Stereotypes
Stereotypes; you cannot escape them anywhere. They are the single way we are able to categorize an entire people together in a simple, timely manner. ‘Americans’ are too materialistic, Africans are poor, Italians are loud, Southerners eat a lot of fried food, and all Mexicans are illegal immigrants. When it comes to Native Americans, or American Indians, the stereotypes are countless: poor, unsophisticated, alcoholics, hopeless, lazy…and many more. If I was going to sit here and explore all the stereotypes that have been placed on Indians, it could extend on for hours, or days. This, however, is not what I intend to do. These stereotypes have been put on these people in articles, in the media, and in educational settings, setting up the misconception for Indian Reservations to look like the dark place that it is, or actually, the place that it is not.
Although I did not spend a very substantial amount of time there, only three weeks, I can say that undeniably they do fall into some of these stereotypes. Reservations are poor places, and poverty sets people up to fall into lives of corruption and many different types of violence and hate. These are serious issues, of course, but in all sincerity there are just some stereotypes that are completely false and unsupported.
For one, Indians, at least on the Red Lake Reservation and I assume most if not all reservations, do not live in teepees. They do not live in huts, mud houses, or any type of primitive burlap structure. Very oppositely, they live in, surprise, surprise, real houses! Yes, with running water and electricity. They light fires and camp outside just as often as “normal” people do. They eat pancakes for breakfast and hot dogs for lunch, and even cook them on… ovens! They live like we do; they are not archaic and are not complete outsiders on the world going on around them. They have their own newspaper, postal service, and their own school system.
Onto stereotype number two. Yes, they do go to school. They go to a normal school that has classrooms, teachers and chalkboards. I was fortunate enough to get to tour many schools. They varied from elementary, middle, high school, and even colleges. Many times the elementary, middle and high school were combined into one school. I was pleasantly surprised with how nice the schools were. They all seemed fairly new, which made me happy because it was showing me that they are taking steps in the right direction. I was actually thinking as I was walking around the school that I wished I had went to a high school like this and that I wished mine was as nice and well kept. There are display cases of Indian artifacts and paintings of wolves, eagles, and other animals that are sacred to them on many of the walls. They have classrooms dedicated to culture. Yes, I did have the decision to take German, Spanish, or French… but what if I was not one of those nationalities? Or worse, what if I did not even know what nationality I was? I envy their culture because of their close ties and how connected they are to where they came from. It may not be somewhere that you would be proud of, but they do take pride in it and as far as I’m concerned, that’s what matters anyway.
Number three. Most Indians, and this includes the Red Lake Reservation, do not make any money off of their casinos. I want to reiterate, they make no money off of the casinos on their reservation. There are a couple casinos on reservation, though. I visited two different casinos while at Red Lake Reservation, both which were very big and rather extravagant. To my amusement, most people at the casino, though, were white. There were definitely Indians gambling, however not a large number. Not all Indians gamble, isn’t that another stereotype? Indians do, though, pay taxes, which many people believe they do not. They may pay more than many other Americans pay. It would make sense that they pay taxes though since they have schools, roads, a postal system, etc. One of the interesting things though about ownership on reservations is that the people that live in the house do not own the land or house that they live in. All land is owned technically by the reservation, houses are built and families just live in them. Although this may sound a little strange and possibly cheap because they do not pay for the house or land, they pay for it in other ways. They have no form of collateral when going to the bank; so it is hard if not impossible for them to take out big loans, say for example, for them to go to college.
Number four. It is an enormous misconception that all Indians are alcoholics. Get ready for this…on the Red Lake Reservation alcohol is illegal. Illegal. If you are 18 years old, 21, or 95 and are caught with a can of beer or a bottle of wine, you are going to jail. This policy is enforced. While in Minnesota, we spent one night at a host family’s home. I stayed with an elderly woman named Anne, her daughter, Anita, and Anita’s cousin, Sunsun. Anita and Anne did not really address the issue of alcohol or drugs, but Sunsun opened up to us about these problems on the reservation. He told us that they would not talk about it and tell the truth about it, but he would tell us how it really is. He told us that although it is illegal, drinking of course still happens. This can be related to how high school kids drink alcohol, even though it is illegal, and they have to somehow get it since they are not allowed to purchase it on their own. People bring alcohol onto the reservation and bootleg, which means that they just sell it to people for a lot more than it is worth. The reservation police try very hard to prevent this and have routine stops to check people driving back onto the reservation in case they left the reservation to drink and are returning and driving under the influence. Alcoholism is a problem, but just as much as it is a problem in the normal American society. Like high school students, when you are not allowed to drink, you are going to want to even more and find a way around the rules.
From what I understood, alcoholism is not nearly as big of a problem is as drugs are. Overdoses are much more common than I would have thought or that I have ever experienced or learned about in any other setting. Anita casually brought up how her daughter died of an overdose on oxy cotton when she was only 17 years old. Later that day, Anita’s boyfriend also just as casually brought up that his daughter died of an overdose, two years after the death of Anita’s daughter. One thing I grew to learn about Indians is that they are very open. They are not afraid or ashamed to tell you anything. It happened and so it is knowledge and they feel obliged to let you learn from them. Unlike our society, they do not keep secrets or hide behind facades of people that they actually are not. They are real and they are honest. This is a truly endearing characteristic in my eyes. Even considering this characteristic, the ease and the monotone, neutral voice at which both of them spoke about their daughters’ deaths only instilled how common this was to them. This is a stereotype that they unfortunately fall privy to, but they are trying to take steps against this. You cannot drive or walk more than a mile without seeing a sign or a sticker that is anti-drugs. It will take time, but I do believe that eventually this is something they will be able to conquer.
Number five. All Indians hate all other Americans. I have to admit that for some time, I was scared to go on the reservation. I was scared that they would hate me because of what white people had done to them and are still doing to them. I was scared that they would not open up to me because they thought that I could not understand. I was scared that I would not be able to understand. I was wrong on all accounts, all but one. They welcomed us into their community. They let us participate in ceremonies that were sacred to them; they welcomed us into their homes and fed us food with money that they probably should not have had to spare for us. They told us everything. They taught us their teachings, told us their stories, talked about drugs, alcohol, and their experiences with Indian boarding schools. They were happy that we wanted to know and that we were open to learning and listening. The one thing I was not wrong about was that I am not sure if I do understand why they would not hate me. After hearing about all the injustice and about the boarding schools, which were basically concentration camps, I would hate the people who did all these horrible things to me. Indians, though, are not hostile people. They wanted us to know the truth and they were appreciative of the fact that we were not stereotypical and that we wanted to know the truth and we wanted to get it firsthand. A good friend of ours, Gimiwan, told us that we were not what he was expecting. He thought that all white people were stereotypical about Indians and was so thankful that we came to learn. He spent most of everyday for the last week with us, just hanging out with us, talking to us, and teaching us. We, in return were extremely appreciative of all the knowledge he had given to us. He, to me was proof that the younger generation can keep the culture safe, but continue to move in a positive direction. He has been through a lot of trouble in his past, but is now a very sacred, and gifted person in his society. He is respected and is spreading his teachings and success to younger people on the reservation. He is inspiration to them that it is possible to lead a happy and healthy life there. I hope that he continues to do all of the wonderful things he is doing, but I am quite certain that he will.
Giving is something that is very important in the Indian culture. You never take without giving something first. Sometimes they do not even have to expect anything back in return for your gift. They give, and give and do not expect in return. They have a whole ceremony that is solely based on giving gifts. You give a gift to someone, and then dance around the drum with him or her. When the next song begins you must give a gift to this person in return and then dance around the drum for a second time. This was one of the hardest things for me to comprehend because this is so different from the culture I live in. Everyone takes and takes, and does not believe that it is necessary to give back. I know that tobacco is something that is very important to them, but this is something else that I just do not get. We had speakers that would impart such knowledge onto us and teach us so many lessons, and in return we would give tobacco. They always accepted this with open arms but what they gave to us, in my opinion, was worth substantially more than tobacco. Perhaps this is also one of the things that is most frustrating to me as I have been struggling to put into words my experience on the Red Lake Reservation. I feel as though I was given so much, and did not adequately return the gifts. As I have come back home and have tried to explain my experience, I still get stereotypical responses in return. In an odd way, every time I respond to these accusations and fight back, I feel as though I am giving back, little by little. I know that many of the people I met in Red Lake would consider this a gift: that I am spreading the things I have learned and I am teaching people who Indians really are. Maybe as time continues I will finally feel like I have returned the gift I received, but for now I am just taking it one stereotype at a time.
