White Plains Battle Re-Enactment Event

[arloyellowtail]

I wanted to call attention to an upcoming event in Wyoming that I think is really offensive and inappropriate. In July of 2015 in Casper Wyoming there is a public battle re-enactment that is using non-Indian people, many from as far away as Europe, to portray Plains men, women, and children. I think this is a step beyond the sports team mascot issue because its an event for public education that uses white ideas of what we should be and is a mockery of who we actually are as people, not just a logo. For far too long whites have interpreted our history and culture to fit their needs for entertainment and this is just another example of it. If you go to the link below you will see a list of registered participants that label themselves as "Native American" yet they are probably not:

Fort Caspar: Reenactor Registration

I just wanted to share my concern as I believe it is long overdue that we portray ourselves to educate the public, and that we stop allowing others to portray us for fun and games.

[Toolbox]

I looked over the registration list and the only foreigners listed were a person from the Czech Republic (listed as cavalry) and one person from New Zealand (list as Native). With that said, and with the exclusion of the person from NZ, how do you know that the other people that registered as Native American are not really American Indian?

I've never been to this event, nor do I live anywhere near it, and you are probably right that there is some BS in there because history is full of BS.

Care to elaborate on the the totality of the event and which parts are offensive and why?

[arloyellowtail]

Re-enactment

It's offensive in the same way that a lingerie or fashion model wearing a feather bonnet is offensive. These people should not be "playing Indian" for public consumption and entertainment as they don't know what it is like to be Indian. Their only influence is TV, movies, and popular mainstream concepts. My particular offense comes from the fact that not only are the majority of these re-enactors white but they are also portraying specific warrior societies in their "act". I think this is offensive to those warriors in the past who defended their people and prescribed to the way of life set forth by that society.
On how I know that a number of them are white-I asked the fort if one has to be an affiliated tribal member to participate and I was told no, that one just has to specify what they want to portray and have "a costume". It got better when they said that the main group coming as Indians are, and this is a quote, "a bunch of white re-enactors from Wyoming, Utah, and the mid-west." I guess my offense comes from the fact that a historic site like a fort should have enough decency to get real tribal members to tell our stories of what happened and not let it be a game for the entertainment of those who subjected our ancestors to so much pain in the past.

[Toolbox]

Thanks for elaborating and telling us where you got your information from as to the make up of the reenactors.

There are events like this around the country and your sentiment rings true especially of a lot of the events around where I currently live in the North East US.