Beyond Borders

  Written by: Traci Preston https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/aug/22/freeing-the-aboriginal-flag-how-a-uniting-symbol-ended-up-in-the-hands-of-the-few The hashtag “Free the Flag” movement made considerable headway during 2020. The aboriginal flag since its creation has appeared on everything around Australia. However, in 2019 some Aboriginal people had been ordered to stop using it. Aboriginals creators like the Clothing the Gap which is an Aboriginal owned and led social enterprise and fashion label that is based in Preston that commit 100 percent of their profits to support health promotion activities in Aboriginal communities. Few people, Aboriginals included, knew about copyright laws that constrained the use of the flag. As it stands, even Aboriginal groups must pay a non-Aboriginal-run business to use the flag on clothing and merchandise. This was met with much outcry and anger. Increased pressure put on the Australian government has led them to finally take act...

  Written by: Samuel Maze                The answer to this question may seem simple. But it really is not. There are multiple reasons for these being issues, each one being unique. Usually, it boils down to normalized racism. A good case of this is the recent name change of the “Washington Football Team”. They were literally named after a racial slur. This racism has been so normalized in American society that sometimes people do not ever recognize it for what it is.             Since I was just talking about them, I will go into greater detail on Washington Football. When you look up the old team’s name, “R*dskins”, you will find several articles, videos, and websites outlining that the term is racially charged. Comments and depictions where one’s race are exaggerated is typically seen as racism and this should be no different. Naming an entire team after a racial slur is damagin...

  Written by: Cory Beeles           As most of us remember from pre-secondary education, Native American people, cultures, and their histories are mentioned, but never rememberable. Our education systems value American ideas and histories, which can and is over looking populations of people that are within the American Nation. Some of these groups are newer, some were forced to come to these lands, but there are groups that have always been here. Why is that?             As I was growing up in a traditional public American school system, we learned about Native peoples at very certain times of the year. I remember it always around Thanksgiving and I also remember it was always the same lesson. The “history and story” of Thanksgiving, the Trail of Tears, and then a few different wars and battles that took place. It was always in the view of the white American man. It would highlight the whiteness ...

Written by: Abby Ellenburg Museums are wonderful places. They offer us a portal into history through an immersive experience you won’t find elsewhere. Past, present, and even future collide in these unique spaces for us to enjoy. So where is the issue here? The problem is that many times, the lives of Native Peoples are diminished into a caricature of their rich and vibrant culture, no more than a mere a snapshot of a time long removed from our own. Therein lies the conundrum, the fact is that Native Americans are not some relic of a bygone era, but a living, breathing society that deserve the proper respect and treatment due to them.             Now, don’t misunderstand me. I love museums. I believe they are an invaluable resource for the education of our society. I also believe in the importance of teaching the greater public about the remarkable history and culture of Native Americans. But we need to do better. Far t...

Written by:  McKenzie Witherell Since 1835, The Cherokee Nation has had the right to send a non-voting delegate to the House of Representatives. The Treaty of New Echota of 1835 states that “it is stipulated that they shall be entitled to a delegate in the House of Representatives of the United States whenever Congress shall make provisions for the same.” This means that the Cherokee Nation, since selling their land to the United States for the sum of 5 million dollars, has had this right to send a delegate, but why did it take so long? The first announcement of the plan to send a delegate to Congress in 2019, after this long-forgotten section of the treaty had been re-discovered. How will this action of sending a delegate to Congress affect the Cherokee nation? As we look at this, we see the effects that this delegate will have on the Cherokee nation. Although, this delegate will be non-voting they will still represent the Cherokee people, thus placing a representative ...

Written by: Ava Springstun https://thumbs.worthpoint.com/zoom/images3/1/0118/20/world-class-vintage-navajo-sand_1_6a8fcfcfb51d01f7592780db6b58827b.jpg            With origins deep in sacred tribal healing, Navajo sandpaintings are a rich source of cultural importance. Every aspect of these paintings, from the time of day they are created to the colors and images used, involve immense symbolism. The amount of sacred symbols that are involved in the making of Navajo sand paintings makes the entire work a delicate balance of the rhythms the Navajo believe in. To keep a sand painting with sacred markings longer than its twelve hour period is seen as a defilement of the sacred images. Likewise, to have these images and their meanings revealed to an outsider desecrates the passage for the gods to travel through.             In today’s modern times, visitors to reservations ooh and ahh at the d...

Written by: Abigail Ellenburg Hayoun, Massoud. “Maine Banned Native American Mascots in Public Schools.” Pacific Standard.  Accessed March 11, 2020. https://psmag.com/social-justice/maine-banned-native-american-mascots-in-public-schools . It’s a beautiful day, one you and your family have been waiting for. The kids can hardly contain their excitement as you pay the twenty-five-dollar fee to get into a parking garage near the stadium. You and hundreds of other sports fans eagerly wait in line to get your tickets scanned before packing into the stands. There’s excitement, comradery, and countless racial slurs plastered across every inch of the arena. Welcome to your long-awaited Washington R*dskins game.             The Washington NFL team is by no means the only sports team, professional, collegiate, high school, or other, to use Native American as mascots. Since 1968, the National Congress of America...

  Written by Chelsea North Trump standing beside Kid Rock prior to signing the Music Modernization Act. Image Credits:  SAUL LOEB https://www.billboard.com/amp/articles/business/8479469/music-business-reactions-music-modernisation-act-law-signing Native Americans have a rich culture of music, ceremonies, rituals, and a great connection with their land and their culture. Since the colonization of America, Native people have had both their land and their overall culture exploited. Native Americans have been left feeling lost without the ability to properly practice their cultural and religious beliefs effectively. The most common conversation today is about the ownership and destruction of Native American’s land through governmental regulations and laws allowing many companies to exploit their land, stripping it of all its resources. This exploitation of the native peoples land effects their cultural and religious practices, and in some cases destroys n...

Written by Summer Lake     Figure 1 (Sauers 2011)   In 2012 Sasha Houston Brown, a member of the Santee Sioux Nation, wrote a letter to the popular fashion company Urban Outfitters (NPR 2012). In her letter, she brought to light that the company has been using the term “Navajo,” without the tribe’s permission, to sell a line of items that the tribe does not resonate with (NPR 2012). She felt that it was an embarrassment and insensitive gesture to the tribe to sell items such as “Navajo Hipster Panty,” “Vintage Handmade Navajo Necklace,” and “Navajo Print Fabric Wrapped Flask” (NPR 2012). Brown posted her letter online on Columbus Day, and it instantly went viral, bringing attention to the Navajo tribe that this misuse of their trademarked name and appropriation of their culture was happening (NPR 2012). In February 2012, the Navajo Tribe sued Urban Outfitters and its subsidiaries for “infringing on [the Navajo Tribe’s] trademarks by using the name ‘Nav...