#native communities

Asking questions like this is good! Please continue to do so. This is not an all inclusive list, of course, but here are some quick tips. If you have a specific Nation in mind, go to their Rez website! There’s likely resources available or a way to reach out to them.

I also want to add, please remember I’m no expert. I’m what we call an “Urban Native” and mixed. I’m applying things on how I personally feel, how my family feels, what I’ve learned about Cultural Appropriation vs Cultural Appreciation as an Anthropology major, and just someone who exists in the world.

1. Making a character sexy =\= sexualizing or fetishizing. You can have an Indigenous character be sexy respectfully. Just don’t play into the stereotypes for why Indigenous Peoples are sexy. Don’t refer to them as “Indians” or worse, for women/AFAB people, “Squ*w”. It’s a slur. I know old Westerns use it for Indigenous/First Nations women. Don’t.

Note: some Indigenous Peoples don’t mind being called Indian, and that’s their personal preference, which is fine for them. However, over all, it is a colonized and improper term that should avoid being used unless necessary to the plot for things like to show racism, complacency or ignorance. Like with all colonistic phrases or slurs, use it wisely and sparingly. A person of that race reclaiming a word doesn’t mean you can suddenly use it Willy Nilly.

2. Obvious, but don’t play into stereotypes. Not all Nations have long hair. Not all Nations used dream catchers, tomahawks or were adept at riding horses as soon as settlers came. If I see another story where there’s one Indigenous person and they’re the tracker of the group, I’m screaming. Indigenous men are not inherently violent. Stop making them that way. I love you, but looking at you, John and James Proudstar from Marvel

3. Be respectful of whatever folklore you’re using. To be honest, unless you’re apart of that culture, I wouldn’t use anything that’s seen as overly dangerous (Sk*nWalk*rs, RavenMockers ((yes even though I’ve written about them)), Spearfinger, etc) in general. Try to stay to things that won’t make your actual Indigenous readers feel like you’re trying to mock their beliefs. An Indigenous person can write about their own culture, history and beliefs to explore, learn and take liberties in a way that others really can’t. Maybe stick to beings like the Mooneyed People, Nunnehi/Nunne’hi, etc, who are neutral or even positive figures. Also, please don’t use sacred beings as your jump scare slasher villain without at least attempting to be somewhat accurate. Your creepy 8’ tall Slenderman with antlers and a deer head is not a W*nd*go.

Note: I personally recommend also not doing Thunderbirds without a lot of research. I obviously love them and write about them myself, but they’re so often misportrayed in media that it’s frustrating.

4. Remember, things have meanings!! If your character has an eagle feather split in half, why? If your character wears yellow face paint, why?? Learn what those things mean. Learn when they’re to be worn, how and why. Don’t just add it to look cool. You’re going to have a six year old little girl wearing war paint meant for the War Chief to a Harvest festival.

5. Don’t mix cultures unless it’s intentional. Yes, Wahzhazhe (Osage) and Ponca are in the same family. Yes, they are both Plains Natives. Yes, they’re both of the Siouan language family. They have similar customs, diets and even some ancient migratory patterns. They are not the same.

Some media that does well (in my opinion) with having Indigenous/First Nations characters:

1. Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron

2. Dances With Wolves

"The myth of disappearing Native peoples is very strong in the United States. Indigenous communities are seen by non-Native audiences as part of a historic and past frontier that now only exists in archives, museums, and libraries. We don't often learn how this stereotype of disappearance is the result of state and government policies of forced Indigenous removal, forced assimilation (through boarding schools), and the process of termination (legally erasing Native nations from existing). Art, literature, and films made by non-Native peoples policed the boundaries of what could be seen as ‘authentic’ Native culture and exported ideas of Indigenous ‘disappearance’ globally, perpetuating damaging stereotypes to this day. 

Showcasing museum objects that non-Native audiences rarely see, like the 20th century Seminole dress or Haudenosaunee beaded caps on view in this exhibition, challenges viewers to think about Native presence and production long after the colonial and ‘frontier’ eras. Pairing these items with garments and headgear crafted by Jeffery Gibson reminds audiences that Native arts, culture, and community remain present to this day and demands that we expand the boundaries of what constitutes Indigenous material. Put into the same space, viewers are invited to confront their assumptions about Native history and art, see historic collections with fresh eyes, and consider how contemporary artists and Native communities are in productive dialogue with their past and future."  — Dr. Christian Ayne Crouch

In observance of National Native American Heritage Month, this November we’ll be exploring the themes of the exhibition When Fire Is Applied to a Stone It Cracks, with commentary from both Jeffrey Gibson and historian Dr. Christian Ayne Crouch.

- There is a difference between racism and colorism.

- There is a difference between appropriation and appreciation.

- There is a difference between blackface, blackfishing and artistic make up.

- If a poc says a certain practice isn't closed and that people from other culture can practice it, stop arguing with them saying they are wrong. That isn't your culture for you to say what is wrong and what is right practicing.

- If people from a certain culture says that what someone is doing with that culture (dancing their tradicional dance, using their tradicional clothing) is being done respectfully and is appreciation, STOP saying it's appropiation. That's not your culture for you to define what is appreciating ot appropriating it.

We need the Black community and Native Community to unite.

In the past, our communities have mingled because we can relate to each other. Both communities have gone through colonization.

African Americans have been forcibly taken from their country, shipped on boats, and spread out all throughout North and South America. Our cultural identity and language have been stripped from us, we will never know what our true surname is. Slave children have been taken from their families, sold, abused, killed and thrown into ditches. Black people shoved into ghettos, lynched, discriminated and killed by police by a daily.

Native Americans were tricked, regardless that they helped and taught the settlers to survive. The same people they helped, weaponized disease and language barriers. Indigenous people were taken from their land, shoved onto small pieces of land and were given unfulfilled promises. Some were even taken as slaves. Their children were ripped from their homes, forced into so called schools. They were sexually, emotionally and physically abused. Native people were shoved onto reserves, discriminated against, our women and two spirits have gone missing or murdered, and are killed by the rcmp/police by a daily.

Our communities have united in the past and I think we can Unite again.

(OR IDK. SRRY IF I SAID SOMETHING WRONG. )

((I had attended a ceremony yesterday for the 215 children that were discovered. While we were singing the second song, 2 hawks flew by. Anyways, when I was driving home with my family, we ended up talking ab how both communities are alike. There are Afro natives (like me) that are a product of our unity. We both have been through such similar problems.))

Idk what I’m getting at, but this was kinda just my thoughts. I will admit, on both sides, there have been shade thrown at each other. (Natives using the n word, Blacks using stereotypes against natives) However, we both need to be educated, and learn about examples of our unity in the past. But if we could somehow unite, I think that we may have a chance of changing something.