Pudgy Indian

"Come on down and buy some Indianess. Yes, you too, can have your own little piece of Indian identity and alleviate whatever guilt you may feel for the actions your nation has taken against the Indians here. Purchase yourself a little piece of Indian warriorness with a club or poorly made bows and arrows. Maybe a little Indian spirituality with a book written by whites or wannabees or mass produced dream catchers. Dream of being Indian with the many representations of Indianess we carry. Yes! All you have to do is hand us some cash or your credit card and *POOF* you have an instant Indian connection. Just add money and stir..."

When Rhonda and I were on a little Revolutionary journey, we wandered through the Jantzen Beach Mall, also called something like Super Center. One of the stores is a little Indian In a Cupboard type of store called H.B. Trading Post: Native American Art. Undoubtedly some of their art is produced by Indians, but most is just commercial representation designed to make profits for those who exploit the "western movie" represtation of what it means to be Indian.

There were many representations of warrior men with painted faces and various headresses. There were many representations of maiden women, mostly sitting submissively and playing with their hair, to give rise to fantasies non-Indians have about Indian femininity. There were many prints of nature and eagles and Doolittle. No representations of Indians today. No powwow dancers. No Indian college graduates. No Indian created modern art. No Indians wearing glasses. No Indians with some weight on them. No, few, representations of elders. Etc.

There were books about Indian spirituality and arts and crafts. Nothing by, say, Vine Deloria, Jr., Ward Churchill, Winona Laduke, Joy Harjo, Andrea Smith, etc. Nothing about Native American genocide, boarding schools, economic and environmental violence enacted against Indians, diseases, mining, holocaust, poetry, Love, fears, joys. Nothing of modern and real indigenous peoples.

Rhonda suggested I tell the woman behind the counter I have 4,000,000 acres of land to trade for a few strands of beads. To purposefully stereotype our Indianess to bring attention to the fact that the store is stereotyping our Indianess. We wandered throughout the store and Rhonda suggested we hang out until we get some help. We got no attention and we could feel the tension from the woman behind the counter. We openly talked of genocide, rape in boarding schools, social and environmental injustice, no modern representations of Indians in this store, etc. Much to the discomfort of even those patronizing this racist display.

It was the oddest and craziest shop we've seen, although not the first. In Arizona, there are shops that exploit the Indian race. Heck, there are other stores in town that do the same. They put us Indians in a tiny little box to be sold to non-Indians who are too scared to talk with us directly. I think of those Indians starving on the Pine Ridge Reservation as the end of the month comes closer and times become harder. Why don't they go out there and buy many of these actual Indian made goods to sell in these stores? Why don't they take their pictures and make representations of them to sell to non-Indians? Why aren't they helping out actual Indians? These are not the types of Indians they are looking for. Just like Rhonda and I are not the type of Indians that are being sought out for diversity events in the area. We aren't the racist representations of what it means to be Indian to the society at large. We are not John Wayne's Indians. We are not the TV Western images of Indian. We are not the Indian In the Cupboard.

Wanna know a secret that isn't so secret...Rhonda and I aren't going to go away. And we are as Indian as Crazy Horse, Geronimo, Joy Harjo, Wilma Mankiller, etc., and you aint gonna stuff us in any box and sell us to tourists. And our voice is just as valid as any.

Where are the whitey stores? We could sell white sheets, crosses, baseball bats...oops! I'm being racist. Let's not upset whitey.

So get out there and purchase some Indianess today at whatever store where you'll get racist representations of who we are and feel safe in your home that aint none of us gonna come riding to your house with spears in our hands as you enjoy fantasies of imaginary warriors and submissive maidens playing with their long black hair. Rhonda and I...You'll find us on the streets being more Indian than those raicst fucking representations.