*attention White People Who Powow!*

[ojibwecommodbod]

YOUR DOING IT ALL WRONG! YOU CAN NOW GO BACK TO BOWLING, DART LEAGUE, AND SOFTBALL, AND PLEASE LEAVE THE POWOWS TO US NDNS!


thought it was worthy enough to start a new thread. some come on all you pigmently-challenged powow peoples, what ya gunna say now?

attn moderators! please dont move this thread to the "native issues" section. you let the weirdos keep their posts here, so u should let a young brother speak his mind here.

[Ahinawake]

YOUR DOING IT ALL WRONG! YOU CAN NOW GO BACK TO BOWLING, DART LEAGUE, AND SOFTBALL, AND PLEASE LEAVE THE POWOWS TO US NDNS!


thought it was worthy enough to start a new thread. some come on all you pigmently-challenged powow peoples, what ya gunna say now?

attn moderators! please dont move this thread to the "native issues" section. you let the weirdos keep their posts here, so u should let a young brother speak his mind here.

All I'm going to say is that I understand why you feel that way. You and a lot of indians. It's complicated...at some powwows I feel like I belong. At others I feel like I just need to leave. I wish things weren't so complicated. You might do well to remember, though, that someone who looks white could very well be half or 25% Indian...it doesn't seem wise to me to make vast generalizations based on the way somebody looks.

[Sleeping Bear]

YOUR DOING IT ALL WRONG! YOU CAN NOW GO BACK TO BOWLING, DART LEAGUE, AND SOFTBALL, AND PLEASE LEAVE THE POWOWS TO US NDNS!


thought it was worthy enough to start a new thread. some come on all you pigmently-challenged powow peoples, what ya gunna say now?

attn moderators! please dont move this thread to the "native issues" section. you let the weirdos keep their posts here, so u should let a young brother speak his mind here.

Why?

[Blackbear]

having gotten the attention of a moderator, let me then make a disclaimer for this thread....

The opinions expressed here by ojibwaycommodbod are'nt necessarily those of every single north american aboriginal person that walks on the earth, and can only be held to this being of his/her own opinion and does not represent any formal group in any legal arena.
Ok having said that, go about your discussion, keep it nice so we don't have to remove the thread. Thanks!

[Ahinawake]

having gotten the attention of a moderator, let me then make a disclaimer for this thread....

The opinions expressed here by ojibwaycommodbod are'nt necessarily those of every single north american aboriginal person that walks on the earth, and can only be held to this being of his/her own opinion and does not represent any formal group in any legal arena.
Ok having said that, go about your discussion, keep it nice so we don't have to remove the thread. Thanks!

Having met several others here, that is sorta what i figured. :)

[ojibwecommodbod]

why?

cuz you are disrespecting us by thinking u know what u are doing! thats why. the ndns u met here that think its ok for anybody to suit up and dance and/or sing, are prolly some new age friggin cherokee from virginia. (lotsa legit ndns there)

the powows u dont feel comfortable at are probably powows that are run correctly and frown upon wanabees.

everybody is welcome at a powow, just dont think you "belong" there with an outfit on, or sittin at some crazy a$$ drum. stand on the sidelines, gaze at the indins, and pay the folks u take pictures of.

and i know, alot of people are nice here, but whoever knows me, knows i'm nice as long as u know yer place. u dont see me coming to bowling league telling you how to bowl.

and of course i got a moderators attention, the title speaks out to most of you mods.

[ojibwecommodbod]

if u are dont worry about it

All I'm going to say is that I understand why you feel that way. You and a lot of indians. It's complicated...at some powwows I feel like I belong. At others I feel like I just need to leave. I wish things weren't so complicated. You might do well to remember, though, that someone who looks white could very well be half or 25% Indian...it doesn't seem wise to me to make vast generalizations based on the way somebody looks.

if you are truly native, always been native, and know that you are native, then u shouldnt worry about it. the ones whose gramma was a cherokee from pennsylvania and other questionable territories are the ones i'm speaking of. the indians with chiefs that look like friggin mountain men are the ones in question. apply to you?

[Blackbear]

So what's wrong with Skins that bowl??

... hey wait.. take the skin heads bowling.. take them bowling! I love that song!

But no seriously... is there somethign wrong with indians bowling? You gotta let me know now because we go neon bowling at least twice a month and I need to know is this seriously a non indian thing that I should stay away from????

Dude, the non native dancers are'nt going to quit just because you make a post... same as the wannabes don't stop claiming indian ancestry just because you prove they don't have any... take Ward Churchhill for example. Lighten up, the disclaimer was supposed to make people laugh.

[ojibwecommodbod]

but at least they will know their place

no they might not quit, probably wont. but at least they will know how us young, real, powow ndns feel. thats my intention here. leave this post here for awhile and you will see i'm not alone on this. and thank you to whoever "stickied" this thread.

[Blackbear]

Well I'll leave it unless it breaks guidelines and gets nasty.. but that's just me... can't guarantee what other moderators might do, I don't speak for them.

[Ahinawake]

cuz you are disrespecting us by thinking u know what u are doing! thats why. the ndns u met here that think its ok for anybody to suit up and dance and/or sing, are prolly some new age friggin cherokee from viginia. (lotsa legit ndns there)

What if there was a "white" person there who DID know what they were doing? Maybe they had Indian ancestors or something. Maybe they have worked very hard to learn the dance steps. Would you have a problem with them? The ones who don't know what they're doing, but think they do bug me, too, and I look white, for goodness sake. Sometimes during intertribals and round dances, I join in for the fun and good times. I'm learning the fancy shawl dance...but I am humble enough to recognize that thus far I stink at it, and need to practice more before even TRYING it in public. You know? So I know where you're coming from on this. But I just wanted to point out that some white people are truly genuine about their love of the culture, and yearning to find out more about who they are. Not all of them are just trying to play Indian.

the powows u dont feel comfortable at are probably powows that are run correctly and frown upon wanabees.

*nods*Those they think are wannabees, at least...if I didn't have reason to believe I have indian blood, and if my heart didn't tell me that I needed to return to the culture that my grandparents shunned, in fear of persecution, then you can bet I wouldn't be at powwows, trying to learn all I can. I'm not a wannabee.

everybody is welcome at a powow, just dont think you "belong" there with an outfit on, or sittin at some crazy a$$ drum. stand on the sidelines, gaze at the indins, and pay the folks u take pictures of.

I wear moccasins and street clothes to powwows...and I don't sit at a drum pretending to know what I'm doing. I attend as a respectful spectator...

and i know, alot of people are nice here, but whoever knows me, knows i'm nice as long as u know yer place. u dont see me coming to bowling league telling you how to bowl.

You're saying indians should stand on the sidelines and gaze at the white people bowling and pay them to take pictures? Because that's where your logic is taking you...most white people who attend powwows are there to learn. Most of them have not grown up in Indian culture. So I think it would be fair to say that a white person should under no circumstances tell any Indian how to do anything at a powwow...however, there would be exceptions for some people, I'm sure, like Indians who look white, adopted white people who have grown up in Indian culture, like adopted ones, etc.

[Ahinawake]

if you are truly native, always been native, and know that you are native, then u shouldnt worry about it. the ones whose gramma was a cherokee from pennsylvania and other questionable territories are the ones i'm speaking of. the indians with chiefs that look like friggin mountain men are the ones in question. apply to you?

Well, since it seems you will need to conduct a background check in order to judge me, the answer is no. My great-grandmotherx3 was the last full-blood Cherokee in our family. She was NOT a Cherokee princess, don't even think that's where i'm coming from. lol, I noticed your signature, and I know what you mean...countless people who I went to for advice during my early days of research were just as white as I am, and went on and on about their Cherokee princess grandmothers. It took a trip to the reservation to learn the truth. Anyway, my great-great-great grandmother's people were from the Smoky Mountains. They migrated to Tennessee several years before the 1830's (Trail of Tears era). It is for this reason they are not found on the Baker roles. They renounced their American Indian-ness, and our family has grown up without a clue about anything Indian since. I heard a few stories from my grandmother, and decided to start researching about our family.

My greatx3 grandparents on my paternal grandfather's side were Muskogee Creek, according to my Georgia relatives, but I have yet to investigate this claim further.

At this point, I don't really know what I am. Thankfully, there are many supportive people around me who are helping me found out who I am...but right now, I really don't know.

[Sleeping Bear]

cuz you are disrespecting us by thinking u know what u are doing! thats why. the ndns u met here that think its ok for anybody to suit up and dance and/or sing, are prolly some new age friggin cherokee from virginia. (lotsa legit ndns there)

the powows u dont feel comfortable at are probably powows that are run correctly and frown upon wanabees.

everybody is welcome at a powow, just dont think you "belong" there with an outfit on, or sittin at some crazy a$$ drum. stand on the sidelines, gaze at the indins, and pay the folks u take pictures of.

and i know, alot of people are nice here, but whoever knows me, knows i'm nice as long as u know yer place. u dont see me coming to bowling league telling you how to bowl.

and of course i got a moderators attention, the title speaks out to most of you mods.

I don't know what I'm doing. I come to learn.
I don't have an outfit, and I only dance intertribals.
I have a few items of native style jewelry, but they have meaning to me and probably me alone.
I consider myself a visitor, and do my best to behave respectfully.
If you look at my first post here, you will see that I was requesting info about how I MAY have offended someone at a powwow.
If you tell me how to bowl, I might tell you to mind your own business, but I won't tell you to get out of the alley.

Now, was there a point in your post somewhere?

[Ahinawake]

I don't know what I'm doing. I come to learn.
I don't have an outfit, and I only dance intertribals.
I have a few items of native style jewelry, but they have meaning to me and probably me alone.
I consider myself a visitor, and do my best to behave respectfully.
If you look at my first post here, you will see that I was requesting info about how I MAY have offended someone at a powwow.
If you tell me how to bowl, I might tell you to mind your own business, but I won't tell you to get out of the alley.

Now, was there a point in your post somewhere?

I agree. I think the whites who make themselves look kinda silly at powwows, thinking they know what they're doing, and that they're the best of the best or whatever, give all of us a bad name. I have seen extremely talented white dancers before. At our local powwow last year, a white honey-blonde girl was the powwow princess. She was a very talented fancy shawl dancer, and very knowledgable in her culture, which was Lumbee.

[Privateer6]

Just my $.02 worth. Yep I've seen some whites make complete fools of themselves, I've also seen a few natives do the same thing. I've also met a few whites who have done so much for natives, in my home area in particular where the local nation assimulated so much that they lost most of their language, lost their traditional crafts, and needing help conducting research to "document" themsleves for federal recognition, that they are fully welcomed not only in the arena, but also in their homes and council meetings. I've also met whites inducted into native societies and not only live up to the obligations of membership, but give a little extra in thanks for being welcomed.

As for me personally, I have been welcomed wherever I have danced. Been asked questions about my background since I moved to the area recently, but never felt unwelcomed.