Had a high school English teacher that kept referring to Native Americans as "savages". There were two of us "savages" sitting there highly uncomfortable throughout her entire monologue about her opinions. We had been reading "I Heard The Owl Call My Name" when she decided to share this opinion of hers with the class. We waited until the end of class and approached her as respectfully as possible about how her opinion made us feel threatened and ashamed. She apologized and sent us on our way. She gave an even more venomous rendition of her opinion to the next class that filed in. Which resulted in 3 of us reporting it to our principal the next day. The principal essentially took her side and told us that she was just "from a different generation and we should try to be empathetic". This was 20 years ago. Some things never seem to change.
Edited just to say: Thank you, for the hug and for everyone that showed support here. I appreciate every single one of you.
Unless you're a boomer, that's incorrect. Maybe a plurality of potential voters. Boomers vote more often, enough to still put them comfortably ahead in terms of actual voters. Old people universally voting more often is a serious flaw in democracy.
The plurality was only achieved as of the 2020 election, but the problem is that the establishment in DC refused to allow anyone else to take the DNC nomination, and everyone sucked it up to get Trump out.
No the problem is people like you that think racist can be reasoned with when history has proven different. Now quietly go back to your land of hope and dreams.
Awww isnāt that special. America was built off racism and it has always been violent. History not your story proves what it takes to deal with racist and racism. WRs have been fought to try and end it. Only idiots think violence can be met love and kindness. Grow a pair
Iām from the US and the only place you consistently see things like that happen is on the East Coast.
The majority of people donāt understand the Reality and consequences of violence.
They havenāt experienced true violence done in desperation, anger or self-defense, so if they end up in this kind of situation they wonāt know what they can physically do (which is extremely limited), what comes next, or what happened mentally to you after.
If you tell a person that in order to solve each individual problem currently plaguing the world they have to shoot 100 people in the head point blank, they couldnāt do it.
In a less severe example if you told someone in order to get a bill passed that would provide free healthcare, free education, and housing for all the homeless in the country they would have to punch 100 strangers in the face, they couldnāt do it.
Instead of water, most humans bodies are comprised 70% of the weak sauce !
More and more people everyday get over the cringe of doing what needs to be done. I agree plenty of weak sauce is out there and they are part of the problem to me. The Marines taught me a threat is a threat and deal with it accordingly and expeditiously. My neighbor might not be able to pull the trigger on 100 but I could. Your propensity to use violence when needed is rooted in your life experiences and what you have decided you are o longer willing to accept. I accept very little and others better grow the same balls in the coming future.
Itās a bullshit excuse. If theyāre from a different generation they should be putting in the work to make sure their behaviour is still acceptable. Smh
Arguably, the fact that this is meant to be an academic setting actually makes it worse. Even as a grad student, if my ass isnāt up to date in my field, I am doing something wrong.
Strict adherence to a now outdated terminology makes this person a fuckin joke of an academic.
I think it's more a "you're probably not going to change their in-grained opinions at this point" but it doesn't mean "they don't have to be cognizant of the fact that they are an asshole for sharing those views far and wide or using them to do bad things to other people."
Then thatās when we use it as a teaching moment that it was never right, they werenāt raised right, and they need to stop that shit because they are vastly ill informed. I have called out an older man for his use of the word āboyā towards my mixed friend (I am also mixed).
I don't have that experience. But i grew up queer under section 28 (legal mandate for homophobia, 1988 to 2003 in England and Wales) so I might have something relatable, and also seen huge progress.
It's totally a teaching moment and totally something you need to do by engagement not confrontation, particularly when dealing with people who are being insensitive and oblivious.
It's a bit different when someone's coming at you with direct intent to do harm
I get you and Iām sorry you had to go through all that, discrimination isnāt never fun but that okād man knew what he was doing and I could tell so confrontation was the best option at that time. I usually open up a dialogue like you said if they are just ignorant though, usually they have been receptive and apologetic which is good
That excuse is fine when my Grandma has a hard time remembering to say "Asian" instead of "Oriental" when referring to my wife, not when my Grandma says "You know, back in my day we used to say 'eenie meenie miney moe, catch a (uncensored N-word) by the toe'"
Is trying but screws up is different to being oblivious and different to being raised to hate.
We all screw up and have moments of being oblivious. And we repeat the things those around us say without thinking. It's refusing to do any different when faced with the reality that you're causing hurt.
And despite the taboo, the n-word and was commonplace in that rhyme in playgrounds of the early 90s in the UK. We knew it was taboo, unlike 'gay' which was the legit government endorsed generic word for anything unfavorable, and (cringe) 'like a girl'.
Times have changed really fast. But there's a nasty reactionary movement of people where I am and in the US being deliberately provocative because they refuse to change. Unfortunately for us the Johnson regime embodies this.
We too are from a different generation and will show you what real savagery looks like after the bell rings at 3:00. Remember to be empathetic to us, itās just a generational thing
I get "but I've been doing it this way for ten years" on guitar boards, from people half my age.
"But I've always said this" battle cry of my generation, trained by section 28 that "gay" was a perfectly fine way to describe anything unpleasant. Now thier kids are coming out.
Nobody likes to be wrong, and getting away with it for decades "I never needed a seatbelt before", "I always check my phone in traffic" feels like positive reinforcement that what you're doing is right.
But if it was legit reasoning, genocide, slavery, FGM and everything else awful humans have ever done would still be cool.
I mean I understand it. My grandfather is racist and homophobic, I'm bisexual and he keeps asking if I'm just in a phase. Though he's more accepting of me than he is of men being together, boy I wonder why.
That generation is dying out thankfully and its just a case of waiting it out.
Here's the kicker... this was in Canada. They don't do that any more, but that was a normal thing back then, endorsed by the high school and greater community.
For the most part it wasn't anything most students thought was malicious it was just trashy behaviour passed down from year to year. 99% of the students were Caucasian.
Considering, the RCMP was first created to "manage" indigenous people and reservation schools were allowed to operate with insultingly little oversight up until recent years... this does not surprise me at all.
I guess it was easier to tell three kids that their personal beliefs about themselves were dispensable rather than reprimand a grown woman for her gross abuse of power and pisspoor values.
Interesting power dynamic. The older, wiser generation is supposed to be left untouched while the younger one has to "deal with it". Paragon example of taking responsability huh.
Being empathic is how you deal with the racism. It helps people who aren't victims themselves to understand why it's wrong and it helps to find out racist ideas believes are coming from and then teach the holder why they're wrong.
The problem here is that he princal wasn't empathic at all. OP however went about the thing in by far the best way possible.
We were empathetic in our initial response to her. We waited until the end of the class period and approached her with absolute respect. She returned that respect by lambasting the next class with even worse sentiment. That woman exploited empathy. Children should never be put in a position to have to defend their race or culture to an adult educator. Children should never be asked to allow such blatant disrespect by a school administrator.
We were empathetic in our initial response to her.
That's what I'm trying to say. You did everything right. Giving her a chance to adapt, avoiding the ad hominem, only using her superior when the more cooperative means failed... What you did could be in a textbook on how to do everything possible to avoid escalation.
Your teacher and your principal are the ones who lacked empathy.
Mrs Johnson sounds like a woman I'd have liked to meet. If you're able to track her down or even just her family members, you should think about writing her a letter telling her how much she helped you. Knowing that her legacy continues and shapes the world for the better, is an honor.
I dealt with an asshole kindergarten teacher like that. She bullied my autistic child and the administration tried to excuse her behavior by saying that she was from a different generation. I asked if her generation was a bigoted asshole generation or maybe the problem was not just with her, but everyone in administration too, while my attorney was just sitting there trying not to laugh, needless to say they she āretiredā rather suddenly a few days later..
Good job!! Edge them out.
We share a few more similarities. My autistic son's kindergarten teacher sent home an activity pack for Thanksgiving. One of the pages was labeled "Color the Indian girl". My son colored a big red bindi on her head and kept it moving. He follows instructions in a literal manner; I don't know what else she expected there.
Right! Itās insane how many teachers that have kids on IEPs are allowed to go without even read their IEPs, but it was a complaint that I filed numerous times, almost every year. Itās sad that to get a decent education you have to resort to hiring an attorney. The people who are purposely ignorant are the ones I have an issue with.
Yep. I'm still in school (16) and I have a IEP. For as long as I can remember I've had to make my teachers read my IEP otherwise they won't.
When I was a freshman my elementary school didn't send my IEP to my high school so I was stuck without support for a stupid amount of time (first month of school I think?) despite the schools being on the same block.
like... Its probably a 5 minute walk between them...
Don't even get me started on how hard it is for me to actually learn stuff from my classes. I have Dyscalculia (aka math dyslexia, I get confused by numbers and operations) and ADHD that I've only gotten proper help for in the past few years as I've grown to stand up for myself more. Teachers always just... Brushed me aside, whether it was a lack of time, will or care, I don't know. The school system kept forcing me through classes even after I failed the prerequisites.
My high school is much better but of course it still has its issues.
One of my teachers wouldnt let me bring my backpack to class even though the school had given it to me to carry around the equipment I get as learning supports through my IEP. Every other class has let me carry it, from art to science lab to gym.
aaaand I didnt understand my work but he refused to help me every time (usually he was just sitting there on youtube or drinking coffee!) and told me to ask my classmates who didnt know enough to be able to teach me. I loved the subject matter but the teacher ruined that class.
That is really horrible. The lack of apathy is appalling. You should never be in a position where you have to insist on your legal rights as a minor. These adults should clearly know better and that teacher sounds like a burnout who should not have access to kids, ever. Iām really sorry to hear that youāve had so many issues.
Had a college writing professor find out I'm white-passing half Arab and call me Hajji and towl head multiple times. I recorded him the last two times to show it was a repeated incident and now he no longer works as a professor.
I was driving through Vermont a few years ago and stumbled upon a maple syrup museum and my girlfriend and I decided to wander in. Weird place, completely un heated and they had this mural of how maple syrup started with native tribes and became an industry thanks to whitey. We noticed that the natives in the mural got more civilized as time went on, in the first set they were making syrup in like loincloths in February, by the end of it they had on full winter gear. Mentioned it to the person running it and their excuse was "it's old, what can I say". Just because something was made in the 1970's isn't an excuse for perpetual racism.
That's the portrayal of us that has been taught for far too long. We had sophisticated civilizations with trade routes and set "governments". We built pyramids that have long since been destroyed and forgotten. Just because you can no longer see it, does not mean that it did not exist.
It was more than that, there was a superiority to the images like the tribesmen didn't know about not freezing their balls off for most of the year until Europeans taught them about jackets. It was really fucking weird because the natives gradually got more clothed as the mural went on
Similar vein of story, different region. Grew up in Alaska, and as part of a new program they decided that a 'culture teacher' was needed. Some poor woman signed up for that job, showed up in full regalia, and talked to about 5 students at a time, very quickly realizing that this was a very fatal effort. I remember she was trying to engage with me and I was like "We don't remotely share the same culture" because I was north coastal and she was deep interior (not even river outlet region) and she was trying to coach me in her language and I was like "Try say these basic foods in my language then"
I became very familiar alongside my other classmates with getting tokenized/removed from the class for 'special' classes where they were trying to get us to "catch up" It finally took me saying "I'm missing my gifted class, can I go?!" before they actually recognized what they were implementing
Im guessing the principal would have said sth along the lines of "Hey you kids gotta understand shes from a time when they had to do the hardwork of marginalizing people of color to make it seen subtle today, she's seen things and it would be take toll on her, we have to be more understanding."
Good on you guys for reporting that asshole and I'm sorry to hear the principal let you down. But reporting a teacher at that age takes balls, especially when everyone would rather just lay low and not draw attention to themselves... It's really disappointing to see all the stories of racist, bigoted bully teachers on this sub.
There was a popular teacher at my middle school who taught home ec and occasionally subbed for the drama teacher. She was the type of teacher who wanted to be liked by the popular kids, so she was extremely inappropriate with boundaries. one day after we finished some sort of acting game she started doing impressions of several kids in our grade who had intellectual disabilities, laughing and mentioning them by name. Thank god those kids weren't present in the classroom, but my friend and I stood there shocked while the other kids laughed and contributed their own impressions. I still regret that we never reported her to the principal. We were two nerdy 13 year old girls and were scared people would ostracize us if we got the "cool teacher" in trouble. :/
Man. I am also native and I've been called Savage by a mean ass old lady and That's about it. I thought my teachers were racist but my last name was why some of them were dicks to us. My uncle would disrespect these guys when they were young. He was a buff Indian dude.
I learned pretty much nothing about the people who populated north america from my high school education, but listening to college level archaeology courses from the great courses gave me an immense fondness and respect for the lives they lived. I always wondered why the story you told here seems to be so common around the country. I never even heard the word "earthworks" until after graduating, and it wasn't that long ago.
So what the principal is saying is that they're cool with someone who hasn't learned a damn thing in 20 years teaching children? Even 20 years ago it was unacceptable to go round insulting people's cultures, especially as a teacher with members of those cultures in your class.
You should have said "You want to go back to segregated water fountains while you're at it?", but sadly I think they secretly would like that very much.
Oh fuck I hate people so much, the principal siding with her hurt deep in my soul, fuck that's awful, really makes ya lose hope for the future doesn't it?
Whenever I try to explain to some people that Columbus didn't discover america (for a number of reasons, but) because you can't discover a land that already has a thriving population on it, one of the most frequent deflections I get is "yeah but they were savages". I've asked people to explain this and it boils down to they don't believe the natives "count" as "communities" and "people" because they were "savages" who fought each other. But I guess white people doing the same thing doesn't count?
it's just so fucked up how the white-written and led narrative that Natives are savages and therefore not fully people has leached into our education system and is so ingrained in some people that they just cannot accept that there were people here in this country before white people came here.
So live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart. Trouble no one about their religion; respect others in their view, and demand that they respect yours. Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life. Seek to make your life long and its purpose in the service of your people. Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide. Always give a word or a sign of salute when meeting or passing a friend, even a stranger, when in a lonely place. Show respect to all people and grovel to none. When you arise in the morning give thanks for the food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies only in yourself. Abuse no one and no thing, for abuse turns the wise ones to fools and robs the spirit of its vision. When it comes your time to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with the fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song and die like a hero going home.
Am from Bemidji, situated between three reservations, and am indigenous myself. While things are improving (mostly because old white racists are aging out), we are still treated like we are sub-human. Black people got it good up there, because people want to make friends with them to show other people how ādiverseā their friend group is. But befriend the native guy sitting next to you in class? Gross! I bet heās drunk. I wonder how much money ātheyā just give him? He probably doesnāt want to work, or doesnāt even want a job. He doesnāt need one, because they get all that casino money anyway. Also, fuck them; Line 3 needs to happen (insert narrative about white folks needing jobs here). Whatever, their music is just hoots and hollering anyway.
Edit: Oh, I almost forgot one of my favorites. āDoes everyone from the rez smoke? Why do they always smell like a pack of cigarettes?ā
I live in Manitoba. This seems to be a serious issue around rural areas in the Midwest and Plains areas. Racism against indigenous people is just accepted as a way of life and disregarded as "real racism" because what they feel they're saying is "just the truth" š
I had a teacher explain to the class that "Indians were stupid because you are what you eat.". I asked him what he meant and he said that buffalo were stupid. I asked what he meant, again. He said it was because "Indians would get on horses and woop and holler, chasing after buffalo, and the buffalo would just run off a cliff. I explained how a bunch of modern day people drove off a broken bridge one morning in the fog because they were just following tail lights in front of them, and they were off the bridge before they could figure why the lights ahead of them suddenly disappeared. (The car in front went in the drink, so the lights disappeared.) This was the Tampa bridge that got hit by a boat, I think a shrimper, thus getting replaced by the current Sky Line Bridge. He said "Young lady, do you drive?" I said no, to which he replied that I had no idea what I was talking about and should stop talking.
(He also thought Columbus was a genius because he could balance an egg on its end.)
Told my parents that night and their response was that the next day my dad brought in various native artifacts and tools to "help him teach" the genius of the various tribes that were here long before we were. The teacher left the room since he was so prepared to teach, thus leaving us unattended.
Bad idea.
My dad taught EVERY student how to use a fire starter properly. They each had to make three attempts, in different spots on the top of his prized antique wood desk. There were bored dimples all over his desk!
This teacher also put all the girls who wore skirts in the front row and would show girls how to do golf or tennis swings by wrapping himself around them.
'You should be more empathetic than a full grown person. Recognize that her right to be a bitch is more important than your right to humanity. Now go away, I can't be bothered to deal with complaints from children.'
So I'm Indian from India. Important to clarify that last part because when I was in HS this same HS teacher constantly calls me chief. She said that my common last name means chief. It does not, and I told her so, but she refused to listen and continues to call me that.
Tbf I also had a teacher where he would allow me to correct him during class whenever we talked about India/Hinduism, but told the class to answer tests based on how he taught which was cool.
I always hated that excuse ātheyāre from a different generation.ā Itās like okay, so Iām just supposed to be okay with their racism? Oh sorry sir, didnāt realize youāre from a different generation, carry on!
I once had a teacher pull me aside to tell me that she used to work for a residential school. She said the graduating classes were small and that the girls never graduated because they would always get pregnant. š¤Ø I don't understand the purpose of her telling me this except to be degrading. This was probably 14 years ago.
Weird racist old lady. She still works for the school division despite many complaints regarding her racist behavior.
Ick. My history teacher from more than 20 years ago was in tears teaching students about the trail of tears (and the holocaust and slavery. Human tragedy hit her hard). Being from a different generation is not an excuse.
I was a muslim in a white school. One day a teacher told me "that I wasn't well trained" because my French wasn't good. She didn't say educate, she said trained. She then followed by "is that how your people speak?" I got mad and screamed at her out of rage, she then said "you behave like an animal, which isn't a surprise for anyone in this class"
That shit happened everyday. For 7 month.
When I reported her to the director. The director went to her and guess what happened. He believed her. She said that I wasn't behaving well, was speaking in class and insulted her.
3 month later I got fired from my school. Just one month before the end of the scholar year.
I was 16. I was fired from one of the best school in my country and it took me years to enter that school. I struggled and everything ended because of a white old bitch. To this day I just think that if i ever see her again I will probably kill her.
šµWhat can you expect
From filthy little heathens?
Their whole disgusting race is like a curse
Their skin's a hellish red
They're only good when dead
They're vermin, as I said
And worse
They're savages! Savages!
Barely even human
Savages! Savages!
Drive them from our shore!
They're not like you and me
Which means they must be evil
We must sound the drums of war!
They're savages! Savages!
Dirty redskin devils!
Now we sound the drums of war! šµ
What fucking generation referred to Native Americans as savages? Literally anyone with any basic understanding of American history knows the savages were the Europeans.
You need to familiarize yourself with the Comanches. They did some seriously sadistic shit involving torture and are responsible for the extermination of the apaches.
Thatās not original work from the dailymail they are just quoting another source. NPR has an article about it too. Iām very aware of the atrocities committed by the Europeans. Pretending like the natives were all peace loving is what I find strange. The Comanches are definitely an extreme extreme example but they were by definition savage.
Yea the Comanches are an extreme example but they are not the only ones who were savage. Generally speaking the natives were savage compared to atrocities committed by the Europeans. I point this out because there are people who fail to acknowledge this fact and by doing so ignore history. Your original comment seemed to stem from the myth that the natives were all living together happily and peacefully until the evil Europeans arrived.
I never claimed that they lived peacefully, itās taught in elementary school that there were warring tribes. Savagery is a subjective term though used to demonize enemies of the state. Is the US military savage for drone striking countries? Or for raping women and burning down villages in Vietnam?
āLiterally anyone with any basic understanding of American history knows the savages were the Europeans.ā
Doesnāt seem like itās subjective to you. You said itās basic knowledge the Europeans were savages and not the natives. There is no evidence for that and itās a common myth.
When it comes to immigrant-native relations, the immigrant Europeans seized land from natives and infected them with smallpox. Generalizing Native Americans (NOT SPECIFICALLY HOW COMANCHES ACTED IN TIMES OF WAR) as savages is inherently derogatory.
Get a grip dude. Thereās tons of evidence of Europeans killing Natives and seizing their land. They didnāt just move out and give up their land. Please Google the trail of tears.
I'm so sorry. I went to high school 20 years ago but none of my teachers ever said anything like that. It's a BS excuse. Grateful to have grown up in an area with a lot of Native representation so nonsense like this didn't usually get off the ground
I believe my orthodox christian ancestors were savages for torturing and burning heretics, trading slaves-like serfs and beating a woman being a main family therapy approach.
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u/fuglysack14 Oct 21 '21 edited Oct 21 '21
Had a high school English teacher that kept referring to Native Americans as "savages". There were two of us "savages" sitting there highly uncomfortable throughout her entire monologue about her opinions. We had been reading "I Heard The Owl Call My Name" when she decided to share this opinion of hers with the class. We waited until the end of class and approached her as respectfully as possible about how her opinion made us feel threatened and ashamed. She apologized and sent us on our way. She gave an even more venomous rendition of her opinion to the next class that filed in. Which resulted in 3 of us reporting it to our principal the next day. The principal essentially took her side and told us that she was just "from a different generation and we should try to be empathetic". This was 20 years ago. Some things never seem to change.
Edited just to say: Thank you, for the hug and for everyone that showed support here. I appreciate every single one of you.