HAPPY EASTER @easterstreaks-blog - Tumblr Blog

Posts

goadbye tumbler

i haven't really been using my personal tumblr anymore- not really into it.

you can catch me making silly art @ vivanse.tumblr.com or my flickr

if we are super cool tumblr friends or something, feel free to add me on facebook

aside from that, this is goodnight.

hope to catch all *15,000 of you, my favorite shitbirds followers, somewhere else along the road.

*78

veganparty

So why can’t I wear it?

Headdresses promote stereotyping of Native cultures.

The image of a warbonnet and warpaint wearing Indian is one that has been created and perpetuated by Hollywood and only bears minimal resemblance to traditional regalia of Plains tribes. It furthers the stereotype that Native peoples are one monolithic culture, when in fact there are 500+ distinct tribes with their own cultures. It also places Native people in the historic past, as something that cannot exist in modern society. We don’t walk around in ceremonial attire everyday, but we still exist and are still Native.

Headdresses, feathers, and warbonnets have deep spiritual significance. The wearing of feathers and warbonnets in Native communities is not a fashion choice. Eagle feathers are presented as symbols of honor and respect and have to be earned. Some communities give them to children when they become adults through special ceremonies, others present the feathers as a way of commemorating an act or event of deep significance. Warbonnets especially are reserved for respected figures of power. The other issue is that warbonnets are reserved for men in Native communities, and nearly all of these pictures show women sporting the headdresses. I can’t read it as an act of feminism or subverting the patriarchal society, it’s an act of utter disrespect for the origins of the practice. (see my post on sweatlodges for more on the misinterpretation of the role of women). This is just as bad as running around in a pope hat and a bikini, or a Sikh turban cause it’s “cute”.

It’s just like wearing blackface. “Playing Indian” has a long history in the United States, all the way back to those original tea partiers in Boston, and in no way is it better than minstral shows or dressing up in blackface. You are pretending to be a race that you are not, and are drawing upon stereotypes to do so. Like my first point said, you’re collapsing distinct cultures, and in doing so, you’re asserting your power over them. Which leads me to the next issue.

There is a history of genocide and colonialism involved that continues today. By the sheer fact that you live in the United States you are benefiting from the history of genocide and continued colonialism of Native peoples. That land you’re standing on? Indian land. Taken illegally so your ancestor who came to the US could buy it and live off it, gaining valuable capital (both monetary and cultural) that passed down through the generations to you. Have I benefited as well, given I was raised in a white, suburban community? yes. absolutely. but by dismissing and minimizing the continued subordination and oppression of Natives in the US by donning your headdress, you are contributing to the culture of power that continues the cycle today.

But I don’t mean it in that way, I just think it’s cute!

Well hopefully I’ve illuminated that there’s more at play here than just a “cute” fashion choice. Sorry for taking away your ignorance defense.

But I consider it honoring to Native Americans!

I think that this cartoon is a proper answer, but I’ll add that having a drunken girl wearing a headdress and a bikini dancing at an outdoor concert does not honor me. I remember reading somewhere that it was also “honoring the fine craftsmanship of Native Americans”. Those costume shop chicken feather headdresses aren’t honoring Native craftsmanship. And you will be very hard pressed to find a Native artist who is closely tied to their community making headdresses for sale. See the point about their sacredness and significance.

I’m just wearing it because it’s “ironic”!

I’m all for irony. Finger mustaches, PBR, kanye glasses, old timey facial hair, 80’s spandex—fine, funny, a bit over-played, but ironic, I guess. Appropriating someone’s culture and cavorting around town in your skinny jeans with a feathered headdress, moccasins, and turquoise jewelry in an attempt to be ‘counterculture’? Not ironic. If you’re okay with being a walking representative of 500+ years of colonialism and racism, or don’t mind perpetuating the stereotypes that we as Native people have been fighting against for just as long, by all means, go for it. But by embracing the current tribal trends you aren’t asserting yourself as an individual, you are situating yourself in a culture of power that continues to oppress Native peoples in the US. And really, if everyone is doing it, doesn’t that take away from the irony? am I missing the point on the irony? maybe. how is this even ironic? I’m starting to confuse myself. but it’s still not a defense.

Stop getting so defensive, it’s seriously just fashion!

Did you read anything I just wrote? It’s not “just” fashion. There is a lot more at play here. This is a matter of power and who has the right to represent my culture. (I also enjoy asking myself questions that elicit snarky answers.)

What about the bigger issues in Indian Country? Poverty, suicide rates, lack of resources, disease, etc? Aren’t those more important that hipster headdresses?

Yes, absolutely. But, I’ll paraphrase Jess Yee in this post, and say these are very real issues and challenges in our communities, but when the only images of Natives that Americans see are incorrect, and place Natives in the historic past, it erases our current presence, and makes it impossible for the current issues to exist in the collective American consciousness. Our cultures and lives are something that only exist in movies or in the past, not today. So it’s a cycle, and in order to break that cycle, we need to question and interrogate the stereotypes and images that erase our current presence—while we simultaneously tackle the pressing issues in Indian Country. They’re closely linked, and at least this is a place to start.

Well then, Miss Cultural Appropriation Police, what CAN I wear?

If you choose to wear something Native, buy it from a Native. There are federal laws that protect Native artists and craftspeople who make genuine jewelry, art, etc. (see info here about The Indian Arts and Crafts Act). Anything you buy should have a label that says “Indian made” or “Native made”. Talk to the artist. find out where they’re from. Be diligent. Don’t go out in a full “costume”. It’s ok to have on some beaded earrings or a turquoise ring, but don’t march down the street wearing a feather, with loaded on jewelry, and a ribbon shirt. Ask yourself: if you ran into a Native person, would you feel embarrassed or feel the need to justify yourself? As commenter Bree pointed out, it’s ok to own a shirt with kimono sleeves, but you wouldn’t go out wearing full kabuki makeup to a bar. Just take a minute to question your sartorial choices before you go out.

…and an editorial comment: I should also note that I have absolutely nothing against hipsters. In fact, some would argue I have hipster-leaning tendencies. In my former San Francisco life, had been known to have a drink or two in the clouds of smoke outside at Zeitgeist, and enjoyed shopping on Haight street. I enjoy drinking PBR out of the can when I go to the dive bars near my apartment where I throw darts and talk about sticking it to ‘The Man’. I own several fringed hipster scarves, more than one pair of ironic fake ray-ban wayfarers, and two plaid button downs. I’m also not trying to stereotype and say that all hipsters do/wear the above, just like not every hipster thinks it’s cool to wear a headdress. So, I don’t hate hipsters, I hate ignorance and cultural appropriation. There is a difference. Just thought I should clear that up.

easterstreaks-blog

SUSHI!!

matt-t-deactivated20160615

:\ -Lil B

easterstreaks-blog

boat (Taken with instagram)

#boat

bastard-brother replied to your post: stop sucking on the internet

yo it sounds like you gotta unfollow some people.

that was admittedly a kind of druggy 4 am rant, but it still stands

i think i ended up unfollowing 6 people

#bastard-brother

stop sucking on the internet

any bright, analytical human is at least slightly aware that maybe 75% of this world sucks cob.

that's why social networking seems so promising at the start- it seems like a utopia of self-expression, a cultured earth sans earthly problems.

but it generally ends up sucking because of all you angry, bitter, repressed assholes

on the real now- cut it out with the negativity and all the internet hatred. shut the fuck up. let people live. a got daaaaaamn

i understand that you were bullied or emotionally damaged in high school. most people were at some point. that wasn't okay and it never will be.

i'm not asking you to get over it. i'm asking you to either be up front about how socially despicable you are (so i can just unfollow you or block you)

or quit fucking stooping to the level of the people you hate oh so much.

stop attacking people on the internet. i don't care if that person said something that hit the most sensitive button in your body. i don't care if it's a wacked out opinion coming from someone with a wildly backwards view of the world. touching that shit won't help you.

even if that opinion is aggressively offensive and insensitive, do not touch it. if the person who said it is as indecent as his tumblr post, the correct assumption would be that he isn't going to have a revelation in response to your angry rebuttal.

just leave him alone, unless he asks for your opinion and makes it an open discussion, or it seems like he's going to harm or abuse someone.

stop using the "oh, it's the internet" excuse. that's not an excuse for a lack of human decency. that only flies here for the same reason kids get bullied on facebook until they kill themselves- because "anything flies in this virtual fantasy dream world"

that's a 4chan type excuse. you love 4chan and you didn't even know it.

use this website to explore your interests and meet interested people. sounds corny, but if that's not what you're doing, then like idk yo, go to the fucking library or something.

we're all like faux-cultured locusts- hopping from one medium to another, slowly turning them into the malaria-pits of hatred and negativity that we had just left.

take a deep breath and work hard, yet peacefully for the causes you believe in. do not let this be your forum for aggravated ranting. on that note, try not to let anything be your forum for aggravated ranting.

i'm gonna take the selfish route for a minute and mention that you're ruining my experience here, and I would appreciate it if you stopped. some of you are my friends, and it sucks to see that you're having a predominantly negative experience on here. if you are, then log off forever, because nothing good is going to come from having two awful parallel existences in your life.

i wanna say it was the past 40 posts on my dashboard, that, like some kind of evil miracle, were all hate-fueled, charged rants against other people and their opinions. it sucks that i have to consider unfollowing so many people i genuinely like

but i get enough of this shit in the real world. why do we need this antisocial, insensitive bullshit here, too?

fuck, guys

#PSA #everybody please just be friends #mommy #daddy #why are you fighting?