Ignorance is unacceptable

I came across a great article on Racialicious which was linked from Native Appropriations. Boy, did that get me thinking. The author observes that after presenting a seminar on Native American culture, "No one was embarrassed or ashamed by their lack of knowledge, no one found it out of the ordinary."

I am always asked about the history of the USA especially in terms of ethnicity, culture, the so called melting pot theory and so forth. Many people only think in terms of black and white, but, our history and modern society is so much more than that. Teaching about Native American cultures in Japan worries me. I don't want to misrepresent or appropriate anyone's culture but I don't have any reliable background to pull from. That bothers me. And, it is embarrassing. I have always tried to self-teach but it is hard when I don't even know where to begin for fact-checking. Usually I point at a map of the USA and point out different areas and name some different Native American groups. Everyone quickly catches on that we are not talking about one big homogeneous group. Then I can address some of the stereotypes, teepees, slapping your hand repeatedly against your mouth and going "woo woo woo", feathers, Thanksgiving as a friendly lovefest, the Indian halloween costumes and the like. Even so, I really don't know much beyond that.

When I ask other North Americans how do they explain Native American histories to Japanese people (or other foreigners) I get blank stares. Some people ask, "What do you mean?", or, "I don't". Sometimes the attitude is, "Oh, I just start from American History." That last statement is my favorite. We all know once the Declaration of Independence was signed all native people floated into the air and disappeared into an alternate universe. Everything we do today is a throwback to European cultures and has nothing to do and no influence from anyone else(sarcasm).

It's appalling that so few people see any of this as a problem. I just feel like as a country we can do better.