Disgusting.

The California State University-Long Beach student newspaper, the Union Weekly, published this article recently about a Native powwow which was held on campus by the American Indian Studies Program and the American Indian Student Council. It is filled with racist comments and denigrated Native culture in many ways, referring to an Indian taco as being "like a Mexican pizza from Taco Bell, but shittier," and other such comments. 


There's a massive storm of protest gathering, particularly on Facebook -- http://tinyurl.com/4hmo5r9 is just one example. You can also see the full sized article there, as I realize tthe image here is much too small to read. 


My comment, e-mailed to the editor of that paper and the author of the article, is as follows: 


To all concerned parties: 

I am writing to you to express my dismay and disgust at the handling of the recent story in the Cal State Long Beach Union Weekly entitled "Pow Wow Wow Yippee Yo Yippy Yay."

The author of the article, Mr. Noah Kelly, seems to have little knowledge and even less appreciation for the Native American culture. Comparing the powwow (what we here on the Lakota Sioux reservations in South Dakota would refer to as a wacipi) to a flea market both belittles and ridicules a culture that predates the time that any of your ancestors came to these shores. Your article perpetuates the same sort of ignorance and hatred that caused the mass slaughter of entire villages of Native Americans 150 years ago. 

The newspaper's editor, Mr. Kevin O'Brien, is equally at fault for publishing such a slanted, prejudicial piece.

I can understand that Indian frybread may not be the health-conscious choice of most Californians, but it has a long tradition as part of Native culture in many parts of the United States, in part because it's one of the very few things that Indians living on the reservations could afford to make with the limited resources that the Federal Government meagerly doled out to them. You make do with what you have. 

Oh, and regarding Indian tacos -- you seriously need to get out more if you don't know what an Indian taco is. They have been fairly common food items at state and county fairs as well as at restaurants of various stripes for at least the past 25 years -- and they are delicious.

Let's turn the tables for a moment, Mr. O'Brien and Mr. Kelly -- I don't know if you identify with the Irish heritage that both of your last names imply, but let's suppose, just for a moment, that you do, and that this festival had been a celebration of Irish-American culture rather than American Indian culture. You open your student newspaper a day or two later to discover that someone -- perhaps an Asian-American, or a Latino, or an African-American -- has written an article denigrating your culture, referring to corned beef and cabbage, Mulligan stew, and traditional Irish dancing in a similar fashion as you have written about Native traditions. 

Would you be pleased if the writer referred to your ancestor's traditional fare as "shitty" and asked "what the fuck" Mulligan stew was? I think not.      

The news about your little story in your little paper is spreading like wildfire, and frankly, from what I am seeing, a lot of people are very angry about this, and not all of them are even Native Americans. 

I think a public apology is in order.