Native Americans

Know Better, Do Better

/ Missy Goodnight / Leave a comment

It was January 26, 1992. I think. It could have been another day, earlier than that, but in my mind it was January 26, 1992 and the Washington R*dsk*ns were playing the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXVI in Minneapolis. I feel like it had to be a big game, because there was a lot of commentary. But it could have been years before. It could have been just a regular football game, I’m not quite sure, but as a kid I cared not for any of it. I do recall, however, being at my best friend Rachel’s house and her dad, having grown up in D.C., was a Washington fan, and there was a game on her grandmothers large, floor model television.

Rachel and I were playing in her room when we decided to run out and get snacks. The game hadn’t yet started, but there were some people discussing the name of the football team. It could have been one of the sportscasters, it could have been an old player, maybe it was a Native American advocate, but someone said it was time for Washington to change their name and Rachel’s dad yelled, “Bullshit!” He didn’t want to hear any of that nonsense and he went into some tirade about it. We gathered plates and ran back to Rachel’s room, but I never forgot that moment because I wondered for years why anyone would want to change the name of a football team.

That is one of my “I grew up in white supremacy” stories. I was so sheltered and ignorant that I had no idea, for many, many more years, why that name would upset anyone. Then when I did know I realized there were many other sports teams that used Native Americans as mascots. And I was sickened by it. I knew better, and wanted everyone else to know better, and most importantly to do better.

That was 28 years ago. Twenty-eight years. For twenty-eight years this has been on my radar. I have rolled this idea over and over in my head, and this week, this week the Washington football team finally did something about it. That’s a long, frustrating time for anyone to wait for change. Now imagine how long the Native Americans have been waiting…

Thanks, Washington. I hope you have started a bigger change.

M.

Turkey Day

/ Missy Goodnight / Leave a comment

Like most holidays around the Goodnight house, today is just a day to fill ourselves full of turkey and pie with family and friends, and as of late, think about and discuss the people who came before us. Because while we’ve come a long way from where we were twenty years ago, I still noticed like today, in this year, in 2019, that kids are still dressed up like “Pilgrims” and “Indians” and made to put on little, fictitious performances at school, public school, to represent this day. Dude, I’m rolling my eyes so far back in my head right now that they might actually stay that way, which would make my mom right. Again.

Because listen, for the past 50 years, the fourth Thursday in November has been considered the National Day of Mourning to many in the Native American community. Rightfully so. In fact, there’s a plaque in Plymouth explaining the day. Explaining how it was created to remember the genocide that happened on our lands many years ago. To their people. The Native Americans.

So sure, yes. White people like me have a lot to be thankful for today. We have a lot to be grateful for every day. (Side note: so glad that “grateful November” Facebook bs didn’t take this year. Did y’all know you can be grateful without talking about it on social media?!) Okay, whew. I’m being snarky. I’m sorry. I haven’t had my turkey yet.

The point is, many of you probably didn’t know about the National Day of Mourning. Some of you may not even think for one second about the Native Americans on this day, too consumed with football, and not burning the rolls, and whether your kids are dressed better than you sister’s. But that really isn’t what today is about. Of course, what it is really about is way fucking worse. The taking of land that didn’t belong to us. Genocide. And now a racism so steeped in our culture we actually don’t even realize it’s bad. So you know what, scratch what I was saying, go watch football, and eat turkey, and lie to your sister about how cute her kids look. Make today however you want it to be, but remember, somewhere, in our country, a group of people are mourning the loss of not just their land, but of their heritage. The same heritage that you’re poking fun at with feathers stuck in your hair.

But remember, today of all days, that just because something has been done a certain way since you were a kid, doesn’t mean it should stay that way. Doesn’t mean it is the right way. Some things, like the case of the fourth Thursday in November, just make us too uncomfortable to address it. But just because a topic makes you uncomfortable, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t speak about it. That’s not how this world works. We learn and we grow. We become better. And we should always be striving to do better. To learn and grow, so that we can be better than our ancestors. Better than our parents and grandparents, and better people than we were the year, the month, or the day before. We deserve that. Our kids deserve that.

So, from my house to yours, Happy Eat Turkey Day. Sure, we’ll be watching football, and saying thing we are grateful for, but we will also be learning about the particular Natives who inhabited the state we live in today. Because, duh. Fucking, duh.

Do better. Be better. Gobble, gobble.

M.