It’s been a view days since my last blog, so please bare with me, this is probably going to be really long.
Well in the few days that I have not done any blogging, a lot has happened for me personally. On Friday (7/29) we all did some West African Tribal dancing, and it was a LOT of fun. During the dancing we got one of the exchange students to join us. Her name is Helen, and she is from Russia. Later that same night, there was a disco, with really loud, and repetitive and…well kinda lame music, but that’s just like, my own opinion man. But everyone else in our group seemed to enjoy it, except for me and our new Russian friend Helen. So during that time that we weren’t dancing with everyone else, me and Helen were talking, and it was just such a cool experience, getting a glimpse at another culture through the eyes of one of the locals.
It was pretty awesome to say the least.
The next day, Jessica and Jana’s mom and dad came in to talk to us about cultural protocol and our Kuleana to it. It was such a fascinating talk, and in that moment I finally started to understand a little of the Hawaiian that was being said. It was in that lecture that I realized how important it was for me to learn my own culture. I practically had an epiphany. So now it is my goal to eventually go back and relearn the Hawaiian language as well as learn more about the culture.
lalala
I loved hearing Jessica and Janna’s (I hope I spelled your names right! <3) dad speak yesterday! I forgot how many similarities there are to my culture and the Hawaiian culture. For example: In my language we call our grandma tutu and so do Hawaiians! That as well as not interrupting others and not displaying rude behavior, not whistling at night because of bad spirits, acknowledging our elders presence, etc. Overall, I was pleasantly surprised (: I also thought Alex’s daughter was the cutest!
Anyways,
I was also thinking about how much of a culture shock it is to be away from home and be with mixed cultures that aren’t the same as mine. Sometimes I have to hold back from getting really upset with people whistling at night, people’s different personalities/mindsets, and especially getting asked if I wanted to eat while I was helping with the fry bread. I’m progressively learning how to cope appropriately with situations such as these and I’m really proud of myself because I;m figuring it out on my own. I can see that being here is like being in the real world outside of home; There are going to be people who I can’t get along with or that are different from myself and I just have to understand that, deal with it, and move on. It’s all a learning experience and I’m happy with it.
Response to “In Whose Honor?” posts
Hi All…I want to thank you all for posting insightful and powerful comments about the documentary, “In Whose Honor?”. I am truly moved by what each one of you has written. “In Whose Honor?” a hard documentary to watch, because it so painfully portrays how common ignorance leads to expressions of blatant racism in our society. And…when racism is embedded in popular culture icons/mascots and sports teams, that large groups people are invested in, it can blind people to the possibility of individual change and awareness, even if causes tremendous harm to others…hard to stomach at this point in history!
On the positive side, this film is inspirational in it’s portrayal of the work of Charlene Teters, a powerful contemporary artist and activist. By enacting her individual protest and resolve she bravely demonstrates how one person can raise awareness about an unspoken issue and inspire others to speak out against discrimination whenever it pops up in any way that we can.
I though you may be interested in a video produced by New Mexico Public Television that updates the “In Whose Honor?” doc. The video is narrated by Charlene Teters, and it tells some of the same story, but in the second half, Charlene talks about her work as a contemporary artist, and how her art practice has been influenced by her activism on the mascot issue, you get a chance to see some of her artwork and hear her philosophy on navigating life and identity in a world where ignorance an racism exist. You can also find more information about Charlene Teters and see images of her artwork at her website: http://www.charleneteters.com/Welcome.html
You all are do amazing work and I will see you on Sunday.
– Gina
Mascots
today in class Mr.Scott showed us a video about people overly using native cultures, We’ve noticed that they think their respecting our culture but in reality they were being racist to us. I have no threat against these people but I know that it is dishonorable. In the clip a married native woman named Charlene Teters came to the University of Illinois as a graduate, she stayed for awhile and never been to a game, so she took her children to a Illinois basketball game their mascot came as a white man in a Indian costume and dancing gymnastics, she and her children were very offended by this event. she started to revolt against the University but she never succeeded so she traveled to other universities that overly use Native culture and revolted against them as well, while she was continuing on this revolt she gained a couple of natives too. This clip really inspired me, I really want to know more about my Navaho, Apachi, and my Hawaiian side (I don’t know if I spelled it right lol) :3
~Jessica Chang~
Mascots
I was aware of the stereotypes mascots portrayed before watching “In Whose Honor?” but it hit me way harder to actually see it going on. I’m glad to see a Native American women fight for our rights to not have our tradition and history mocked by ignorant bystanders; All in all, it was very empowering and inspirational to my heart. I hope one day I can come close to making the impact on society that Charlene Teters has.
I can’t wait to go to college to learn more about this stuff!!!
“In Whose Honor? : American Indian Mascots Sports”
“In Whose Honor? : American Indian Mascots Sports” by Jay Rosenstein Featuring Charlene Teters (spokane) was a very heart-touching and shocking thing for me to see. I disliked how they treated her and how they pulled her hair, threw thing at her, spit on her, and called her names. I can see and feel how Charlene feels its so hurtful and i don’t think you could get over something so traumatizing like this. Although all this happened i liked how charlene stood up for what she believed in and took a strong stand not backing down. She even even got calls and death threats from people and her children sometimes had to face this problem with her. I also hated the people and their stereotypes because they weren’t true they were just all wrong and they think they know a little bit of knowledge because they’ve seem a movie or read a history book.
1). At What point did you think about giving up and stop what you were doing?
2). What kind of questions did your children ask you when you were going through the bad emotions and feelings?How did they feel?
“In Whose Honor”? : “American Indian Mascots in sports” by Jay Rosenstein
This movie was a tough thing to watch cause I know to this day there are still people out there that are, from my point of view, is that the are basically disrespecting our culture and I say “our” because there not picking with one particular tribe they are mess-in with all tribes and I’m happy that there are people out there as well that are supporting Indian culture but when I see someone who is going through pain such as having their hair pulled out because she sees something that needs to be fixed and watching this film truly broke my heart and in somewhat sickened in a way of almost feeling discarded to a point of realizing that we are living with people who despise Native Indians and its said in the movie “Indians are human beings NOT mascots”…
…enough said.
“In Whose Honor”
Today in class we watched a documentary called “In Whose Honor.” While watching I would say that there were some strong feelings brought up by the issues portrayed in the film. What I noticed about the people in favor of “The Chief” is that they were mostly ignorant of the topic at hand. There was a lack of understanding, but more than just lacking information, it was a lacking of empathy towards the people who are hurt by this showing of a fictitious Native Chief.
If ever I had to sum it up in a few words I’d say that racism through ignorance is still racism.
Now I have to ask, what did any of you feel about this movie? Did it bring up any anger, or perhaps any sadness? What do you feel about these people supporting “The Chief” and their arguments for keeping him?
There are no wrong answers, just how you feel.
In Whose Honor? :American Indian Mascots In Sports
This movie really hit me. Just seeing Charlene Teters (Spokane) ,the person who the movie is documenting, work hard for our culture is really inspiring. Also today we had a work shop on making resumes and how to write an essay for applying to jobs and colleges.
Discussion piece
Today during class with Deron we discussed about Sovereignty and I brought up a certain point that I thought I’d share with everyone. I felt that part of the reason for Europeans having viewed Natives as being savage and sub human was due to the Native Perspective of being just as important as the animals and every living thing on the Earth. That Native people still maintained their connection with the Earth as stewards of the land rather than just takers of resources. Like in European culture and still to this day America and most of the world has viewed itself, and human beings as being a separate entity from Nature, rather than acknowledging that we came from the Earth, that it is our Mother, and not simply a resource to be taken and used as we please. This is what I feel to be true, if you have any questions regarding my perspective on this issue, or if I was not clear enough, then feel free to ask questions. And just be sure to tell me how you feel about this, what your point of view is, etc.
I want to see some comments or posts people GO GO GO.
nativeyouth2college.org 