I think it is great when indigenous people find solidarity on certain issues. Having said that, I spend a lot of time wondering what makes a certain issue sexy, while another one is completely ignored.
Appropriation is one of those issues I can totally vibe with, but I guess I’m feeling a little envious that it is just so damn sexy and that trying to bring attention to militarization isn’t. At all. In fact, I have had indigenous folks often try and “check” me on my anger towards militarization. This is where I get really confused. I wonder if they think that I'm making things up? Why are they so dismissive? Don't they see that what we are experiencing is a product of colonization also? Why does the real lived experience of militarization, at a crisis level, not matter?
I’ll see those same folks in a flying fit of rage over indigenous appropriation. I’ll see them furiously defend their anger, and their right to be angry. And I don't disagree with them! I mean, we are talking centuries of oppression, assimilation, and subjugation. Indigenous history has been lied about, in everything, and that has consequences. Movies, books, and popular culture have helped to condition the masses to remain incredibly ignorant towards indigenous people.
I feel that rage too. I didn’t really get it until I went to college and actually felt the weight of the ignorance. Before that though, I was a product of my surroundings. Many people back home don't view appropriations as an important issue, and probably wouldn't understand why so much time and energy is spent fighting it. To me, it makes complete sense why they don’t get it. They aren't reading case law that demonstrates what can happen when a bunch of white people write stereotypes and ignorance into law. People back home would probably be surprised to find out that there are masses (mostly on the East Coast) who think that Indians are extinct!
A lot of people back home just don’t want to worry about what white people who appropriate are doing. Appropriations doesn’t concern them, because they are doing their own thing. I get that too. I even envy it! Academia can be full of itself. While being exposed to the academic realm did change my perspective, it also skewed it. I long to live my life in a more traditional sense, away from the pasty walls of academia. Being immersed in academia can be short-sighted and it doesn't have all the answers either.
The “academic Indian” doesn’t get my rage over militarization, I think for the same reason a lot of my “rez Indian” friends don’t see the big deal about appropriation. They don’t see it because they aren't having the experiences that would lead them to make the connections. They haven’t had a family member abused by a border patrol agent. They don’t have to go through checkpoints to visit home. They haven’t been surrounded by seven vehicles, armed agents, and a helicopter while just trying to go about their day. They haven’t lived it.
As a consequence, the “academic Indian” often will treat my rage like it is my own problem. They don’t connect the experience of militarization to the history of colonization in the same way they connect appropriations to colonization. They see me as someone who is getting mad over something trivial, and treat me very similarly to how people respond when they defend appropriation.
