Under the baobab: ‘Red Raiders’ controversy offers learning opportunities
Our country is the most culturally, racially and ethnically diverse community on the planet. We have been trying to learn how to live together, which has often included appropriating aspects of our different cultures, appropriately and inappropriately. An example of the later is minstrelsy.
In the 1830s Thomas “Daddy” Rice visited the quarters to watch enslaved Black people perform for white audiences in order to garner pitiful gratuities. Learning to mimic their behavior and storytelling, he performed these skits as grotesque atrocities to amuse white audiences. Later, to heighten the misappropriated image he added burnt cork to blacken his own face. His most popular character was an obscene, offensive character known as “Jim Crow.” It became the basis for minstrelsy and the label for a denigrating period in American history. By 1848, blackface minstrel shows that portrayed Black people as stupid, lazy, overly superstitious and foolish, were the national pastime, the first uniquely American theater. Even popular African American artists were forced to wear blackface to be accepted by paying white audiences.
An example of appropriate cultural appropriation is St. Patrick’s Day. I grew up in Chicago in the ‘50s. On March 17, everybody wore green. We watched the parade, led by the mayor who was often an Irish American. The Chicago River was dyed green. St. Patrick’s Day celebrated the proud heritage of Irish people. Minstrelsy ridiculed Black people for the amusement of white people. Another difference between the two is that. Irish American people started St. Patrick’s Day. Black people did not start minstrel shows.
After a nine month debate and an election that added three new school board members, the Bellefonte board of education rescinded earlier decisions that ended the use of “Red Raiders” as the district nickname and the removal of Native American imagery. To be fair, the nickname and image do not ridicule Native People. On the other hand, the decision was not supported by Native American peoples or organizations. The controversy has created a contentious atmosphere but it also has provided an opportunity.
Prof. John Sanchez is an associate professor in the Bellisario College of Communications. He is also an Apache. He is a leading scholar in the field of intercultural studies named by The Communication Institute for Online Scholarship. John organized an annual Native American pow-wow, until health issues and the pandemic. Indigenous peoples were invited to come to Centre County to share their traditions, stories, dances, creative arts and ceremonies with the community.
A few years ago, we met our dear, now departed brother, Richie Plass at the pow-wow. He asked us to help him film and archive his project “Ateqnohkew Pemohneaw,” a walk that tells a sacred story. The pilgrimage followed the Menominee trail of tears when cavalry forced them from ancestral lands in midwinter onto the current reservation. We spent a week on the sojourn learning the pith of hundreds of years of tradition about Richie’s people. For years Richie traveled across the country as the curator of his exhibit, “Bittersweet Winds,” a collection of Native symbolism, caricatures, and stereotypical representations of Native people in modern culture. His efforts resulted in the Wisconsin Association of School Boards implementing a resolution calling for Wisconsin schools to end Native mascots. Though the resolution failed it brought greater awareness to a compelling issue.
John recently announced that the pow-wow will be resurrected this June 25-26, on the Penn State University Park campus. It will give us all an opportunity to discover how those most impacted feel about the appropriation of their image. Breaking fry bread together may help us to build better bridges to understanding each other.
“Ya kut unta pishno ma (we were doing this)” — from “Evidence of Red” by Leanne Howe