Eight years ago, I was teaching at Cherokee High School on Columbus Day. That day, my students and I discussed the truth of Columbus and his bloody legacy. I reminded my students that my work at App State involved working with future history teachers. With that in mind, I asked them what would they want me to tell my students back in Booneabout them? What did they want future teachers to know about Indians? After a brief silence one student spoke up: just tell them we are human, she said.
I’ve never forgotten that answer—just tell them we are human. The answer betrays centuries of efforts at dehumanizing American Indians, Indian culture, language, values, and heritage. Each year at Halloween we are reminded of the impact of these dehumanization efforts. Amazon offers quite a few selections for “sexy Indian” costumes. Dollar General stores near Cherokee sell “Trail of Treats” costumes. Sacred feathers, religious regalia—all reduced to cheap dress-up outfits for white children and adults to “play Indian.” Native people and cultures are reduced to mascots and tropes. A lingerie company offers an entire line of “sexy Indian” attire, even in the face of Indian activists informing them that the outfits “sexualize us and dehumanize us, and in a very serious sense, they also can harm the community. They play into very harmful representations of us that lead to non-Natives committing assault towards Native women.” In the face of the tragedy of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women this is not an academic argument but a literal matter of life and death for Indian women and girls. A 2016 Department of Justice survey found that “of over 2,000 women surveyed, 84 percent of Native American and Alaskan Native women have experienced violence, 56 percent have experienced sexual violence, and, of that second group, over 90 percent have experienced violence at the hands of a non-tribal member.” Native women are 2.5 times more likely to experience sexual assault and rape than any other ethnic group in the United States. Certainly Halloween costumes are not solely or even primarily to blame; but the callous and willful objectification and sexualization of Native women absolutely plays a role in this crisis.
The Lakota Law Project calls Halloween “a reminder of the seemingly willful ignorance that remains in this country surrounding culturally appropriative and insensitive costumes.” There are real world consequences for this cultural appropriation and insensitivity—such as Native youth asking to simply be seen as human beings. Doing away with these ignorant, offensive and harmful “costumes” is not about being politically correct—it’s about being morally correct. If there are parties or gatherings on campus where these costumes are worn there should be accountability. These vile outfits are a form of violence against Indian people. If you see them and you feel safe doing so, call them out. If not, reach out to me or someone you trust on campus to confront the issue. There is no room in an educational institution for these expressions of colonialism. American Indians are not mascots or Halloween costumes. America needs to be reminded of this truth. Native youth deserve better.
