A "savage" situation

Part of my family’s culture is going hunting. It’s a ritual that is valued in my community and in my family. Every year at a certain time my family packs up their camping gear and takes off to the woods for a week or two. Growing up, this was something that I had always looked forward to. I was eleven years old when I first got my hunting license, which I believe is as young as you can be. Then I was given a hunting rifle, a gun that was passed down to me from my grandfather. Now in the twelve years since I’ve had my license I haven’t actually ever killed anything, but I enjoy the experience and spending time with my family. Hence, the gun is basically something I carry around with me when I go camping.

While getting ready for hunting season a couple months ago, I went into a gun shop to buy some ammo with my boyfriend. When we asked for the ammo, the man behind the counter informed us that that the particular model of gun is now one of the hardest guns to find, and I should really hold on to it. After I became aware of this information I felt a sense of pride that I had such a valuable asset. Then I came across a sign with my gun’s logo. My gun is a 250 savage, and until this day, I hadn’t put two and two together. Along with the bright red word “savage” across the sign was a stereotypical Indian head with a headdress on. I was shocked that all this time I hadn’t thought that the title of my gun was a racial slur and my gun was possibly made with the idea of killing Native Americans in mind. I pointed the sign out to my boyfriend and asked if that logo was really for my gun. He confirmed it was and asked how I felt about that. I honestly felt pretty embarrassed and stupid. However, I was conflicted over what I should do about it. Here I have a valuable family asset, but also a symbol of the horrific genocide that took place in my country.

I am a little over an eight Native American. Therefore, I have relatives who were forced to endure years of oppression, colonization and forced assimilation at the hands of the dominant culture who thought of them as “savages.” The gun that was passed down from my grandfather was actually passed down through the non-native side of my family. I don’t know all the details about my ancestors on this side of my family but they came to the area I am from many years ago and owned much of the land. Therefore, it is very possible that one side of my family was partly responsible for kicking the other side of my family off their land, and my gun could have been a part of that.

In a class once, I learned about self-colonization, which is the internalization of the mindset of the colonizer and the continuation of this state of mind. Because I have Indian blood in me I wondered if I had been participating in this self-colonization, or am I just another ignorant “white” person who perpetuates racial discrimination.

Because the matter was bothering me so much, I decided to research the company Savage Arms. During my research, I found that Savage Arms was founded in 1894 by a man named Arthur Savage. In 1919 Arthur struck a deal with a tribe offering them discounted rifles in exchange for their endorsement. Thus, the Indian head was added to the logo, supposedly with the “blessing” of Chief Lame Bear (http://www.zimbio.com/Investor). After reading this, I was initially relieved that the gun wasn’t named savage because it was suppose to kill savages. However, then I started thinking, because Arthur made these “negotiations” with the Native Americans and because his last name was “savage” the company is able to get away with connecting the word savage with Native Americans, which is frustrating.

I then thought about the metaphor the gun could represent. The gun should not be ignored and forgotten about, just like colonization should not be ignored and forgotten about. However, the gun, like colonization and discrimination, is not going to be used by me. Therefore, I decided that the gun should be put away and I should look for another gun to carry around with me when I go hunting.

Passionate Belonging

In order to be a good community organizer, I believe the community must feel a sense of belonging and be passionate about change. I think some people feel as if they don’t want to direct their passion for certain social justice issues because they feel as if it is hopeless and don’t identity strongly with their community. I recently attended a Giants game in San Francisco. Now that is a place with some passion. However I couldn’t help but think about why the people were there. Why they would pay a large amount of money, possibly take time off work, and drive hundreds of miles (in some cases), to watch grown men play a game with a ball and bat? It even became annoying for me that these people would go to all this effort to support a game, when there are so many bigger issues that could use support and don’t get it.
I then game to the conclusion that people, who are truly passionate about baseball, or any sport for that matter, are loyal followers who have possibly had some experience playing or watching the game themselves and who have a positive connotation to the game. I have also noticed that people feel a since of belonging to certain teams and strongly identify with them. For instance, several times I heard fans referring to themselves as a team member, making statements such as, “Well, every since we picked up this guy, we have been winning.” Not only did it seem that they identified with the team members, but the larger community of fans as well. I witnessed Dodger fans slapping the hands of other Dodger fans in the stands, simply because they shared the commonality of cheering for the same team. It didn’t matter what they looked like, what they did, or where they were from; they were united based on the color they were wearing and when they were clapping.
In the United States, it seems as if moving from place to place is very common. However, this migration makes it difficult for people to identify a community that they are passionate about. Therefore, they identify with communities that they always have access to, such as sports teams. Watching the Gaints game gave me ideas for community organizing that involved community sports games. Thus, instead of sitting in front of a television watching sports, people can get out and interact with one another and build close relationships that will be beneficial when the time comes for a change. It also might help people get some exercise and raise money. I feel like the key is to get community members to identify with their community, so they have a sense of loyalty and belongingness. If this could happen in physical communities, then maybe there would be a higher level of passion and support for community change.

Town Hall Meeting

Can’t please everyone. That’s one thing I learned at the town hall meeting with Congressman Mike Thompson on Sept. 2 at the Redwood Acres Fairgrounds in Eureka California. The contentious topic of health care reform drew approximately 300 people whose tempers ran high. As I walked into the event, several people stood outside with picket signs chanting that health care should be available for everyone. The building was spilling over with concerned citizens from both sides of the spectrum and a news crew was present to record these individual’s concerns. I observed that the majority of the people in attendance were white, somewhat older, and very opinionated.
When the congressman came out to face the rambunctious crowd, he attempted to set the tone by stating his interest in speaking with the people of Eureka is to gain ideas on how to reform health care. However, once the topic was opened for discussion, people proceeded to argue the problems with health care and offered few solutions. When an individual did offer a situation, the crowd reacted passionately with boos and cheers. The congressman frequently shushed the crowd and pointed out that everyone deserves respect and a chance to speak their opinion. One man needed to be escorted out of the building by security, and for a moment I thought things were going to get out of control.
In order to maintain control of the room the congressman did not allow picket signs in the building and prohibited the speakers from holding the microphone, which I believe was a strategy to keep some of the power in the event-organizers’ hands rather than the in the hands of the public who clearly had their own agenda. There were some pretty heart breaking stories told, whether it was from a widowed woman who couldn’t afford higher taxes or hard-working individual who lost their job due to health concerns and now has no way to pay their health bills. This meeting offered insight on both sides of the issue, and when making big decisions such health care reform, these insights are important to hear. I appreciated one man’s comment, which acknowledged that fact that until this day he hadn’t felt close to Washington or his political leaders. I too, shared this sentiment as it was my first town hall meeting. I thought it was pretty cool that Mike Thompson would come to Eureka to hear what we had to say.
The congressman did not speak very long about his own positions. However, I noticed the topics he did discuss were relatively uncontroversial and appealed to nearly everyone there. For instance, Mr. Thompson expressed his support for teleconferencing with specialists from other areas. This is undoubtedly something that rural community members would be in support of, for the reason that it provides greater opportunity to gain quality health care in areas that are isolated or distant from major medical centers. The congressman also mentioned preventative medicine, which is hard to argue with because it saves people and money in the long run.
I believe that everyone who spoke at this meeting felt passionately that their idea about what should be done with health care was the best answer to our country’s problems. However, these answers varied and there was no magical solution that would make everyone happy. Therefore, when doing community work, it is important to remember that you can’t please everyone.