Norms and ‘anti-norms’ define who we are as a culture and how we participate in the culture that we consider ourselves a part of. Definitions of culture and of people in the culture are derived from society. As society vaguely defines things that it is not personally involved in, misconceptions form which are then directed towards the misdefined culture. Throughout our history as ‘European-Americans’, we have singled out the culture and the group of individuals that were native to our country; Native Americans. We have negatively portrayed their culture in television shows, musical lyrics, and through treating their culture as a ‘thing’ rather than a group of people.
Acceptance into dominant culture is challenging. We are defined by recognizable features, but also by our history. Traditions withheld from generation to generation that do not typically follow the popular culture, are looked at negatively, they are perceived as different. An example of a longstanding tradition for the Native American community is the celebratory ceremony when a female hits puberty. The same sort of concept occurs in the Jewish religion through Bar Mitzvahs. These coming of age ceremonies are celebrated by followers/members of groups who follow the traditional identity of their subculture. Although these celebrations occur outside of the American majorities tradition, each of these celebrations are important to the culture of the minority group.
Through American culture, we have publicly displayed oversimplified traditions of Native Americans through entertainment. Depictions of their ‘supposed’ lifestyle have been used in cartoons, musical lyrics, and through creating mascots based off of Native American tribes and the values of the individual tribes. Peter Pan, one of the most popular Disney Movies, has a scene where they refer to an Native American tribe and show stereotypical scenes of the tribe. The song, What Makes a Red Man Red says “When did he first say, "Ugh!", In the Injun book it say, When the first brave married squaw [...] What made the red man red? Let's go back a million years, To the very first Injun prince, He kissed a maid and start to blush” Disney simplified the culture of Native Americans towards children by suggesting that Indians exist through pow wows, smoking a pipe, and by being red. Their representation of this group created, for some, their first experience of Indian culture, one that would be remembered for vibrant costumes, vibrant music, and a vibrant skin tone.
Popular culture has not only affected the way that children view Native American culture, but it has affected Native American culture altogether. By this, I mean that we, as a society, have taken a group of people and transformed them to a group that isn’t always recognized. As children, we grow up learning about Thanksgiving as the peace between the Pilgrims and the Native people, but that really wasn’t how America came to be. An article called Why Thanksgiving Is A 'National Day Of Mourning' For Some Americans published by the Huffington post by Sam Levine suggests during a conversation with Mahtowin Munro “”there's a view that the Natives and the Pilgrims lived happily ever after and the Native people just evaporated into the woods [...] schools continue to dress up their children in little Pilgrim and Indian costumes and the Indians welcome the Pilgrims and they all sit down together.” From an educational standpoint, we failed to represent a culture that is significant to society. Through our education system, we failed to represent the trials that Native Americans were put through to remain on their own turf.
To two individuals, Thanksgiving has two completely separate purposes. To some, Thanksgiving is a time for celebrating what you have and what you were blessed with, but that is not at all what it is like to experience Thanksgiving from the perspective of all Native Americans. The troubles that some tribes experienced in Plymouth Massachusetts, including what some would consider genocide, affect Native American families across the United States. In an article called Two Sides of Thanksgiving, a group of writers suggests “To the Indians, Thanksgiving [...] was the beginning of their end - a time where they had given up their land in return for gifts that were full of disease - which would kill many of them later down the road.” For some, Thanksgiving day is a time to reflect on what has occurred in the past rather than to celebrate what is in the present.
Reflection and recognition of Thanksgiving occurs publicly on this day between some Native Americans. In the article Why Thanksgiving Is A 'National Day Of Mourning' For Some Americans, Levine touches on the impact of Thanksgiving has on a Native American when he says “On Thanksgiving, between 700 and 1,200 people will gather in Plymouth, Massachusetts, for a "National Day of Mourning" to educate people about the vicious history of the treatment of Native Americans and the issues affecting them today.” Thanksgiving is no longer only a time for thanks, but it is much more significant to groups whose lives were changed on that day. As a popular culture, we have overlooked the burdens that are remembered by a significant number of Native Americans on Thanksgiving day.
As a popular culture, we overlook much of anything that does not somehow relate negatively to us. Thanksgiving is an example of how little we care about groups besides ourselves, but this is not the only example. Another scenario of this is occurring across the nation through activity programs. Mascots representing other cultures are being changed to less racist and less offensive logos. Offensive mascots representing cultures still immanent to society are often very controversial to the mascotte. The Washington Redskins are probably the most recognizable team that is facing this dilemma heads on. In a video published by the Daily Show regarding the Redskins team name, a group of Native Americans commented on their thoughts about the name. From the perspective of one of the Natives, the team name should be renamed because “It is a dictionary defined racial slur”.
Not only has the team name change been suggested by Native Americans, but it has been contemplated in the US Senate and throughout National sports teams to whether the offensive names should be changed. In an video published by ESPN, it is suggested by Adolpho Birch that “"I would tell you that the Washington Redskins Football Club, the name of that organization is not and never has been intended to be used as a slur and is currently not one as well." Although it has been suggested through letters written by the US Senate to change the name of the Redskins to something more appropriate, the team has still not changed its mascot. Yet again, we have overlooked the individuality of groups in our immediate community. This is another scenario where societies desires were more important that the wishes of the victimized group.
Throughout our history in North America, we have intentionally simplified the Native American culture through television, American sports, and holidays. As a society, we have focused too much energy on preserving the good that we have done, rather than facing the harm that we have created. By portraying Native Americans in simplistic terms, we have simplified their culture into recognizable aspects that do not tell the story of the culture. It has caused America to view Native Americans as an Indian versus a person of America.
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