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I think this is poorly stated, mostly correct, and irrelevant because I don't think it matters if there's much of our culture in American culture.
The responses to this video are demoralizing. A total debasement of our heritage and legacy. https://twitter.com/JasonSCampbell/status/1386685340522536961
The responses to this video are demoralizing. A total debasement of our heritage and legacy. https://twitter.com/JasonSCampbell/status/1386685340522536961
I can't imagine what our ancestors would think seeing a bunch of mixed breeds begging for white validation because we had canoes... while Europeans and Asians had ocean-faring ships.
Or we had subsistence corn cultivation... while Europeans and Asians had mass-scale agriculture.
Or we had subsistence corn cultivation... while Europeans and Asians had mass-scale agriculture.
These arguments reflect a complete rejection of everything that was once essential to our culture, which is why I consider them debasing and embarrassing.
Our ancestors wouldn't have thought it necessary to argue that our canoes were more sophisticated and that made us important.
Our ancestors wouldn't have thought it necessary to argue that our canoes were more sophisticated and that made us important.
And I don't think it's necessary because it shouldn't matter whether our canoes were good. It makes us no less American.
Perhaps this perspective is informed by my heritage in a western, nomadic tribe - but that heritage is shared by the majority of meaningfully Native people.
Perhaps this perspective is informed by my heritage in a western, nomadic tribe - but that heritage is shared by the majority of meaningfully Native people.
It's ironic to me that the people who claim to reject "white" values and "white" systems are the most obsessed with seeking validation from those values and systems.
I can concede that we contributed very little to American culture because I reject the idea that it matters.
I can concede that we contributed very little to American culture because I reject the idea that it matters.
And objectively speaking - we took far more from Euro-American culture and technology than they ever took from us.
You could name everything European settlers took from us in North America in a 160-character tweet, but most of our culture and technology is syncretic.
You could name everything European settlers took from us in North America in a 160-character tweet, but most of our culture and technology is syncretic.
People are welcome to cite their "dunks on the white man," but they're embarrassing in context if one subscribes to the values that motivate those dunks - if not against Europeans, than against our neighbors to the South.
And I say this as someone with a deep love for my culture.
And I say this as someone with a deep love for my culture.
Last point -
The other theme in the responses is "maybe we have no culture because the white man destroyed it."
If that's how you feel, you're not Native. Turn in your CDIB because it's meaningless.
Also - you're merely proving Santorum's point. Congratulations. Well done.
The other theme in the responses is "maybe we have no culture because the white man destroyed it."
If that's how you feel, you're not Native. Turn in your CDIB because it's meaningless.
Also - you're merely proving Santorum's point. Congratulations. Well done.
