Educate Me
Oooooooooooooooooooooowned.
By one of my abso-favorite non-Natives. Because if you sit down and listen long enough to mount this kind of argument, you sorta renew my faith in the outside world a little.
This reply from a friend, recent events, and the fact that when people say “educate me” I rip my hair out has inspired me to write this.
I’m from Los Angeles, the home of this:
I was born and raised under the powerful influence of Hollywood, especially since when I walk out my door and go down the street it’s right there. It takes me awhile to adjust to the lack movie billboards and Star Line Tour vehicles on every corner when I got to another city.
So for the longest time, Hollywood’s depictions of Natives were just that, depictions. Not dehumanizing racism. I never thought racism was dead but I thought it was only thriving in individuals, not society itself. I just never bothered to think much of it.
Then I picked up a copy of Reservation Blues by Sherman Alexie for a school project. I was shocked to discover that his portrayal of Natives was so distant from my own. I read more and more of his books, disturbed and confused with every one. Those books lead me to Custer Died for Your Sins by Vine Deloria Jr. which was the book that convinced me to do more research on the subject.
I went on an information binge for an entire weekend and by Monday, my good ol’ Hollywood didn’t seem so innocent and harmless anymore. In fact, it became a bully in my eyes. Every time the Native community reached a ground breaking achievement that would have been an accurate image for the outside world, media was there to knock it down and replace it with something demeaning.
After my binge I didn’t stop there, I kept reading and reading. Books, articles, documentaries, videos, editorials. I discovered Indian Country magazine (and subscribed to it out of curiosity) and after reading issue after issue, I was dumbfounded that this information wasn’t in the news, wasn’t being distributed for everyone to see, and why no one seemed to care about it outside of the Native community.
I found bloggers on Tumblr who wrote about Native issues. I read their arguments, their rants. I checked out every link they posted and every post they reblogged.
Now I don’t understand how I didn’t realize all of this before hand.
And that’s what pisses me off when people say “educate me” to these bloggers like it’s their job. If you really want to correct your ways and learn, why are you relying on people to directly teach you? You have the internet, there are books, there are thousands of different resources and you’re ignoring that. You’re being, for lack of stronger words, lazy and selfish.
You’re expecting these bloggers to hold your hand and coddle you. They are in no mood to mommy you but that’s not to say they won’t help you. They will, I see it every day; someone asks a question and they answer as best they can. But you can’t rely on them to teach you directly, you have to educate yourself.
And you know how you can best do that?
By shutting your mouth and listening to what they say. Actually listen to what they’re saying. They are giving all the information you’ll need: opinions, debates, rants, resources, and experiences.
And by saying “educate me” you’re ignoring that. What you’re actually saying is “whatever you just told me is invalid because it doesn’t line up with what has been taught to me prior to meeting you and it has not been delivered in the same format that I was taught the ABCs”.
And when you say, “you’re being mean”. This is what you’re saying: my feelings are more important than an entire race that has been dehumanized. If you care so much about feelings…why aren’t you considering theirs? Their frustration at your ignorance? And the fact that they’ve been told “you’re less than human and are nothing more than a caricature for my amusement” all their damn lives.
And when you say, “I see nothing wrong with it”, that translates as: well I’ve never been affected by it therefore I don’t care.
I could go on and on about how you can still appreciate the beauty of a culture without stealing it. I could rant about how you can create artistic expression without being offensive. I could talk forever about every aspect of every issue.
But it’s not my job to educate you either.
So, take charge of your life and educate yourself.
