Harvard's "Conquistabros and Navajos" Frat Party

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A couple of weeks ago, in the midst of Indigenous Peoples Day planning, I heard that the brothers of Sigma Chi at Harvard had decided to throw a "Conquistabros and Navajos" party in honor of "Columbus" Day. There was very little mention of it throughout the Harvard community (besides a quick quote in the Crimson from one of the Native undergrads, which I'll link below). Needless to say, I was outraged, and upset that there was little response from the university administration. This is so much more than a "cowboys and Indians" party.

So, when I was forwarded the invite this week, I figured it was not too late to call them out.

If you can see in the invitation above (which was forwarded widely throughout the undergrad community), it depicts a tall ship, bearing Sigma Chi sails, with the words:

 "In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue, and in 2010, Harvard Sigma Chi is rolling back the clock again...On October 8th, at 11pm, come ready to set sail at a new kind of party. Come dressed to explore the New World...or defend it."

Then, accompanying the flyer was an email from the fraternity, which stated:

Hey everyone,

The brothers of Sigma Chi invite you to our Columbus Day party this Friday: Conquistabros and Navajos. Start off the long weekend right with one of our best parties of the year. The theme is lighthearted and flexible; dress as anything related to exploration in America, e.g. Columbus, pilgrims, conquistadors, Native Americans and cowboys/girls. This party will be list only, so reply to socialchair@harvardsigmachi.com if you want to request getting a couple friends/blockmates added to the list. We hope to see you there.

-The Members of Sigma Chi

I bolded my favorite line of the email--"The theme is lighthearted and flexible; dress as anything related to exploration in America, e.g. Columbus, pilgrims, conquistadors, Native Americans and cowboys/girls".

First of all, lighthearted?! You're calling the genocide of millions of Native peoples lighthearted? What if we re-wrote their invitation...to a new party called "Jew-bros and Nazi-hos"?

Hey everyone,

The brothers of Sigma Chi invite you to our party this Friday: Jew-bros and Nazi-hos. Start off the long weekend right with one of our best parties of the year. The theme is lighthearted and flexible; dress as anything related to WWII/The Holocaust, e.g. Hitler, Nazis, The Gestapo, Jews and soldiers. This party will be list only, so reply to socialchair@harvardsigmachi.com if you want to request getting a couple friends/blockmates added to the list. We hope to see you there.***

-The Members of Sigma Chi

I don't think that would fly at all, do you?

Beyond the horrifying minimization of the genocide of Native peoples and continuing legacy of colonialism in the Americas, let's talk about the logic here. So. First of all, Conquistadors and Navajos. I get the cutesy "omg we're so clever look at us make the theme of "bros and hos" into something related to Columbus Day!"--which has major issues as it is (remember our discussion of the sexualization of Native women?) but really? Conquistadors=South America, Navajos=American Southwest. Columbus=West Indies. Pilgrims=American Northeast. and how are cowboys even related at all?

And I refuse to accept the "it's just a party, get over it" mentality. Some of the main reasons this is incredibly harmful to Native peoples (including and especially the Native students at Harvard)...apologies to regular readers, who must get sick of my constant repetition of these ideas:

1. Glorifying and making light of the atrocities committed by the "explorers" of the Americas is just as bad as glorifying the Nazis and the Holocaust, and not something to be taken lightly.

2. The theme is using a generic stereotype of an Indigenous person (in this case "Navajo") to represent thousands of tribes and communities throughout the Americas, each with their own unique culture and history. The Indigenous groups who encountered the conquistadors are not remotely the same as Navajos in the southwest, and by lumping them together, the party contributes to continued stereotyping of Native peoples as one monolithic group--consisting of hollywood stereotypes of war paint, feathers, and buckskin.

3. Encouraging party goers to "dress up" as American Indians and Indigenous Peoples puts Native people in the category of a fantasy character--something that no longer exists, or never did. Columbus, Conquistadors, and Pilgrims are all situated in the past, but Native peoples are still here, are still alive, and still Native (and yes, cowboys are still alive, but they are not systematically oppressed and facing continued colonialism). It is also condoning dressing up in racial drag, and I would bet Sigma Chi might get in a little trouble if they hosted a blackface party.

I could go on, but I think that might be enough for now.

The Crimson (the student newspaper) did write an article about the Indigenous Peoples Day vigil the undergrads hosted, and mentioned the party:

This candlelight vigil comes after a themed party held by Sigma Chi on Friday night drew criticism from many members of Native Americans at Harvard College. A member of the Sigma Chi leadership told The Crimson that the event was called “Brave New World,” but the theme has been characterized by other students as “Conquistabros and Navajos.”

“It’s always very disappointing to see native cultures lumped into one group that you can dress up,” said Tia M. Ray ’12, vice president of Native Americans at Harvard College and a member of the Navajo tribe, explaining how she felt that the event made a “mockery” out of her tribe.

A member of Sigma Chi said that the event was not intended to offend anyone, and the controversy has prompted discussion within the organization on planning future events.

"Brave New World" my butt. The invitation is above, you all can see exactly how they advertised the theme. and of course the "event was not intended to offend anyone"--does anyone set out to hold and event that is inherently offensive? It's just a cheap way of covering themselves.

There you have it, the glories of the bastion of cultural sensitivity that is Harvard College. Thanks, Sigma Chi. Looking forward to your future events.

...and oops, I might have left the email address of the social chair on there, if you'd like to let him know your thoughts.


UPDATE: Sigma Chi issued an apology.


***I made this up. This is a fake invitation. Just clarifying. But the first one is completely real.

Plenty of "Indians" and Equal Opportunity Racism: Bay to Breakers 2010

Bay to Breakers is an annual San Francisco Bay Area tradition, now in its 99th year. Technically it's a 12k race, starting downtown (the bay) and ending at the beach (the breakers). I don't know the exact history, or how it has (d)evolved through the years, but I can tell you it is now one part serious road race, and about 100 parts drunken costumed debauchery.

Early sunday morning I positioned myself on the side of the road, ready to capture what I figured would be a few rouge headdresses. I quickly spotted one, then another, and another...and before I knew it, I had to stop because there were just too many and it was getting redundant. My album on my computer has 53 pictures, and that was in about the course of an hour and a half. yikes.

Below, a few of the many "Indians" to grace B2B:

These guys were the worst offenders of the day.  They were in a group of about 10, all dressed up and painted, and were running in circles around the racers waiting for the port-a-potties, war-whooping and waving their tomahawks.

Cowboys and Indians.  Creative.

Ok, a few more points for creativity. A headdress and...batman?

Me (as these guys walked by a few inches from me): "Hey, can I take your picture?!"
Them: "Yaaaaaah! Why?"
Me: "For my blog, is that ok?"
Them: "Aweeesommme."

This dude: "Hey, you were taking my picture!"
Me: "yeah, is that ok? I wanted to get a picture of you and your friends in headdresses for my blog."
Dude: "you're wearing a snuggie! Can I snuggie in your snuggie?!"
Me (wearing a leopard print snuggie at the time): "um, ok?"
Dude (as rubbing his face on the sleeve of my snuggie): "so soft."

She and her friends were a bit more caveman-esq, with bones in their hair and such. No less offensive.

Neon paint war paint and Rayban wayfarers. hipster at its best.

Fringe and a 40. Definitely honoring Native culture, right?

So, a mere sampling of the hundreds of "Indians" to grace B2B. They ranged from just a headdress to full-on buckskin and floor length warbonnets, and were everywhere. This image even made it to the SF Gate web coverage of the event:

(source)

Before anyone gets on my case for posting these photos, a few disclaimers:

1) As you can see from the dialogues below the pictures, anyone who made eye contact I asked permission to take their picture "for my blog." No one cared. Most of them probably don't remember talking to me anyway. Also, it was a public event, with news/media cameras everywhere. People knew they were being photographed. (I hate that I even have to include this, but you know)

2) Indian costumes were by no means the only form of racist costumes. There were plenty of "Mexicans" in sombreros and mustaches, "Asians" with kimonos and stereotypical rice paddy hats, even some "Tibetan monks" (I have a picture of those):

 All equally racist, all equally offensive. But considering my blog is on Natives, I thought I would focus on the Indian appropriations. But I did want to point out that the images of Natives are the not only instances of this behavior at the event.

In fact, next year I plan to print up about 5000 of these stickers and running around putting them on everyone dressed as any of the aforementioned costumes:

Good idea? or GREAT idea?

Still want to know why wearing a headdress is wrong?: But Why Can't I Wear a Hipster Headdress?

and earlier, showing it's not just exclusive to B2B:

The Hipster Headdress Abounds at Coachella: http://nativeappropriations.blogspot.com/2010/04/hipster-headdress-abounds-at-coachella.html

(Thanks to Bill for sending over the sf gate pic, and to Q, Freeman, EJ, and Katie for putting up with me playing "spot the Indian" all morning, and Annie for the idea!)

When Non-Native Participation in Powwows Goes Terribly Wrong

Let's set the scene: Friday afternoon, Stanford powwow--one of the largest powwow's on the West Coast. Three Native powwow committee members and a friend are checking in on the vendor booths, making sure things are ready to go, and they come across the group pictured above. 6 non-Native girls, decked out in warpaint, feathers, fringe, and moccassins--playing Indian at its worst. I'll let my friend Leon tell the whole story:

While we were walking around Powwow on Friday, checkin out the vendors, we saw this pack of little white girls come running in from the street. Now, needless to say, we were shocked at the sight. We pretty much all just stopped in our tracks, and were speechless for a minute, as we looked on in sheer disbelief. After going through a few (angry) options in our heads about what to do, we figured we should have a little fun with it first (especially since there was this crew of little like six year old Native girls who were already making fun of them)...anyways, me and Lisa devised a plan to get this picture of them for you and your blog. So Lisa approached the girls and said "Excuse me girls..." (silence fell upon the land)..."could we get a picture of you for our newsletter?" "Of course!!!" the girls replied with excitement...

So girls, here's your "newsletter" debut.
After Leon and crew took the picture, the powwow security team talked to them and brought them over to the director of the Stanford Native Center for some education on the issue, so (hopefully) they at least walked away from the experience with a new understanding of their actions. If they didn't, here, again, is my anti-headdress manifesto.

I was telling my mom about the incident, and she said, "Honey, you can't be too hard on them. Clearly they just didn't know any better." The thing is, they should have known better.

These girls are students at Palo Alto High School. Definitely one of the best high schools in the area, if not the state. It is a high school that turns out tops students who go on to top colleges, and enrolls  children of professors, stanford employees, and other well educated silicon valley execs. To top it off, the school is literally across the street from Stanford. Across the street from a school that hosts the largest student run powwow in the nation for 39 years running, that is home to nearly 300 Native students, that has one of the strongest college Native communities in California.

I would like to think that the combination of those factors would equate some level of understanding, that a high school of their caliber would incorporate some type of curriculum on Native history, or at least a basic level of cultural sensitivity. Clearly, that doesn't seem to be the case.

If these girls survived a talking-to by Winona (the director of the Native Center), they know what they did was wrong, and why. I feel posting their picture and story is enough of a public shaming. But as I struggle to find an analogy to another community event to analyze this incident, I'm still left scratching my head.

Why did these girls think it was ok to dress up like ridiculous "Indians" to come to a Native community event? Would these girls have dressed in blackface to go to a African American community gathering? Wear a sombrero, poncho, and drawn on mustache to a Ballet Folklorico concert? No.

But powwows, at least in areas that are not majority-Native, tend to invite non-Native spectators, encourage their participation in things like intertribal dances, and allow time and space for education about Native history and powwow traditions. I think that's a great thing. Powwows show the vibrancy and currency of our cultures and evolving traditions; they show we are still here, that traditions are strong, that our communities exist and will continue to exist. They expose thousands of people to Native cultures that they may not ever encounter otherwise. They allow for Native artists and craftspeople to make a living selling their jewelry and art.

However, this openness and encouragement of non-Native participation creates a fine line--we want you to come, to learn, to watch, to engage; but that doesn't mean it's ok to mock our cultures in your attempts at participation.

I felt like that line was crossed a couple of weeks ago at the Harvard powwow, where our MC (a well respected MC throughout Indian country, great man, very focused on the educational aspects of powwow) called for a "Spectator Special".  He invited the non-Indian spectators out to for a dance competition at the end of the afternoon, to real contest songs.

There were separate songs for men and women, and multiple rounds--semi-finals, finals, ect. The winners were chosen by the audience, and given a cash prize (like $5). As I stood on the sidelines and watched, I couldn't help but feel extremely uncomfortable. It was like we had just given these men and women permission to mock us.

They hopped and ran around--one man even took off his socks to spin around like the fancy dancers. The thing was, it wasn't like they were clowning, or smiling, or being silly. They were dead serious. They had looks of concentration, were sweating, breathing hard. I think I would have felt better if it was a joke--a chance for the Native dancers to take a break and poke fun at the spectators, almost like the switch dance where the men dance like women and women like men. But instead, these spectators reverted to the worst of stereotypes, jumping around like "war dances" around the fire from a spaghetti western.

I want to share the video I took on my cell phone, but beware, the quality is, well, what you would expect from a cell phone. And the sound was so bad I had to plop a Northern Cree contest song behind it so you could still get the effect. In sum, don't judge the filmmaker, judge the content of the film.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7eQ0mC4VwM

I'm hoping you can see the young girls running around the powwow circle, and the intensity of the mom in the tank top and baseball cap. She went on to "win".

I don't know if I'm being oversensitive on the spectator special, but it really made me feel weird, like it somehow belittled the talent and tradition of the Native dancers. Those dancers have been dancing since they were little, know the traditions and stories behind their style of dance, and have invested time and money in their regalia. To almost imply that spectators are just as good after a few hours of watching the dancing just seems wrong.

So, in sum, powwows are an amazing opportunity for education of the non-Native community on Native traditions and cultures, and may serve as one of the only chances that these spectators have to interact with Native peoples in a modern and culturally relevant setting. However, there's a difference between learning and appropriating. Clearly some of these spectators need to learn the difference.

Earlier: But Why Can't I Wear a Hipster Headdress?--http://nativeappropriations.blogspot.com/2010/04/but-why-cant-i-wear-hipster-headdress.html

(Thanks Leon, Lisa, Kanani, and Alejandra!)