10 Days until Halloween: Step Away from the “Indian” Costume

[geardaddy]

http://nativeappropriations.com/2014/10/10-days-until-halloween-step-away-from-the-indian-costume.html

Hey. It’s me again. It’s that time of year. You might be like, “Hey! What should I wear for Halloween this year?!?!” and some of you might be like, “OMG, I’ll be an INDIAN.”

No.

Don’t know why? I’ve got 8 posts about why. Detailing every angle and possibility of why you might think it’s ok. It’s not. Feel free to peruse/browse/read/repost, and hopefully learn!

Indian costumes

2013:

The one stop for all your “Indian costumes are racist” needs!: Revisits a 2012 post that showed the racist descriptions of the Indian costumes on the Spirit website, as well as talks about Tonto costumes, and links to many of these posts below. Yay.

So your friend dressed up as an Indian, now what? : A play-by-play description of how I approach folks dressed as Indians, includes references to pumpkin cookies and a nice long ranty-rant at the end once the angry comments got to me.

Open Letter to the Pocahotties: Annotated version: Every year the original letter (see 2011) gets reposted, so I felt the need to deconstruct why people get so up in arms about this post in particular. I did a rhetorical analysis on myself, because nerd.

More at link.

[KamaAina]

1. What if the costume-wearer is Indian?

[geardaddy]

2. I think the blogger is referring to non-Indians

[dilby]

3. Well they better not be dressed as a Cowboy.

Or a Geisha, Belly Dancer, Princess, Viking, Knight, or anything that references the dress of another culture. To be safe people should only dress as mythical beasts and monsters and only those from where their ancestry originated.

[madinmaryland]

9. So they should not dress up as Tony Romo...

[NaturalHigh]

13. Come on now MIM...

would YOU dress up as Tony Romo? Would anybody?

To be fair, it would be a cheap costume. All you'd have to do is walk around pretending to choke.

[madinmaryland]

15. 6-1 Baby. Best record in the NFL so far...

Yeah, the choke is always expected, but with the offensive line and defense playing well...

[NaturalHigh]

16. I hear you. I was just being a wise guy.

To be honest, I rarely watch the NFL. I'm more of a college football fan.

[madinmaryland]

18. No problem. I have spent a bit of time in the Sports Group and am used

to the smack talk over there (mine and others!).

I'm a Buckeyes fan when it comes to College football.

[NaturalHigh]

19. Buckeyes, huh? (Frowns in disapproving manner)

Boomer Sooner! Yes, I know we've had a couple of unfortunate setbacks lately.

[pinboy3niner]

33. Go Buckeyes!

I'm not from Ohio and not even a sports fan but I met some wonderful folks there while volunteering in the Kerry campaign in Columbus, including a redcoat who snuck me into the championship game against Michigan that year. And besides the team, I also quickly learned to love the band and its Script Ohio.

Back in California, I sometimes tune in to a Buckeyes game--wearing the Buckeyes cap one of my friends there souvenired me. They also souveninred me some horse chestnuts dropped from the trees on campus.

[Gormy Cuss]

11. or Aunt Jemima or Steppin'Fetchit

Last edited Thu Oct 23, 2014, 12:29 PM - Edit history (1)

because those are also about as culturally insensitive and inaccurate as the typical "Indian" costume.

[theHandpuppet]

12. Amazing, isn't it?

And not in a good way.

[Ampersand Unicode]

14. What if you have multiple ancestries

Not that I do Halloween dress-up anyway (I find it childish and stupid for anyone older than 10).

My heritage consists of Norwegian, Irish, Italian, and Portuguese Sephardim.

Can I go as a Viking leprechaun pizza chef getting kicked out of Spain?

[whistler162]

42. Okay that passes thw litmus test.

[scarletwoman]

21. I find it sad that you cannot differentiate between and occupation & an ethnic group.

Geisha - an occupation.
Belly Dancer - an occupation.
Princess - a hereditary position not confined to any particular ethnic group.
Viking - an occupation that has not been pursued for several centuries. See also, losing NFL team.
Knight - an occupation that has not been pursued for several centuries. While "knighthood" as a ceremonial honor is still bestowed by the Queen of England, the recipients do not go about in armor smiting enemies of the Queen.

American Indian - an ethnic group, NOT an occupation. They are living people, not mythological or historical characters. Would you be okay with white people dressing up in blackface?

[theHandpuppet]

22. Stereotyping is just harmless fun

Or so I've been told.

[uppityperson]

4. Answer...

Link from the op's link
http://nativeappropriations.com/2013/10/so-your-friend-dressed-up-as-an-indian-now-what.html

Step three: Prepare for the response.

I’m Cherokee Indian, so get off my back! or alternatively, My great-great-grandma was Cherokee (maybe even a princess!), so get off me.

This is my favorite. Because then I go, “ᎣᏍᏓ! ᎣᏏᏲ! ᏣᎳᎩᏍ ᎯᏬᏂᏍᎩ?” (“Osda!! Osiyo! Tsalagis hiwonisgi?” “Good!! Hello! Do you speak Cherokee?”), which is really about the limit of my Cherokee language, but usually is pleeeenty to freak them out. But that might not work for all of you.

That’s great. and I encourage you to learn more about your heritage, because Cherokee regalia looks nothing like that. We don’t wear plains warbonnets. And when you learn more, you’ll see that Cherokee folks who know and respect their heritage would not be walking around dressed like that. If anything, being Cherokee holds you to a higher standard. This is not how I would honor my heritage, ever. Also, we don’t have, nor have we ever had, “princesses.” So you might want to check your facts.

[Nye Bevan]

5. Not to mention.....

[geardaddy]

6. Charming. n/t

[Nye Bevan]

7. Also

[One_Life_To_Give]

8. No Maharaja costume?

Dang it I was hoping to get out in a Dhoti.

[whistler162]

10. In that case don't wear a Viking costume

unless your are Scandinavian or I will be quite ticked off!

[flamingdem]

17. No fearies please

I'm Celtic

[LeftyMom]

20. I find it interesting that the same people defending racist costumes

can be reliably counted on to defend racist policing, shooting black kids for existing, being shitty to women for existing....

It's almost like intersectionality is a thing.

[nomorenomore08]

23. +1000

The most amazing thing is they don't even seem aware of how transparent they are.

[nomorenomore08]

24. Wear whatever the hell you want. But I reserve the right to roll my eyes at you

when I see you in your dumbass headdress and warpaint.

[Oktober]

38. Absolutely fair...

The OP goes over the line by interjecting herself as the judge of cultural appropriation ...

[gollygee]

25. We got one as a gift one year

and turned it into a 60s hippie rockstar costume. The fringe was perfect. The super short skirt over a pair of flare jeans was perfect. We had to add a few hippie accessories and a Paper Jams guitar, but it was basically awesome. You couldn't tell what it started out as.

I was not comfortable with having my prepubescent daughter dressed up as a sexed up Native American. Totally inappropriate in more than one way.

[nomorenomore08]

28. Now that is an awesome bit of creativity.

[BlueJazz]

26. I've actually been invited to a halloween costume party. I might go as a bag of mostly water.

[2naSalit]

27. Interesting...

I don't go to Hallowe'en events because I find all of them offensive. It's not that I am against people wanting to have a good time but the actual celebration is one that is not of a party atmosphere. If you want to have a masquerade party, cool but the way the unconcerned about whom they offend by expressing stereotypes is not what the holiday is about.

It is actually a spiritual thing but it has been bastardize, as most spiritual events (seriously look at "christmas" and easter for instance) have been by the capitalist corps... and we (as a cluelessly childish culture) swallow it up like candy every time those dates come around on the calendar.

Sad IMHO. Personally, I will stay home and enjoy the company of my loved ones who are on "the other side"... no disguises required.

[Warpy]

29. Kids in my area come around dressed as Indians.

Chances are about 50% that they are Indians, albeit not from the plains tribes the outfit is from.

[Nye Bevan]

30. Do you refuse to give candy to kids in politically incorrect costumes? (nt)

[Warpy]

39. Hell no. They're KIDS

While I think it's tacky as hell for adults to wear them, especially the slutwear they try to sell to women, I give little kids a pass on whatever they're dressed as.

Most costumes in my part of town are homemade and a lot of them aren't PC enough for the professional picklefaces around here. However, they're KIDS. They're likely to do better when they grow up and know better.

[Behind the Aegis]

31. I would say I am shocked by some of the responses, but I am really not.

I would also say treat the dressing up as a Native American as a Halloween costume is akin to blackface, but I am afraid some might even make excuses for that!

I once saw a child dressed up as a Hassidic Jew, complete with hooked nose. I so wanted to punch the parents in the throat. Instead I just fucked up their credit rating. OK, the second part was me being silly, the first part really did happen. Unless they are teens, most of the children don't really know what they are doing, so when I see something that is really offensive like that, I shoot the parent a dirty look.

[Sognefjord]

32. I read somewhere that Halloween is the perfect American holiday because it exemplifies

Greed and Paranoia. I like it though because it has not been militarized, i.e., President Shrub carrying plastic pumpkins to the troops.

[Quackers]

34. Im reminded of a Family Guy episode.

Not the best quality though.

[Quackers]

35. I accendentily stumbled across this old DU thread about this.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x2180499

[Oktober]

36. How utterly and completely tedious....

[pinboy3niner]

37. Unless you're one of the Village People

[Mister Nightowl]

40. I'll be going as Dan Snyder

Though I can't get the stupidity right.

[Warpy]

41. I went to a party as Nancy Reagan in the 80s

Trust me, people were very, very scared.