American Indians Stereotypes

When most people think of "Indians," they think of the common stereotyped of the wild, yelling, half-naked "savages" seen on the television movies. With more modern movies like Dances with Wolves and some of the documentaries like How the West was Lost, some of these attitudes have changed. But the American public as a whole is still very ignorant of what it means to be a Native American-today, or historically.

Racism towards Native American tribes and individuals have been found throughout mainstream media. From nationally broadcasted sports games to popular Hollywood movies, Native Americans people have been stereotyped and/or culturally appropriated. Many examples of these stereotypes are blatant and have been portrayed for in the media for decades.

There are many stereotypes about Native Americans which are promoted in today's films. Since the beginnings of the westward settlement people have been saying things about the Native Americans that are not necessarily true. They were depicted as savages and thieves. Like all peoples this is true about some, but not for all. In fact, it was the Native Americans which helped the pilgrims settle in this country in the first place. This never stopped whites from stereotyping the way we have. Early films and TV shows gave Native Americans a bad image. Old western films are a good example of this. In these the cowboys were always the good guys and the Native Americans were the bad guys. More

There are different stereotypes about the Asian Indians. These stereotypes are originated when interact with the Asian Indians. They observe their living style or when they meet them in different places like universities, school, colleges, restaurants and hotels. There are some good as well as bad stereotypes are famous about the Asian Indians. Some common stereotypes of the Americans about the Asian Indians are listed below:

Stereotypes have been around since the start of humankind. They have crossed all people and all time frames, but appear to target and negatively impact the minority. In the history of America, Native Americans have been stereotyped into a few images. These images to the majority of the public, give a glimpse of what a Native American is. The reality is; however, that those images do not represent all tribes and all aspects of the Native American culture. Instead, society has mashed together what they believe Native Americans should be and who they are. This problem of stereotyping has not gone away, and will not go away until people choose to be educated on the matter. The fact is that there are many individuals who believe these stereotypes and do not know any differently. There has been many common stereotypes over the years. Hollywood has a played a major role in influencing these thoughts about Natives. There are stereotypes that have withstood time and are still found in today’s world. Lastly, Natives are still dealing with effects of being seen as something they are not. Throughout history, Native Americans have been negatively impacted by stereotyping and prejudice, and are still impacted by this today.

These stereotypical binaries of the childlike and savage Indian are directly linked to the narratives of white settler society and colonization. Essentially, by classifying all First Nation cultures under a monolith of a few stereotypes the white setter society claimed dominance over the First Nation peoples as they created the lens through which the First Nation’s history and identity would be read. The influence of the press and government policies lead to the acceptance of these stereotypes as defining truths about First Nations people which aided the settler societies in solving the Indian problem by destroying what it meant to be Indian. In this way, the stereotypes not only developed the idea of assimilation to save the Indian, but they

Associated with wearing skins, living in teepees, and riding horses Native Americans are viewed as ‘country’ and lack of knowledge. Shown as dumb and have a lack of formal education, most of them live in poverty invested areas. Because of this, they feel that “one representation is better than no representation.” When a group feels underrepresented their psychological relevance and has a toil on the overall ethnic group and can make a difference in lives. Inaccurate and negative representations of Native Americans can be detrimental to the overall perception to the race in general.

I believe that there are still a lot of stereotypes out there about Native Americans. I think that many people get these stereotypes from what they hear and see on TV. People tend to hear something that is negative to a certain group off people and run with that information even if they aren't 100% sure if it is true or not. Many people will often bash Native Americans for the various things that they get and we don't as Americans such as

Many races are unjustly victimized, but Native American cultures are more misunderstood and degraded than any other race. College and high school mascots sometimes depict images of Native Americans and have names loosely based on Native American descent, but these are often not based on actual Native American history, so instead of honoring Native Americans, they are being ridiculed. According to the article Warriors Survive Attack, by Cathy Murillo (2009) some “members of the Carpentaria community defended Native American mascot icons as honoring Chumash tradition and the spirit of American Indian Warriors in U.S. history and others claimed that the images were racist stereotypes” (Murillo, 2009). If people do not attempt to understand

We believe that all men were created equal, and you have not shown us that. We believe that we should be treated with the same respect you treat your friends and kin. We are the same. We were created equal in God's eye. We are exactly like you, spite a few minute differences. We value you, why can your not value us?

Until fairly recently the popular culture of American literature and film did not attempt to study the true representations of Indians in North America. Instead they chose to concentrate on the romanticized/savage version of Native people: which is an idealistic view of a Native with long, beautiful flowing hair riding on a horse obsessed with chanting and praying to the savageness of a rowdy, wild Native causing unnecessary mayhem to the white people. This portrayal of Native people in mass media had led to the stereotyping of Natives, which in turn had ricocheted into real life. Not only do non-natives succumb to these ideals, but Natives do as well.

This is their home, the first people in the great country known as Canada. Yet they were called the savages in a place that is home for them; called names by the people who were new to this place. These people were named Indian, mistaken for Indians from India. Over the centuries Aboriginal people have faced a lot of difficulties in their daily life, each day full of new challenges including drug Issues, personal identity problems, and proper education.

For over thirty years, schools and national sports teams have used Native American names as their mascots, nicknames, and logos. There has been a lot of controversy over it since the 1940’s. According to the University of North Carolina at Pembroke, there are two conflicting viewpoints; ¨keeping this imagery honors Native American people, supports nostalgic feelings, and saves funding.¨ On the other hand, ¨keeping this imagery is offensive and degrading because it is sacred to Native American people, and perpetuates negative stereotypes.¨ Those who are for Native American names say that they are ¨complementary,¨ and that they are not meant to be hurtful. Those who are against it say that statistics show that it promotes a negative self- esteem.

Historical and contemporary stereotypes of Native American Indian women have resulted in erroneous and callous images. Mass media, movies, and printed materials continue to depict Native American Indian women as either a princess or a savage. Native American Indian women are affected by non-humanistic myths and stereotypes that are advertised by the media, popular literature, and movies. The "Pocahontas paradox" represents a dilemma for Native American Indian women. This historical movement has persisted in the glamorization and belittling of Native American Indian women (Peregoy, 1999).

The image is harmful for the Native American because they have had to endure not having their trude identity known for five centuries. In his book, The White Man's Indian, Robert F. Berkhofer reveals how the "Indian" image was invented by White men. Columbus called them "Indians" because his geography was faulty. But the name- and, more important, the images it suggests- have endured for five centuries obscuring the true identity of the original Americans.