‘Why does this never go out of style?’
Seeing Native Americans nowhere, and everywhere
Although the NFL team in Washington is retiring the name “Redskins” and its feathertopped Indian head logo, there’s one unexpected place where the team’s logo will be preserved, at least through 2027: in the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington.
A baby blanket with the logo hangs near the entrance of “Americans,” an exhibition that opened in 2018. It’s installed in a soaring hall, along with ads, toys, film clips, weapons and hundreds of other Indianthemed objects that range, depending on the beholder, from the kitschy to the charming to the offensive.
The point? To illuminate the paradox that Native American names, symbols and stories are ubiquitous in American life, even if actual Indians are largely invisible. And they aren’t just ubiquitous, the show argues, but central to American identity.
“It’s spooky, weird and subversive,” Paul Chaat Smith, an associate curator who created the exhibition with Cécile R. Ganteaume, said of the profusion of Native American imagery.
“We wanted to make the point that this is part of American life, going back 300 years, since before the founding. From Paul Revere to Kanye West, why does this never go out of style?”
The museum is closed because of the coronavirus, but much of the exhibition can be seen online. We talked with Chaat Smith, who is Comanche, about the exhibition and how to think about our attachment to Native American imagery.
These are edited excerpts from the interview.
The museum issued a statement earlier this month calling for an end to the use of racist mascots and images. What do you think about the Washington team’s decision?
When you follow something like that for years, for decades, it’s stunning when it changes on a dime. We’re very pleased with the decision. We want to get out of the mascot business.
Some say these names honor the warriors and provide a way to introduce Native culture, but an NFL team is not the ideal venue to educate the public about Native issues. And if it’s such a good idea, show me the equivalent honoring of Chicanos, Asian Americans or any other group. It only happens to us.
When the exhibition opened, the focus on popculture appropriation, rather than on authentic Native culture, was seen as something of a departure for the museum. What was the idea behind it?
Since the museum opened more than 10 years ago, we’ve found that people are very sympathetic to Native Americans. They are inclined to think Native culture is valuable and important. But people were becoming culture tourists.
They go and learn some things, but it has nothing to do with them. They weren’t going to leave and be reminded of Indians the way they are with African Americans, who are just present in the culture in a much different way.
You realize, “Wow, it’s kind of interesting how our whole lives we are surrounded by Indian imagery.” So we can make the argument that Indians are central to U.S. national identity. You have Indians on brake fluid, weapons systems, sports teams, all sorts of other things that have nothing to do with Indians or each other. But it’s meant to say something about authenticity, about American-ness.
Did it seem risky to put some of this stuff on view?
With the sports material, that’s what the activists said: This stuff should be in a museum. We’re pleased we could put it in a museum.
The Washington team’s name is gone. The Land O’ Lakes Maiden is also gone. Should all this stuff just go away?
We wanted to avoid being prescriptive, to say, “This team name is bad. It’s a slur. But this other one is not.” Some things are obnoxious. We should get rid of some things.
But we are not trying to be the police force to shame people. It doesn’t help us to eliminate everything. The problem with Native Americans is the invisibility in American life.
People can have a strong reaction to their team name, or their Boy Scout rituals, being challenged. Are there Indian-themed objects you have an emotional connection to?
I’m from the 20th century, born in the ’50s. People of that time, when you see nothing really positive in your regular life about Native people, then you see some Indian object, and it can be very positive. We know it’s corny, it’s a fantasy and it’s not really about us, but it is some kind of visibility.
I like the fact that Elvis Presley made two bad movies (“Stay Away Joe” and “Flaming Star”) in which he played Native Americans. The biggest star in the world thought Indians were interesting. Of course, we want realistic movies and better movies.
We’ve had people who came into our museum, including dignitaries from reservations, wearing caps for the Braves or other teams. Maybe it’s ironic. Maybe they think it should be changed, but they still support the teams.
For people of a certain generation, that’s powerful. It’s saying, “Hey man, we’re still here.”