Petition Protest to GoNative Event

ONLINE PETITION: http://petitionspot.com/petitions/ProtestGoNativeEvent

To The Organizers, Promoters and Producers of the "GO NATIVE Fundraiser for the Visionary Village/Evolutionary Temple and the Native American Church”:

We as tribal peoples, allies, and organizations representing Native American
issues wish to express our concern over the GO NATIVE Fundraiser event
hosted by Visionary Village/Evolutionary Temple. We would like to take this
opportunity to initiate a dialogue about what effects such events have on
our community. We have become aware of several email interactions between
community members and the organizers of this event, all of which are wrought
with the frustrations and pain, on both sides, that continue to plague
issues of "race relations" in a country in which indigenous people are still
colonized. We have taken issue with the manner in which this event has been
promoted because we recognize that such contributions to public discourse
perpetuate stereotypes and dishonor the very real struggles of Native
communities. Your non-collaboration in helping us understand your alleged
affiliations and work with the Native American Church has caused us to make
further inquiry on the nature of the event as a fundraiser.

We feel that any person looking at the various flyers and advertisements for
this event would reasonably assume that the tag line, "GO NATIVE," is in
reference to dressing as Native American people. These assumptions would
rightfully be conceived due to the alleged collaboration with the Native
American Church, and especially through the themeing of rooms of the four
elements, and representing those elements with Native/Indigenous peoples.
The four people(s) (Maori, Anasazi, Shipibo, and Pueblo) that are called out
do not in fact have any direct relationship with Peyoteism or the NAC per
se, nor should their respective practices be conflated with the practices of
the church. It has also been made clear that the organizers of this event
did not intend that people dress as the Maori, Anasazi, Shipibo, and Pueblo,
but this does not negate their responsibility in making the event
advertisements more clear with respect to their use of the terms, "go
native." For us and many others, "Go Native" implies reverting to a primal
nature commonly and wrongly associated with Indigenous people. Even if, as
the organizers of this event have claimed, "go native" is meant to imply "a
heavy hunter-gatherer mindset" theme so as to rightfully adapt to an
ecosystem, such statements associating Native Americans and other indigenous
people as inherently "hunter-gathering" people plays upon a long and
thriving discursive legacy in which our communities are cast as lesser
beings in social evolutionist terms.

The reading of the event as a Native American theme party is further implied
because of the graphics chosen for the flyers which are present all over the
internet on social networking sites Facebook, MySpace, and through the
Visionary Villages website, as well as the email media that is being sent
out. The graphics chosen include a buffalo skull, a prominent Native
American tool of ceremony, and the notation that the location of the event
is “built in front of the ancient Ohlone Indian gathering ground in
Oakland.” This has most egregious implications, then, for the
advertisement’s request that people dress in "Native costume,” as it
perpetuates damaging, misleading, and deeply offensive stereotypes. It also
perpetuates the idea that anyone (mostly non-Native as burning man is
predominantly attended by non-Native people) can espouse a certain cultural
aesthetic with disregard to the peoples whom identify and live by that
culture. It is disrespectful of Native American ceremonial rituals and
regalia to ask the general public to don their own aberrations of what they
think Native attire might be.

The elemental naming of the rooms is not in contention, it is your weak
justification for showcasing A.I.N.A.N.H.P.I. (American Indian, Native
Alaskan, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander) tribes as examples of
environmental adaptability which strengthen the association of the word
"Native" to A.I.N.A.N.H.P.I. peoples. In addition, you claim the event is
about "exobiogenesis movement", "Aliens and starseeds, not Apache and
Sioux", but the interpretation of your advertisements is completely
different. Why, then, does the theme lack any references to your "belief
that as life evolves to travel between planets, each planet should be
revered as a native home"? Instead of your claimed planetary theme, why are
your rooms themed with different tribes and why is there a "Giant Dream
Catcher" that hangs between balconies at your event?

Visionary Village has responded that the organizers of this event have not
intended to imply Native American in their use of the word "Native." The
above evidence in our eyes is to the contrary. In our world today, we must
all face the fact that our intentions are not always communicated clearly,
and in order to be sensitive to the lives of others we must take heed to
suggestions, and value the opinions of others. For us, despite what the
organization was intending, the tone of the advertisements for this event
perpetuate racist stereotypes for which Native Americans as a collective
have been persecuted, and trying to escape for centuries. The broad
dissemination of these advertisements, on almost all of the DJ and
performers' MySpace and other music sights, as well as the advertisements on
Facebook, and tribe.net , only reinforces stereotypes
placed upon Native peoples, rendering us powerless and voiceless in our
ability to represent ourselves.

Native peoples are the only oppressed peoples in this country that are
continually ignored in their requests to not be characterized and
romanticized. The results have real and tangible effects on Native youth
especially, and the community as a whole. Scholars such as Stephanie
Frybergg from the University of Arizona have done great work on stereotype
threat, and the very significant reality it has in the Native community due
to our invisibility in mainstream society. We encourage you to read
Stephanie Fryberg's study entitled "Honor or harm: The effects of American
Indian mascots on American Indian selves (with H.R. Markus, D Oyserman, and
J.M. Stone)." We hope that the organizers will be able after reading this to
understand why we feel that the promotion of this event was undertaken with
clearly racist overtones.

We the undersigned implore the organizers to take a step back and consider
the effect the advertising of your event has on all of us in the Bay Area
community. In order to work towards an anti-racist society we must take
action to correct wrongs that have been committed, regardless of intent. We
must seek to correct misunderstandings in our communities, and we must work
on the individual and collective level. We are not faulting the organizers
for what can be claimed as ignorance of knowledge surrounding Indigenous
communities, but we do request that the event be changed. Racism is
something we must all work against in order to become a better society, we
respectfully request that the event advertisers:

a) withdraw its request that people show up in "native costume";

b) stop associating the four tribes with the different elements, and thus
using them as themes by removing tribal names from all advertising and from
the site itself;

c) make public any affiliations with actual Native tribes or Native
organizations;

d) issuing a public apology addressing your appropriation of our symbols and
tribes;

e) not hold another event with advertising that implies an Indigenous theme;

We are not asking the event to cease, or to not play music, or not have a
good time. In the spirit of community building, we are asking that our
voices be heard, and our pain not be disregarded, and that Native American
Communities be respected. It is clear to us that Native peoples are part of
the inspiration for this event, we ask not to be prostituted in an effort to
create fundraising/revenue for a cause that has not been made clear.

We pray for your cooperation and for continued communication and improved
relations with you.