ishgooda
Mon, 29 Nov 1999 08:00:42 -0800
Posted by [EMAIL PROTECTED] :
From: "CATHERINE DAVIDS" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Organization: The University of Michigan - Flint
Date: Mon, 29 Nov 1999 10:45:28 EDT
Subject: American Indian Students in Macy's Parade
American Indian College Fund students participated in Macy's 73rd
Annual Thanksgiving Parade.
To remember:
Thanksgiving was not a legal holiday in the United States until
Abraham Lincoln "made it so" in order to create patriotism,
nationalism and support for the Civil War. The entire "thanksgiving"
myth is just that....a myth. Lincoln and his cronies made up the entire
story. Lincoln was no "savior" to people of color because on the day
he signed the Emancipation Proclamation he also approved the largest
mass-hanging in US history: that of 13 Santee Sioux. Let us also
please remember that people who live in Central and South America
are also "Americans" but they do not celebrate this holiday...this
holiday is uniquely "United Statesian" not American.
What we knew about the Macy's Parade:
23 American Indian students (Arapaho, Arikara, Cheyenne,
Cherokee, Chippewa, Cree Choctaw, Crow, Gros Ventre, Haida,
Hidatsa, Klamath, Lakota, Sioux, Lummi, Mandan, Menominee,
Modoc, Mohawk, Navajo, Nez Perce, Omaha, Pueblo and Tlingit)
representing the American Indian College Fund, traveled to New
York City to participate in the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Parade.
They were on the "Soaring Spirit Canoe" float...behind a huge marching
band. The Macy's people had the idea to showcase American Indian
culture. This was the first time that anybody invited American Indian
people to participate in the parade and so American Indian people all
over the United States were excited and many of us sat in front of our
television sets to see the students and the float...which basically led
the entire parade. Monroe Weso, a student at the College of the
Menominee Nation said, "for all Indian people of this country, it will be
a wonderful way to help celebrate Thanksgiving in a sacred way.
Richard Williams (American Indian College Fund) noted that, "Indian
culture is not a thing of the past...our students will show parade viewers
that Indians today are making a contribution to America, while using
education and modern skills to advance our culture into the next
millennium." Hugh Big Knife is the top student at Stone Child College
in Montana. He speaks the Cree language and is working on two
degrees. Big Knife states, "not only will we be proudly representing
our own traditional dance styles, but we'll also celebrate Thanksgiving,
a uniquely American tradition that we all share."
Irony
The Macy's parade began in 1924, the same year that Congress
granted "voting rights" to American Indian people.
What happened Thursday morning:
I turned on the television set to watch the parade. The entire
first hour of the parade was a commercial featuring entertainment
from Broadway shows. Once in awhile Matt and Katie would break
away so that Al-The-Weatherman could give a report on the parade's
progress. Finally...the big-marching-band reached the Macy's store
which is located at Herald Square (34th & 7th) which also serves as the
official broadcasting site for NBC (which broadcasts the parade)...this
is where the NBC honchos (Matt and Katie) sit. I'm ready, though.
I've got a tape in the VCR, the remote is in my hand, and I'm excited
because I can sort of see what looks like a big turkey behind the
marching band and I'm pretty sure this is probably the float that the
American Indian students are on. Katie and Matt give about 30-40
seconds to the marching band...telling where they are from, how many
members in the band, how they raised the money to come to New
York, etc. And...now here is the float with the American Indian college
students...it comes and it goes in the blink of an eye. I thought it
looked beautiful and I could see a few students in traditional regalia, but
by the time I hit the "record" button on the remote...it was all over.
Matt and Katie then went onto the next attraction...Millennium
Snoopy...who got nearly a minute of exposure. I learned how big
Snoopy is, how many people were holding Snoopy's guy- wires, how
many years Snoopy has been appearing in the parade, etc. I learned
that Charles Schultz has liver cancer and may not live into the year
2000. I learned all about the Peanuts cartoon strip. I learned more
about Snoopy & Peanuts than I ever really wanted to know. And...I sat
there, with my chin on the floor, because I learned nothing about the
American Indian students...hell, I didn't even see any of them except for
one close up of a young woman and a couple of the guys on the drum.
TELEVISION COVERAGE WAS A HUGE DISAPPOINTMENT for
those of us at home anxiously waiting to see the students in this
historic moment. The people along the parade route probably had a
great time seeing the students...lucky them.
The students deserve our attention and respect. A friend sent me the
names of the students and so I hope I have typed the information
correctly. Here they are:
Vonnie Jo Alberts; Fort Berthold Community College
New Town, NorthDakota
David Bigby; Fort Belknap College, Harlem, Montana
Hugh Big Knife, Stone Child College, Rocky Boy's Agency, Montana
Robyn French; Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute,
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Patricia Jackson, Northwest Indian College,
Bellingham, Washington
Vanessa Kee, Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute
Albuquerque, New Mexico
Lisa Lopez, College of the Menominee Nation,
Keshena, Wisconsin
Roger Other Medicine, Little Big Horn College
Crow Agency, Montana
Thomas Parker; Little Priest Tribal College,
Winnebago, Nebraska
Juan Perez, Salish Kootenai College;
Pablo, Montana
Pete Plenty Wounds, Jr., Si Tanka College
Eagle Butte, South Dakota
Tamara Red Tomahawk, Sitting Bull College
Fort Yates, North Dakota
Nonabah Sam; Institute of American Indian Arts,
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Melanie Two Eagle, Oglala Lakota College,
Porcupine, South Dakota
Sunny Walker; Sitting Bull College,
Fort Yates, North Dakota
Monroe Weso, College of the Menominee Nation
Keshena, Wisconsin
Clarissa Young, Northwest Indian College,
Bellingham, Washington
Drum Group Singers - Stone Child College
Charles Gopher, Jonathan Gopher; Josh Lamere,
Marlon Roasting Stick, John Roasting Stick, Jr.
[NOTE: The five seconds or so of coverage I saw, it looked like a very large full
Plains headress, easily mistaken as the camera focused on the next float behind it and
it disappeared around the corner and off screen. The announcers did not mention it as
part of the parade.]
Reprinted under the Fair Use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine
of international copyright law.
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Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit)
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