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Society, politics, children's books
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From: Debbie Reese <dreese.nambe_at_gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 08 Feb 2013 11:38:06 -0600
For me, the situation with the status of American Indians and Mexican Americans is closely aligned because the border between the US and Mexico cut right through Indigenous homelands. I follow the politics in Arizona closely and covered the shut-down of the Mexican American Studies program in Tucson on my blog pretty extensively last year. It was outrageous that a program that met with terrific success--and that relied heavily on Latino authored materials--was the target of a law that essentially made the program illegal. People that wrote that legislation wanted Mexican and Mexican Americans to either shut up and go away or stop being Mexican and be Sarah Palin's real American.
In November, I was asked to be on Native America Calling, a radio program, when the latest TWILIGHT movie was released. I was asked to address whether or not I think those books have had an impact on other authors.
I put out calls on YALSA and elsewhere asking people to let me know of books with Native characters in them. I began reading and was disappointed again and again. One after another misrepresented Native culture. One after another had new age Indians (stereotypes). One after another was by a non-Native author. And one librarian after another said that it didn't matter that they are problematic because patrons love them, and that they had to order them to meet the demand for them.
Count me in the group that says if you want to hand a Native story to a child, that you're going to reach for one by a Native author. Those books do double duty. The story inside the book, and, the opportunity to tell the reader about that author and his or her tribal nation, where its located, etc. If that child was carrying around the "Indians vanished" idea, pointing to that author tells him otherwise. If that child is Native, pointing to the author provides him or her with a model and hope for what he or she can do.
Societal racism is definitely on the rise. You see it in all those school boards that want to remove people of color from the curriculum. It isn't just Texas, it has spread to other states. Those groups are well-funded. They're the same ones at work in Wisconsin.
And a note about politics... At the University of Illinois we fought for years to get rid of the racist mascot here. Along with that fight, we argued that if Illinois offered courses in American Indian culture, history, literature, that students would understand why the mascot was a problem. We'd ask to speak to the university admin and trustees to make the case for that program, and they said there was no way anyone would do that because as soon as you said "Native Americans" the first thing that came to their mind was the mascot and the fights over the mascot. It was too politically loaded to try to do good in the midst of bad. I think that is exactly what Jason alluded to. The US is in the midst of battles over immigration, and trying to do good in the midst of that is very hard. Scare tactics work.
We eventually got the AIS program at Illinois (and other structural support for Native students) but it took the incredible courage of Nancy Cantor to do it. She was the chancellor at the time. For her strong stance on social justice in every arena, she received incredible backlash that included death threats and eventually left. For years, gatherings of Native students required extra security. For years, our buildings were under extra security detail. For several months a student was given campus police escorts to go to and from classes because a student said that they (pro mascot people) should "throw a tomahawk" in her face next time they see her.
It takes tremendous courage to stand up for what is right. I read RETURN TO SENDER with a lump in my throat as I thought of children and their families who live in fear of being separated and deported and jailed. I'm disgusted that monied interests in this country were behind the immigration laws in AZ... they wanted to build prisons (private prisons) to hold "illegals" and so they worked hand-in-hand to get both things done. Those prisons, and those laws. Making someone rich.
I want librarians, in light of all this racism, to stop ordering books like the ones I opened with, and start ordering ones that accurately reflect who we are, whether we are Native or Mexican American or African American. I want librarians to have the same courage that we summon up just to live in places that do not really want us.
I'm grateful to those of you who do it, but until the critical mass of librarians actively takes this on, we'll be swimming upstream.
Debbie
__________________________________________________________
Debbie Reese, PhD Tribally enrolled: Nambe Pueblo
Email: dreese.nambe_at_gmail.com
Website: American Indians in Children's Literature _at_ http://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.net
Now: Studying for MLIS at San Jose State University Then: Assistant Professor in American Indian Studies, University of Illinois
Received on Fri 08 Feb 2013 11:38:06 AM CST
Date: Fri, 08 Feb 2013 11:38:06 -0600
For me, the situation with the status of American Indians and Mexican Americans is closely aligned because the border between the US and Mexico cut right through Indigenous homelands. I follow the politics in Arizona closely and covered the shut-down of the Mexican American Studies program in Tucson on my blog pretty extensively last year. It was outrageous that a program that met with terrific success--and that relied heavily on Latino authored materials--was the target of a law that essentially made the program illegal. People that wrote that legislation wanted Mexican and Mexican Americans to either shut up and go away or stop being Mexican and be Sarah Palin's real American.
In November, I was asked to be on Native America Calling, a radio program, when the latest TWILIGHT movie was released. I was asked to address whether or not I think those books have had an impact on other authors.
I put out calls on YALSA and elsewhere asking people to let me know of books with Native characters in them. I began reading and was disappointed again and again. One after another misrepresented Native culture. One after another had new age Indians (stereotypes). One after another was by a non-Native author. And one librarian after another said that it didn't matter that they are problematic because patrons love them, and that they had to order them to meet the demand for them.
Count me in the group that says if you want to hand a Native story to a child, that you're going to reach for one by a Native author. Those books do double duty. The story inside the book, and, the opportunity to tell the reader about that author and his or her tribal nation, where its located, etc. If that child was carrying around the "Indians vanished" idea, pointing to that author tells him otherwise. If that child is Native, pointing to the author provides him or her with a model and hope for what he or she can do.
Societal racism is definitely on the rise. You see it in all those school boards that want to remove people of color from the curriculum. It isn't just Texas, it has spread to other states. Those groups are well-funded. They're the same ones at work in Wisconsin.
And a note about politics... At the University of Illinois we fought for years to get rid of the racist mascot here. Along with that fight, we argued that if Illinois offered courses in American Indian culture, history, literature, that students would understand why the mascot was a problem. We'd ask to speak to the university admin and trustees to make the case for that program, and they said there was no way anyone would do that because as soon as you said "Native Americans" the first thing that came to their mind was the mascot and the fights over the mascot. It was too politically loaded to try to do good in the midst of bad. I think that is exactly what Jason alluded to. The US is in the midst of battles over immigration, and trying to do good in the midst of that is very hard. Scare tactics work.
We eventually got the AIS program at Illinois (and other structural support for Native students) but it took the incredible courage of Nancy Cantor to do it. She was the chancellor at the time. For her strong stance on social justice in every arena, she received incredible backlash that included death threats and eventually left. For years, gatherings of Native students required extra security. For years, our buildings were under extra security detail. For several months a student was given campus police escorts to go to and from classes because a student said that they (pro mascot people) should "throw a tomahawk" in her face next time they see her.
It takes tremendous courage to stand up for what is right. I read RETURN TO SENDER with a lump in my throat as I thought of children and their families who live in fear of being separated and deported and jailed. I'm disgusted that monied interests in this country were behind the immigration laws in AZ... they wanted to build prisons (private prisons) to hold "illegals" and so they worked hand-in-hand to get both things done. Those prisons, and those laws. Making someone rich.
I want librarians, in light of all this racism, to stop ordering books like the ones I opened with, and start ordering ones that accurately reflect who we are, whether we are Native or Mexican American or African American. I want librarians to have the same courage that we summon up just to live in places that do not really want us.
I'm grateful to those of you who do it, but until the critical mass of librarians actively takes this on, we'll be swimming upstream.
Debbie
__________________________________________________________
Debbie Reese, PhD Tribally enrolled: Nambe Pueblo
Email: dreese.nambe_at_gmail.com
Website: American Indians in Children's Literature _at_ http://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.net
Now: Studying for MLIS at San Jose State University Then: Assistant Professor in American Indian Studies, University of Illinois
Received on Fri 08 Feb 2013 11:38:06 AM CST
