Cultural Appropriation: A Native Perspective

As a member of a Native American tribe in the United States, I have spent a great deal of time thinking, reflecting and considering various opinions on cultural appropriation.

I think there are layers, which I will explain through personal stories.

I think there is extremism on both sides. On one end of the spectrum is the over-simplified and narrow view that the concept of cultural appropriation “was a concept created to divide us instead of sharing, loving and celebrating each other’s cultures.” 

Okay, Karen. Pipe down and listen closely. There’s some hard truths coming your way, sister. 

The reality is, we have been divided long before that. Like when your (white) ancestors and your government spent over 45 million dollars in today’s money to hunt, kill and enslave my ancestors back in the 1850’s. 

The problem with the “we are all one culture” point of view is that folks who espouse it think the problem and injustice against Native people happened back 200 years ago and we’re living in the here and now and YOU didn’t do that – so why should you be held accountable for the way you interface with my culture? 

Understandable, since the white education system and media does SO MUCH to silence historical truths and white people don’t know what they don’t know. 

So here’s what they don’t know: there is very real erasure and injustice happening to tribal peoples in the United States TODAY. Right now. It’s not over. The conditions on tribal reservations are fucking awful. Poisoned water, lack of resources, addiction issues, lack of healthy food, etc.

Personally, in my tribe, we have been locked in a FORTY YEAR long legal battle to be acknowledged by the federal government as a tribe.

>> Yes, we have to ask the very people that stole our land, raped our women, and paid fantastic sums of money to slaughter and enslave us for permission to exist. <<

We are the most acknowledged unacknowledged tribe on the planet.

If you go to my homeland, what is now colonially called Yosemite National Park, there are all manner of signs and placards that talk about my tribe and ancestors.

You will find absolutely no where anything talking about our bid for federal acknowledgement.

The lack of federal acknowledgment is incredibly painful and hard. We don’t have a reservation, we don’t have a say, we don’t have basic rights. We watch our homeland get sick because we are not able to steward it as we did for centuries before John Muir waltzed along. We have to ask the park’s permission to harvest the traditional plants that we use to make the baskets we are renowned for and that are on display in the white-owned hotels and museums in the park.

We often don’t get those permissions.

And those plants are being choked out because the park won’t let us do the controlled burns that keep the foliage in balance.

Meanwhile, California burns and white folks are scratching their hands wondering what’s wrong.

So is it offensive and shitty of you to take our tribal designs or ceremonial gear and recreate them in your etsy shop and profit off them, without burdening yourself with the knowledge of what the tribe is fighting for today?

Sure is.

And that’s the core of what cultural appropriation is for me: if you take something from a culture without acknowledging that culture – how you have benefited from the destruction and decimation of that culture – and PROFIT off of it, then that’s out of integrity and actively harmful.

However, that brings me to the opposite end of the spectrum, which I’ll call wokeist cultural appropriation.

I once had a friend from the Bay Area very earnestly tell me that she refused to wear feather earrings because its cultural appropriation.

To be frank, I could give two shits about whether a white person wears feather earrings. That, to me, is a very superficial way of caring about Native welfare – though I appreciate the heart that it comes from.

As I mentioned before, most tribes are struggling with very real concerns: for us its federal acknowledgment, for others its threats to their ancestral land, loss of language, poisoning of sacred resources, decimation of burial grounds, mining, etc.

Whether someone prays to the four directions and burns sage in their yoga class as a white person is not something I have the energy to care about. I WISH that was my biggest concern as an indigenous person.

It’s also very popular for white folks to do land acknowledgments. While that’s a step in the right direction – at least they’re acknowledging some of their brutal history – its definitely NOT ENOUGH. I ask that folks who do land acknowledgments do more than just say the name of the tribe whose stolen land they live on. To actually look into that tribes current affairs and what they’re struggling with and to TAKE ACTION to help them in their endeavors.

For example, where I live in Idaho the Nez Perce tribe is fighting a gold mine that threatens their land and hard won fishing rights (www.digforthetruth.org).

The Dine (Navajo) had their water seriously poisoned by a gold mine with over 3 million gallons of toxic acid sludge and heavy metals a few years back – how many people wearing their designs or their silver smithing or decorating their homes with their pottery care or know about that?

All that said, there are gifts in sharing culture WHEN ITS DONE IN INTEGRITY. For example, some indigenous tribes are opening up medicine ceremonies with traditional plants for white folks to participate in.

The more folks (regardless of color or heritage) that experience this form of spirituality, the better, in my opinion. The objective is to heal and grow past old, limiting systems and structures. Other indigenous practices of honoring the land – not as a thing to be owned, but re-framing it as a beloved relative to be honored and cared for – can only improve all of our lives. I applaud white folks who are reaching for this older knowledge and understanding and doing it with mindfulness and the blessing of the culture it comes from.

But for fuck’s sake, don’t try to profit, don’t ignore past and current harms, don’t miss the forest for the trees (taking something spiritual and turning it into a capitalist profit machine).

Anyway, thank you for coming to my Ted Talk. Really proud of you for getting this far.