(NAME-MCE) Native Americans: Hatchet the stereotypes

[kispokot at aol.com]

Native Americans: Hatchet the stereotypes
by _Erica  Demarest_ 
(http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/WorkArea/linkit.aspx?LinkIdentifier=id&ItemID=143315) 
Jan 14, 2010
_http://www.pechanga.net/NativeNewsEducation.html_ 
(http://www.pechanga.net/NativeNewsEducation.html) 



 
(http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/uploadedImages/News/Chicago/Images/Urban/NATIVE%20TWO2.jpg)   
 
Erica Demarest/MEDILL


Scott Stevens and Starla Carpenter chat with an audience member.



When a group of kindergarteners was  asked to draw pictures of Native 
Americans for a recent study,  three stereotypes quickly emerged: hatchets, 
feathers and the color red.  
Many Native Americans blame America’s public education system for  such 
stereotypes. Most children’s education about Native Americans starts at  
Columbus Day and ends at Thanksgiving, and few states design curricula  to prevent 
that. 
“It amazes me that we don’t have state standards that mandate teaching  
American Indian history as part of American history,” said Scott Stevens,  
director of the D'Arcy McNickle Center for American Indian History at the  
Newberry Library and a member of the Mohawk nation. “It’s like teaching 
American  history without slavery, without conquests, without immigration. It’s a 
bizarre  way to teach.” 
Stevens spoke Thursday at a panel titled “America's Forgotten People"  at 
Northwestern University’s School of Law in honor of Martin Luther King Jr.  
Day. He said that, in the absence of comprehensive education, most Americans  
lump the 562 federally recognized Native American tribes into  one large 
group. But each self-governing tribe has its own religion, culture and  
language.   
“Native Americans are kind of invisible,” said Sunny Gibson, director  of 
multicultural affairs at the Feinberg School of Medicine, “and the ways that 
 they are visible are not positive or constructive.” 
When children study Native Americans, Stevens  said, they learn about wars 
and conflicts, often ignoring the accomplishments of  Native American 
authors, poets and athletes.  
Starla Carpenter, a member of the Cherokee nation who attended public  
school, feels she missed an opportunity to learn her heritage as a  child. 
“I never learned it at school, not even in Oklahoma, and that’s where  
they sent [the Cherokees],” she said. “Why wasn’t there a whole unit about  
the Trail of Tears in my school? It doesn’t make much sense to me.” 
Stevens advocated expanding education about  Native Americans in public 
schools, both to teach children about rich cultures  and to help them better 
understand the complex fabric of American history.   
“There is no Indian-free American history,” he said. “It’s just taught  
that way. Let’s hope that changes.” 

_http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=153587_ 
(http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=153587)  
Many Native Americans blame America’s public education system for  such 
stereotypes. Most children’s education about Native Americans starts at  
Columbus Day and ends at Thanksgiving, and few states design curricula  to prevent 
that. 
“It amazes me that we don’t have state standards that mandate teaching  
American Indian history as part of American history,” said Scott Stevens,  
director of the D'Arcy McNickle Center for American Indian History at the  
Newberry Library and a member of the Mohawk nation. “It’s like teaching 
American  history without slavery, without conquests, without immigration. It’s a 
bizarre  way to teach.” 
Stevens spoke Thursday at a panel titled “America's Forgotten People"  at 
Northwestern University’s School of Law in honor of Martin Luther King Jr.  
Day. He said that, in the absence of comprehensive education, most Americans  
lump the 562 federally recognized Native American tribes into  one large 
group. But each self-governing tribe has its own religion, culture and  
language.   
“Native Americans are kind of invisible,” said Sunny Gibson, director  of 
multicultural affairs at the Feinberg School of Medicine, “and the ways that 
 they are visible are not positive or constructive.” 
When children study Native Americans, Stevens  said, they learn about wars 
and conflicts, often ignoring the accomplishments of  Native American 
authors, poets and athletes.  
Starla Carpenter, a member of the Cherokee nation who attended public  
school, feels she missed an opportunity to learn her heritage as a  child. 
“I never learned it at school, not even in Oklahoma, and that’s where  
they sent [the Cherokees],” she said. “Why wasn’t there a whole unit about  
the Trail of Tears in my school? It doesn’t make much sense to me.” 
Stevens advocated expanding education about  Native Americans in public 
schools, both to teach children about rich cultures  and to help them better 
understand the complex fabric of American history.   
“There is no Indian-free American history,” he said. “It’s just taught  
that way. Let’s hope that changes.”