discussing the "situation" with the president, she tried to dismiss it but I was somewhat relentless and told her her organization needs to take responsibility. I left.

Suzy Menkes and the 'S-Word'

Yikes stripes:
 The fashion industry has just taken a huge step backwards.  Check out this article by Wendy Brandes (posted on the Huffington Post and reprinted below) critiquing an article written by the well-known and well-respected fashion critic Suzy Menkes. Menkes nonchalantly busts out the controversial S-word (Squaw) when describing Princess Diana's decision to wear a necklace as a headband.

Oooh, tsk tsk Menkes, what a faux pas!  Girl, get your Indian stereotypes right: Princess Diana was rockin' the 'Indian Princess' look, not the 'Squaw/drudge' look.

(Left: Indian Princess Diana, wearing her necklace as a headband, "like a squaw")

Headdress Zine - Download for Free

Downloaded your own copy of Kate Burch’s zine HEAD DRESS :

Headdress was created to expose the negative and offensive ways in which Native American imagery is appropriated in "fashion" and "trendy" photographs on popular internet sites. 

The zine is composed entirely of found images from blogs, juxtaposed with critical quotes from theorists and bloggers examining the effects of cultural appropriation.

Download and distribute widely.

Levi's Indian Lore

Here's a lil repost from the always fascinating Sociological Images!:

Vintage Levi’s Brochure Provides a “Round-Up of Western Indian Lore”
by gwen

Rob Walker (author of the fascinating book Buying In: What We Buy and Who We Are) sent me a link to a post at Drinkin’ and Dronin’ of a 1954 Levi Strauss brochure about “western Indian lore.” It’s a nice round-up of stereotypes and appropriations of Native Americans. We start off with an angry, bare-chested (and Levis-clad) man with a tomahawk, shield, moccasins, and headdress; I’d guess he’s supposed to be a warrior doing a war dance:

Then some descriptions of items associated with different tribes and the obligatory broken English (“just want ‘um”) familiar to anyone who watched The Lone Ranger and paid attention to Tonto:


I have no idea how accurate their descriptions of “unusual Indian weapons” are, but the overall tone of the brochure doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence.
And we have a lesson on “the Indian sign language,” the origins of which are “lost in the mists of time”: