January 23
I feel naive, in a sense, that I never paid attention to “hateful things”. The thought rarely crosses my mind that advertisments, toys, slogans, games, etc., had and still have racist connotations. In watching the video by Dr. David Pilgrim at his Jim Crow Museum, I was not only shocked, but completely interested in his finds and collections. In Schoolcraft’s “Hateful Things Exhibit”, I was a little disappointed, however, that the memorabilia did not expand into other ethnic groups besides African Americans. One ethnic group that has been dealt the bad hand in the media, games, sports, etc., is the Native Americans.
I remember a few years back watching a movie about Native Americans and their relationships with college and professional sports. In teams and universities such as Cleveland Indians, Kansas City Chiefs, and the Fighting Illini of the University of Illinois, school mascots and team names are all indicative of Native Americans. From what I saw in the video and on the news, the real problem was , not to take away from the derrogatory names, the “tribal” dances the school mascots would preform during half time and in the stands. They would twirl around chanting, trying to imitate the spiritual, ceremonial dances that Native American ancestors have taken part in in the past continuing now into the present.
In addition to Native Americans in sports, Native Americans are also portrayed in the media. Mention the name “Western” and one almost always makes the connection to “Indians”. If you really think about it though, Native Americans are not shown as the peaceful people they strive to be. Instead they’re depicted as savages, usually wearing a loincloth or no clothes at all. They usually do not speak a sufficient language, nor read or write. Native Americans are shown attacking the “heros” of the movies with hand-crafted knives and swords and do not stop till death.
Furthermore, even games such as Cowboys and Indians, seemingly harmless, put down the first inhabitants to this country. Like so many other ethnic groups, the list goes on from names such as “Redskins” to Indian Halloween costumes. Am I correct in feeling compassion for the bad hand Native Americans have been dealt? Was it right to assume that they too, a people uprooted from their homes by white settlers and placed on reservation, would be represented at an exhibit with racist memorabilia?
Caeli Finn
I agree that we need to recognize that hateful things have been produced that apply to other groups besides African Americans. Although Dr. Pilgrim makes this point in “Jim Crow’s Museum,” such memorabilia is only a small part of the film and they were not found in the “Hateful Things” exhibit. Because the purpose of the exhibit was to focus on African American stereotypes, it did not bother me that such items were not included. But it would bother me if we ignored such stereotypes in the larger context of our class.
Next week, when we will discuss ethnocentrism and cultural imperialism, we will focus on Native American issues; issues that include stereotypes and other hateful things.