Changing the Rules in the Middle of the Game, the Indians Win!!

Growing up, I always thought of Columbus Day as a day off from school that I hoped wouldn’t be used to go shopping for sales. I come from a family who always regarded bargain hunting as their favorite sport, but I was never a fan of it.

Of course, I absorbed all the myths about Columbus, the discoverer of the Americas. It wasn’t until I was an adult that I learned about his abuse of the indigenous peoples whom he “discovered.” Much later I asked myself how someone could discover a land that had already been inhabited by people for thousands of years. I had long ago reached that level of consciousness when two years ago, the city of Evanston voted to celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day in place of Columbus Day and so I went to many of the day’s events.

This year as before, most of the Indigenous Peoples’ Day Events took place at the Mitchell Museum www.mitchellmuseum.org. This museum houses the many native American artifacts that the Mitchells collected. It has since grown and changes its exhibits often. One can go to the museum every so often and see different things than seen on the last visit.

Couple At Sunset by David Johns, Navaho

This is one of my favorite paintings from the Museum.

other Navaho crafts on display

My schedule for that day didn’t allow me much time to attend events, but I felt that it was important in this era of racial animosity fueled by our current regime for all peoples especially minorities to support one another.

I was glad that I was able to attend a story telling session presented by Ernest Whiteman, an Arapaho from Wyoming. Since the audience was primarily young children with their moms, Mr. Whiteman geared the stories to them. He told the children a story of when he was seven years old and playing cowboys and Indians by himself role playing both sides. He said not knowing that he was an Indian and thinking that Indians didn’t exist, he always let the cowboys win. His older brother walked by and watching his game, reprimanded him for allowing the cowboys to win. “After all, we’re Indians,” he said.

When Mr. Whiteman refused to believe this, his brother told him to “ask Dad.” When he asked his father if their family were Indians, his father replied, “Yes, son, we’re Arapahos.”

At that point, Mr. Whiteman learned of his ethnic identity and in effect, the Indians finally won a battle. Another Indian child was no longer lost.

In the United States today, there are over 500 tribes recognized by the United States Government and another 150 tribes awaiting that official validation. I hope that they all know who they are and are teaching it to their children. I’m glad that the City of Evanston gives children here the opportunity to know about native Americans and thus be prepared to live in our multi-cultural country.

If you didn’t attend Indigenous Peoples’ festivities this year, look for them next October. I’m sure you’ll learn something if you do go.