Lindsey Catherine Cornum: Native American Heritage Month

Friday, November 18, 2011  

"Native people across America have just finished another exhausting campaign to explain to the ignorant and insensitive the inherent racial exploitation of their Indian Halloween costumes. Yet, on the heels of that annual struggle, there is yet another display of Americans’ misguided and backhanded “appreciation” of Native peoples and one that gets a lot less criticism: Native American Heritage Month.

This month is part of the larger tradition of the U.S. government granting minorities and marginalized peoples their own month as an abstract monument to their histories and recognition of their oppressions. There is Black History Month, Asian Pacific American History Month, LGBQ Pride Month and many others. In fact, there are so many people to cover that many have to double or triple up. March is shared by Women, Greeks and the Irish, while Germans, Italians and the Polish all have to live in October.

The preceding nationalities are all qualified by an obligatory “-American”. This addition signals that heritage months may be for celebrating outside histories, but only in a context that emphasizes their absorption into a larger American culture. This is a way to honor the sacrifice of those peoples who have been more than happy to jump into the neutral categorization of American without qualification (synonymous with “white”) and reward them with a brief sense of history not fully provided with a relatively new nation. I don’t think it is in the best interest of tribes and Native peoples to attempt such assimilation: it is usually a tactic to take more land and steal more resources. They start by giving you private property; they end by calling you American. We are made to believe these are all good things, gifts we should be grateful for. Well, I refuse to believe. There will be no Thanksgiving this November."

Get the Story:
Lindsey Catherine Cornum: Remaking Native American Heritage Month (Indian Country Today 11/18)