It’s Not Too Late to Recognize Native American Heritage Month

Hello Meltingpot Readers,

Today is November 21, and I’m just getting around to mentioning that November is Native American Heritage Month. I am deeply ashamed. Here I am claiming to be a diversity diva, calling myself Ms. Meltingpot, but I forgot that November is Native American Heritage month. This is a particularly appalling lapse in memory because Native Americans are too often forgotten in all aspects of American society. So, while I accept the blame for forgetting Native American Heritage Month, I know there are reasons why my forgetfulness is easily explained.

Hidden in Plain Sight

Despite the fact that there are 6.6 million Native Americans in the United States (that’s two percent of the population), they are rarely mentioned in the mainstream news media, are hardly featured in movies and / or on television shows and their voices are largely absent in the books published by mainstream publishers.

And even though Thanksgiving falls in the month of November, and is a holiday that wouldn’t exist without the contributions of Native Americans, the media doesn’t use this time to explore the current experiences of Native American people. Instead, they continue to exploit the same Thanksgiving myth of Pilgrims and Indians sharing a harvest meal celebration together in peace.

Imagine if during Black history month the only thing we talked about was Lincoln freeing the slaves? That wouldn’t go over well, yet we are basically doing the same thing to Native Americans in November.

Ask yourselves; Have your children come home this month with information about Native American Heritage Month? Mine haven’t. Have you seen or heard any clever Public Service Announcements on television or the radio about Native American History Month? Not me. What about at your places of employment? How has the HR department decided to honor the people who originally occupied this land?

Native Americans Need Us to Pay Attention

I won’t be surprised if you answered no to all of the above questions. And we have to ask ourselves why. Why do we continue to ignore Native Americans? It’s not like they don’t need and deserve our attention. Did you know:

Native Americans are killed in police encounters at a higher rate than any other racial or ethnic group?

Native American women are 2.5 times more likely to be sexually assaulted than any other ethnic group in the United States? (Note: The majority of those assaults are committed by Non-Native Men!!!)

Please note, I don’t mean to portray Native American people as victims who only deserve our pity. On the contrary. Native American people deserve our full respect. And we show respect by honoring their culture, giving them a platform to share their experiences, listening when they have something to say, and incorporating their real experiences – not our simplistic stereotypes – in our many forms of popular culture. And it would be nice if we could figure out how to repay them for stealing their land, slaughtering their people and continuously cheating them out of an opportunity to live and prosper in harmony with the land that belongs to them. Just saying.

Educate Yourself

Yes, that’s a tall order. But we have to do it. It’s a moral imperative that many of us fail at every day. Myself included. Where do we start? By listening to Native American people. By reading and educating ourselves about their communities and their current life situations. Read a book. Watch a documentary. Check out this website created in honor of Native American Heritage Month. Memorize these 50 facts about Native Americans that will start your journey of learning and appreciation. Go to a museum. Follow and support the careers of the first two Native women elected to Congress, Sharice Davids and Deb Haaland. There’s so much you can do, just do something.

Tell me, what will you do?

I’m listening and taking notes.

(p.s. To hear more about Native Americans and the Thanksgiving myth, be sure to listen to the first episode of the My American Meltingpot podcast this Friday!)

Peace!

(Photo of woman by Marcus Pinho from Pexels)