WASHINGTON - Native American youth are increasingly using social media to counter harmful stereotypes about Indians that persist in the media and popular American culture.
"I think here in the United States, we are pretty much an afterthought," said journalist , a member of the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma and a 2018 Nieman Fellow working to improve mainstream media coverage of indigenous communities.
"These folks on Twitter and other social media outlets who are trying to have their voices heard are, if nothing else, looking to supplement the American education system, which has done absolutely nothing to inform citizens about indigenous people," he said.
Some tweets look to dispel the myth that Indians are relics of the past.
Our culture is still alive..because our spirit is stronger. Our circle never broken..never faded. AHO
my culture is not dead. It is alive and not dying out soon
They'd like non-Natives to stop lumping them into a single, generic culture...
every tribe is different. Have our own language, beliefs,& traditions. Hollywood has lead you to believe we are one cultures
we%27re not just "some drunk Indians" we%27re people with traditions and sacred things
?...and to stop romanticizing them.
We are not your mythological, magical, or the highest level of noble savage shaman.
They'd like textbooks to stop sanitizing U.S. history.
start teaching the dark side of your history in school. Stop trying to hide everything you%27ve done.
They'd like non-Natives to stop using "Indian" imagery to name sports teams and mascots.
if u really support us do not support teams like: . They do not honor us...at all.
"It’s a common problem in the United States," said Ahtone. "Our images have been appropriated for selling everything from tobacco to tires to insurance."
we are
Some Native Americans get depressed around American holidays, especially Columbus Day, which honors the Italian explorer whose arrival in 1492 opened the door to the slaughter and oppression of indigenous populations...
Listen, understand, respect. ColumbusDay = WhiteSupremacy UNITE TO !
...and Thanksgiving, which commemorates a 17th Century harvest feast British settlers shared with Wampanoag in Plymouth, Massachusetts. To many Native American minds, the holiday promotes colonization as something peaceful and advantageous to everyone.
is when you take all beautiful aspects of our culture w/o the history and pain associated with them
Native Americans would like non-Natives to stop appropriating their clothing and ceremonial regalia...
My culture is not a costume. My regalia is sacred, important and part of my identity. Thank you.
...as well as their spirituality, especially for commercial profit.
its not tradish to run around nekkid at New Age sweat lodge u paid $250 for
They would like non-Natives to stop "educating" them about their own history or telling Natives how they should feel.
Just because you%27re a grad student studying Native religion, you don%27t get to tell me what our traditions %27really%27 mean.
And they want a voice in mainstream media.
Write about peoples? Here%27s a handy bingo card to avoid stereotypes & clichés
"Mainstream media isn't designed to have voices outside of affluent, white America," said Ahtone, a sentiment VOA has heard from several Native journalists.
"I talk a lot about diversity in media and newsrooms. But as far as I am concerned, you can throw all the diversity you want at a newsroom, but if that newsroom doesn’t actually think the stories those people can produce are important, then it’s a complete waste of everybody’s time."
in journalism: invite us to write our stories. Bring us on as editors. Stop the colonized narrative and empower ours!
Ahtone cautions that these posts in social media represent only a small cadre of individuals in Indian Country, which comprises 573 tribes with distinct cultures and experiences.
"And a lot of times in social media, its just political posturing, just rhetoric," he said. "If you want to get to real, in-depth stuff, you’re going to have to go past the facade of what social media offers."