This is a collaborative effort of the Minority Rights Coalition, the Inter-Fraternity Council, and the American Indian Student Union, with special thanks to Jessica McCauley:
On Tuesday, Nov. 3, a Letter to the Editor from Neal Fox, Co-Chair of the Minority Rights Coalition, was published in The Cavalier Daily regarding a “Cowboy and Indian” themed party at an IFC fraternity. The intended purpose of this letter was to start a positive conversation about how American Indians are misrepresented around the Univeristy, and — more widely — in American culture. Unfortunately, Fox’s word choice in two or three places distracted from that intended purpose. Words like “racist” and “hatred” can be alienating. This was the opposite of the intent of the letter, which was meant to open the door for communication, education and understanding about an issue that concerns the entire University Community. In this column, the MRC and the IFC, with the American Indian Student Union, hopes to bring to light some of the nuances of this issue.
The Inter-Fraternity Council, which governs 29 fraternities, cannot control the actions of all its members, but it can engage the community in examining the underlying causes of regrettable events. It is unfortunate that this incident has just now sparked broader attention to this issue, but it is important to use it as an opportunity for reflection and positive action rather than blame.
Still today, many people just don’t think about the fact that not everyone is heterosexual. Not everyone can afford to go to a movie with friends every weekend, or drink on their 21st birthday without violating the commandments of the Qur’an. The theme party from this past weekend is just another example of assuming others come from the same background.
Stereotypical representations of American Indians are neither specific to nor the result of the actions of any one IFC fraternity. It is pervasive and often unchallenged in American society. This is an issue that is often exacerbated by pop culture. Logos and mascots of professional sports teams such as the Washington Redskins, Atlanta Braves and Chicago Blackhawks, and the commercial sale of “Indian” costumes further demonstrate the prevalence of common stereotypes about American Indians that remain acceptable to the majority of Americans. Closer to home, 60,000 fans in Scott Stadium at the William & Mary football game saw “CavMan” defeat a stereotypical American Indian.
Costumes are inherently stereotypical; however, when attached to a religion, cultural heritage, or other traditions, they carry the potential to mock essential elements of an individual’s identity. Donning Blackface or impersonating an exaggerated stereotype of a Jew or an Asian would be immediately recognized as unacceptable. It rarely crosses the mind of mainstream America that the stereotypical things used to portray American Indians are indeed crossing the line into offensive and sacrilegious territory. It is highly unlikely that anyone buying an “Indian Princess” costume at Wal-Mart is aware that items such as feathers, beads, “war-paint” and indeed the “costume” itself is for many Native American tribes, sacred, and an important part of their religion. This gives the common image of an eagle-feathered headdress a new meaning. After all, who would feel comfortable dressing up in one if they knew that such a headdress is only reserved for those members of a tribe that have earned each feather through a sacred rite or ceremony? These objects can be as sacred as a cross or a Bible is to some Christians.
Leaving even religion aside, it becomes frustrating for members of the American Indian community to see their culture, heritage, and ancestry reduced to sweeping generalizations and only a few material objects. Tomahawks, buffaloes, peace pipes, etc. are not indicative of some all-inclusive American Indian culture and indeed are only even present within a small portion of Native history. Rather, a large amount of diversity exists among the 500+ federally-recognized tribes (there are countless more which are state-recognized including all eight of the Virginia tribes), and it is truly disheartening to be portrayed in such a generic way. How often do we acknowledge the 15,000 years of history in Virginia predating the arrival of white settlers? Who knew that our own University was built on Monacan land? When will we learn about and give honor to historical Native American figures beyond those whom Disney cares to make into a movie? The ugly truth is that American Indians fell victim to many years of deliberate and forced assimilation, loss of culture, language, and identity, which is precisely why we cannot allow these generalizations to consume our perceptions of an entire subsection of the American population.
How the media and popular culture portrays any population is not always a fair representation of their identity. This creates a need for other sources of exposure to and education about a more nuanced understanding of cultures different from one’s own. For some, taking a course designed to enhance multicultural understanding achieves this end. For others, a group like Sustained Dialogue or Students Educating and Empowering for Diversity provides an opportunity to broaden their perspective. But for many students at the University and in America, popular culture dominates their perception of people from different backgrounds.
The vast majority of today’s readers and those that attended the party probably were not cognizant of the meaning behind these American Indian symbols. While this doesn’t excuse the hurt that is caused for some, what matters most now is how our community responds. Let’s take this as an imperative to be aware of the hurt that it can cause in the future. Let’s actively educate ourselves and have conversations that we otherwise may not have had.
The Inter-Fraternity Council and the Minority Rights Coalition, with the American Indian Student Union and other student groups, have the ability and the obligation to work collaboratively in leading the Community in these efforts.
Neal Fox is co-Chair of the Minority Rights Coalition. Charles Gamper is president of the Inter-Fraternity Council.
Great op-ed, guys! Couldn’t have said it better.
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Please grow a pair. This is the most pathetic tripe I’ve read since Neal Fox’s last drivel in this newspaper. Neal Fox: you are an overly sensitive moron. You will go about life sorely reacting to anything you can construe as even minutely offensive, and people will loathe you for it. The only reason Charles Gamper affiliates himself with you in any way whatsoever is because he is forced to in order to preserve the IFC’s public image from the Anally Retentive Brigade of which you are a prime constituent.
Next Halloween I will dress up as a red Indian, waggle my tomahawk, put a feather in my hair, and dance to the rain gods and make the “WOO WOO WOO” sound with my palm, all in your honor. People will ask me what I’m dressed up as, and I will tell them, “I am Neal Fox”.
Poke a hot ass
CLAS 2009
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Neal and Charles
Can you please talk to your respective organizations about an issue I find highly offensive? As a devout Catholic, I find it somewhat sickening to see people dressed up as slutty nuns and whiskey, pedo priests on Halloween. My aunt is a nun who has spent her whole adult life living in the 3rd world helping those in need, and to see drunken sorority girls dressing up as slutty nuns (complete with crucifix stuck in their cleavage) belittles the amount of sacrifice and work done for the needy by nuns all over the world.
Similarly, the 99.9% of the priests who are not pedophiles don’t deserve to have drunken college students walking around dressed up as men of the cloth. Priests devote their lives to the spiritual well-being of others and give up many things fulfill this role.
Why is it acceptable for this kind of mockery to go on? For some reason, I doubt people dressing up as caricatures of money grubbing Rabbi’s or suicide bombing Imams would pass without outrage.
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Please allow me to express the sincere sentiments of the University’s student body, and indeed most of the country, about the concerns you raise above:
Yawn.
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There were Rabbi costumes to…
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=789828678&ref=ts#/photo.php?pid=33996508&id=7300796
Everyone can just get over it!
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Although I do have an aunt who is a nun, I was not serious.
I was merely highlighting how ridiculous and pathetic all of this has become. There is no such thing as the right not to be offended.
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The IFC should wipe their nose, seems like they got a little brown on it.
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Neal Fox needs to chill out. Going through life with the goal of stamping out opinions that are deviant from what you believe the norm should be only guarantees that you will surround yourself with friends and loved ones who are exactly like you. I find it hilariously ironic that you are head of a “Minority Rights Coalition” but are actively campaigning against diversity in opinion.
Please watch the most recent episode of South Park and maybe some of this criticism will start to make sense. To give you a preview of the satire, it’s a commentary on how the word “f–” no longer means homosexual (I deliberately did not write out the word because I’m afraid your head would explode to see it written out); its meaning has shifted to mean an annoying person who wants attention and validation from others. I think that perhaps you need to step back from the issue and gain a little perspective.
As we all know, Tongans are the smartest Polys that exist. And the best breakdancers.
-Punkin Rangas even though they’re Year Sixes
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Thank you for writing this op-ed.
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I believe that stereotypes of any kind are the result of general ignorance. As an American Indian, I often hear the same three responses/questions from people when they learn about my heritage. 1. “Oh, you’re American Indian? My great grandmother was Cherokee.” 2. “Does you family receive money from casinos?” 3. “I think it’s just great that your people can get free college.”
The fact that these three responses come up again and again no matter where I go speaks volumes about the sheer level of ignorance that the general public has about American Indian culture, and that level of ignorance should be embarrassing for anyone who dons an American Indian costume and doesn’t have the first clue about the rich culture of Native America. But, when it comes to things like this, for some reason, many people just have no shame about their ignorance.
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Having knowledge of Native American culture doesn’t preclude someone from dressing up as an Indian for a theme party.
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Actually this is serious! Know what it feels like for your kindergarten and first grade children, who are American Indian, to come home w/a paper “indian” sack vest and a headband w/paper feathers while your child explains how “Indians make this sound” while she pats her mouth or “my Indian name my teacher gave me is wolf girl, you know they all had “animal” related names, even the fact that “the Indians sat down and had a nice dinner w/pilgrims and all lived happily ever after”. how would u like questions while you were a young child in school “are you going to scalp me?” or “so your related to Pocohontas”. What about when you grow into your 20′s and asked “oh your Indian? So What is your fav.drink? you must party alot lol” Or, have you lost a bunch of money at casinos before?” P.S.29 years old and nvr gambled and don’t like to drink! Would you laugh if it was your heritage online? Nobody, including me, looks at any thing about the Jewish Holocaust and says damn that’s funny let’s have a day where we dress as “jews” and put them w/”german” and pretend they had a happy meal together and got married instead. Not just Natives, but all races/heritage should be treated w/respect and sorry but I happen to be thankful this Thanksgiving that hey, atleast they didn’t kill all my ancestors. By college kids or anyone else for this matter, dressing and acting this way might fly past me as whatever but think about what you are portraying to my young children about their culture and justify that
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If you don’t want to leave the impression that Indians use animals names for theirs, Neal Fox might want to change his….name.
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