Red Road Woman, also known as Ruth Hopkins (an enrolled member of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate tribe on the Lake Traverse Reservation of South Dakota), writes
The Difference Between Being a Slut & a Racist: Pochahottie Hottentot:
Ahh, yes. Halloween is just around the corner. Time for pumpkin carving, Trick-Or-Treating, and women dressed like two-dollar hookers wearing headdresses. What better way to celebrate the ancient pagan feast of Samhain, where the spirits of the dead roam free, than to wear slutty costumes that reduce people of other races to stereotypical hypersexualized caricatures. After all, why keep the embarrassment and denigration all to yourself?
Wait…what?
Lindsay Lohan said it best in Mean Girls: “Halloween is the one night a year when girls can dress like a total slut and no other girls can say anything.”
Say what you will about whether using Halloween as an excuse to advertise your goodies is right or wrong, but I can assure you of one thing: dressing as a sexy pirate, a hot nurse or even a slutty pizza slice, isnotthe same thing as dressing up as a sexy Indian princess, cheeky Cherokee or naughty Navajo. They aren’t just examples of having a little fun with patriarchy (and figuratively slapping Susan B. Anthony and your grandmother in the face simultaneously). It’s racist.
Native Americans are not costumes, we’re human beings. The traditional clothing we wear is called regalia, and looks nothing like the faux 1950’s Hollywood shit that pop culture pawns off on consumers as “Indian.” All Native American people are not the same. There are 566 federally recognized Native American Tribes in the United States. Each possesses its own distinct culture, language, heritage, and land base. Furthermore, we don’t take kindly to non-Natives debasing our sacred objects. The war bonnet, for example, is reserved for Native American warriors and chiefs who’ve fought bravely for their people. Each feather in a war bonnet symbolizes a single act of courage in the face of death and destruction- and no, fielding crowds of sweaty, irritable shoppers to buy a fake headdress at Spirit Halloween doesn’t count. War bonnets are more akin to Purple Hearts.
As a Native American, I can’t tell you what an absolute pain it is to traverse through aisles of costumes this time of year, especially with children in tow. Mommy doesn’t like explaining why Party City is selling a “Cheeky Cherokee” teen costume that promises to send its wearers “heading for the woods,” or why Spirit Halloween is displaying a “Naughty Navajo” mini dress that will have women “sending out smoke signals.” […]
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I urge you to read the rest of Hopkins's excellent rant.
Blast from the Past. At Daily Kos on this date in 2009—On the difficulty of keeping ducks in a row:
Why has it historically been so tough to keep House progressives standing strong and using the leverage of their voting bloc to extract concessions on important legislation the way Blue Dogs have been able to?
Part of the reason is that progressive elected officials occupy a portion of the political spectrum that generally leaves them insulated from most accountability to progressive voters. In other words, they're protected to some degree by the "where else are they gonna go?" factor.
That's why progressive grassroots activists have come to expect their elected officials to eventually and in most every case, end up making the "best deal we could get" argument in support of their ultimate abandonment of principles clearly stated in the earlier stages of the process.
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everyone realizes that sebelius isnt getting fired because the senate would never confirm a new HHS secretary?
— @adamconner
On
today's Kagro in the Morning show, Reminder:
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Greg Dworkin rounds up the latest on ACA implementation, Sebelius' appearance on the Hill, the Virginia elections, and the retreat from the Gop & Tea Party brands. Ryan Grim & Jason Linkins' "The Definitive Guide to Decoding Washington's Anonymous Sources." Ryan Cooper's "The Filibuster Must Die."
Think Progress' "How Sequestration Gets Even Worse Next Year." And the Center for Public Integrity's shocking series on how coal giants use high-powered lawyers and in-house medical "experts" to keep killing their miners with black lung.
High Impact Posts. Top Comments.