Reynard Faber, chief of the Jicarilla Apache Nation, speaks for himself.
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The daughter of Oklahoma’s governor stirred a righteous rage when she posted a photo of herself wearing a Native American headdress. Obviously, she is not Native American. So, I was sucked into a blog hole where I saw many opinions I agreed with, many I disagreed with.
Dan Snyder, owner of the Washington [REDACTED] football team has repeatedly shown his tone-deafness when it comes to matters of race and Native Americans.
Stephen Colbert weighed in on the football team controversy, but the conversation was completely derailed by hashtag warriors.
My personal opinion is that most of us don’t know many, if any, Native Americans so we can’t overcome the stereotypes we’ve been programmed with; we have a hard time humanizing Native Americans in the way one empathizes with other disenfranchised groups that are more visible.
Well, I happen to know a couple of Native Americans; chiefly (pun intended) the chief of the Jicarilla Apache tribe in Dulce, New Mexico. I’ve had the privilege of staying with him a few times, and back in 2009, he agreed to be filmed talking about his heritage and his tribe. So, here’s a short piece of that talk.
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“Yes, the team name is a racist term.” No its not actually. It actually comes from a practice that the Algonquin and French engaged in during the French and Indian War (that would the war before the Revolutionary War), wherein the Algonquin and their French Allies painted their faces red in preparation for battle against the British Colonials in an effort to intimidate their opposition. There is no racial or ethnic basis for the term Redskins and in fact if you look at the January 2014 edition of National Geographic Magazine you will see painting their faces red is a… Read more »
There’s a simple solution to this controversy, and it has the virtue of being equally offensive to everyone. Perfectly logical and consistent, however. It would also bring attention to the complicated legal status of Native Americans in the U.S. The solution: the Washington team incorporates itself as an official Native American tribe. That way, the organization is free to use whatever language or images it sees fit to use according to its own self-definition of its heritage. It can then choose to license its namesake or not. It can then use its official status as legal leverage to negotiate the… Read more »
P.S. Sorry, should say “pierced nose” not “pinched nose.”