Oklahoma week on the blog (part deux) continues.The school nickname of the Dartmouth College team called Dartmouth Indians could just as easily be called the Dartmouth Africans.
Or the Dartmouth Chippendales (like a reverse sexualization of those trucker mud flaps but only put them all over the place, in front yards, on flag poles, on t-shirts and uniforms, saturating the stadium on game night. School spirit!
Why stop there? Put them on government vehicles, like it would look cool if the Post Office used something like that, some tricked out logo flaps to compete with the lurid attraction of email. And school buses could use some spiffing up too, proudly flapping around).
Or, the traditional Indian cane bought (at a pretty price) and passed out at commencement could be a wood stick with an African representation on it, something that looks like Miss Jane Pittman (as portrayed by the incredible Cicely Tyson near the end of the movie when she gets really, really old), for instance. Why should generic "Indians" from North America get all the attention?
The term "The Reservation" used for a Richardson, TX, neighborhood with streets that have names like Mohawk and Cherokee is not being used as an effort to be offensive these days, but I can see how it could come across that way and especially so in future times or to people who may not get why a non Native American, non exclusive housing area would use a Native American symbol and have labels in masonry calling the place, The Reservation. The neighborhood already had a name (now what was that?) but the slang name of "The Reservation" stuck because the *honky population thought it was fun and appropriate?
(*By honky, I partially mean *rednecks. *And by rednecks, I slightly mean hardworking engineers and who-have-you from Oklahoma state and family farms of various mid-westerny and westerny names like Durant, Tulsa, Sallisaw, Okemeh, Eufaula, Neosho Falls, Shawnee...).
The historical connotation (and present day harsh reality of some) of the reservations isn't necessarily a calming thought, to everyone. Thankfully, it is losing that connotation (somewhat), but it's not there yet probably, or else why any fuss at all.
Maybe it has something to do with religion or spirituality, and the use of cultural symbols that aren't of the culture of the people using them, even if meant in homage or respect. Or something else. Another point of view: Indian Reservations: The Last Remaining Bastians of Segregation.
The context and collaboration by which something is used can make all the difference. It's like bffs can call each other stuff, but if you don't have a club membership, someone could go all Kanye (Con Yay) West on you (not that anyone is very sure what's up with that).
In this video below, near the end, the face painting, much like when light skinned people would paint their faces black to mimic, is not seen as offensive in the least, by those doing it that is. The phrase "well, I didn't know" and the phrase, "well, now you know" is used.Is it hypersensitive for anyone concerned about this kind of thing? (It's not like when I stuff my bra and pretend I'm triple D, right? No offense against you big breasteses people). It's not like when a group makes one of themselves their mascot (self-named).
Or is it insinsitivity and ignorance on the part of those who do this kind of thing?
Anyway, pretty soon, it will be mainly women who can still be stereotyped to the point of being excluded (or negatively included or flapped around) institutionally (like in government and schools and corporations and car design and history and language) if we have to give up our other institutionalized stereotypes. No wait, there's always the Amish (those fake fire flicker real heaters work but boy do they cost more. Way to go, you Amish!).
Here is a positive comforting picture of actors acting like hard working Amish (as opposed to foreign Chinese in China where the guts of the heater are made) right before the Amish load the heaters onto the horse drawn wagon one at a time, with the regular horse acting like an Amish horse. I know the part about the horse drawn wagon is true as I saw it in the infomercial.
I don't think America's institutions and employers are post discrimination, yet. When they are, I can call you a whore at work like Gov. Jerry Brown's campaign and get away with it.
Seriously, I hope America is never without diversity, which probably means at least some discrimination against people based on color, ethnicity, race, gender, sex, etc. is here as opposed to more appropriate discrimination, like against violent criminals and extortionists and theives (sick) (sic).
Anyway, how 'bout those Slaves! I heard they lost 7-0! I'm going to sit on my roof until they win one.
As for you Amish, get back to work because I am cold (and I've run out of insulation for my house cracks) and also because you don't pay into the Federal Social Security system, so I hear, and that makes you either extremely clever or anti-government.
Also, I would like to start my own casino but instead of playing with plastic, I would deal in chocolate covered potato chips (chips I like) from Bedre (like I bought ten years ago at Neiman Marcus, which I think they still had the hyphen or dash between the words in their name like this, Neiman-Marcus, but didn't realized that you Indians* made the chips up in OK. Tricky. Very tricky. *And by Indians, I mean Native Americans, not necessarily the majority of people staffing the store in public, OK.)
Watch the video all the way through, OK.
P.S. I am waiting to see if the J.J. Pearce HOA will approve my counter intuitive plea to put a menorah ensignia on at least half of the sign toppers in the neighborhood, to stay competitive with the adjacent neighborhood and their Native American spiritual symbol (thanks, you Reservation People for causing more work for the rest of us). The majority has not objected (although, technically, the vast majority know nothing of this, or of the other things they know nothing of).
I am also waiting to see if the two Richardson, TX, councilmen who have regularly used the phrase, "he's off the reservation, again" (to describe the two double A battrees and a couple of other guys in town, three who don't even live on The Reservation) will feel as comfortable saying that phrase, as in, what different phrase will they use in public now, one that will feel as comfortable but still be macho, and pleasingly non PC, and insulting, in a fakey-conservativey way (like, "he's being a b_ _ _ _, again" perhaps). Lots to choose from.
