Trying to understand the “help” phenomenon in Native communities

By Special Correspondent Jessica Yee

It’s no secret that many Native American reservations and Aboriginal territories seem like far off, remote, out of reach places to the general population and society. I suppose that when the mainstream news media does report about our communities it often suggests that these are all immensely impoverished, violence infested, alcohol and drug ravaged places that are surely in need of help and even rescue, at times. And I’m not saying that in some areas, this might actually be somewhat true. (Although I’m definitely not saying that every Native community is like that either – because that’s definitely not the truth and in several cases far from it).

I’m saying all of this because I’m trying to understand the phenomenon that has many non-Native people purposely going North, or going South, essentially going out of their way in general, it appears, to go and live in a Native community to “help” or to “help while working”. That is to say, there seems to be a shift in going to live in an Aboriginal territory, do your thing, and then leave. To clarify, I’m not talking about the cultural exchanges or instances where communities themselves are inviting people to contribute. This is where non-Aboriginal folks are seeking out positions or trying to create stuff that is far away from them, in the hopes of either “helping us” or “learning” , by trying to “show us the way” (and yes this kind of sounds all too familiar to the early days of colonization).

Case in point. I’m listening to CBC radio a few weeks back and there are two stories that really got me thinking about this whole phenomenon now. The first was called “Polar Prom”, about a high school in Igloolik, Nunavut that had their first prom this past summer to reward students for staying in school – headed up by three teachers from the South. It all sounds great, until they get to the part about how they are trying to tell kids to “stay in school” as opposed to going out hunting and fishing with their communities and Elders during the last month of school.

They go on to detail how in order to be pretty and “dress up”, you just have to wear the conventional prom dress and suit deal – aka no traditional Inuit clothing. It’s an oddly reported story – considering how during parts of it they are talking about how important it is to learn about and incorporate culture – while at the same time saying “you will be a role model for younger ones if you don’t leave town and go out on the land with your family”. And I have to strongly disagree with that approach that off-routes traditional lifestyle because of some new institution’s decision to think it knows best, for example, when school should be held in light of 4000+ years of healthy cultural living.

The other story is one I hear time and time again, about someone who has just moved to a Native community to work, talking about how hard things are there with all the problems, how different it is, and how they have really “opened their eyes” to just how lucky they are with all the comforts they have at home where they’re from. (One exemplary snippet that I remember the woman profiled in that story saying was, “I never even drank Kool-Aid until I got up here!” to which my partner replied sitting next to me, “Yeah, we never even spoke English until you forced us to!”) The story almost always shows just how great of a person they are for “dealing” with how Native people have to live, and borders on positioning them as the expert on current affairs in the community.

Yet many times these people will eventually pack their bags, leave in the hopes that they did something good, and there the community goes back to trying to fix what the cycles of systemic colonialism and intergenerational trauma are still doing.

Let me be clear: I’m not saying that having a prom for kids in Igloolik to promote self-esteem is bad, or that someone who is non-Aboriginal from a long distance away doesn’t have anything meaningful to bring to a community who may genuinely need help. It’s great that we are at a point where people are starting to wake up and see that they don’t need to travel miles away outside of their own country to realize how messed up things like power and privilege are where you live. Absolutely we do need allies and support from all peoples. I’m just trying to understand the fascination people have with doing this in Native communities now, and more importantly what they aren’t checking in with themselves about why it’s happening so much.

Sure it’s a bit of othering, it’s outsider-looking-in, it’s the extra travel and living grants you can get for going somewhere rural or remote, but I think there’s something else to it. Similar to how students either post high school or post university desire in droves to travel outside of Canada and the United States to Africa or South America in hopes of “saving the people”, I can’t help but feel that the same kind of self-righteous thing is happening here.

So is it really helping? What do you think?

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thesciencegirl wrote:

At the risk of sounding like the people you discuss here, I have a small anecdote to add. I’m a med student and I did an alternative spring break trip to a res in SD a few years ago (the community center where we worked actively recruits college groups because they have facilities which they cannot afford to staff), which really was a great and eye-opening experience for me. I don’t think many Americans know (or bother to consider) the current state of Native communities and how they fit into (or don’t) American society, and I was able to begin to correct some of my own ignorance leading up to and during that trip. But I digress. In talking to the people who lived on the reservation, I heard time and again that lack of healthcare was a major issue, but that most importantly, the doctors who did come out to work in the IHS system only stayed for a short period of time, did not become invested in the community, and left as soon as their time was up (or their loans were paid off), leaving the patients with no continuity of care. There were 2 doctors (one white, one black) who had moved out there permanently and became a part of the community in real ways (and stayed for decades). Meanwhile, the number of local kids who went off to college and came back with health careers was virtually nonexistent. So, what I’m trying to get at here is that IMO the best way for people to “help” is to support programs that allow these communities to help themselves — mainly by increasing education, literacy, and employment — much the way you see in sustainable aid programs in developing countries. It’s not the privileged America kids who spend a month in Africa that really make the difference — it’s making broad economic and social change by equipping people with resources that they can use longterm. I would love to hear some other perspectives. As someone who engages in a lot of volunteering, both locally and internationally, I think a lot about my own attitudes in this regard and how to avoid having a savior complex while also trying to contribute real skills that I have. It’s not always easy to express empathy and outrage at disparities without coming across as pitying people or only seeing the negative aspects of communities.

Posted 16 Sep 2009 at 2:30 pm ¶
Ahni wrote:

Great article, Jessica. There are certainly cases where people just want to help (no strings or motives attached). But, for the most part, I’d say we’re talking about “missionaries” here. One of the standard colonial archetypes: Self-righteous, of course; looking for a quick way to elevate themselves; weighed down by guilt and frustration; and trying to “get away” from their own life and (lack-of) culture.

It’s the same sort of thing with ngos and others who take up “causes.” eg, have you ever noticed how quick people are to support 6N, but not the Tahltan, Maliseet (who have a blockade up right now) or the Cree in Attiwapiskat (who issued another SoE last month)? Sadly, it seems to come down to a matter of “what helps our agenda more.”

Honestly, if people want to help indigenous communities so much, they should tend to the problems in their own community first!

Posted 16 Sep 2009 at 3:14 pm ¶
Suzy wrote:

I liked your article, Jessica, and love the stuff you post here and that you are bringing awareness to Native issues. I think I can see both sides – I’m biracial and my father was raised primarily in the city, so he’s an urban Indian and we weren’t as connected to the rez as we would have been if he had grown up there. So I’ve always felt a desire to work with Native communities, specifically on the rez, partly since my dad did outreach with Native people in the city and partly, yes, for some of the reasons brought up here. I’m going out to a rez in the spring to work for two months, and the topics in your post will be/are on my mind, and I always remind myself about the savior mentality. I do think there is still a certain exotic aspect to being Native, which has been discussed many times here, which I think makes people want to see this “magical” land where Natives come from.
That being said, I also feel that with the work I’d like to do in the future, the connections I can make and then help translate into future opportunities for the benefit of Native people, well, I think that’s positive. My grandmother was given a scholarship to go to school when she was 19 – she left the rez, studied and got her degree, but always went back (which of course brings up the larger issue of the loss of culture that occurs when Native people leave their communities).
I also think that Natives in the US are overlooked in terms of national attention to economic/racial injustice, and I’d like to bring as much attention to Native issues as possible, as much as I as an outsider can.
p.s. Vine Deloria has a great chapter in Custer Died For Your Sins about the plight of Indian people, and the help phenom. discussed here.

Posted 16 Sep 2009 at 4:17 pm ¶
9jah wrote:

No, its not helping. The “helpers” cannot or are not willing to step outside of themselves to see the world through the eyes of the Native community or any other they consider lacking and ultimately may do more harm than good.

In the Nigerian/African context, Chinua Achebe has spoken to the effect that the “helpers” come to Africa with a weird voyeuristic obsession, hellbent on seeing stuff that will titilate and excite. Naturally, they take pictures of every dirtheap or rodent they can find (imagine this done in NYC!), lookng past any and every semblance of normalcy. In the same way, its like forget that there is Kool Aid at my local grocer, its worth a mention now just because I’ve seen some at the reservation.

To them “fly on baby face = natural” in poor country so they don’t grant the baby the decency of a clean up. I have been in liberal spaces where I pointed out its not acceptable (nor necessary, really) to compromise the integrity of people being helped – only to be told that the worst images generate the most sympathy and ultimately the end justifies the means. So its like who cares if we mischaracterize and stereotype? They heard my displeasure.

This clip with Nigerian Author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie discusses this phenomenon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTJyRtypLEk

Posted 16 Sep 2009 at 4:57 pm ¶
jduck wrote:

Great and thought-provoking article. I agree with you that the same “self-righteous” thing is going on here, despite some of these individuals’ best intentions. I think it’s a superhero/”save the children” complex… I’m not saying it’s this way with all those who volunteer their time and services in communities other than their own, but there is something to the fact that most of the time, people will volunteer/”help” and then eventually go back to their own lives, with no other thought than, “Wow, I have it so good, and wow, those people in X place sure need a lot of help.” This definitely came up a few times in my two years with AmeriCorps, even among people who were serving in their own communities.

Posted 16 Sep 2009 at 5:32 pm ¶
The Czech wrote:

Thank you for your powerful thoughts!

Posted 16 Sep 2009 at 8:21 pm ¶
Slush wrote:

Yeah I think it has some value.

I’ll disclaim that I think people going to volunteer or help a community – I’ll just stick with a reservation here, but it could be a lot of places – is going to solve big things. Little things, maybe, but probably not the systemic oppression that causes most of whatever ills a community might be facing.

And although I am pretty sure that such volunteers or aid workers or whatever they are learn and grow a ton from such experiences, I’m certainly not going to argue that you should put up with them for their benefit.

But I do think it’s important for the benefit of the reservation, at a sort of broad policy level. [Some/many/a few/I don't know] Native communities are oppressed and marginalized and suffer a variety of ills as a result of that. Which often means that they don’t have the resources or power to get more attention or solutions or resources in order to deal with those issues. Outsiders coming in to do programs or teach or whatever is a way to hold the rest of the world a little more accountable. It allows people with access to power to hear more about that community. But, that accountability comes in when they leave, which is one reason why their transience is actually important, not just arrogant.

Yes, this is all a little cynical, basically making the depressing suggestion that outsiders have more lobbying power than Native Americans….

Which leads me to disagree on some level with Ahni’s argument that people should go help their own communities first. A) This already happens, it’s called white privilege and legacy college-admissions programs. B) If everyone adhered to that, the powerful or rich would never help anyone else, because they don’t really share common communities.

Also, I’m curious what evidence suggests to you that this is a new trend. (Not disputing, just wondering. I hadn’t noticed it, but that doesn’t mean anything.)

Posted 16 Sep 2009 at 10:11 pm ¶
Montclair Mommy wrote:

Great thoughts. I need to keep this in mind. I have definitely been that white girl who volunteered in another country —yes, the cliched month working with South African children. I admit it: it did change MY life (not so much the lives of the children). I know I didn’t “make a difference”–that wasn’t my goal. I just like babies and I wanted to work with babies–I couldn’t find a place where I could volunteer full time in the US for just a month. I understand why sciencegirl said that working with kids for a month doesn’t really make a difference–but I have to kind of disagree but for reasons that are another article entirely. I’d like to think that I didn’t have a savior complex, but I don’t know how I came across to others. I do volunteer locally as well–but I volunteer with women who have the same health issue as I did so its a little different. I’ve been where they are so I can relate and I am not “saving them” but talking to them when they are lonely and need a supportive voice to say “Hey, I’ve been there and there is life after this.” I get why the two types of volunteering are different but I’ll be honest: I really enjoy both types. I do have sort of an obsession with a few African countries that my husband calls me on pretty frequently. Its so ‘privileged white woman’ of me that I’m ashamed BUT this IS a safe space soooo I can admit it here. Thanks for reminding me that I always need to be aware of the fact that to “help” I need to actually be helpful in the ways most meaningful to the community. I’m no expert and I should never try to be!

Posted 16 Sep 2009 at 11:08 pm ¶
ashlynn wrote:

At the risk of this sounding very jumbled and possibly contradictory, in this way I personally feel the opposite, Jessica, in that I’m pretty reluctant to participate in that phenomenon. I do have Native blood, but it is not something I try to address or really delve into, mostly because of my experiences. Being a Black woman, having any other ethnicity automatically puts you in a tough spot. Are you saying that because you want that exoticized attention, that you want to be different or “better”, that you want some sort of excuse for your so-called light skin and eyes and long hair? If you get past that, then you start to get into the politics of claiming Native heritage, of trying to trace your ancestral communities, of possibly going there whether to learn, help, or both. You get that sort of “Who says we want your help?” feeling. Which is COMPLETELY understandable- the savior complex a lot of people have is pretty disturbing. And then I read about how a lot of predominately Black people or people with “less heritage”, so to speak, get kicked off of tribal rolls and whatnot for a lot of different reasons, whether it be money, preservation, or anything of the sort… I just get so completely freaked out that I couldn’t even begin to really even fathom trying to get involved in a positive, non-threatening, or imposing way. So in that sense, I can kind of at least respect the people you describe in that at least they have some gut to give it a try, even if it’s borne of some twisted colonization-type mess.

Posted 16 Sep 2009 at 11:45 pm ¶
Tonya wrote:

I too did the volunteer thing in Dominican Republic, however, I’m black and female and was the only black person in my group of 40 volunteers, which made for a lot of staring from both the people in the community with whom we were working with as well as other volunteers that were there before us. I guess the people in the DR and other volunteers there for longer were used to only seeing white volunteers. I even had the owner of the foundation (a white woman) ask me if I spoke Creole even though she knew the whole group either came from Canada, the US, or the UK and spoke only English. (But, that’s a whole ‘nother story)

Anyway, our volunteering was with mostly Haitian communities in the DR on the coast, close to the border with the DR. A lot of Haitian families come to the DR to escape what is said to be even worse poverty in Haiti. We helped build houses for people whose houses were considered unliveable, did activities with the children, handed out food and clothing to poor communities, etc.

I guess what we were doing wasn’t life changing for the people there, but there were long term volunteers (6 months and more) that would do things like teaching about dental hygiene. The husband and wife owners lived in Haiti most of their lives (The wife was actually born in Haiti) and know both Creole and Spanish and also do free medical clinics for the people because there is a lack of access to proper health care, (especially for Haitians, let alone poor Dominicans)

They also have a program for women to make and sell their crafts and make some money for their families. (I know that there are arguments against such things, but I’m just listing what the organization does)

Also, Haitian children born in the DR to Haitian parents that are illegal are not considered citizens of the DR and therefore cannot attend school for free, so the organization built a school and has teachers so that the children could get an education.

Some of the achievements of the organization are good, such as making sure children are getting primary education, but I’m not sure how much imput the communities themselves are putting in.

Also, I think we have to remember HOW these volunteer programs are advertised to people that want to volunteer. At university, these programs are advertised all over the place as, “Travel and help others at the same time!” and the like. Some people believe that they are actually making/going to make a difference.

I think that volunteers are a useful asset when they are WANTED by the community they are setting out to help and when volunteers realize they are there to ASSIST the community and NOT DICTATE what’s to be done.

Lastly, it’s also up to ALL volunteer organizations that send volunteers all over the world to frame their programs WITH the communities they will be working with. I’m not sure HOW we can make sure this happens, but IMHO, this is a very important step in changing from “I’m saving you” to “I’m an ally”

Posted 17 Sep 2009 at 2:27 am ¶
m. wrote:

If any of you do-gooders are interested, there are plenty of urban Indians living in run-down buildings that violate every safety/health code in the book who could use some of your “assistance” right now. There is rampant substance abuse and a lack of access to medical care in the city, too. The PTSD, the intergenerational trauma, the depression, the diabetes, the sheer-hopelessness-of-it-all…all your favorites, located conveniently in a non-threatening area (anything is better than a reservation!) where you’ll have access to running water. Just a quick ride on public transportation, and you’re here. I can’t promise we’ll be any kinder than our ungrateful, unwelcoming relatives and friends back home you dealt with last year when you volunteered your services on our reservations for such selfless reasions (such as “reconnecting” with that imagined Native heritage you were never born into), but I can promise we’ll tell you how to say something when you ask us how to say something else in [language of your choice] you can’t find in the stupid pocket dictionary you picked up thinking you could master a language much more complex than your own in a year. We may not welcome you with open arms or throw confetti in the air upon your arrival or have frybread in the pan when you show up (because I like our real food better, but that’s how you relate to us, right?)…but we’ll graciously accept all the money you’ve got. Anyone?

Posted 17 Sep 2009 at 3:13 am ¶
Restructure! wrote:

Great post! I haven’t been to a reserve, but in general, I feel that any kind of outsider-led initiative perpetuates existing systems of power/privilege/oppression. I wonder why those Southern teachers cannot join a native-led program, and instead have to make their own.

I think that when you are part of the privileged group helping a less privileged group, you should do things like manual labour to take the load off the less privileged group, since they often are relegated to such jobs. I don’t think it’s a good idea to put yourself in a leadership position and author your own initiative so that it looks great on your resume and you can brag about it to others. The fact that those Southern teachers can attribute the “Polar Prom” to themselves bothers me (especially since all the other people who have helped with it may not be credited for making it happen).

Isn’t it better to help in ways that do not result in resume padding?

Cute polar bear!

Posted 17 Sep 2009 at 8:37 am ¶
ashlynn wrote:

@m: yikes?

Posted 17 Sep 2009 at 10:31 pm ¶
PatrickInBeijing wrote:

Jessica, great thought provoking post!! I started to type comments twice, but there is so much here, that I really need to absorb it for a while (by which time the thread will probably be dead). But this really raises a lot of questions, not only for volunteers in Native communities, but for all who volunteer in communities that are not their own.

I think that for me, two of the important issues are related to how people approach volunteering (meaning do they see themselves as giving or getting, and why), and then the level of commitment they bring (short term vs. long term). And of course there is the issue of so called “expertise”, which in itself is so complicated….

Anyway, great post, I will be thinking about this for a long while… Many thanks!

Posted 18 Sep 2009 at 12:31 am ¶
Persia wrote:

I think that volunteers are a useful asset when they are WANTED by the community they are setting out to help and when volunteers realize they are there to ASSIST the community and NOT DICTATE what’s to be done.

I agree– I think the example of a reservation that needed skilled medical workers is a good one. I recently had the pleasure of meeting a woman from the Dominican Republic, a US citizen who visits her home country regularly and provides a variety of support, from organizing the community to direct action where it’s needed. All of it is done with interaction and discussion with the people who live there and an assessment of what they need and what will best help them and their community long-term.

m., your frustration is understandable, but thanks for once again reminding me my heritage will always be ‘imaginary’ to some people.

Posted 18 Sep 2009 at 9:43 am ¶
ACW wrote:

What I can share:
I spent 11 years in public schools on or near a military installation in Alaska. Some of my instructors invited Inuit men and women to come to our classes to discuss their culture or share crafts or activities. My fourth grade teacher actually took us out to a Tlingit community and demanded respectful behavior; the burial site stands out most clearly in my memories.
Even though we learned about customs and art and history, our contact with *individuals* was very limited. When we did have classroom guests, there was an air of hushed reverence — which one might argue is as it should be, but also inhibited any real knowledge of the people we met.
My parents’ best friends were a child-free couple living off post in a four-bedroom house. I was young, so I don’t recall all the details, but I do remember they were ‘foster’ parents for four Inuit teens. I remember asking my (very naive, critically caucasian) mother why they were there; were they orphans? This was 20 years ago, but it still turns my stomach to remember her answer… which (paraphrased) was that they were not orphans, but that they were underprivileged and that it was her friends’ civic duty to open their home so these kids could come to town and get a proper education. At face-value, sure, great… but certainly I wasn’t the only one to notice how homesick these kids were or, while the three boys had each other and could manage, the one girl always looked like she’d been crying for hours. I know for damn sure that I wasn’t the only one who heard the host family’s (how does someone take land that doesn’t belong to them, build a house, then call themselves ‘host’, anyway?) disparaging remarks when the girl and the youngest boy decided not to return to school for another year after the summer break. Even at age 10, it seemed like a twisted version of colonization to me.

Posted 18 Sep 2009 at 9:59 am ¶
m. wrote:

@ ashlynn:
It’s not as scary as I made it sound, I was just being an ass. A lot of people who like to ‘lend a hand’ on our reservations also tend to be completely oblivious to our presence in cities, or really couldn’t care less about us as – we’re projects, not people. I’ve never understood the simultaneous obsession with our home communities/oppression of US. I generally get the idea that outsiders would rather go to a reservation (they feel entitled to “an experience”) than volunteer at a fundraiser for a local Native clinic about to close. The latter is not authentic or dire enough in their eyes. It probably has something to do with their fascination with “other worlds” – they got into “activism” via their interests in African and Asian countries, and now they can’t stay home even if they’re “doing something” in this country. But it’s like Jessica stated in her piece: people have been traveling outside of this country to “do good”, and they are now sorta kinda maybe waking up. They’re still sleepwalking if they can’t see the shit urban Indians struggle with right under their busy noses, though.

Posted 18 Sep 2009 at 7:12 pm ¶
m. wrote:

* or really couldn’t care less about us as – we’re projects, not people.

What is wrong with me? Um, nix the “or really couldn’t care less about us as” and just replace it with ‘to many outsiders, we’re projects, not people.’ Sorry.

Posted 18 Sep 2009 at 7:14 pm ¶
ashlynn wrote:

@m. ah. i understand now.

Posted 18 Sep 2009 at 11:02 pm ¶
maus wrote:

“I’m saying all of this because I’m trying to understand the phenomenon that has many non-Native people purposely going North, or going South, essentially going out of their way in general, it appears, to go and live in a Native community to “help” or to “help while working”. That is to say, there seems to be a shift in going to live in an Aboriginal territory, do your thing, and then leave.”

There’s a great book on white neoshamanism- “Going Native, or Going Naive?”

I wonder how it matches up to peoples’ personal experiences.

Posted 19 Sep 2009 at 12:15 am ¶
m. wrote:

Hey, Persia:
I had to re-read what I wrote to understand what you are talking about, but I am assuming you are referring to this…
‘(such as “reconnecting” with that imagined Native heritage you were never born into)’
…when you say, “m., your frustration is understandable, but thanks for once again reminding me my heritage will always be ‘imaginary’ to some people.” Trust and believe that I was only poking fun at the hyper-aggressive phonies/frauds with ulterior motives, not people who know their ancestry and are genuine. I do not know you, so why would I make any assumptions about your heritage? That being said, I apologize if my wording lead you to believe that I feel this way about everyone attempting to “reconnect”, or whatever you want to call it. My previous comment did not translate well. I hope this clears things up!

Posted 19 Sep 2009 at 9:40 pm ¶
D. Waite wrote:

Hey, over the last 50 years I’ve seen these people come to the rez, and I have to say, they are usually pretty nice people. They are fun. You can play tricks on them, you can tell them silly stories. They usually are earnest, and if you let them know that you, the community, are in charge, they can often be of some help. I know those old granmas, they won’t put up with any of the self righteous stuff for long, and these people usually wind up getting it.

Posted 21 Sep 2009 at 5:54 am ¶
Shelien wrote:

Excellent post. I’m a non-native on reserve. The only thing worse than hearing your friends and family members express racism is the moment that you come face-to-face with your own inherent racism. I’m thankful to be here (both here – where I live and here – reading your post) and have the opportunity to question my “truths.”

A related side note – I cringe whenever someone tells me they are colour blind. Blind, yes. Colour blind? Naive.

Posted 21 Sep 2009 at 10:40 am ¶
Jessica Yee wrote:

Hi all

Thanks for all your thoughts and sharings here. It’s an important conversation to keep going.

Now reflecting on population numbers, if we as Native people only represent roughly 3 to 4% of the population in Canada and less than 2% of the population in the United States – where does this dialogue move to where we are seeing some agencies run primarily by non-Native people both federally and in communities themselves? I know it’s not a “new” phenomenon, but as the “helping” is either increasing or becoming more visible, and as the “Indian preference” policy in hiring is being upheld or followed, what’s going on here?

There are many answers, I’m interested in hearing yours.

Posted 21 Sep 2009 at 3:02 pm ¶
Jessica Yee wrote:

Meant to say the “Indian preference” policy in hiring is NOT always being upheld or followed.

Posted 21 Sep 2009 at 3:03 pm ¶
Jenny wrote:

Thanks for your essay. Though a non-Native, I’ve had similar critiques. The ones I can respect are those who gain genuine empathy through suffering or hardships they may experience themselves during their “stint” on the rez, etc. So its not really about “feeling good,” but about encountering and supporting each other on a very human and equal level — and appreciating the beauty in places and peoples perhaps different on the outside from your own, but in many ways the same.

Posted 21 Sep 2009 at 4:49 pm ¶