Dissident Veteran For Peace: American Indians: Some Stereotypes & Realities

Dissident Veteran For Peace

"I know of no country in which there is so little independence of mind and real freedom of discussion as in America." —Alexis de Tocquevile. Democracy in America, Book I, Chapter XV.

With a nod to the Most Rev. Dom Helder Camara: When I support Palestinians some call me an 'anti-Semite', when I try to explain why I stand in solidarity with Palestinians they call me a Nazi.

"WAR is a racket. It always has been. It is possibly the oldest, easily the most profitable, surely the most vicious. It is the only one international in scope. It is the only one in which the profits are reckoned in dollars and the losses in lives." —Major General Smedley Butler, USMC (ret.)

"... no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end." —character of O'Brien in 1984, part 3, ch. 3 by George Orwell.

"Every prophet has realized that nobody loves you for being the enemy of their illusions. Every prophet has realized that most of us want peace at any price as long as the peace is ours and somebody else pays the price. That is why the prophet Jeremiah said, ' "Peace, peace," they say, when there is no peace,' ..." —The Rev. William Sloane Coffin. "Not to Bring Peace, But a Sword."

Sunday, March 28, 2010

American Indians: Some Stereotypes & Realities

STEREOTYPE
"My grandmother was an Indian".

REALITY
Thousands of Americans "wannabe" Indians, but they are not.

STEREOTYPE
Indians are all full bloods.

REALITY
The majority of Indians are of mixed heritage.

STEREOTYPE
All Indians have an "Indian name".

REALITY
Most Indians have only a Euro-American name.
A minority of Indians also have "Indian names."

STEREOTYPE
Most Indians know the histories, languages and cultural aspects of
their own tribe and of other tribes.

REALITY
Few Indians know all cultural aspects of their own tribes, much
less those of other tribes.

Source: Devon A. Mihesuah, American Indians: Stereotypes & Realities, (Atlanta: Clarity Pr., 1996).

Labels: critical thinking, identity, Indians

# posted by VFPDissident @ 3/28/2010 10:13:00 PM

Comments:

Umm, so if most Indians have non-Indian ancestry, Euro-American names, and are ignorant of their tribal cultures then why exactly do we invest so much meaning the fictive distinction between Indian and non-Indian and the two-tier citizenship that goes with it?

# posted by