Washington State Human Rights Commission

As delivered to Washington State Human Rights Commission Forum on Urban Indian Issues
Spokane, Washington
May 25, 2006

Hi, my name is Ashley Murphy. In a few weeks I will graduate from Eastern Washington University. I am German, Irish, Spanish (my mother said I had to say this as I usually leave it out), Mexican, and Mescalero Apache. All of these parts are important to me as they make me who I am.

However, tonight I am talking as a Mescalero Apache, American Indian, Native American, and an urban Indian (if growing up in Cheney can be called urban). The earliest images I have of identifying as being Native come from when my mother would take me and my sister to Pow Wows as children. Actually that is not true, my first images reside in my parents house, when you walk in you are confronted by various Native American art. They have various pottery pieces from Jemez Pueblo in New Mexico, along with several sand paintings also from New Mexico. And of course living in the NW we have a George Flett print that my mother won at a SFCC Pow Wow. She still talks about winning this print for $5.00 in a raffle and it took $100 to frame. Also, my mother’s Kokopeli shrine, that’s what I call it. Her Kokopelis have been put away as to a large extend this image has become too mainstream for her, however, friends kept giving her Kokopeli items.

This brings me to my actual topic tonight which is on Native American images in pop culture and how they affect Native American youth. Whether to fill a football or baseball stadium, sell cigars, play dress up (cowboys and Indians), or sell new age medicine, these images show contempt, and mockery that Native peoples are subjected to on a daily basis. Not only are these images exploiting as well as distorting Native culture and images, they have become harmful to the people which they misrepresent. Through stereotypes, such as the noble savage, drunken Indian, and childlike princess of the forest ( such as Pocahontas), these images cause both the dominant society and Native people to call into question their identity, worth, and character. Negative images have been especially harmful to Native people by devaluing their life and making it acceptable to commit violent acts against them. This is evident in national statistics that show that native peoples are almost 3 times more likely, then the general population to be affected by violent crime, with 60% of their abusers being white. An excellent example of this is last summer in the Spokane area, Bonnie Joseph’s family was attacked. Yet when these attacks on Native people (or any person of color) are done, there is, either little to no media coverage, or they blame the victim using the stereotypes to prove their point. As Kimberly Roppolo put it, “If ‘real’ Indians don’t exist in the American mind, then hate crimes against them have no room in the American imagination of possibility.

Some of the most harmful stereotypes of Native people come in the form of sports, school mascots and of course movies and television. Non-Native sports or school officials claim that they are trying to honor Native peoples. However, I see no honor in the word Redskin that “is derived from bounty hunters who found it taxing to bring in whole bodies of Native peoples, so they were allowed to flay their victims and deliver their bloody skins in order to receive payment for killing Native men, women, and children (Young). Another example is the Eastern Washington University old “Savages” mascot. They have been the Eagles for over 20 years but I can remember both my sister and I having to cross the brick floor in the Physical Education building as children going to swimming lessons. The bricks had the “Savage” mascot engraved in them. Twenty years later, my nephew was crossing those same bricks with the imprint on his way to swimming lessons. It was only recently that EWU finally sandblasted the bricks to remove the imprint. Many EWU alumni did not want to get rid if this last image of the former EWU Savages.

Images of Native peoples, or the use of tomahawk and other stereotypical actions identified with Native culture, are also harmful. They reduce Native culture to foolish attire often calling them costumes and war dances Hollywood style; making fun of us and our culture. These types of images “in athletic events has become ‘as American as apple pie and baseball’” (Pewewardy). It is freshening to see the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) stand against using these images, but the national sports team, such as the NFL, NBA and MLB, have yet to see the harm in this misrepresentation of Native Americans.

All this stereotyping, and negative imagery has a profound affect on Native youth. It can cause many young Natives to feel ashamed about who they are as Native people, and have them question their cultural identity; especially urban Indians. My own nephew who several years ago told his mother he no longer wanted to be Indian as “they kill Indians don’t they”. He was five years old at the time; at this young age he has already been “blasted” with enough media stereotyping to be fearful of being Native.

This is evident in the highest youth suicide and attempted suicide rate for all young Americans, with one out of every four young Native person’s attempting suicide and the highest rate of suicide in the 15-24 age group with an average of 4 times the number of black and white 15-24 year olds. Within the popular mind of non-Natives, Indians are a historical cultural where people live in teepees, and dress only in loincloth. And when today’s society recognizes Native peoples today they still view them as living in teepees, in full regalia on reservations (courtesy of movies and televisions). This too sends a message to Native youth, that if you do not live, or grow up on a reservation you are not a true Native, or if you do not fully participate in designated Native “activities” then they are not a true Native.
In conclusion, we need more positive Native imagery, not via Hollywood images. We need more current teachings about Native people and our culture and we need the history books to reflect our actual past and not the lies, myths and legends we are taught through history books and movies. We also need to be able to step-up and point out that the stereotypes, and distorted images of Natives Americans are harmful; that it needs to stop with out us being called too sensitive or taking it “out of context”.

Pewewardy, Cornel D. “Making fun of Indigenous Peoples in athletic events has become ‘as American as apple pie and baseball.’”

Richards, Kimberly. Genocide of Identity: The correlation between Native American media-induced images and the high rate of hate crimes and suicide in Native communities (2005).

Roppolo, Kimberly “If ‘real’ Indians don’t exist in the American mind, then hate crimes against them have no room in the American imagination of possibility. And the media, the same media that descends from that which actively promoted the extermination of Indians through the early 1900s, don’t cover that continued extermination now because of their early effectiveness in our erasure.”

Young, Robert M. “The word ‘redskin’ is derived from bounty hunters who found it burdensome to bring in whole bodies. They were allowed to flay their victims and deliver their bloody skins in order to receive $60 for a man’s and $40 for a woman’s”

Statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

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