In the face of “rejection” by the Oglala Nation — some thoughts on redemption for Fox & Friends’ resident “Native American” Conservative.
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Dear Ellie,
In the wake of being “rejected” by the Oglala Nation I know you’ve received many comments from Native people who are very upset at you. I won’t write to you in the same way. I’m sympathetic because I have similar ancestry to yours—”low blood” (as some call it), and I grew up totally outside of a Native community. It’s not my place to speak as those who have grown up as part of the community. I’m praying for you to be reconciled to the people, and to get to know them better. But that is going to be very hard now, and will take a lot of humility.
“I believe it’s a fraud,” Kevin Steele, a spokesman for the Oglala Lakota said about Reynolds to Indian Country Today. She cannot claim to be Oglala Lakota because “she has to be enrolled” in order to do so.
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While our “mixed” ancestries may be similar, our paths have been very different. You have become famous wearing Native American heritage as you expressed controversial political opinions. I’m nobody famous, and rarely speak about my ancestry publicly.
I only learned of my Native ancestry a few years ago, and it overwhelmed my heart with a longing to know my ancestors’ people. I’m not eligible for enrollment, but that doesn’t mean I can’t get to know the people and learn from them. So I began a journey of relationship, founded on the honest realization that I don’t know my people and therefore I need to do a lot of listening.
I don’t know if you understand that just having “Native blood” isn’t the same thing as being part of the community and participating in the culture. And it’s certainly not the same as being “a member” of a Native American nation (being enrolled in a tribe). I don’t know if you realized how important these distinctions are. Perhaps if you had, you might not have called yourself a member of the Oglala Nation, or you might have stopped Fox News and other media outlets from saying you were a member of the Oglala Nation.
@EllieReynolds4 Oglala Nation is a sovereign nation & citizenship is required. BTW, you aren’t a Swedish citizen either. #NotYourMascot
— Jacqueline Keeler (@jfkeeler) May 30, 2015
Ellie, though you feel “rejected” right now, you need to understand that you have offended a lot of Native people, and it’s not because of your opinion about mascots. There are lots of Natives who don’t think mascotry is a problem (however about 67% do feel that team names like Washington’s are racist). The Oglala Nation didn’t “reject” you; they simply said that you are not enrolled in the tribe.
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There are boundaries to respect, and there is protocol. You may have family ancestors who were Native, but if you’re not enrolled and say that you are a member, it ignores all boundaries and protocol. It ignores the tribal governments, the treaties with the United States. It disrespects the whole Oglala Nation, plus countless Natives from other nations.
Maybe you don’t know about enrollment, and maybe you didn’t think you were lying, Ellie. But in their eyes, and according to both federal and tribal law, you lied.
I’m saying this not to shame you or berate you — I’m not interested in doing that. Instead I’m sharing these thoughts because I’m praying for healing, and I believe in redemption. But there is no redemption without repentance.
I’ve gone through rejection in my life, and I know it hurts. But after spending a lot of time getting to know Natives, I can understand why they are so upset: there are untold thousands of “wannabes” who think it’s cool to be an Indian. They take a little bit of the culture or spirituality and then go around boasting about it or trying to sell it. This hurts Natives. It’s like one of the final insults after all the other bad things that America has done to them. They’ve had treaties broken, land stolen, people massacred, children beaten in boarding schools, babies stolen and “adopted” out of the tribe… and now as if all of that wasn’t enough, there are people claiming to be Natives, taking bits of their culture, their images, their identity, and doing whatever they want without caring about how Natives feel.
When people independently claim membership (whether lying about or exaggerating ancestry, or merely making “membership” on their own terms), they disregard and reject the Native community’s feelings, laws and traditions. It is a huge, huge disrespect to the people.
These people don’t care about Native communities, traditions, and cultures. It’s fun for them to claim Native identity, but they never have to face the difficulties that Natives and their communities face.
You and I will probably never know what it’s like to be rejected and discriminated against because of looking like an Indian. We’ll probably never know what it’s like to be profiled by the police, called a “dirty Indian,” a “prairie n—–” or a “r–skin.”
You and I will probably never know what it’s like to be rejected and discriminated against because of looking like an Indian. We’ll probably never know what it’s like to be profiled by the police, called a “dirty Indian,” a “prairie n—–” or a “r–skin.”
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You need to learn about these things, Ellie. You need to listen to the 57 Lakota kids in Rapid City who had beer poured on them from above and were told to go back to the reservation. You need to listen to their parents’ and teachers’ cries for justice, and how they were answered with a mere charge of “disorderly conduct” for only one out of several offenders. You need to see how the leading local newspaper inferred that the kids caused the racist attack by not standing for the anthem, even though they actually did stand (and even if they hadn’t, being insulted and having beer poured on them is still inexcusable).
You need to go learn how so many Natives feel, Ellie. Listen to those who have experienced discrimination, who have been insulted as “r–skins” and told to go back to the reservation. Listen to those who have grown up in their Native community and who know their traditions.
Listening is what you must do now.
And because you wrongly claimed membership and presumed to speak as an Oglala member, you need to apologize to the Oglala Nation and spend your time listening and learning from here on out.
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Now, about mascotry…
You rejected the feelings of the Oglala Nation and two-thirds of Natives by defending mascotry on Fox News and in the Denver Post (etc.). You dismissed their opinions and decisions as being mere “political correctness.”
Maybe you don’t know this, but most of the leaders of the anti-mascotry movement are not “professional activists.” They are simply parents, moms and dads who have seen racism and are trying to protect their children. They don’t get paid to protest against mascotry. Instead they’re taking time out of their already-busy lives because they believe their children shouldn’t be bullied or be misrepresented by generic caricatures and old Hollywood Indian stereotypes.
Ellie, Native parents standing up against racism and bullying is not “political correctness.”
Nor is it “political correctness” for a tribe to oppose mascotry like the Oglala Nation, who have suffered so much under America’s genocidal policies. If a German team called themselves the “Juden” or “K—s” it would be absolutely right for Jews to be upset and to protest.
Maybe you think mascotry isn’t harmful, and that it teaches people about Native Americans. But did mascots teach you about tribal membership? Did mascots teach you how Natives think and feel?
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Ellie, if you now feel rejected by those who you feel are your people, please try to understand that you rejected them first. You ignored their criteria for membership, spoke as one of them, and dismissed as “political correctness” their feelings about being caricatured and protecting their children. You can’t do all this and expect them to consider you one of their own. (And you can’t expect them to cast aside tribal law to call you a member.)
It’s not that it’s impossible to be close to the Oglala community. It’s just that if you claim to be a member when you’re not, and then in print and on television reject, dismiss and insult their feelings and what they care about… well, do you really expect them to embrace you?
You *could* have been close without membership, sharing in community and traditions. But after dismissing their law and their feelings, well, there’s little chance of ever being as close now as you could have been.
I’m sad for you, but I’m also sad that you plowed ahead on your own course without caring about how the Oglala community felt. I’m sad that you rejected and dismissed things important to them, and yet took their name and spoke “as an Oglala” and as “a Native American.” This painful collision with reality was inevitable, Ellie.
You should have known. Someone should have taught you better and tried to stop you. I feel bad that so many conservatives cheered you on and encouraged you, using you as their “token Indian” who spoke what they wanted to hear. I wish you had listened to the Oglala people instead of to conservative applause. I wish you had spent more time learning what Natives think, and why.
Is it too late? I don’t know. Maybe it’s not too late to be reconciled to the Oglala people someday in the future. But you will need to stop defending yourself and apologize. It will also take a lot of forgiveness on their part, and above all a whole lot of listening on your part.
I’m praying for you, Ellie, that you will do the right thing and learn to honor the Oglala Nation and all Native people. I’m hoping you will learn to listen before speaking, to honor elders and tradition, and to make a better world for their children. I look forward to a day when you will be able to share in these Native values, and more.
Peace,
Ramone Romero
P.S. I wrote this article in December, which I wish you could have read and taken to heart before going on the air and going in print: Unless You’ve Lived Life as a Native Person, Don’t Speak for Native People
You can see Reynolds on Fox News here.