VIDEO – This week on (link) MDR’s “recap” – Faschingskostüme: Ist Rassismus vielen egal? Myself and several others on the topic of racism, cultural appropriation, carnival, rassimus, Faschingskostüme, Kulturelle Aneignung.
We ask: How do you educate upon these topics in meaningful ways and create change to end racist practices? Like the title of our documentary clearly suggests, there is a wrong and a better way to show appreciation, indicate interest or learn about other peoples and cultures that do not perpetuate cycles of erasure, violence, and misogyny (+transphobia). Learn more here: flyingwithredhaircrow.com.
Description: “Finally #Carnival again! That means celebrating exuberantly, swaying, dressing up. But apparently, this year, too, that doesn’t go without missteps. At a carnival reception in Hesse, there is a “blackfacing” scandal. In Prossen, Saxony, people in “Indian” #costumes drive through town during a carnival parade, and a man in a rainbow suit is tied to a torture stake. And we ask ourselves: why are certain costumes problematic?
For this, we take a look at history, more precisely at the time of colonialism. At that time, many ethnic groups were oppressed and considered inferior. Their clothing and culture were looked down upon. Today, for example, dressing up as #NativeAmerican without dealing with their history is unacceptable, Red Haircrow tells us in the video.
And yet, “Ind*aner” costumes are still everywhere. Many fools don’t understand the fuss over the disguise. Do many not care about #racism? We asked academics and those affected for their take.”
Note: By the way, I was addressed by MDR in English and never asked if I speak German. Which of course I do, I was born in Germany and have spent the last almost twenty years back in Germany. Another example that one can recognize the problems of stereotyping, but still make false assumptions about other things that interfere with intercultural well-being.
Wir fragen: Wie kann man auf sinnvolle Weise über diese Themen aufklären und Veränderungen bewirken, um rassistische Praktiken zu beenden? Wie der Titel unseres Dokumentarfilms deutlich macht, gibt es einen falschen und einen besseren Weg, Wertschätzung zu zeigen, Interesse zu bekunden oder etwas über andere Menschen und Kulturen zu lernen, ohne den Kreislauf von Auslöschung, Gewalt und Frauen- oder transfeindlichkeit aufrechtzuerhalten. Erfahren Sie hier mehr: flyingwithredhaircrow.com.
Beschreibung: “Endlich wieder Karneval! Das heißt ausgelassen feiern, schunkeln, verkleiden. Aber offenbar geht das auch in diesem Jahr nicht ohne Fehltritte. Bei einem Fastnachtsempfang in Hessen gibt es einen “Blackfacing”-Skandal. Im sächsischen Prossen fahren Menschen im “Indianer”-Kostüm bei einem Karnevalsumzug durch den Ort, ein Mann in Regenbogen-Anzug ist an einen Marterpfahl gefesselt.Und wir fragen uns: Warum sind bestimmte Kostüme problematisch?
Wir werfen dafür einen Blick in die Geschichte, genauer gesagt in die Zeit des Kolonialismus. Damals wurden viele Volksgruppen unterdrückt und als minderwertig betrachtet. Auf ihre Kleidung und Kultur wurde herabgeschaut. Sich heutzutage zum Beispiel als Native American zu verkleiden, ohne sich mit ihrer Geschichte zu beschäftigen, sei inakzeptabel, erklärt uns Red Haircrow im Video.
Und doch sind “Ind*aner”-Kostüme nach wie vor überall zu sehen. Viele Narren verstehen die Aufregung um die Verkleidung nicht. Ist Rassismus vielen egal? Wir haben Wissenschaftler und Betroffene nach ihrer Einschätzung gefragt.”
Kapitel: 00:00 Intro 00:45 Wo gibt es Rassismus im Karneval? 02:35 Krasse Kostüme in Onlineshops 03:27 Was macht die Kostüme problematisch? 04:36 Kulturelle Aneignung im Karneval 06:42 Warum werden rassistische Kostüme trotzdem getragen 07:18 Hat Karneval ein Rassismusproblem? 08:00 Kostümverbot für Kinder? 09:50 Sarahs Meinung 10:34 Endcard
HINWEIS: Übrigens wurde ich vom MDR auf Englisch angesprochen und nie gefragt, ob ich Deutsch spreche. Was ich natürlich tue, ich bin in Deutschland geboren und habe die letzten fast zwanzig Jahre wieder in Deutschland verbracht. Ein weiteres Beispiel, man kann die Probleme der Stereotypisierung erkennen, aber trotzdem falsche Annahmen über andere Dinge machen, die das Wohlbefinden stören.
Sharing commentary by Ken Pope, on the new article by Robin Lindley in the American Bar Association’s ABA Journal: “How the US influenced the creation of Nazi race laws under Hitler”.
My comments: “IT IS EXTREMELY RELEVANT to continuing conversations, discussions and so-called “debates” on Native American stereotypes, cultural appropriation and misuse/abuse of Native cultures, spirituality, histories and peoples and the reality of “well-intentioned” support of Natives, but which still results in erasure, replacement and silencing of Natives by speaking for them instead of letting them speak for themselves.
It’s also very relevant to the normalized and increasing daily racism, xenophobia, ableism etc. and apathy in Germany towards stereotyping/ignorance, discrimination and bias towards any marginalized and/or minoritized peoples and groups. Absolutely the history of Nazism has been taught in Germany, but the underlying reasons racism and racist practices are still not understood as such is a huge problem. Obviously the education has been flawed and/or one-dimensional, which many believe is because POC are routinely excluded as educators at all levels of schooling and academia.”
Excerpts:
Adolf Hitler raises a defiant, clenched fist during a speech.
“Adolf Hitler and his Nazi followers in the 1930s fashioned race laws that were designed to degrade and deprive Jewish people of all rights. At the same time, American laws often enshrined white supremacy and discriminated against non-whites, and Black Americans in particular were treated as second-class citizens.
Prompted by Hitler’s own words in his hateful screed Mein Kampf, celebrated Yale professor of law and history James Q. Whitman conducted meticulous research to determine the influence of American sources on Nazi jurists and scholars in the early years of Hitler’s reich. In in his groundbreaking and disquieting book Hitler’s American Model: The United States and the Making of Nazi Race Law (Princeton University Press), Whitman found that the Nazis had carefully studied American racial law and social policies in developing Germany’s antisemitic Nuremberg Laws of 1935 and other policies.
As Whitman reveals, Hitler saw the United States as the world leader in establishing a racist social order.
Hitler and Nazi lawyers admired racist U.S. immigration laws; criminal laws forbidding mixed marriages or sexual relations; and Jim Crow segregation laws and other provisions that robbed African Americans of rights. And they especially admired the mass extermination of Native Americans by “Nordic” pioneers.
Hitler believed that the U.S. saw itself as ‘a Nordic German country’
Many Americans also did. Although, all of this is but one side, the nightmare side of the American story, and the Nazis were aware of that too. They were often puzzled by the competing currents in American political lives, some of which looked very much like the Nazi currents that they owed allegiance to, and some of which looked entirely incompatible with Nazi ideals.
American infatuation with eugenics influenced the Nazis
Race law is not just about eugenics, but it’s also about creating social hierarchies and humiliating people and developing notions of second-class citizen status and all those sorts of things. But what made the United States such an interesting model to a regime like the Nazi regime was that the Americans were really unembarrassedly interested in passing laws on these topics and spent a lot of time developing legal doctrines that could be used not only to the ends of creating a eugenically healthy population … but also to develop hierarchical laws.
And there’s the famous line from Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes: “three generations of imbeciles are enough” … from the Supreme Court [Buck v. Bell (1927)] in a case upholding a sterilization law. It’s important to emphasize, even though everything about American eugenics looks pretty ugly to me, that doesn’t mean that we got as ugly as the Nazis did with regard to extermination. When we read what Hitler had to say in particular, and other Nazis, the model for extermination policies in Eastern Europe didn’t have to do with eugenics as such. It had to do with the American conquest of the West in particular.
Hitler admired the mass extermination of millions of Native Americans
He did indeed. And, of course, the U.S. looked like a model for a German like Hitler because … Germany should be spreading east in the way the Americans spread west, and they should be at a minimum, displacing and possibly eliminating the local populations, as they did it.
If I may emphasize it, [the Native American genocide] was a more attractive model … [than the Armenian genocide] to the extent that the U.S. had made itself the dominant superpower in the world, and that’s what Hitler wanted for Germany as well. Being a Nazi, like other Nazis, and like other hard right-wingers, in trying to explain America’s tremendous geopolitical success, Hitler ascribed it naturally to American racism.
United States leadership in racist immigration laws
The laws in the early 20th century in particular were Hitler’s special focus in Mein Kampf. These were not expressly racist. … Instead, the laws introduced national quotas. There were earlier laws that directly and expressly targeted Asian immigrants.
But these 20th century laws created national quotas with the open intent of keeping out the wrong kind of people—those who didn’t fit the Nordic ideal.
Nazis focused on Jim Crow laws and second-class citizenship
I must emphasize one thing that’s important to note is that the Nazis were not only interested in Jim Crow laws, but … the entire suite of American race practices. Some American laws targeted Asians, and some of them, of course, targeted Native Americans, and there was a whole lot there.
But with regard to second-class citizenship, the Americans faced the problem that the 14th amendment makes it clear that you can’t deprive someone of citizenship and, as a result, the American creation of the second-class citizenship of the kind where you’re depriving someone of voting rights and the like had to be done through subterfuges. And it was done very effectively through subterfuges, but the Nazis didn’t feel the need for subterfuges themselves. [They] were entirely open about the creation of second-class citizenship for Jews especially.
Nazis admired American laws criminalizing miscegenation
It’s astounding. And those laws were expressly racist and directly served as inspirations for Nazi legislation. And we know this in particular because of one of the most telling bits of archival evidence I found was the transcript of a meeting in the summer of 1934 in which the Nazis discussed what sort of criminal law they should create in order to bring the new Nazi order into existence. And there, they specifically studied American laws and particularly American anti-miscegenation laws. The desire of the most radical Nazi was to criminalize mixed marriage, and America offered not only a model but pretty much the only model in the world for doing that, and some of the penalties were extraordinarily tough.
The Nazis found U.S. law on race and Black people sometimes too harsh
That was a shocking discovery on my part. Some states, not by any means all, defined any person as Black if that person had even one drop of Black blood, which meant looking to any Black ancestor at all, however far back, who was Black. Other states had less far-reaching definitions, such as having one Black grandparent or something like that, but every single American definition went beyond what the Nazis themselves ever embraced. When Nazis discussed the far-reaching notorious American one-drop rule, they said things that you would never imagine hearing from a Nazi, such as, “That’s completely inhumane. How could you do that?”
On U.S. democracy and ongoing racism, antisemitism and xenophobia
In my view, we must recognize what happened in Germany and understand how intriguing Germans found the American example as ways of reminding us of the basic, really terrifying truth that it can happen here. … And, one hope is that there are foundations to American liberal culture that are ultimately unshakeable. … I wouldn’t claim to predict the future, but the history certainly can bring home to us the full and uncomfortable range of possibilities in making a human society.”
“The same mentality that ignores Indigenous rights to self-representation are often those who also stereotype and gaslight GLBTIIQ people, women (of all kinds), the disabled or economically challenged, especially people of color just for desiring change and equality. It is basically saying, ‘My gratification is more important than your dignity, your rights or even your life.’ This is a main facet of rape culture. It is intersecting oppression.”
This is from the description of our documentary on racism, white supremacist ideology and cultural appropriation that uses as an object lesson the stereotyping of Native peoples, cultures, histories and traditions in Germany. “Forget Winnetou! Loving in the Wrong Way.” https://forgetwinnetou.com/.
We see this with the persistent and willful use of Native mascots by teams like the Kansas City Ch*efs, and the support of R*wling or anyone who perpetuates and uses anti-Semitic, racist, and misogynistic stereotypes in their work or words, and/or who advocates transphobia and hatred under the privileged and extremely twisted and misleading claim of feminism.
The same type of people and demographic who whine and rage about cancel culture, politic correctness and having their “culture” taken away, besides admitting their “cultures” are sexist, racist and/or hatemongering in the first place, they are centering and comparing their privileged lives to those widely vilified, discriminated against, treated with violence or killed simply for daring to exist and live their lives.
The latest article by Kristina Kielblock at kino.de details the timeline of R*wling’s transphobia and hatemongering, while also examining her work’s history of anti-Semitism, racism and stereotyping. It’s in German but a simple click in your browser can translate it to most other languages.
While it’s anyone’s choice to play the new HP game or watch and cheer on their favorite sports team, real human beings who care for others, for human rights, for anti-discrimination etc. would not show support through apathy OR by ignoring the sexism, racism, misogyny and hatemongering by their actions or words, blithely claiming it’s “no big deal” or “doesn’t really doesn’t matter.” Whether they wish it or not, whether they think so or not, their participation WILL BE USED by the racists, the sexists, the misogynists and transphobes to further perpetrate acts of violence, discrimination and cruelty to marginalized and minoritized groups and peoples.
Remember: whenever Native Americans, transgender people and allies, or anyone dare to speak up against the violence, misrepresentation and discrimination they face, greater attacks and aggression are ALWAYS the result. So more clearly than ever, if you are not part of the solution, you ARE part of the problem. If you remain silent, you join the oppressor.
(In German below). A new article on some of the current and upcoming shows centering Native American, First Nations and Indigenous peoples that (most importantly) were made by Natives for everyone. Natives also working in healthy cooperation and collaborations with other peoples and groups to produce work both, fiction and non-fiction, that include or focus on Native characters stories….without the Eurocentrism, misrepresentation and stereotyping.
Understand what that means because inevitably (and we see it constantly) there are comments from non-Natives who say, “But they sometimes do stereotypes! Why is it so different or bad if we do it?” or even more exasperating, “We love Natives, and just want to create characters and stories, too! Where’s the harm in that?” Besides our documentary, there are MANY resources that explain how, why and when racism and Eurocentrism continues to work in our societies, what it’s symptoms and effects are. There are MANY resources that explain and clearly demonstrate the harm that results, and the cycles of erasure, silencing and replacing Native peoples, voices and self-determination that continue the purposes of colonialism and Indigenous genocide.
The only time Germany and the western world seems to really consider these topics as a nation or societies is during a controversy, such as climaxed in August 2022 following the release of children’s books no less, that sought to revive and defend the use of racist, sexist terms used for Natives that are strongly condemned, which they were made well aware of long before going to press. What is especially frustrating about such behavior and societal practices, is that like Indian hobbyists of all kinds, they overshadow or completely obscure the many Europeans who have long been allies, colleagues and partners to Indigenous peoples, working to undo centuries of Eurocentrism and colonialism through healthy relationships and cooperation of all kinds with Native peoples. We get dozens of articles about hobbyists, books and reports by so-called “Indian experts” and ad nauseum novels, shows and films romanticizing Native stereotypes or misrepresenting/skewing current events, but few or NONE about good collaborations.
Stereotypes are oversimplifications of other peoples, groups and individuals of which one is not a part, often based on historical fears and ignorance. In the case of Europeans doing this to ethnic and racial groups, this has an overwhelmingly negative effect because of the violently gained and held structural power to control all narratives, which the targeted groups have little or no opportunity to correct or change, all while being subjected to discrimination, compartmentalization and dehumanization. In the case of Native American peoples, cultures and traditions, in Germany especially, decades of moneymaking exploitation of all kinds, from museums, to media studios, to tobacco products.
Simply put: When we as Native peoples talk about ourselves, our communities, our histories, our cultures, our traditions, our idiosyncrasies, we are not stereotyping because it is coming from a place of intimate, personal knowledge about ourselves, our communities, our histories, our cultures, our traditions, our idiosyncrasies. That is not hard to understand although it takes humility, often absent in western society, and realize, too, in that sentence you can substitute any other marginalized or minoritized groups for “Native peoples”. Look around you in western society, just like our documentary’s premise, the same attitude and treatment of Natives is done to others, and even to the environment, our Earth, our home. Destruction, pain and harm are ignored, minimized or defended for self-gratification and/or profit.
That’s why we continue say, no shout and yell, that it is well past time to symbolically #ForgetWinnetou! and the harmful practices, behaviors and mentalities that continue colonial, genocidal systems that encourage the stereotyping, erasure and silencing of certain “others”.
Ein neuer Artikel über einige der aktuellen und kommenden Serien, die sich mit Native Americans, First Nations und indigenen Gruppen befassen und (vor allem) von Natives für alle gemacht wurden. Eingeborene arbeiten auch in gesunder Kooperation und Zusammenarbeit mit anderen Völkern und Gruppen, um Werke zu produzieren, sowohl Belletristik als auch Sachbücher, die Geschichten von indigenen Charakteren enthalten oder sich auf diese konzentrieren…., ohne den Eurozentrismus, die falsche Darstellung und Stereotypisierung.
Verstehen Sie, was das bedeutet, denn unweigerlich (und wir sehen es ständig) gibt es Kommentare von Nicht-Natives, die sagen: “Aber sie machen manchmal Stereotypen! Warum ist es so anders oder schlecht, wenn wir es auch tun?” oder noch ärgerlicher: “Wir lieben die Eingeborenen und wollen auch Figuren und Geschichten erschaffen! Was ist daran so schlimm?” Neben unserem Dokumentarfilm gibt es VIELE Quellen, die erklären, wie, warum und wann Rassismus und Eurozentrismus in unserer Gesellschaft weiter wirken, was seine Symptome und Auswirkungen sind. Es gibt VIELE Quellen, die den Schaden, der daraus resultiert, und die Zyklen der Auslöschung, des Schweigens und der Verdrängung von indigenen Völkern, Stimmen und Selbstbestimmung, die die Ziele des Kolonialismus und des indigenen Völkermordes fortsetzen, erklären und klar aufzeigen.
Das einzige Mal, dass sich Deutschland und die westliche Welt als Nation oder Gesellschaft wirklich mit diesen Themen auseinandersetzen, ist während einer Kontroverse, wie sie im August 2022 nach der Veröffentlichung von Kinderbüchern ihren Höhepunkt erreichte, in der versucht wurde, die Verwendung rassistischer und sexistischer Bezeichnungen für indigene Gruppen wiederzubeleben und zu verteidigen, die aufs Schärfste verurteilt werden und über die sie lange vor der Veröffentlichung informiert wurden. Besonders frustrierend an solchen Verhaltensweisen und gesellschaftlichen Praktiken ist, dass sie – wie indianische Bastler aller Art – die vielen Europäer in den Schatten stellen oder völlig ausblenden, die seit langem Verbündete, Kollegen und Partner der indigenen Völker sind und daran arbeiten, Jahrhunderte des Eurozentrismus und Kolonialismus durch gesunde Beziehungen und Kooperationen aller Art mit den indigenen Volksgruppen zu überwinden. Es gibt Dutzende von Artikeln über Hobbyisten, Bücher und Berichte von so genannten “Indianerexperten” und bis zum Überdruss Romane, Serien und Filme, in denen indigene Stereotypen romantisiert oder aktuelle Ereignisse falsch dargestellt oder verdreht werden, aber nur wenige oder KEINE über gute Zusammenarbeit.
Stereotypen sind vereinfachte Darstellungen anderer Völker, Gruppen und Individuen, denen man nicht angehört, und beruhen oft auf historischen Ängsten und Unwissenheit. Im Falle der Europäer, die dies bei ethnischen und rassischen Gruppen tun, hat dies eine überwältigend negative Wirkung, da sie gewaltsam die strukturelle Macht erlangen und behalten, alle Narrative zu kontrollieren, die die Zielgruppen kaum oder gar nicht korrigieren oder ändern können, während sie gleichzeitig Diskriminierung, Abschottung und Entmenschlichung ausgesetzt sind. Im Fall der indianischen Völker, Kulturen und Traditionen, insbesondere in Deutschland, ist dies eine jahrzehntelange Ausbeutung zu Geldzwecken aller Art, von Museen über Medienstudios bis hin zu Tabakprodukten.
Einfach ausgedrückt: Wenn wir als Native Nations über uns selbst, unsere Gemeinschaften, unsere Geschichte, unsere Kulturen, unsere Traditionen, unsere Eigenheiten sprechen, dann tun wir das nicht stereotyp, denn es kommt von einem Ort intimer, persönlicher Kenntnis über uns selbst, unsere Gemeinschaften, unsere Geschichte, unsere Kulturen, unsere Traditionen, unsere Eigenheiten. Das ist nicht schwer zu verstehen, auch wenn man dazu Demut braucht, die in der westlichen Gesellschaft oft nicht vorhanden ist, und man sollte sich auch darüber im Klaren sein, dass man in diesem Satz ” Native Peoples” durch jede andere marginalisierte oder minorisierte Gruppe ersetzen kann. Schauen Sie sich in der westlichen Gesellschaft um, genau wie die Prämisse unseres Dokumentarfilms, die gleiche Einstellung und Behandlung der “Natives” wird anderen angetan, und sogar der Umwelt, unserer Erde, unserem Zuhause. Zerstörung, Schmerz und Schaden werden ignoriert, verharmlost oder aus Gründen der Selbstbefriedigung und/oder des Profits verteidigt.
Deshalb sagen wir weiterhin, nein, wir brüllen, dass es längst an der Zeit ist, symbolisch #ForgetWinnetou! und die schädlichen Praktiken, Verhaltensweisen und Mentalitäten zu vergessen, die koloniale, völkermörderische Systeme fortsetzen, die die Stereotypisierung, Auslöschung und das Verstummen bestimmter “Anderer” fördern.
There continues to be a lot of misinformation being shared about what “Two-Spirit” means, and Natives saying “No” are ignored just like when we say, stop cultural appropriation and misuse. Here’s the fact: if you are not Native/Indigenous, you are cannot be a Two-Spirit person and you should not be using the term to describe yourself or anyone else. It was a term created by Natives for Natives, and most Native nations and peoples have their terms in their languages also. The Dinéh (Navaho) refer to them as nàdleehé or ‘one who is ‘transformed’, the Lakota (Sioux) as winkte, the Mohave as alyha, the Zuni as lhamana, the Omaha as mexoga, the Aleut and Kodiak as achnucek, the Zapotec as ira’ muxe, etc.
My original post on the topic at redhaircrow.com was way back in 2010, “Two-Spirit-Tradition, History & Future”, so I wanted to do an updated version because my knowledge expanded also, from the wisdom of Native/Indigenous scholars, elders and elders-to-be. This is information I share and include in some workshops or presentations if applicable, or if someone asks about the term and its usage. Please recall all information on this and my personal website are our intellectual property, and require a written request for permission to reprint or use.
Recently, I shared links to the free manuscript proof of forthcoming, “Suicide Prevention in Indigenous Communities”, which I worked on with others this past summer for (NASEM), National Sciences Engineering Medicines Academies. It was almost totally ignored even by those who say they want to learn more about Natives. It’s a collection of firsthand information, data and knowledge from some of the hard-working Natives today, elders, academicians, psychologists, doctors. One of the greatest sections was on Two-Spirit people from Sadie Heart of the Hawk Ali, their presentation “Being Two-Spirit” can be downloaded from this online source.
Sadie sharing important knowledge, “Two-Spirit people are not only trans-identified, gender or sexually variant, gender queer, asexual or other terms. We are all of those and none of those because Two-Spirit is a **spiritual term** that reflects back on the roles our Two-Spirit ancestors used to have in relation to their Nations. Natives who identify as Two-Spirit know we have a responsibility to our Nations, to learn our languages, to keep our ceremonies and protect our children. This was the main work of Two-Spirit people prior to colonization.
Two-Spirit people understand the roles Two-Spirit ancestors had, and how when a child was born into a nation and there was evidence this child had an affinity for work that didn’t align with the gender they were identified with at birth, there was a celebration. There was a big celebration and a feast, it was not the negative response seen in parents today, that they will now never have grandchildren. In fact, if something happened to the parents of a child, the child was given to the Two-Spirit people to raise because rather than reducing that person to someone with a male and female spirit living in one body, there was a spiritual aspect as well. Many Native nations believe Two-Spirit people have one foot in the spirit world and one in the physical, being able to see things that others cannot. Two-Spirit people were considered sacred.
Contrary to stereotypes and pop culture, all Native people are not people of medicine, pipe carriers, lodge keepers and sun dancers, and medicine is more than sage, tobacco, sweetgrass, cedar and corn pollen. Today, Two-Spirit people are engaged in the work of our Two-Spirit ancestors working in medicine, in the arts, in psychology, in law, and other fields that lift our people up. Many are in behavioral health fields, and this is not a coincidence. Not all have completed their “coming-in” processes, but Two-Spirit people are around, they are in your communities trying to recreate the ways of our ancestors in every field.”
Reality: Even for Native/Indigenous persons, just because they are LGBTIIQ, non-binary etc. it doesn’t automatically make them Two-Spirit. Native/Indigenous LGBTIIQ people can BECOME Two-Spirits, but it is not an automatic thing. Indigenous people from other continents and places ALSO had their terms and words for such persons, which they should be using also. For example, in Pasifika, Mahu (Hawai’i and Tahiti), Vaka sa lewa lewa (Fiji), Palopa (Papua New Guinea), Fa’afafine (Samoa), Akava’ine (Rarotonga).
Solutions: If you are “white”, European, etc. research your peoples culture and history and find the original terms for persons like yourself, or work together with your people or “adopted” peers to create a term for yourselves. Stop appropriating and misusing Native/Indigenous terms, cultures and traditions. Why does this keep needing to be said? Why are the collective voices of Native peoples being ignored? The answers to those questions goes straight back to Eurocentrism, privilege and learned behaviors that excuse ignoring someone’s “No”, for one’s own gratification, even if its violating their rights, dignity and life. That’s why we say symbolically to #ForgetWinnetou, which helped spread that practice against Native peoples.
Description: “We live in societies designed to crush our bodies and spirits, that seek to compartmentalize and confine us in every way, especially into heteronormative roles and bodies although gender, sexuality, even intelligence are naturally on a spectrum.
Variance, the state of being varied, is often seen as negative. Yet skills such as adaptability and variability helped our ancestors survive, and today are essential in gaining and maintaining balance, well-being and mindfulness. Being trans and/or also part of other minoritized or marginalized groups adds extras challenges for being accepted as who you are, of just living your life, of feeling safe in society, in your home, in your body.”
A new excerpt using raw footage from our documentary on poverty porn and the voyeuristic quality of European, but especially German “observation” and misrepresentation of Native American cultures and peoples.
The willful stereotyping of Indigenous peoples and the racism, white supremacist ideology and especially the patriarchy utilized when those from the demographic which gained power through violence, genocide and exploitation of others believe they have the continued right over other peoples bodies, stories and narratives. They use systematic racist and sexist structures in industry and society created by those just like themselves, to continue to erase, replace and/or misrepresent/misuse other marginalized and minoritized peoples and groups.
It’s a deep societal problem that doesn’t just affect Natives.This is not a niche film or issue. The mentality that not only practices but defends the minimization, erasure and silencing of certain groups or peoples, is a widespread problem at the root of most every disaster, crisis and issue facing our world today. It’s at the root of imperialism, capitalism, climate crisis, consumerism and violation of rights of all kinds, past and present. We do not want it to be our future. We all should be committed to ending such practices, “protected status” and privilege right now.
That’s why we say, “This is not about Winnetou. It’s about you and us. ALL of us.” That’s why we say it is far past time to symbolically unlearn and forget Winnetou, and all the practices, the behaviors, mindsets and value(less) systems that promote erasure, exploitation, fetishization and appropriation.
Dialogue from the film: “It’s an unfortunate aspect of capitalism and white supremacy that people end up in a job they don’t necessarily like or exploiting parts of their identity that they would rather not but that’s how you survive. I often downplayed my (Native) identity and didn’t talk about it because I didn’t want to be forced to perform myself to be consumed by white Germans.
Unfortunately, that’s one of the only ways you can make money in Germany, and in Berlin especially. I met many people that all of the things they’d done and all the things they were became a marketing strategy to perform personal tragedies, migration stories, or poverty porn for Germans who consumed it because it made them feel like they’re open-minded, liberal and understanding of other people when they’re voyeurs basically.
I feel like one of the first important things to do is remove the emphasis on spectacle. If your only interaction and the way you interact with others is primarily through spectacle then it’s a very privileged position. It’s very focused, it’s pretty one way. It doesn’t have complexity. I feel that’s the starting point for people being able to interact with Native peoples, and people not like themselves in general.”
Our documentary is available on DVD for private use, but there’s only 25 copies now left in our stock! Once they’re gone, they’re gone.
Organizations, institutes, universities, etc. are encouraged to contact VTape, the non-profit artist run distribution company based in Canada, which can provide screening and institutional copies for rent or purchase.
We have continued to search for a European or especially a German distributor or studio to broadcast, but no matter how open-minded, diversity conscious and anti-racist many claim to be, we’ve not been able to find one despite our award-winning status and social justice, human rights contentiousness of our film.
After documentary filming with Drew Hayden Taylor in Berlin-Kreuzberg
Following my participation, albeit a small but contextually accurate part, in “Searching for Winnetou”, the 2018 documentary film on Indian hobbyism, with a million dollar budget very different than my own, both in finances and tone, I was invited to write an op-ed published to CBC Docs. I talk about the matters in the news the past days, but also discuss some important realities and people ALWAYS IGNORED BY GERMAN MEDIA AND SOCIETY whenever Winnetou, Indian hobbyism, cultural appropriation and racism are mentioned.
My Background as Informative on Multiculturalism & the Difference between “White” vs. “non-White” Behaviors
One of the many things some people never think about or even consider, which is a reality faced daily by persons like myself in Germany who may have written about or become “labeled” as a critical of “German culture” (aka cultural appropriation) and Native stereotypes. What those who most often interact with me, only is a product of stereotypes and stereotyping, the dehumanization of Natives, BIPOC or other people of color, that even some who are anti-racist rarely think about. It’s dehumanization because there is ZERO interest in me, but only in what I can perform or supply for others.
My research focuses have long been Indigenous intergenerational historic trauma, which inevitably includes that of Indigenous and original peoples of Europe. I’ve a Master’s in Native/Indigenous Studies, which many assume relates only to Natives of North America as if those total 13 years of combined higher education didn’t include extensive study of European history (past and present), cultures and world civilizations also. Besides my own personal interests and studies since I was a child who happened and was thankful to grow up in an extremely multicultural environment. They don’t think about it, which is fine enough, but its almost always done without according the same regard they would show a white peer working in similar topics, which they assume to have an interest in and having studied cultures other than their own. This is a critically important realization that needs acknowledgement. It is such a common demeaning, undermining and harmful attitude and position POC academics, scholars and professionals face in Germany, even from many Germans who believe themselves open-minded, anti-racist and “global” citizens.
My upbringing was very different than the way I see some Germans believes makes them “open-minded” and appreciative of all cultures because they grew up in Berlin , Köln or Frankfurt with mostly topical access to or ability to observe or perform “cultures”. I talked about it before, for example in this panel at DBS Studios moderated by cultural consultant Cavana Hazleton-Lee, “Can you copyright culture?” I grew with close friends from Taiwan, Hawaii, Germany, Spain, Hungary, Puerto Rico, Korea and Japan, where we ate most meals together, we had sleepovers between us children. I went to dance and languages classes with them, they went to get-togethers with us. I was able to learn and listen to firsthand experiences from other cultures, at their knees, learn about their cultures by helping prepare their foods, tend their gardens and doing handwork or learning musical instruments.
When we were grew up, they cared for our children, too, feed them food from their mouths and rocked them to sleep. We cared for theirs. Here in Germany, what I experienced was Germans may invite you to their homes, but coming to yours? That’s a different story. They may invite your children over to a party, but their children go to your home, let alone have a sleepover? That’s a very different story. Parts fear-based behaviors but also a control/trust factor. Somewhat natural behaviors, of course with one’s children, but POC are treated very differently than white peers.
I began studying genocide, political history when I was 7 or 8 years old, as a European Jewish and others Holocaust survivor from Germany was a part of our group. Her perpetual sadness touched me deeply, and I wanted to know about it, not just certain years, but what was the psychological lead-up to a country and peoples deciding genocide was acceptable, especially as both sides of my family, whether African or Native American, were also subjected to an ongoing genocide. I spoke about that in my personal essay on Medium, “When I Think About America.”
I mention this because the topic of cultural appropriation, misuse and abuse in Germany is both terrible and understandable to me. Like other European peoples, newer designations and originals, there’s been cultural loss but the overwhelming majority was at the hands of their European peers. This must be stated every time. Natives suffered later from what Europeans first did to their own. That doesn’t excuse appropriating cultures or parts of cultures from others to escape one’s trauma. That only continues cycles of violence. We see this a lot in Germany, and its recognized and expressed not just by POC, and shouldn’t be used (but is) by those claiming stopping racist, appropriation of Native cultures is “taking something away from us (Germans!!).”
I and others like me are examples of how you do not have to culturally appropriate, misuse or abuse, and you can be part of other cultures and peoples in a very personal way individually when you are informed, welcomed, rooted. In fact, if I had to create a film, a piece of art or narrative about myself or upbringing, it would have to include my perceptions and experiences with cultures not my own. But whether that or anything else, it absolutely needs to involve Cultural Humility. Germany, as a whole, does not have this or teach it. It’s just the opposite. In the majority of Europe and western society, from a young age people are not only taught to consume, but to see it as innocent exploration or appreciation, and later to justify it and reject any criticism. Largely without knowing anything about the history, origin and effects of such Eurocentric behaviors and practices or the history, cultures and narratives of those people FROM those peoples.
The Things Forgotten in All These Discussions & “Debates”
Like I said above, you don’t have to be culturally appropriative and abusive, dismissive or reductive in interacting with other cultures. When I make kimchi at home, having learned to both grow all the ingredients needed and to make it by a still very close family friend who is Korean, I would never create a business selling it, small or large. I wouldn’t write about it for my non-Korean friends to consume either. Some of my closest who-still-are friends growing up was a German-Mexican family, the father was a German soldier and engineer who came to work at the same Army base my father was stationed at in the USA. He’d met his Mexican to-be-wife when she was living in Germany with her family. Their kids are my sister and I’s age. Summer parties, sleepovers, and many sports outings together. When I wasn’t getting along with my parents, they listened. Of course, there was the age difference, but earlier this year when I heard the wife had passed away, I called to talk to the husband. Now, at age 50 and 80+ years old, it was more relationally balance of mature experiences.
One of the things he shared with me was that his father had been a higher ranking Nazi official who had been stationed and oversaw operations in Yugoslavia. It was chilling to learn. He said that was why he had always especially wanted to live in and support a multicultural experience for his children, as he knew personally supremacist and Eurocentric thinking of any kind, any level, was inherently violent and harmful. He asked me if he had ever made me feel different or less than, and I responded that I had not. In fact, one of my outstanding memories of him was his taking the time to teach me the game “Tiddly-Winks”, when I had felt shy during the first sleepover. Another example that adult and child interactions can be innocent and supportive, not predatory, which is based on the adults behavior. He and I had a great conversation. I felt GOOD.
I mention all of this because there is always the possibility and option to not be abusive, appropriative or predatory. There is always the possibility or option the educating oneself and relearning how to better interact with others, and have humility to make changes in one’s learned behaviors, practices and beliefs. Many people choose not to do so, even when offered, even with the opportunity now more than ever before in history to receive firsthand knowledge. Yet this is not to say, that an upbringing like mine is the only way to have respect for other cultures. It is very much about how one is taught.
Another close friend I met while studying then working in law enforcement, grew up in a small town of about 600 people in Alabama, an entirely “white” town where POC were not allowed. He had never met a POC in person until he went to college in another city in the early 90s. He was raised to respect all cultures, to be anti-racist, curious and humble. He is an excellent example of what is possible, and in fact, was from a German immigrant family on both sides, with an entirely German name. If you didn’t know, Alabama was mostly settled by Germans especially through the mid-regions of the state. German is the 3rd most common European language spoken in the USA, and in the area I grew there were also 1st and 2nd gen German families, and thus bakeries, restaurants, culture groups, etc.
The summary of this post & my sharing of the above personal stories and experiences, is this quote from my op-ed for CBC Docs.
“Some Germans are culturally sensitive In the midst of this racism, there are positive stories that we don’t hear about either. There are Germans who have learned better ways to appreciate and respect Indigenous cultures. Some have stopped dressing up and practice culturally responsible empathy. They recognize the part that white people have played in the exploitation of Indigenous people and want to stop it in all forms. They use their white privilege to improve intercultural understanding and work with Indigenous peoples on Indigenous terms (for example, the Native American Association of Germany).
Not all interest in Indigenous cultures and peoples is exploitative.
German media rarely if ever talks to such people, or if they do, exactly as Carmen Kwasny, the chairperson of the Native American Association of Germany, personally relayed to me, they are treated with antagonism, they are demeaned or even accused of betraying their race or trying to replace Natives. There are positive intercultural collaborations happening ALL of the time here in Germany, and across western society, but they rarely ever make the news. Instead, we are all bombarded by, if not outright white-centric often male focused opinions, commentaries, films, etc. then also the same demographic using other cultures in appropriative ways sometimes backed by a token or supporting Native or POC to justify in a “I can’t be racist, I have a Black friend!” kind of way. And they don’t just treat Native cultures and peoples that way, speaking over, silencing or “interpreting” them with little personal, extended knowledge, but women, the disabled and others, also. Any of their own peers they speak out about it or try to change such behaviors soon find themselves bullied, ridiculed and out of job, but still rarely with the structural power and force to oppress that POC are subjected to daily.
There are no positive effects from colonialism or white supremacist, patriarchal, Eurocentric, structurally racist, sexist, ableist systems dominant in western society, with its power gained from horrific, persistent discrimination and violence, psychological, verbal, emotional and physical of ANYONE they deem unacceptable. THIS MUST BE CHANGED FOR THE VERY SURVIVAL OF OUR WORLD. Please pay attention that I did not state that passively, such as “it must change”. No, there must be active steps to change this damaging, discriminatory systems privileging a small segment of one demographic. This is not to be misconstrued to be an attack on “white men”, but specifically to patriarchy, because those type of men of mainly white European heritage continue to destroy and abuse the best and brightest of their own peers, too.
I might word the quote below differently, but this is a solid summary of my and many, many others feelings, especially POC, marginalized, minoritized groups who have to daily face and often fight alone, even our children too often have too, when facing the societal crimes and effects of racism, white supremacist ideology, Eurocentrism and sexism/misogyny. Yet I and many of us continue to show solidarity with others, but aren’t often reciprocated in visible, tangible positions of resistance and opposition by those of “white” or those of primarily European heritage. And those who do, they also get forgotten by media and society. Cross cultural solidarity and support absolutely, but remember also, that we are often exhausted or frustrated when constantly expected to respond, listen to or be “informed” about similar shitories (this was initially a mistake in typing but I left it because it fits!), which are used to center “white” experiences yet again. That’s failure or lack of ability to actually be allies or work in solidarity by self-centeredness, a foreign concept and behavior in any Indigenous or original culture.
Don’t fall victim to or accept the deliberate twisting of positive statements, movements and terms like “woke and wokeness”, Black Lives Matter, and #MeToo, which have been used recently by some “experts” and German media to gaslight and victimize those who criticize and resist racism, sexism and patriarchy. Learn accurate definitions of racism, Eurocentrism, and eurocentric are educate yourself on contextual, historic and contemporary usage and applicable of those terms, which are almost always used to support racism, xenophobia and bigotry and to center “whiteness as rightness”.
“The word ‘woke’ has been purposely repurposed to deter the very work that people focused on awareness about injustice and on the urgent need to eradicate injustice were centering the word to accomplish.
Many have distorted a positive narrative so that injustice can persist.” -Bernice King, daughter of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Von Dr. Andreas Brenne nach der Filmvorführung und Diskussion am 26. April 2019. Osnabrück, Museumsquartier.
“Freitag Abend im Museumsquartier Osnabrück: Red Haircrow – “Forget Winnetou! Loving in the wrong way” (Film und Diskussion)
“Ein anregender Abend im vollbesetzten Haus. Mit dabei: zahlreiche Lehrende und Studierende der Uni Osnabrück (Institut für Amerikanistik, Institut für Sozialwissenschaft) und der Autor und Produzent des Films Red Haircrow (Autor, Psychologe & Filmemacher). Ein eindringlicher und in seiner Direktheit beeindruckenden Dokumentarfilm gab er den in Deutschland ansässigen Native Americans eine Stimme und präsentierte kontroverse Positionen und Perspektiven auf das Thema „Herkunft und kulturelle Identität“.
“Kein Infotainment a la Michael Moore sondern ein fundraising Film mit begrenztem Budget. Insofern lag der Fokus auf den sehr persönlichen Statements, die durch Interviews mit Experten (u.A. Hartmut Lutz) ergänzt wurden. Auch die anschließende Diskussion mit dem Autor war sensibel und inhaltlich komplex. (Red Haicrow: Wunderschöne Bücher, ich wünschte ich hätte Karl May einmal kennengelernt) sondern eine differenzierte Auseinandersetzung mit dem deutschen Bild des Indianers. Wertschätzung, Interesse, Aneignung und stereotype Diskriminierung liegen oft nah bei einander und es ist hilfreich dies näher zu untersuchen. Ein Ausweg – so der Autor – ist Begegnung, Kontakt und Interaktion. Und natürlich soll man weiter Karl May lesen und zur Aufführung bringen. Von politisch korrekten Bearbeitungen (wie jüngst bei #PipiLangstrumpf) hält Red Haicrow gar nicht. Man sollte Winnetou also nicht vergessen, sondern unter einer anderen Perspektive wieder entdecken. Ein gelungener und auch nachdenklicher Abend.”
“Warum sollten Sie diesen Film sehen? Weil er neue Perspektiven eröffnet. Weil er zum Nachdenken bringt. Weil er innovativ ist. Und weil das Thema uns alle angeht.
Winnetou kennen die meisten (weißen) Deutschen, selbst wenn sie Karl Mays Bücher nicht mehr selbst gelesen haben. Wir Deutschen lieben Indigene Kultur. Wir sehen oft schon als Kinder Filme und lesen Bücher darüber. Manche von uns gehen so weit, in ihrer Freizeit “Western-Parks” zu besuchen, sich zu Karneval als “Indianer*innen” zu kostümieren oder an den Wochenenden Indigene Kultur “nachzuerleben”. Aber echte Indigene Personen? Die heute in Berlin leben? Darüber wissen die meisten von uns nichts.
Der Film ändert das. Er zeigt auch sehr nachdrücklich, dass unsere Faszination für Indigene Kultur alles andere als harmlos ist. Kulturelle Aneignung heißt das, wenn sich Weiße ohne Erlaubnis Elemente anderer Kulturen zu Eigen machen. Selbst mit den besten Absichten hat das rassistische Effekte. Also: ja, der Film leistet wichtige dekoloniale Arbeit.
Und falls Sie nicht weiß sind? Sollten Sie den Film trotzdem anschauen. Er zeigt eine oft übersehene Facette der hiesigen kulturellen Landschaft, dokumentiert aber gleichzeitig, wie überkommene rassistische Strukturen und Stereotype Indigenen Individuen in Deutschland das Leben schwer machen. Heißt: da muss sich was ändern. Der Film gibt wichtige Hinweise wie. Vor allem aber zeigt er heutiges Indigenes Leben in all seiner Komplexität auf eindringliche, bewegende Weise. Wer braucht da noch Winnetou?
Ja, für all die Fehlinformationen, reaktionäre Empörung und Verlogenheit, die im Umlauf sind und die von vielen deutschen Medien absichtlich geschürt wurden.
Ich habe auch ein Zitat aus einem Interview mit Dr. Bolz aus dem Jahr 2017 gefunden, das sehr relevant für die deutsche Reaktion auf die rassistische und sexistische Ravenburger Publikation “Cancellation” und die fortgesetzte Ausbeutung von Mays Namen, Schauplatz und Figuren ist. Vor allem musste ich an die weißen CIS-Männer denken, die größtenteils immer noch diese spezielle kulturelle Aneignung, den Missbrauch und die falsche Darstellung vorantreiben.
Obwohl ich glaube, dass das meiste davon unwahr ist, zum Bespiele, wird sich die Stereotypisierung nicht ändern. Viele Menschen haben ihre Sichtweise auf positive Weise geändert, was zu bewundern ist. Bolz’ Zusammenfassung eines bestimmten Typs von weißen Deutschen ist zutreffend.
“Die Stereotypisierung kann und wird sich nicht ändern, weil es nicht der Charakter der Deutschen ist, dies zu tun. Sie wollen, dass die Dinge einfach sind. So wie es ihnen gefällt. Und außerdem wollen die Deutschen nicht über die Komplexität oder die Probleme nachdenken, die durch das, was sie tun, verursacht werden. Sie mögen Indianer, sie wollen sich wie sie verkleiden und das nachspielen, was sie für ein vergangenes “indianisches” Leben halten. Sie wollen nicht über die Folgen ihres Handelns nachdenken oder diese bedenken.”
Manche mögen das als “engstirnig”, antiquiert und monolithisch bezeichnen, nicht wahr?
Note: Never forget random attacks, antagonism and racism against Native/Indigenous peoples, especially to our young people, have increased since this new “controversy” began, driven by many in German media’s and other’s misinformation, outright mendacity & white supremacist rhetoric. While many think of this as just a societal debate, just like stereotypes, such behaviors have daily life effects, often violent and discriminatory, for Native peoples. We already often felt unsafe and endured regular bullying and misuse, but this added a new level of venom and arrogance in how we are treated. It’s all demonstrated exactly how harmful stereotypes and appropriation really are. – 1 September 2022.
This is my official statement and sharing of information and situation I’ve experienced due to the on-going controversy of Ravensburger, Winnetou and the “bad faith” arguments, “strawman” examples and false equivalents on Native American stereotypes, cultural appropriation and misrepresentation, and the inherent racism and Eurocentrism at the root of those behaviors and practices. This is what our documentary is about, by the way, not an analysis of May’s work as yet another writer erroneously reported, the latest was in David Baum’s interview of myself at Stern.de.
I believe this continues to be a deliberate escalation of discrimination and hatred of anyone rejecting the contemporary cultural abuse and misuse of Native American cultures & peoples, which many in German media has exacerbated through subjectivity and the spread of misinformation, incendiary unfounded assertions, and race/ethnicity assumptions. And more specifically, the situation has been used to forward so-called, “White Rights”, especially white CIS men, which in actuality means the discrimination, oppression and/or silencing of all other ethnicities and groups except (in this case especially) Natives who fit Eurocentric stereotypes and support anti-Blackness, homo- and transphobia and Eurocentrism. etc.
I have recently met with members of “Natives in Germany”, a quite new group of persons of Native and Indigenous heritage here in Germany, which is entirely different and unassociated with the Native American Association of Germany. (Read NAAoG’s statement here, which I fully support.) First Tagesschau in the interview with Tyrone White (Lakota) misattributed his association with NAAoG, which error was duplicated by SternTV in its 28 August 2022 broadcast, which myself, Tyrone White and others refused to participate in, due to its adversarial format, which indeed resulted in what might be term a show of white male privilege, arrogance and condescension.
I also am not a member of NAAoG, but have worked in cooperation with its chairperson on several projects in the last decade and will continue to do so. While the “Natives in Germany” may overtly have a different style and method than NAAoG and partially than my own, I support their joining the important resistance and fight against racism, cultural appropriation, and stereotypes, which has been ongoing for decades in Germany. To fight such a pervasive historic and social crime as racism, it takes many types, methods and solutions by both Natives and non-Natives, and any human beings to end this plague. To reject the structural white supremacist ideology and patriarchy who believe it is their right to violate and/or control other peoples rights, narratives, histories and bodies, this includes everyone, including their own peers, past and present. It’s all connected: Reproductive rights, racism, sexism, ableism, etc.
I believe this is an important time in Germany’s perspective on “accepted” forms of racism and sexism, such as that against Natives and Indigenous peoples. As my documentary, work record and other material showed and shared from a variety of sources, both Native and non-Native, its critically important for all of us to move forward together in a spirit of restorative justice, and not the continued fetishization, fake ownership of and misrepresentation, misuse and misattribution of Native cultures, traditions and peoples. This also applies to and supports emancipation and self-representation by any marginalized or minoritized peoples and groups, to a help heal our world and create a better future for all our children.
It is time to symbolically #ForgetWinnetou, and work together with Native and Indigenous people with a spirit of cultural humility so that respect can develop in healthy ways mutually beneficial, and not in the culturally abusive, Eurocentric way much of Germany has perpetrated for decades.
Violence & Hypersexualization of Native Girls and Women
In particular, those who claim wrongly that stereotypes are harmless, that “playing Indian” and stories are just fairytales that have no impact on real life, and that it’s all just a part of German culture. They say, “How dare anyone protest?” “How dare this be taken away because of being overly Politically Correct?” Being PC is something I do not believe in and not just because it is an activity and idea created by white people to cover up the structural racism that has never gone away since colonialism and the first invasions of the renamed Americas. Mostly only white people were deceived by the PC control device, which I discussed the long term effects of actually increasing white dismissal of POC challenges to racism, exclusion, stereotyping, etc., find that article here, “Today’s Cultural Appropriation and the Long Term Effects of Politically Correct.”
I have never called for or supported the banning of Karl May’s books, but the Ravensburger books should NEVER have been produced. YEARS AGO they and other publishers were advised and pressed to discontinue usage of stereotypes, and other cultural appropriative and misrepresentative material not only by Natives and POC, but many other organizations and individuals working in cooperation to reduce Germany’s societal crime of racism that absolutely goes beyond the oversimplification of the White/Black binary. Ravensburger’s ignored that.
Ravensburger was advised BEFORE production of these books that including racist, sexist slurs like squ*w was absolutely unacceptable, besides the stereotypes and misuse of Native cultures. They ignored that, too. So this is not “cancel culture” or about banning a book instead of using it to educate. Obviously, they are not only refuse respectful education but believe reproducing or introducing racist, sexist slurs is acceptable. This just an excuse to use slurs and say, “Oh its just historic!” It wasn’t right then, and it isn’t right now. And all the terrible coverage done by #Tagesschau especially and #SternTV only exacerbated the situation, NOT our challenging racism and sexism.
The willful usage and defense of such indefensible decision to use the term in a children’s book no less, is interconnected with other examples of contemporary racism, misrepresentation and erasure of the genocide, ethnocide and mass sexual assaults, rape and abuse of Native young girls and woman (and Two-Spirits) since Europeans first invaded. Ravensburger’s non-apology and excuse is reprehensible, and the attempt to introduce usage of the slur to a new generation. Deliberate misinformation has been circulated by German media, which has escalated antagonism, misunderstanding and hatred against anyone rejecting the continued cultural abuse and misuse of Native cultures and peoples.
The Flood of Requests to Native Americans on the Winnetou/Ravensburger Controversy
In the last days, Natives mostly, but also other POC experienced a flood of requests to mostly answer the same questions, but “Forget Winnetou! Loving in the Wrong Way” documentary, completely ignored by German film distributors, funders, studios and agents despite it winning awards answered those and MORE. Ask yourself why is that? Our documentary still doesn’t have a German or European distributor, and never had backing to broadcast on TV etc. while those by white male directors and producers especially, are quickly accepted and shown such as at 3sat. Structural racism indeed!
How do you feel about the portrayal of Native Americans in Karl May’s Winnetou book?
What are the consequences of this portrayal for Native Americans in real life?
What would art (books, movies, etc.) have to look like that adequately represents Native Americans?
What do you think about Germans wearing indigenous jewelry or children dressing up as Native Americans for Mardi Gras?
ALL of these questions have been answered repeatedly last month, last year, 2 years ago, 5 years, even 10 and 20 years ago! This is a waste of time and energy at this point, especially for Natives & POC, and shows clearly that by majority, Germany has not listened or pointedly ignored what Natives, other POC and allies have said for decades. The education system, the film studios, the writers etc. have ignored them in very Eurocentric, white privileged ways that are covertly/overtly white supremacist in ideology. How so? Because they pointedly place “white” needs, feelings, thoughts and beliefs (white male especially) as the most important, penultimate deciding factor on behaviors, whether it continues hurt or harm others and themselves.
There has been few exceptions in the past years besides these. Notice the type of writers/journalists?
There is distinct, deafening COGNITIVE DISSONANCE and/or deliberate misdirection. Conversations are not moving forward because of such bad faith, circular discussions, aka “debates” wherein Natives and other POC are asked to “debate” with those who are apathetic “devil’s advocates”, who try to downplay or “good people on both sides” the issue or outright defenders of racism. In all of it, it is seeking to continue control over all narratives relating to Native Americans, whether fictional or non-fictional, which continues to cause discrimination against Natives in society.
Just one example is the fact Germany believes other cultures should have a center and support to share their cultures and history with others in German society. Good, right? However, Native Americans have been many times rejected when applying for funding for this and told, “There are enough such places about Natives in Germany already, another is not needed.” When every one of those is WHITE created and led, and are overwhelmingly misrepresentative and reliant on stereotypes and Eurocentric interpretations of Native peoples and histories. There are NO Native American cultural centers in Germany, by Natives for Natives and everyone. This is blatantly and egregiously discriminatory, Eurocentric and structurally racist in method and effect, demonstratively proving Native “fairytales” and white supremacist ideology can and do affect society in the worst ways.
Appropriation vs. Appreciation Falseness + “There’s more important things Natives should focus on!”
This nicely summarizes many points BIPOC like myself and other Natives & POC have said and shared for decades.
For those who wish to progress & create positive change? I’m for it but….
My response to the request I mentioned and to others using the same retreaded rhetoric:
“From personal and professional experiences I know these are highly complex issues, and no one individual or group is exactly the same in why they accept or reject the continued misuse of Native cultures, fictitiously or in daily life. In my writing, my lectures and psychological counseling, I always include that fact and am very well aware of the spectrum of experiences. Therefore, I respectfully decline to repeat and share the same information I’ve been asked dozens of times in the last two days (Tagesspiegel, Stern, ) and the past twenty years (my bibliography). This is a personal choice, and in no way is intended nor should be taken as a negative opinion on anyone who does choose to participate. You are welcome to share this statement in part in the correct context or as a whole.
Instead, I will continue to move conversations forward on how to stop perpetuating stereotypes, how to make interculturally positive changes now and in the future, and work together with like-minded others to make a better, more respectful society for all ethnicities, cultures and peoples, especially for all children. If at any time in the future (the company) has a question(s) or is interested in cultural consultation, education and cooperation, I am available for inquiry. https://flyingwithredhaircrow.com/.”
A helpful FAQ list about the documentary, and other resources on these topics can be found here.
24 August 2022 von David Baum – @STERN.DE: “Die Debatte um die Neuauflage des Winnetou-Stoffs geht weiter. Uschi Glas, die Karl May-Gesellschaft und Franz Josef Wagner haben sich geäußert. Im stern kommen die Betroffenen zu Wort: Red Haircrow ist Mitglied der Chiricahua Apache/Cherokee und kritisiert die Winnetou-Bücher und -Filme bereits seit Jahren – unter anderem in einem Dokumentarfilm.”
Der Titel und die Informationen über unseren Dokumentarfilm sind völlig unwahr, wie die Filmbeschreibung eindeutig besagt, und die Sie auf unserer FAQ-Seite nachlesen können.
Ist der Film eine Analyse von Karl Mays Werk oder der Figur des Winnetou?
NEIN. Wie unsere Filmsynopse besagt, geht es in diesem Film um:
a) Rassismus, weiße Vorherrschaftsideologie und/oder Eurozentrismus beim Missbrauch von Natives und anderen Gruppen und ihren Kulturen, ob gut gemeint oder nicht b) die Auswirkungen solcher Verhaltensweisen und die Verbindung zu anderen zeitgenössischen Themen, und c) die Korrektur weit verbreiteter Stereotypen durch die Vermittlung korrekter Kenntnisse über indigene Völker in erster Linie durch indigene Personen.
Und…. Wer ist noch der Meinung, dass man die Fotos der jungen Schauspieler nicht mehr zeigen sollte, sondern stattdessen den Regisseur, den Produzenten oder die Geldgeber des Films? Ich denke, das ist unfair gegenüber den Schauspielern. Sie haben den Film nicht geschrieben. Sie waren keine Redakteure beim Ravensburger Verlag.
Image shared from the nomorenativemascots.org website.
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Forget Winnetou! Loving in the Wrong Way 
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