links for 2010-10-29

"The idea of brown women being over-sexed and improper, and thus more willing sexual participants for non-brown men, is an old and pervasive one. It's particularly clear looking at the costumes available for women. Pocahontas wears an up-to-there dress, Flamenco dancers bear a midriff, and a bush woman may get nothing more than a loin cloth. Perpetuating these ideas with hyper-sexual costumes is a common, yet potentially dangerous thing to do."

"Beyond the horrifying minimization of the genocide of Native peoples and continuing legacy of colonialism in the Americas, let's talk about the logic here. So. First of all, Conquistadors and Navajos. I get the cutesy 'omg we're so clever look at us make the theme of 'bros and hos' into something related to Columbus Day!'–which has major issues as it is (remember our discussion of the sexualization of Native women?) but really? Conquistadors=South America, Navajos=American Southwest. Columbus=West Indies. Pilgrims=American Northeast. and how are cowboys even related at all?

"And I refuse to accept the 'it's just a party, get over it' mentality. Some of the main reasons this is incredibly harmful to Native peoples (including and especially the Native students at Harvard)…"

"This is the state of our politics. This is where things have arrived in post-race America. We’re at a place where congressmembers demean crucial, inventive public policy with racist nicknames, like the one Iowa Rep. Steve King came up with to stop the expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program: Socialized, Clintonesque, Hillarycare for Illegals and Their Parents. Or where President Obama’s choice to co-chair his deficit commission, Alan Simpson, compares Social Security to a 'cow with 310 million tits.' That wasn’t an offense that warranted Simpson’s firing; he was given a benefit of the doubt the White House could not extend to Van Jones and Shirley Sherrod."