There’s a consensus in the United States of America that the wearing of blackface is a racist act. It’s something you just don’t do, and if you do it you can expect to be rightly pilloried. For American Indians, it’s often frustrating that racism toward Native Americans that feels very overt is somehow harder for the mainstream to detect.
With some ill-advised costume choices, and a thoroughly unapologetic apology, a New York State Assemblyman is doing his part to connect the dots.
Dov Hikind of Brooklyn is being rightly pilloried for hosting a Purim party wearing blackface. Costume parties are a tradition of the Jewish celebration of Purim, and Hikind had decided to host his in the costume of “basketball player,” which necessitated an orange jersey-ish garment, an afro wig and dark makeup.
Hikind’s getup earned him plenty of press. His initial response was a shrug of acknowledgement in a post to his blog entitled “It’s Purim. People Dress Up.” “I am intrigued that anyone who understands Purim—or for that matter understands me—would have a problem with this,” he wrote. “This is political correctness to the absurd.” Hikind was fixated on the idea that the costume only seemed racist because people didn’t understand Purim. Also on Monday he held a news conference to address the criticism — but didn’t. He explained again that costumes are part of the Purim celebration. (The “it’s not racist, it’s a costume” argument is one Natives hear every Halloween.) In addition to explaining what a costume is, he offered a classic first-draft non-apology: “Anyone who was offended — I’m sorry that they were offended, that was not the intention.”
Hikind posted a more genuine apology to his blog on Tuesday. Unfortuately for him, the New Yorker and the Daily Show were still reacting to Monday’s news.
African Americans have plenty of cause to be incensed by Hikind’s ignorance — but so too do American Indians. On Monday, when Hikind was still trying to defend himself with the “political correctness to the absurd” argument, he told a New York Times reporter that the outcry was making him rethink his plans for next year’s Purim.
“Next year I was thinking I’d be an Indian,” he said. “But you know, I’ve changed my mind about that. I don’t think that’s a good idea. Somebody will be offended.”
Of course, it’s hard to know whether (or to what extent) he was joking about dressing as an Indian. (It is also hard to know exactly which kind of Indian he had in mind, but that’s beside the point.) If he didn’t know blackface was a no-no, there is really no telling how unenlightened his thinking may be when it comes to Native stereotypes. Many have seen a unique irony that it is Hikind who would be in this position — Hikind is well known as a zealous, perhaps overzealous, defender of the Jewish community against anti-Semitism or perceived anti-Semitism.
“Dov Hikind is the first person who will holler about something when he thinks or hears a whisper that it might be anti-Semitic,” said Assembly member Annette Robinson, according to the Wall Street Journal, “but does not recognize something is disrespectful to another community.”
The many food donations recently received being boxed ready to go.
Volunteers at the Tulalip Church of God food bank are happy to say that they help feed families of Snohomish County. Food bank volunteer Tamara Morden says, “We help feed about 150 -200 families every two weeks, so about 400 a month”. The food bank receives regular donations from people in the community and local businesses such as Safeway, Winco, and Northwest Harvest. While they did very well with donations this last, they received extra donations from First Nation Ministry of Portland of 2,000 lbs. of potatoes and two palettes of juice. And they are always in need of more donations of non-perishable foods.
The food bank has been in operation for seventeen years and was started by Marge Williams in order to serve the community west of Interstate 5. Once the food bank began receiving donations from Northwest Harvest they became available to all residents of Snohomish County.
Tamara has lived on the Tulalip Reservation since she was born. She began attending the Church of God in her youth and eventually began volunteering her time at the food bank. With the help of volunteers Tamara manages to keep the food bank going and while working a full-time job.
Food Bank volunteers; Delores Williams, Frances Morden, W. Jake Price and Tamara Morden on the far right.
“Louie Pablo picks up supplies and I’m very, very grateful for him doing that,” Tamara says. W. Jake Price is her biggest help; Jake has been helping at the Food Bank since Marge ran it, “He’s always here every day of donations,” explains Tamara.
The food bank hands out donations on the second and fourth Tuesday of every month from 10:30am -4:00pm and receives the donations the day before they hand out the donations, the second and fourth Monday of every month. Volunteers are always welcome, currently more help is needed to pick up donations from local businesses for the food bank.
If you would like to help, stop by the Tulalip Church of God (the red church) on the second or fourth Mondays and Tuesdays of each month to volunteer.
Tulalip Church of God
1330 Marine Dr NE
Tulalip, WA 98271
(360) 653-7876
The alarm in Europe over the discovery of horse meat in beef products escalated again Monday, when the Swedish furniture giant Ikea withdrew an estimated 1,670 pounds of meatballs from sale in 14 European countries.
Ikea acted after authorities in the Czech Republic detected horse meat in its meatballs. The company said it had made the decision even though its tests two weeks ago did not detect horse DNA.
Horse meat mixed with beef was first found last month in Ireland, then Britain, and has now expanded steadily across the Continent. The situation in Europe has created unease among American consumers over whether horse meat might also find its way into the food supply in the United States. Here are answers to commonly asked questions on the subject.
Has horse meat been found in any meatballs sold in Ikea stores in the United States?
Ikea says there is no horse meat in the meatballs it sells in the United States. The company issued a statement on Monday saying meatballs sold in its 38 stores in the United States were bought from an American supplier and contained beef and pork from animals raised in the United States and Canada.
“We do not tolerate any other ingredients than the ones stipulated in our recipes or specifications, secured through set standards, certifications and product analysis by accredited laboratories,” Ikea said in its statement.
Mona Liss, a spokeswoman for Ikea, said by e-mail that all of the businesses that supply meat to its meatball maker issue letters guaranteeing that they will not misbrand or adulterate their products. “Additionally, as an abundance of caution, we are in the process of DNA-testing our meatballs,” Ms. Liss wrote. “Results should be concluded in 30 days.”
Does the United States import any beef from countries where horse meat has been found?
No. According to the Department of Agriculture, the United States imports no beef from any of the European countries involved in the scandal. Brian K. Mabry, a spokesman for the department’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, said: “Following a decision by Congress in November 2011 to lift the ban on horse slaughter, two establishments, one located in New Mexico and one in Missouri, have applied for a grant of inspection exclusively for equine slaughter. The Food Safety and Inspection Service (F.S.I.S.) is currently reviewing those applications.”
Has horse meat been found in ground meat products sold in the United States?
No. Meat products sold in the United States must pass Department of Agriculture inspections, whether produced domestically or imported. No government financing has been available for inspection of horse meat for human consumption in the United States since 2005, when the Humane Society of the United States got a rider forbidding financing for inspection of horse meat inserted in the annual appropriations bill for the Agriculture Department. Without inspection, such plants may not operate legally.
The rider was attached to every subsequent agriculture appropriations bill until 2011, when it was left out of an omnibus spending bill signed by President Obama on Nov. 18. The U.S.D.A. has not committed any money for the inspection of horse meat.
“We’re real close to getting some processing plants up and running, but there are no inspectors because the U.S.D.A. is working on protocols,” said Dave Duquette, a horse trader in Oregon and president of United Horsemen, a small group that works to retrain and rehabilitate unwanted horses and advocates the slaughter of horses for meat. “We believe very strongly that the U.S.D.A. is going to bring inspectors online directly.”
Are horses slaughtered for meat for human consumption in the United States?
Not currently, although live horses from the United States are exported to slaughterhouses in Canada and Mexico. The lack of inspection effectively ended the slaughter of horse meat for human consumption in the United States; 2007 was the last year horses were slaughtered in the United States. At the time financing of inspections was banned, a Belgian company operated three horse meat processing plants — in Fort Worth and Kaufman, Tex., and DeKalb, Ill. — but exported the meat it produced in them.
Since 2011, efforts have been made to re-establish the processing of horse meat for human consumption in the United States. A small plant in Roswell, N.M., which used to process beef cattle into meat has been retooled to slaughter 20 to 25 horses a day. But legal challenges have prevented it from opening, Mr. Duquette said. Gov. Susana Martinez of New Mexico opposes opening the plant and has asked the U.S.D.A. to block it.
Last month, the two houses of the Oklahoma Legislature passed separate bills to override a law against the slaughter of horses for meat but kept the law’s ban on consumption of such meat by state residents. California, Illinois, New Jersey, Tennessee and Texas prohibit horse slaughter for human consumption.
Is there a market for horse meat in the United States?
Mr. Duquette said horse meat was popular among several growing demographic groups in the United States, including Tongans, Mongolians and various Hispanic populations. He said he knew of at least 10 restaurants that wanted to buy horse meat. “People are very polarized on this issue,” he said. Wayne Pacelle, chief executive of the Humane Society of the United States, disagreed, saying demand in the United States was limited. Italy is the largest consumer of horse meat, he said, followed by France and Belgium.
Is horse meat safe to eat?
That is a matter of much debate between proponents and opponents of horse meat consumption. Mr. Duquette said that horse meat, some derived from American animals processed abroad, was eaten widely around the world without health problems. “It’s high in protein, low in fat and has a whole lot of omega 3s,” he said.
The Humane Society says that because horse meat is not consumed in the United States, the animals’ flesh is likely to contain residues of many drugs that are unsafe for humans to eat. The organization’s list of drugs given to horses runs to 29 pages.
“We’ve been warning the Europeans about this for years,” Mr. Pacelle said. “You have all these food safety standards in Europe — they do not import chicken carcasses from the U.S. because they are bathed in chlorine, and won’t take pork because of the use of ractopamine in our industry — but you’ve thrown out the book when it comes to importing horse meat from North America.”
The society has filed petitions with the Department of Agriculture and Food and Drug Administration, arguing that they should test horse meat before allowing it to be marketed in the United States for humans to eat.
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: February 25, 2013
An earlier version of this article misstated how many pounds of meatballs Ikea was withdrawing from sale in 14 European countries. It is 1,670 pounds, not 1.67 billion pounds.
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: February 25, 2013
An earlier version of this article misstated the last year that horses were slaughtered in the United States. It is 2007, not 2006.
WASHINGTON — Mandatory federal spending cuts scheduled to begin Friday are already affecting operations at many of the nation’s national parks and wildlife refuges, officials said Monday.
Contracts for plowing Tioga and Glacier Point roads in Yosemite National Park and Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier National Park have been delayed, pushing back the opening of large parts of those popular parks. Hiring of seasonal workers — including firefighters, law enforcement officers, search-and-rescue teams, and maintenance staff members — has been frozen. Rangers are preparing to close or cut back hours at campgrounds, trails and visitor centers at parks from Cape Cod in Massachusetts to Denali in Alaska in anticipation of the across-the-board budget cuts.
Ken Salazar, the interior secretary, did not announce the closing of any parks, monuments or refuges, but said that hours for visitors centers, tours and interpretive programs, like those at the Gettysburg battlefield, would be curtailed. He also said that access to some backcountry trails and campgrounds could be limited if firefighting and rescue teams are cut back.
“These are real impacts we’re looking at,” Mr. Salazar said in a call with reporters on Monday. “The sequester was not supposed to happen and now we have to implement these reduced numbers in the remaining seven months of the year.”
Mr. Salazar’s comments and his dire predictions for impacts on the millions of visitors to the nation’s 398 national parks and 561 wildlife refuges are part of a concerted administration campaign to pressure Congress to cancel the automatic spending cuts known as sequestration and to accept President Obama’s demand for balanced deficit reduction including some tax increases.
Mr. Salazar and Jonathan B. Jarvis, director of the National Park Service, used the call to highlight the economic impact of the 280 million annual visits to federally managed lands and the businesses that depend on them. They said the national parks generate $30 billion in economic activity and support 252,000 jobs and that some portion of those businesses and those jobs will suffer under the looming cuts.
Under the mandatory spending cuts, each park must absorb a 5 percent decrease in its annual budget. But since the sequester begins in the middle of the fiscal year, the immediate impact is in effect doubled.
Mr. Salazar has announced that he intends to leave office in March to return to his family in Colorado. President Obama has nominated Sally Jewell, currently the chief executive of the outdoor outfitter REI, to take over the department.
Mr. Salazar said that if the cuts take effect as scheduled, the agency will have to temporarily furlough thousands of employees, some for as long as 22 days. He said that federal personnel law requires 30 days’ notice of involuntary furloughs, so none will take effect before April 1. He said that he and other officials are now planning such actions.
The Interior Department has already warned that the budget cuts will reduce federal revenue by slowing development of oil, gas and coal on federal lands and waters. Mr. Salazar, in a letter earlier this month to Senator Barbara Mikulski, the Maryland Democrat and chairwoman of the Appropriations Committee, said that the required cuts will have serious effects on the nation’s prized natural, scientific and tribal resources.
Mr. Salazar said that the spending slowdown would delay review of an expected 550 drilling plans for the Gulf of Mexico and permits for seismic testing and air quality in Alaska. He also said that the agency would issue about 300 fewer drilling permits than anticipated this year for oil and gas wells in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.
In addition, delays in coal leasing because of the sequester will cost the federal government $50 million to $60 million for each delayed lease sale, Mr. Salazar said.
Mr. Salazar also warned that federal mineral revenue sharing payments to state and local governments will decline by more than $200 million and that programs for Native American tribes would be trimmed by nearly $130 million.
Joan Anzelmo, the former superintendent of the Colorado National Monument and spokeswoman for the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees, said that Mr. Salazar and Mr. Jarvis are highlighting the cuts that will be most immediately felt by the public to bring pressure on Congress to call off the sequester.
She said that the park service budget has been stagnant for four years while operating costs are rising. Something has to give, she said.
“Instead of being focused on getting their jobs done, park managers are all focused on how they’re going to implement these cuts,” she said in a telephone interview from her home in Wyoming. “It’s hurting people, it’s hurting communities around the parks, and employees are at a point where they’re hitting a wall. This is no way for our government to work.”
The world’s largest gathering of Native American and indigenous people, the Gathering of Nations will be celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. The Gathering of Nations is a 3 day event, starting Thursday evening on April 25th, 2013 is the Miss Indian World Talent Presentations held at a the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino -Albuquerque Showroom. The Gathering of Nations PowWow is an 2 Day and Night event (April 26th and 27th, 2013) and the powwow is held at the UNM A (University of New Mexico Arena)”The Pit” in Albuquerque, NM.
The Gathering of Nations is an experience for all people (Indian and Non-Indian) to see the colorful powwow dancing and to hear the songs and become enlightened with emotional happiness!Over 3,000 indigenous / Native American / Indian dancers and Singers representing more than 500 tribes from Canada and the United States come to Gathering of Nations PowWow annually to participate socially and competitively.
Included with the Gathering of Nations PowWow Admission are admittance into the Indian Traders Market and Stage 49. The Indian Traders Market offers a special shopping experience, which includes intercultural traditions and exhibition of Native American Arts and crafts with over 800 artists, crafters, and traders will place their wares on display and for sale.Stage 49 will highlight contemporary and traditional Native American music performances and entertainment. Native musicians will perform in all Genres of music (comedy, country, reggae, blues, metal and traditional).
After the Saturday evening Grand Entry on April 27th, 2013, a young Native American Woman will be crowned the 2013-2014 Miss Indian World at the UNM A “The Pit”. Miss Indian World will represent all of Native America and Indigenous people as a cultural goodwill ambassador.
With the celebration of its 30th anniversary the Gathering of Nations is releasing of book, “30 Years of Gathering: Gathering of Nations Powwow,” and launching the Gathering of Nations Internet Radio on the iHeartRadio network.
WASHINGTON — The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will hold a confirmation hearing March 7 to consider REI Chief Executive Sally Jewell’s nomination to become the next Interior Secretary.
President Obama nominated Jewell earlier this month to succeed Ken Salazar, who said he will leave the administration at the end of March and return to Colorado.
The hearing will be led by committee Chairman Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat of Oregon.
Jewell, an avid mountain climber and skier who worked as a banker and a petroleum engineer, would be taking on a department with a dual mission of protecting public lands while tapping timber, coal, gas and other wealth from them.
Already, Jewell’s nomination has drawn attention from interest groups, ranging from mountain bikers who want to lift the ban from their pursuits in national parks to east coast governors who want drilling permitted off the Atlantic Coast.
The ubiquitous totem pole, the most visible example of Native artwork in Seattle, actually comes from Southeast Alaska and British Columbia.
Since the Klondike Gold Rush of 1897, Seattle has had close ties to the Northwest Coast, and many monumental works of art from Haida, Tsimshian and Tlingit carvers can be seen in Seattle.
Totem poles were traditionally carved from cedar trees to serve as memorial posts displaying inherited crests, or as house posts providing support for large cedar long houses.
These monumental sculptures feature stylized animals and animal-spirits such as Bear, Beaver, Raven, Frog, Killer Whale, and many others which play important roles in traditional stories and have been associated with family clans reaching back many generations.
Traditional totem poles are on display at the Burke Museum, Victor Steinbrueck Park, Pioneer Square, and other parks and viewpoints around the city. Contemporary artists throughout the Pacific Northwest have adopted this form, and examples of their work can be seen in many museums and galleries.
Coast Salish artwork, the traditional style of the Puget Sound area, features more subtle and personal designs. Local traditions included carved objects such as house posts, which were both decorative and functional. House posts were typically found inside of large plank houses as part of the framing structure, rather than outside on public display.
Small items such as spindle whorls and canoe paddles were both utilitarian objects and ornately carved artworks. Twined baskets, as well as hats and clothing were made from cedar, and elegant blankets and robes were woven on large looms using yarns spun from the hair of mountain goats and woolly dogs.
Local design traditions have been overshadowed for generations by more dramatic artistic styles from farther north, but Coast Salish aesthetics are being revived by contemporary artists such as Susan Point, Roger Fernandes, Andrea Wilbur-Sigo and Shaun Peterson.
These and other Native artists drawn on traditional styles, and incorporate new materials such as glass and metal, to create work that is increasingly visible in Seattle’s galleries, museums, and public artworks.
Did You Know?
Large terra cotta cartouches featuring a stylized portrait of an Indian elder are found in several locations throughout Seattle. Oddly, the figure’s traditional feathered head dress is associated with tribes from the Great Plains region, rather than the Pacific Northwest, and was perhaps inspired by photographer Edward Curtis to symbolize the grandeur of the West, rather than to depict local historical reality.
These architectural ornaments were part of the 1909 White Henry Stuart Building, which once stood at Fourth Avenue and University Street. When that building was demolished, the terra cotta artifacts were salvaged and are now on display at the Convention Center, the Museum of History and Industry, Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center and other locations.
For more Native American culture and other cultures found around Seattle, check out Visit Seattle.
The face was a composite of at least three Natives. (AP)
Rick Heredia, Indian Country Today Media Network
November 17, 1915. The mighty bison Black Diamond bravely stood his ground in the Joseph Stern & Co. slaughterhouse on West 40th Street in New York City, staring at the man aiming the .38-caliber revolver at him. When the man pulled the trigger, the weapon kicked in his hand as the bullet hit Black Diamond’s head, but didn’t penetrate his four-inch-thick skull, which was covered with a hide two inches thick. Instead, the bullet dropped to the ground, flattened, amazing onlookers, according to the New York Times account that ran the next day.
Black Diamond, angry and sensing danger, lowered his head to charge his assailant, but a second assassin was waiting, this one holding a sledgehammer. When the bison, nicknamed Toby, lowered his head, that man gave a mighty swing and the sledgehammer made a sickening thud as it crushed Black Diamond’s skull.
“Black Diamond’s…head tossed weakly once or twice, his legs sagged and he went down. Then the knife in his throat completed the slaughter,” said the Times. August Silz, a wholesale meat dealer known as America’s Poultry King and hobnobbed with the rich and famous paid Central Park Zoo officials $325 for Black Diamond, believed to be 19 years old at the time of his slaughter.
Dressed out, Toby provided 750 pounds of meat. Buffalo meat, rare in New York City, sold for at least copy a pound at the time, about four times the cost of sirloin steak. The hide, which measured 13 feet by 13 feet, was made into a car blanket and a taxidermist took his head. (It was mounted and displayed for years at Silz’s meat company.)
So why all this press for a slaughtered beast? Black Diamond was, at the time of his slaughter, one of the most famous animals in the United States. Just two years earlier, in 1913, his image was stamped onto the reverse side of the Indian head nickel. The nickel—75 percent copper and 25 percent nickel—made its debut on Washington’s birthday, February 22, 1913, 100 years ago. In the decades that followed, it became an Indian country icon.
At least one newspaper, the National Labor Tribune, believed Black Diamond had been dealt a great injustice. “The buffalo which served as a model for the nickel coin has been put to death,” it said. “Republics are notoriously ungrateful.”
Black Diamond’s life wasn’t worth a plugged nickel just a few years after his coin appeared. (AP)
Invading Staten Island
The occasion for the nickel’s debut was the groundbreaking for the National American Indian Memorial, the dream/scheme (and it turns out, pipe dream) of Rodman Wanamaker, scion of the Wanamaker department store chain. Plans called for the memorial to have a colossal bronze statue of an Indian, 60 feet high on a 70-foot base, one arm raised, two fingers forming a V, greeting ships carrying immigrants and others arriving in New York. A museum and a warrior on horseback were also part of the design. The statue and all the rest were to be erected at Fort Wadsworth on New York’s Staten Island, just south of the Statue of Liberty. Staten Island, named for the Dutch parliament, the Staten-General, originally belonged to Lenape Indians, who repulsed the Dutch three times before the invaders were able to establish a settlement there.
Now, in 1913, the island was being invaded again. On a cold, bleak, wet day, just after noon, the fort’s batteries fired a 21-gun salute announcing the arrival of President William Howard Taft. Waiting to greet Taft were members of his cabinet, New York’s governor, New York City’s mayor, naval and military detachments and officers, including Lieutenant General Nelson A. Miles, who had taken part in many of the U.S. Army’s campaigns against Plains Indians, had forced the surrender of Chief Joseph and spent exhausting months in the field chasing Geronimo.
On hand, too, patiently waiting in the mist, were more than 30 Plains Indian leaders and warriors, many of whom who had fought Miles and the U.S. Army. They were dressed in beaded buckskin and wore eagle feather headdresses. They included Plenty Coups, Drags The Wolf, Crane In The Sky, Little Wolf, Black Wolf, Wooden Leg, Red Arrow, Hollow Horn Bear and Two Moons.
Two Moons, Northern Cheyenne, fought in the Battle of Little Big Horn and later, he, too, had been forced to surrender to Miles. Two Moons was one of the three Indians used as a model for the profile on the obverse face of the nickel. (Another was Iron Tail, Oglala Lakota; there is much debate about who the third Indian was.)
At the dedication, Two Moons, along with the other Indians, sang a war song and raised the U.S. flag. They also pledged allegiance to the United States. During the ceremony, George Kuntz, a member of the Memorial
Chief Two Guns White Calf, nickel model (AP)
Association’s executive committee and president of the American Scenic and Historical Preservation Society, produced a bag of Indian Head nickels that had just come from the Philadelphia mint. Taft, who used a sliver tipped shovel to turn the first bit of dirt, got the first nickel. Then he used an ancient axe and the Indians did the same. They, too, got nickels.
When the ceremony was over, the Indians took a day or two to do some sightseeing. They had visited the Statue of Liberty and Madison Square Garden before the dedication, so now they went to the Bronx Zoo and the American Museum of Natural History. Then they headed for Philadelphia where Wanamaker would be their host.
A few months later, in July 1913, Wanamaker sent out the last of three expeditions to Indian reservations promoting citizenship and fealty to the U.S. At the time, many Americans—even those who said they respected Indians, such as Wanamaker—thought American Indians were a vanishing race. Wanamaker believed that assimilation was their best hope for survival. (This, despite the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) findings that the Indian population was increasing. In 1890 the BIA counted 243,000 Indians. In 1900, that figure jumped to 270,000. In 1910, it stood at 305,000.)
Speaking at a press conference held when the citizenship expedition returned to New York in December 1913, Henry Roe Cloud, Winnebago, a Yale graduate known for his speaking skills, asked the question that must have been on the minds of many Indian leaders of the day. “Today, the American Indian finds himself in the midst of a great, complex civilization, and it is a national question whether this complex civilization will bear him down or be the means of his salvation,” Roe Cloud said, as quoted in The New York Times.
An Abomination?
Once the nickel went into circulation, it was hammered. Critics complained that it lacked the grace and beauty of previous coins, including its predecessor, the Liberty nickel. But after 25 years, that coin had run its course, and treasury officials wanted to change the design. The New York Times said the new nickel was a “striking example of what a coin intended for wide circulation…should not be.” It said the coin was not pleasing to look at when shiny and new and “will be an abomination when it is old and dull.” One Times reader, H.P. Nitsua, said, “The new nickel is certainly a travesty on artistic effect,” and called the Indian’s feathers “barbaric headgear.”
Iron Tail demanded that part of his pay for working a Wild West show come in nickels. (AP)
The New York Sun called it an ugly coin.
“The new nickel suggests a button for a corduroy coat,” said The Charlotte Observer. “The buffalo and the Indian adorning it are sculptural crudities.… ”
That was not the way George Roberts, the Bureau of the Mint’s director, saw things. He considered the Indian head, as displayed on the coin, “an impression emblematic of liberty.” That might have come as a surprise to the many American Indians forced by the barrel of an Army rifle onto reservations.
And there was a bitter irony on the other side of the coin as well. “From the beginning, there had been complaints about using a Native American and a bison on the coin,” said one of the American Numismatic Association’s Money Talks informational exhibits. One collectors’ magazine questioned whether either was a good symbol, considering that many Indians had been forced onto reservations and the American bison had been slaughtered to the brink of extinction.”
James Earle Fraser, the New York City artist who created the images on the coin, explained that he wanted to design a coin that was uniquely American. And, he reasoned, the American Indian on one side and a bison on the other would fit the bill. No other country in the world could make a similar claim about its currency, he said. “The great herds of bison that roamed the Western Plains played an important role in the great American epic, the winning of the West,” he said.
History suggests that at least one Indian liked the new nickel. When Iron Tail became a performer for the Miller Brothers 101 Ranch Wild West Show, he insisted that part of his weekly pay be in the nickels. To advertise their show, the Miller Brothers put him on a colorful poster, on horseback, wearing a headdress and carrying an eagle staff, riding the grassy plains. He is sandwiched between large, front and back images of the nickel. iron tail, reads the poster. america’s representative indian chief. Under the coin’s Indian head image the poster describes him as the indian chief that made the nickel famous.
Reproductions of the poster are sold on eBay and other sites.
What a Nickel Is Worth
The coin had a run of 25 years, from 1913 to 1938, when it was replaced by the Jefferson nickel. More than 1.2 billion Indian head nickels were minted; their total currency value was more than $60.5 million.
The National Indian Memorial never did get built at Fort Wadsworth. Wanamaker couldn’t come up with the money and soon enough, World War I grabbed the headlines. But the Indian head—or buffalo—nickel, outlived its critics to become one of the most admired coins the U.S. ever produced. Many have called it beautiful, and it has become iconic. In the early 1970s, an image of the nickel, Indian head showing, appeared on a protest poster that read the only indian america ever cared about.
It has been incorporated into many types of jewelry, from earrings to belts. It adorns T-shirts, jackets and other clothing and is the logo for coin shops and other businesses. It has been made into guitar picks and used to decorate the bolt-action rifles and rifle slings. The image has been tattooed onto backs and shoulders. One artist, Peter Rocha, created a striking four-foot-by-four-foot image of the nickel in Fairfield, California using more than 9,500 jellybeans provided by Jelly Belly (see Rocha’s work at JellyBelly.com).
Many of the nickels are sold on eBay. The American Numismatic Association displayed Black Diamond’s mounted head at its 1985 convention, writes author David Lange in his book, The Complete Guide to Buffalo Nickels. The ANA, headquartered in Colorado Springs, will celebrate 100th anniversary of the nickel during National Coin Week, April 21 to 27. Its theme will be Buffalo Nickel Centennial: Black Diamond Shines Again.
Perhaps the greatest testament to the nickel’s popularity and endurance has come from the U.S. Mint, which resurrected the nickel in the form of the $50 American Buffalo gold bullion coin. When it was first sold in 20
American Indian dancers perform during dinner in the longhouse at Tillicum
Lynn Armitage, Indian Country Today Media Network
When you think of Seattle, the first things that come to mind are probably the Space Needle, Puget Sound, the birthplace of Jimi Hendrix or maybe professional sports franchises like the Mariners or the Seahawks. Somehow forgotten among all the contemporary lore of this beautiful seaport is the knowledge that it teemed with Native Americans for at least 4,000 years before white settlers arrived.
In fact, Seattle, the largest city in the Pacific Northwest, is named after a leader of the Suquamish and Duwamish tribes, Chief Si’ahl. Other tribes in the area include the Muckleshoot and Snoqualmie. Today, many of them continue their long-held artistic traditions, including basket-weaving.
If you’re planning a trip to this vibrant city, you should by all means take in its traditional tourist attractions. But to really rock your visit with some Native American culture, we recommend these five destinations, all off the beaten path:
Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center
Located on 20 acres in Discovery Park, Seattle’s largest city park, with views of Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains, the Daybreak Star Indian Cultural Center is a central hub showcasing all the Native tribes in the area. Daybreak Star serves many purposes, says its parent organization, the United Indians of All Tribes Foundation—a conference center, a pow wow venue, a gathering place for after-school programs and an art gallery that features a large body of work by Native artists.
For a real taste of Native culture—literally—go on a four-hour escape to Tillicum Village on Blake Island, just eight miles west of Seattle, in Puget Sound. Guests are treated to steamed clams upon arrival and can watch a traditional Northwest Coast salmon bake in the longhouse. After the feast, enjoy a Native music and dance show that tells the colorful story of the Coast Salish Tribes, also called the Puget Salish or Lushootseed peoples. Daily tours run from May through September.
If you’re up for a beautiful drive to observe the region’s abundant wildlife, Juanita Bay Park is a quick 15 miles east of Seattle, on the other side of adjoining Lake Washington. It’s a 110-acre marshy wetland that is home to all kinds of wildlife, including songbirds, shorebirds, turtles and beavers. Guided tours are available, or walk along the paved trails and boardwalks solo. Either way, you will learn a lot about this natural habitat through interpretive signs that are positioned throughout the park. Don’t forget to bring your binoculars!
Located at the University of Washington, the Burke is the state’s oldest museum. It is dedicated to honoring, researching and sharing the heritage of diverse peoples from all over the world, including the many Native tribes in the state and beyond. Here you will find thousands of Coast Salish artifacts and artworks, as well as a number of exhibits that feature artwork from other tribes, such as the Tlingit and Haida of British Columbia and southeast Alaska.
For more details, go to BurkeMuseum.org. (On this site, you will also find an extensive list of Native American cultural centers and museums. Just type “Native Americans” into the search box.)
The Center for Wooden Boats
A must-see for aquatic enthusiasts is the Center for Wooden Boats, a fun place for the family to learn about boats—on and off the water. The center refers to itself as a “living museum,” since visitors can take their historic wooden boats out for a quick sail. Free public boat rides are offered on Sundays. Tourists can also learn how to carve northern-style canoes from a Haida carver named Saaduuts, the artist in residence, who holds classes periodically just across the way in Lake Union Park as part of the Canoe Project, a partnership of the center, United Indians of All Tribes Foundation and Antioch University Seattle.
Come sail away at the Center for Wooden Boats (Center for Wooden Boats)
Lately there has been a rise in the American Indian culture in the media. It’s possible, through their eyes that we have reached the time where the American Indian culture seems to be more of a legend than a thing which has evolved over time and is still around. Many different people, including the hoity-toity that have money to spend, are obtaining pieces of American Indian Artifacts.
This February, the American Indian & Ethnographic Art auction grossed $1,777,912.50; this included the buyer’s premium, making it the most successful sale that the American Indian & Ethnographic Art department at Skinner, Inc. has ever experienced. Skinner, Inc. auctioneers and appraisers are located in Massachusetts and have been in the auction business for over forty years.
Reasons these pieces are selling for such high prices is as the Skinner website states, “Tribal art tells the story of our shared human history. From the earliest pre-Columbian relics, to Native American trade materials, these objects take us back to another time and place, while at the same time possessing a simple beauty that fits into the most sophisticated modern design aesthetic.”
Douglas Diehl, director of the American Indian & Ethnographic Art department at Skinner explained in a press release, “There is a definite resurgence in interest in rare and evocative American Indian art and artifacts and every category performed well across the board.” Bidders competed from the floor, by phone, and over the internet during the auction.
“This record-setting sale represented early American material at its very best and we are pleased to bring items of this quality to auction.”
Plains Indian Art was the highest lot bringing in $144,000. The item, a Plains pony beaded hide shirt which came from mid-19th century and had belonged to Eugene Burr. Coming with the shirt was an account of where and how Eugene had come to possess the item in. The Burr family traveled west along the Oregon Trail to Utah in 1855. Eugene’s father, David H. Burr, was appointed the first Surveyor General to the state of Utah. His father and his brother David traveled with him through Indian Territory and kept a diary of the journey. Eugene Burr died at the age of 17 in 1857; his initials are marked on the inside of the shirt.
There were heated biddings on an assortment of hide cradles which raised the prices of other lots well above their pre-sale estimates. A pictorial Lakota cradle with a pre-sale estimate high of $35,000 sold for $78,000. A Cheyenne beaded hide cradle doubled its high estimate and sold for $30,750.
Cradles from the collection of the late Joseph J. Rivera collection of Santa Fe’s Morning Star Gallery included a Kiowa model cradle, $57,000 and a classic Lakota beaded cradle for $33,600 – both exceeded pre-sale estimate highs. A Pawnee-style bear claw necklace made by Milford Chandler (1889-1981), $57,000.
Two rare and beautiful Yupik Eskimo masks brought prices of $31,200 and $57,000. The first a mask showing a bird head on top of a circular human-like face and the second a face framed by stylized animal ears. Both said to be from Gustaf Osterberg, Chief mate on the US Coast and Geodetic Survey ship Yukon. Osterberg began making trips to the Alaskan coast in 1913.
In 2011, a Navajo blanket dated to be from the early 1900’s went for over $200,000 in auction. Diehl said he “ realized the minute I first saw the weaving, with the variegated wool, the browns, all this great character, that this had to be a really early third phase Chief’s blanket.”, in his blog post about the blanket prior to it going up for auction.
Some of us are wondering if this growing interest in the American Indian culture is a trend that will fade or is this a genuine curiosity and love of a culture which has evolved and grown over time.
