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Harjo: White man's words trump Native views
Friday, October 21, 2005
"In traditional Native cultures, a person's word is sacred and history told by one generation to the next is trusted.
Increasingly in modern American society, Native oral history accounts are disbelieved until and unless they can be substantiated by documents from non-Native sources. Some of these sources seem to have full-time jobs coming up with documents to undercut Native oral history, especially involving ongoing court cases.
One of the many 'Indian experts' on the federal payroll - a Smithsonian linguist - recently produced a sketchy paper to support his claim that Indians dreamed up the term 'redsk and that it wasn't insulting at the outset. He cited other white men from the 1800s who wrote that Indian men used that term to describe themselves.
Of course, the words of the Indian men were translated by white men, but the linguist's paper does not make that point; and there is no record of what Native-language words the Native men actually used. Another white man - a reporter for The Washington Post - made the linguist's paper a news story, without making any of these linguistic points."
Get the Story:
Suzan Shown Harjo: Paper beats rock and the spoken word
(Indian Country Today 10/20)
William "Lone Star" Dietz Research:
Linda
Waggoner: Reclaiming James One Star (Indian Country Today 2004)
Appeals Court Decision:
Pro-Football,
Inc. v. Harjo (July 15, 2005)
Lower Court Decision:
Pro-Football,
Inc. v. Harjo (September 30, 2003)
Patent and Trademark Office Ruling:
Trademark
Trial and Appeal Board (1999)
Relevant Links:
Redskins -
http://www.redskins.com
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