A few years back, I taught Multicultural classes at Naropa University in Boulder. One of the subjects that I found to be very important to teach about was Cultural Appropriation. Merriam Webster defines it as: to take or use (something) especially in a way that is illegal, unfair, etc. It is used in the context of other cultures in that those who are part of the dominant culture take and use ceremonies, sacred objects, dances, songs, artifacts, etc. of a non-dominant, oppressed or Indigenous cultural group.
My experience has been that when I speak on this subject, I notice that folks’ hackles go up. I have often had the occasion to speak to groups about spirituality. I like to ask the group to share what their spiritual path looks like for them, and what practices they follow. There is almost always someone in the group who shares that they are “interested in” or do practices from Native American spirituality. At this point, and if they are of the dominant culture, my hackles go up. I have been to the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota on various occasions over the last year and have seen the poverty that the folks there live in, as well as the struggle with alcoholism and violence–all out of the way that they have been treated and stolen from by the dominant culture. Their spirituality is sacred to them, and has survived despite all that has been done to them down through history.
In witnessing what they have gone/are going through, I stand in solidarity with them, and will do what I can to be of service to them as I am able. While I could have, due to having gained some element of trust through my work with them, I haven’t gone to the reservation with any intention to join or be a part of their ceremonies. I have not brought back information about their ceremonies to share with others, because this would be out of context, and not right. I deeply honor their connection to Mother Earth–something we share. I deeply honor all that they do to keep that connection strong. I have witnessed it, and I am in awe of the beauty and the power they express.
When I have heard folks of the dominant culture talk about their “Native American practices”, I ask them where they learned what they have learned, have they been given permission by their Native teachers to share or participate in this, and most especially, have they been to a reservation to actually see how the people live, and to understand the context of where their practices come from. Nine times out of ten, folks start to stutter, turn red, look at their feet, and are unable to answer any of my questions in the affirmative.
I took a hard line on this when I was a teacher, but after having been to the reservation, my line is even harder than before. Unless you learned from a Native teacher, unless you have spent time on a reservation, unless your Native teacher has given you permission to teach the practices you have learned, you have no right to call yourself a “practitioner of Native American Spirituality”.
The other thing that often happens when I pose this question is that folks will say that they have such and such an amount of Native American blood, or their great-great grand somebody was Native American. While this might be enough to get you onto the tribal rolls, you still have to do the work of learning who the people are whose practices you copy. If you claim that they are “your people” then you better darn well get to know them by going to where they live, spending time with them, bringing things to them in offering and not taking away anything that you are not given by them.
I have spent time with the Lakota people of Pine Ridge, I greatly admire their ferocity and strength in battling the forces that have been against them down through time. They have been taken from over and over again–their lives, their children to boarding schools, their livelihoods, their style of dress, their jewelry, their spirituality. Yes, they are beautiful people, yes, their practices–handed down from their ancestors–are very powerful, deep and rich–rooted as they are in the people who are rooted in Mother Earth. I make no apologies to you for feeling angry at what I’ve said. I make no apologies to you for asking that you stop and take a look at what you might be doing–participating in the exploitation of a people and their way of life. Please, stop. Take a moment. Go visit a reservation. Understand what the people are really like. Stand with them and aid them in whatever way they might ask of you. But please, stop taking something that isn’t yours. Stop. Please just stop!