On a more serious note, I recently had to find a book on Native American folktales for a library patron, and my search took me to the American Indian Library Association website. I found some interesting bibliographies there, and finally found the book I was looking for there too — in the “Books to Avoid” list. Of course, librarians provide free access to information, even to crumby or poorly written books, so there wasn’t much I could do about it (we didn’t have the book in our collection anyway). However, that website also finally explained the whole Washington Redskin/Atlanta Braves mascot issue in a way that I had not thought of before, and here is that excerpt:
“…Think of the following images that are prevalent in American culture today, and then transfer the image to any other ethnic group (or your own). How does it feel to you? Why do Native Americans alone receive these images? In other words, there are certain kinds of deeply rooted images that do not have equivalents among other minority groups. For example, there are derogatory terms for all ethnic and minority groups, but why are Indians the only ones with sports teams named after them? Why do we have the Washington Redskins, but not the Pittsburgh Darkies or the Dallas Rednecks or the San Francisco Coolies? Why do these hypothetical teams sound so offensive or shocking, but the Atlanta Braves and Cleveland Indians, complete with Chiefs Nok-A-Homa and Wahoo, do not?
Why are hideous caricatures of Native American men available as Halloween masks right up there with vampires, witches and other monsters? Even more to the point, why does the average American see nothing wrong with purchasing that mask and dressing up her child as “AN INDIAN” for Halloween, but would never think to masquerade as another ethnic group, although I have seen “Arab” costumes at times. What does this say about our perceptions of Native Americans as human beings?
These are just two examples of the cultural baggage that we as Americans carry around that make it difficult for us as librarians to know where to start in identifying bias-free books for our libraries.”
Thanks to Naomi Caldwell-Wood and Lisa A. Mitten for compiling the bibliography and providing this insight.
