Concerning the Bandest of the Bands
On February 1, 2010, Ethos received the following e-mail concerning the winner of our Bandest of the Bands event and, specifically, the group’s wardrobe choice of “Cowboys and Indians”. In the Winter 2010 issue, we have attempted to address Ms. Johnson’s concerns as well as shed light on how Native Americans are portrayed in various forms of popular culture. See the spring 2010 Editor’s Note, which also addresses this complicated issue.
Dear Ethos Magazine and UO Cultural Forum,
I currently have a copy of the Ethos 2009 Volume 2 Issue 1 magazine in front of me. When I open it up, the first article discusses the issue of Native American stereotyping and how native peoples come in “all different shapes, colors, and sizes.” I agree completely. I was raised in South Dakota, a state which is home to seven Native American reservations, and in regards to these reservations, remains a hotbed
of failed policies and broken promises.
I feel the need to bring this up because of an event that Ethos Magazine and the UO Cultural Forum recently hosted. On Thursday, January 28th, I went to “the Bandest of the Bands” at Wow Hall. The venue was good, and the music was great. I was having a blast but sent several skeptical looks toward students who were wearing some interesting costumes. After some questioning, I learned that the final band, Sea Bell, had asked fans to dress in a “Cowboys and Indians” theme to show support for the show. I didn’t see any cowboys, but I did see the response to the “Indians” part. I cringed yet again as Sea Bell stepped onto the stage dressed in full-out “Indian” gear. Many wore feathers in their braided hair, complete with face paint and buck-skin style clothing. It seems as if a member didn’t have a true Pocahontas costume, they felt that a tan tank top and beads, or a furry vest, would suffice.
I looked around to see if anyone else was having a similar reaction to my own—what on earth was a band, costumed as the epitome of Native American stereotyping, doing on stage for an event hosted by Ethos Magazine and the UO Cultural Forum? Ethos, defined as the fundamental characteristic of a spirit, people or culture, and the UO Cultural Forum, designed to promote cultural awareness and respect for diversity…?
I stood there confused. No one else seemed upset. The music was wonderful. It was folk-esque but edgy, harmonious but with a strong beat—exactly what I like listening to. Was I just overreacting? It wasn’t until later that I could really sort out my thoughts. To understand my frustration, one needs to know some facts about my home state. South Dakota includes the two poorest counties in the country, both located on Native American Reservations with per capita incomes ranging from $5,000 to $6,000. At Pine Ridge, another South Dakota reservation, the U.S. Census Bureau reports that the unemployment rate is about 85% with 2 out of 3 people living below the poverty line.
I realized then that I had every reason to be upset. In this nation where the inadequacies of many Native American reservations go largely ignored, stereotyping this particular group of people is merely rubbing salt on the wound and furthers the idea that the grievances against Native Americans is a thing of the past.
Sea Bell won the competition, having received the highest decibel reading given by their ecstatic fans. I don’t say this with condescension, but let me remind you, or stop to remind yourselves, before anyone else begins to forget, that the heritage and cultural background of Native peoples is not a costuming theme.
Sincerely,
Leslie Johnson
University of Oregon student
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It may not have been apparent at first ear-glance while Sea Bell was playing, what with all the great music and all, but many people in the audience were questioning the band’s get-up and the message that they may have been trying to send. Overall, I feel most people I spoke to found the costumes insensitive, if not downright confusing. The worst part of it all was the music eclipsed this sentiment. I wasn’t quite sure what to make of that.
I’m going to defend Sea Bell on this one and not just because I’m the keyboardist’s boyfriend.
As an artist, it’s important to know where lines are and how to cross them and I think Sea Bell’s costume is such a minimal act in a world with various other injustices. A bunch of college kids dressed as stereotypical indians isn’t as disrespectful as it seems. When it comes to historic racism towards Native Americans, the big injustices are in the depiction of Native Americans as Barbaric Savages. The depiction would have been racist if they ran around pretending to rape, pillage, scalp, and torture but wearing stereotypical “indian” dress (without “red face”) alone is as much of an injustice to Native Americans as Panda Express is to Chinese food.
If anything, I see the dress as an homage to the naturalistic elements of various native american cultures and I’m not surprised that they didn’t own “authentic native american clothing” because it is often expensive and hard to come by.
I grew up in LA but I spent many of my early years cruising with my family in the Pacific Northwest and my family was given masks (even masks that were used in ceremonial dances which is rare for outsiders to be given) by a couple of Kwakiutl tribes and as a child they gave my siblings and I headbands with brightly colored feathers in them.
The atrocities that many Native American groups have faced throughout the years are horrible, but I don’t think that inaccurate emulation of a group of people has anything to do with what the American government has done to native people. Sea Bell is also a multi-ethnic band (the singer and guitarist Devin Brown claims to actually be of Native American descent), running the gammit diversity in terms of race, gender, religion, and musical ability.
Is emulating other cultures wrong? I’m a caucasian buddhist who chants in Japanese on a daily basis, my pronunciation is bad, and I mess up with my chanting all the time, so am I doing a grave injustice to buddhists? Sea Bell has never taken action against any Native Population and I know for a fact that they are knowledgeable and compassionate students who see that representation as a form of flattery.
If we’re going to go after anyone for the commodification of Native Cultures, go after investors who manage to find loopholes in the reservation system and take advantage of Tribes to build casino’s and reap all the profit. Go onto UO campus and find every kid wearing a native american/wolf shirt and yell at them for misrepresenting a culture, go to any native american store in almost any mall in america and yell at them for profiteering off of the destruction of a culture, but don’t go after kids wearing tassels and face paint.
What really bothers me is that this is a censorship issue. When an action makes someone uncomfortable they should always take into account the motives for that action. Did Sea Bell’s intent seem malicious? Probably not.
On another note I’m actually sickened by the energy people have had to call out Sea Bell when they could’ve used that energy for more productive purposes. Currently the World Trade Organization is bullying other countries such as India into huge injustices. Why couldn’t any of these people have addressed real malicious acts going on in the world rather than raining on a couple of kids’ success?
I am proud of Sea Bell for rocking the boat a bit because controversy is good for social growth. We still live in a country that plasters over the sexual organs of classical sculptures because they have been deemed obscene. We should always be addressing our social norms and constructs even if it is sometimes the unpopular thing to do and that’s why we have the freedom of expression.
Ethos has really bothered me by making this article bigger on their home page rather than allowing the Sea Bell article to be in that spot. Sea Bell won fair and square and this article is adding a backhanded message to the compliment of winning. I think it’s rude how the Sea Bell profile ends with a plug to this article and Ethos should know better.
Why am I wasting my time writing this reply? Because everyone has the right to their own expression, thoughts, and feelings regardless of how much anyone else likes it (this is a life lesson that everyone should learn) and because I am proud of my girlfriend and her friends for being the best band they can be.
I think Ethos is sending mixed messages here. If so many were offended with the native american get-up then why print native-american themed pictures in the magazine at all?
I think some of this is being taken too seriously. Sea Bell is known for their costumes. I believe they change themes every show. Its all just for fun and I think people need to realize that!
Ms. Johnson will be a much happier person if she learns not to take life so seriously. A bunch of college kids dressing up is often just that; it does not always mean a statement is being made.
Good for Ms. Johnson for recognizing and feeling passionate about the injustices made against Native Americans in the history of our country. Sea Bell’s choice of costuming does not elicit for me the stereotype of Native Americans but rather makes me think of my childhood when playing dress up was so much fun.
Ms. Johnson needs to remember how to have fun.
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