James Roan Gray, Former Chief of Osage Nation
“I see the way the world treats Native people in this country. The misrepresentation of our images, our people, our rights, our lands, and our sovereignty drive to outright abuse of what we are as human beings. Mascots exaggerate our images and make fun of our culture. The misrepresentation of our people are issues directly and indirectly connected to U.S. Federal policy that has always challenged our sovereignty. I walked into a Congressmen's office to lobby for an important bill for our tribe and saw Indigenous caricatures of a football team all over his office. How can we hold government-to-government dialogue when his office suggests our people are some half-human cartoon that doesn't even exist? Where does the power and acceptance to characterize us in such a demeaning way come from?
I suggest the power comes from a place of colonial imperialism that allows someone else to determine who we are, what we are, and what we should know or not know about our own history. The power to manufacture dehumanizing images comes from a society that ignores all our contributions except that which has been invented about us. We have been rewritten, redefined, and repackaged by academia, media, governments, and industry. The Indian mascot and Hollywood fairy tales recast us as noble or bloodthirsty savages in an effort to make us so unrealistic that we will go away. I say enough!
It is getting harder to keep Native voices quiet. There are warriors among us. John EchoHawk, Kevin Gover, Suzanne Shown Harjo, Amanda Blackhorse, and Kevin Washburn have kicked the doors wide open for this debate on a national level. Indian people are challenging institutions, governments, media, and the entertainment industry to engage our image as humans of sovereign nations rather than commodified brands to advance corporate wealth.”
