Many Feathers and Much Paint Don't Make an Indian

1982 Aug 10, The Times 

Indian Image Debunked  UNM Festival Attacks Celluloid Stereotype of Native American  By Tom Jacobs 1982 Feb 15, Albuquerque Journal        Phil Lucas was standing in the Seattle airport waiting for his luggage when a little blond boy, perhaps 8 years old, walked up to him.       "Are you an Indian?" the boy asked.       "Yes," Lucas replied.       "Do you have an arrow?"       "No," he said.       "Do you kill people?"       " No," Lucas said. The boy then turned around and walked away.       Lucas paused and shook his head after recounting the story.       "It's still happening today," he said.       Lucas expressed no animosity toward the youngster. After all, virtually everything the child knows about Indians he probably learned from the movies. And everyone knows that, in the movies, Indians kill ...

Thanksgiving: Indians Find an  Empty Table in America 1981 Nov 26 The Los Angeles Times        Thanksgiving is our one truly national holiday, the day when all Americans reflect on this country's heritage  And when most celebrate with a traditional meal that commemorates the Pilgrims’ celebration of their first bountiful harvest. As every schoolchild knows, the Pilgrims invited the Indians to share the feast – and to share in the civilizing of the savage “new world.”        This is the stuff of myths. Few schoolchildren learn about the succeeding Thanksgivings, which celebrated the Europeans’ success in taking over Indian lands – often through extermination, usually through broken treaties.       Powerful is the effect of myth. It rationalizes. It canonizes. It serves as the basis for the teleology that justifies the actions of a people or a nation. Myth gives substance to nationally professed ideals such as...

Do's and don't for teachers of Indian students By Jane Vanderpoel 1981 Dec 11, Argus Leader        Teachers: don’t use alphabet cards that say A is for apple, B is for ball and I is for Indian.       That’s first on a list of 10 don’ts for teachers who have Indian students in their classes, said Gene Fracek, state Indian education coordinator, to Axtell Park Junior High School teachers at a workshop..       “Naming a Chevy a Cheyenne doesn’t do lots of honor to the Indian people,” he said.       It helps if teachers have an unprejudiced concept of Indians, he said, and they shouldn’t allow their students to believe television stereotypes of Indians.       “For many people, especially if they’re from the East, the only true Indian is the Hollywood Tribe. If you don’t look like that, you’re not an Indian.”       Don’t lump all Indians together, either, because they aren’t alike,...

      It was a Redskin crowd at the Rose Bowl, with Washington fans dominating the pregame festivities outside the stadium, as well as the in-house noise-making.       Headdress and war paint were THE fashion of the day, and one was rarely out of earshot of the Redskins' fight song -- you know, "Braves on the warpath, fight for old D.C."  1983 Feb 1, The San Bernardino County Sun Who Can Name the College That's Home of Warriors?  1983 Feb 24, Hartford Courant By A.R. Coleman        Williamantic – When sports enthusiasts hear the name Huskies, they think of the University of Connecticut.       But who can name the college the Warriors belong to?       Some members of the community of Eastern Connecticut State College don’t believe people relate the name Warriors to the college, even though the name is nearly a 50-year-old tradition.       To remedy this situat...

1982 Brown Indian 1982 Brown "Squaw"  Indians suing Indians over Indian in Cleveland 1982 June 14 Courier Post  by Phill Marder       For the past few years, the sports page, once a haven of escape from the world of reality, has taken on the look of the financial or legal section of the newspaper.       Instead of game results, we've been swamped with contract disputes, strikes, lawsuits - George Steinbrenner.      I don't like it, but I was getting somewhat used to it. Still, every once in a while, an item pops up that is so ridiculous, it makes you wonder if there's no limit to this insanity.        The latest involves a lawsuit filed 10  years ago against the Cleveland Indians. Surely, the city of Cleveland could file suit against the Indians for impersonating a major league team. Then again, the Indians could file suit against Cleveland for impersonating a major league city.   ...

1981 Aug 8, The Chillicothe Constitution Tribune  1981 "Brown Squaw" 1981 Jan 7, The Cincinnati Enquirer  1981 Dec 1 Indiana Gazette 

Indians object to Andrew Jackson Highway By Beverly Shepard  1981 Sep 9, The Daily Tar Heel        North Carolina Indian groups say that they are insulted by the Andrew Jackson highway designation on U.S. 74, but efforts to have the designation changed are likely to be opposed by or even ignored by state transportation officials.       “I would actively try to get the Board of Transportation not to act on it,” transportation board member John Q. Burnette said last week. “My reason is that it’s been known since it was built as the Andrew Jackson Highway. He is a president from North Carolina and in honor of him, we should leave it the way it is.”       For North Carolina Indians, however, Andrew Jackson personifies contempt and prejudice against the natives of this state. Jackson sponsored the Removal Act of 1830, which forced thousands of Indians to move out of the state.       “Andrew Jackson’s policy has b...

Russell Means/ hero or villain? By Chuck Raasch 1981 Nov 1, Argus Leader       Posing mutely for the camera, he looks imposing: His face is defiant, his shoulders thrown back as proud platforms for spirals of braided hair.        But strip away the publicity veneer and Russell Means smiles easily and speaks softly and thoughtfully. He exudes the humility of a man approaching middle age, a man who has seen some of his goals swept away by the conflicts of humanity.       These days, he talks less about confrontation and more about setting an example for fellow Indians. Some who know him see this as a mellowing with age; he will turn 42 on Nov. 10. Others believe the new style is a reaction to his jail time in the late 1970s and the manslaughter conviction of his son, Hank, this summer.       He is a hero to Indian activists and white sympathizers, but a villain to those who think his confrontationist tactics have harme...

1981 Sep 21, Chicago Tribune 

1981 June 4, The Santa Fe New Mexican 

1981 April TV 1981 Feb TV  1981 June 28, The Des Moines Register 

1991 Oct 23 The Indianapolis Star        Is the state name next?       Angered by the "tomahawk" chop" -- the chopping cheer executed by fans of the Atlanta baseball team -- some Indian rights groups are demanding that sports teams and other organizations drop the Indian-inspired names group members find offensive.       In Indiana, that could be a tall order.       Besides the Indianapolis Indians baseball club, we've got dozens of high school teams throughout the state with Indian names.  To name a few: Braves at Brebeuf Preparatory School on the Northwestside and Indian Creek in Johnson County;  Redskins at Emmerich Manual on the Southside and at North Side High School in Fort Wayne;  Warriors at Warren Central , Whiteland and Scottsburg high schools.        Perhaps the most famous are those from Milan, whose quest for the 1954 state basketball championshi...

... also created "Custer's Last Muster," "full of Indians" and other works  1991 April 11, The Indianapolis