What's Mine is not Yours

 

Author: Daniel Bowen

The intellectual theft of Native Americans has been happening for decades upon decades , and centuries upon centuries. When Christopher Columbus discovered America in 1492, it begun a time of despair for the Native Americans. Constantly were the Native Americans imprisoned, raped, and slaughtered. Their customs torn asunder, and mocked for being “savage like”. Native Americans lost their sacred land they had for years before the Spaniard’s came. This is the tragic tale of how Native Americans very being was stolen even to this very day.

In the early days of Northeast Native Americans, warfare was not about conquest. It was simply about gaining prestige , taking revenge on enemies for slain relatives, and to defend their villages. This all changed when the Europeans showed up. Because of colonial influence, Native Americans found themselves fighting for their lives, and the very survival of their culture. Their lands were constantly stolen from, and with it, their customs destroyed. Trading for the Northeast Native Americans became a more practical instead of ceremonial. Muskets and knives became a part of the Northeast, and many Indian groups would now go out hunting deer, otter and other wild life, depleting their population. Same thing occurred in the Southeast. Trading was more of a business transaction, than a ceremonial ritual. In fact, many whites traders would give alcohol to Native Americans to force them into unfair agreements. This is not all that happened to Native Americans, many were forced to go into reservations along grueling paths. The Trail of Tears is one of the best examples, but the Trail of Death is a good, but not well known one as well. The Trail of Death was where the Potawatomi tribe, mostly a canoe people, were made to trek thousands of miles to the dusty state of California.

Another good example of this is from the Cow Creek tribe. They became a landless people after

brokering a deal with the US government went awry. In fact , many tribes, including the Cow Creek,

could even be arrested if they stepped foot on their own lands to fish or hunt. Since then, the Cow

Creeks have struggled with the preservation of their culture, identity, and sense of community. In 1982 however, hope appeared from the darkness. The Cow Creek tribe won a victory over the US government by “confirmed in the Recognition Act that their tribe was a sovereign government as provided for in the Northwest Ordinance and the United States Constitution”(2000,1). The Cow Creeks may have won a battle, but they definitely did not win the war. The tribe is now trying to prove their political sovereignty by cultural property rights in the case called North American Indians and the Case of the Cow Creek Band v. Indian Motorcycle.

In a nut shell, the Indian Motorcycle company are using Native American imagery/heritage to promote the sale of their Indian Motorcycle and products. The Cow Creek tribe state that the Indian Motorcycle company created “advertisements to be published in a widely-circulated American Indian newspaper featuring a photograph of Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell on an Indian Motorcycle and referring to him as a "Native American icon”(2000,1). At the core of the case, the Cow Creek feel their heritage and culture is being manipulated for public use. That their intellectual identity is being stolen and transformed into some bargaining chip for white Americans. Lastly, all the profits being made are not even being disturbed to the tribe responsible for the Motorcycles imagery. Thus another example of how Cow Creek intellectual property is being made into a white mans intellectual property.

Moreover, it is important that whites acknowledge the fact that Native Americans are human beings

with a right to own. In the sixteenth century, this was a problem because the Europeans saw Native

Americans as not owning anything since all they do is just “roam around on the land, and so it’s okay for Europeans to go and appropriate the land and say that they have title”(2017,1). This is the type of thing that happens even today, just in a less obvious way. One could say that this is exactly what the Indian Motor company was doing. Instead of allowing Cool Creek tribe to keep their imagery/heritage the company branded it as their own, completely ignoring the existence of the intellectual claim the Cool Creek already had on it. Basically, the Native Americans have two goals in mind when it comes to keeping their intellectual property. First, they just simply want people to understand that their cultural property has no right to be in the public domain. That no law exists to state Native Americans can not own what they have always had. Secondly , Native Americans want their cultural expressions and resources to marked as their own intellectual property. That not one person but their tribe has the right to own, or sell if the tribe so chooses too, said intellectual property.

Basically, what it boils down to is this. Native American intellectual property “law can affect approximately 370 million indigenous people located in nearly 100 countries. Yet a legal framework for the protection of indigenous knowledge, culture, folklore, science, and music remains elusive”(2017,1). Indian heritage could include everything from above , but also photographs, songs, scientific discoveries and dances. In line with Native American culture, the intellectual/cultural property is passed down from generation to generation. With the effects of globalization, plenty of new avenues and opportunities have arised for the intellectual property of Native Americans to be another thing for greedy Americans to get their hands on. “From eco-tourism to souvenir artifacts, culture is being transformed and sometimes misappropriated into merchandise. The need for protection of indigenous works increases each day”(2017,1). In other words, the Intellectual property of Native Americans , or any culture really, is something that must be protected at all costs. Your intellectual property is what makes a culture who they are. It’s what helps them distinguish themselves from everyone else in the world. But, like what is happening with the Native Americans, if a cultures intellectual property is being stolen by others that culture fades away.

Think about this. You and your friends have made this awesome product that allow you to see your

friends while talking to them . But, your greedy neighbor hears about your plan, and decides to brand the product as his own. Your neighbor then makes newspapers, flyers, and even ads claiming that he has made a device that will change communications forever. Now, something that was originally yours, is now someone else’s. You see your neighbor get all the glory of your product, but more importantly, they stole your property. Would this not make feel depressed and angry? Would you not rise in protest, and fight to get back what’s yours? If you answered yes to either of these questions, you now are beginning to feel how Native Americans have felt for years upon years. All Native Americans want is for their intellectual property to be their ‘s, and theirs alone. Native Americans just want to have the right to own property, intellectual or any kind . After all, just because something is theirs, does not mean it is yours.

Author Bio: Daniel Bowen is majoring in Anthropology at IUPUI.

Sources:

https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/protecting-american-indianintellectual-

property-twenty

https://www.narf.org/tsosie-intellectual-property/

https://blog.fedbar.org/2017/02/23/who-owns-culture-indigenous-cultural-intellectual-property-rights/