Dear Professor Bergonzi, DeNardo, Hendricks, Legutki, Sweet, and Thibeault:
At the time your email (below) was covered in the Daily Illini, I was at the Michigan Teachers of English annual conference, where---as a featured speaker---I shared research on the effects of stereotyping on American Indian children. As a Pueblo Indian woman, and, as a former schoolteacher, I believe it is vital that pre-service teachers receive precisely the sort of information you shared with them in the email you sent. The conference you attended ("Race, Erasure, and Equity in Music Education") sounds outstanding.
A bit of context: I'm from Nambe Pueblo, in northern New Mexico. I grew up there, and I'm tribally enrolled. From parents, grandparents, and elders, I learned what it means to be pueblo. Fast forward to the early 1990s and my decision to go to graduate school at the University of Illinois. Prior to that, I had been teaching school, careful not to teach stereotypical or biased information to my students, whether it was the kindergarten children in Albuquerque or the Native children in Santa Fe. Prior to moving to Urbana, I'd been forewarned about "Chief Illiniwek" but waved the warning away. I couldn't imagine what was to come...
I got here in 1994 and was taken aback, again and again, at what I saw and heard all around me: the intense embrace and love of a stereotype that, from an educational perspective, was fraught with error and misinformation. My efforts to understand this phenomenon led me to study images of American Indians in children's and young adult literature.
People here say they "learn" about American Indians by watching "chief illiniwek" dance on the football field. The dance, the music, and the mascot itself feed expectations and ideas that American Indians were tragic peoples who no longer exist.
Then and now, it is difficult to comprehend that an educational institution was engaged in blatant institutional racism they called "honoring" of American Indians. That sentiment was put forth year after year, in the face of Native students, staff, and faculty who said it was nor honorable, nor was it educational.
We weren't alone in expressing our objections. Indeed, since the 1970s, national Native organizations have issued statements calling for an end to this use of Native imagery. Amongst the organizations are the National Congress of American Indians and the National Indian Education Association. In recent years, the American Psychological Association and the American Sociological Association passed resolutions calling for an end to the use of Native imagery, too. Among the research studies they based their resolutions on are the studies done by Stephanie Fryberg.
You were not being "politically correct" in your actions. Rather, you were doing what any of us (professors) should do: share developments in our respective areas of research and study with our students. Your actions and email are educationally sound, not "politically correct."
When I returned to campus the first week of November, I played several versions of "One little, two little, three little Indians..." for students in my Intro to American Indian Studies course, and pointed them to the student paper and coverage of your email. By this point in the semester, my students have spent a semester noting occurrences of Native imagery. They see things they've never noticed before, and your email provided me with the opportunity to call their attention to this sort of imagery in music.
I've been following the media coverage of your email, and the purpose of this Open Letter is to publicly say that I fully support your actions. If you wish, I'm happy to talk with you individually or as a group, or to speak with your students, too. My email address is [email protected].
Sincerely,
Debbie Reese
Assistant Professor
American Indian Studies
University of Illinois
(UIUC Class of 2000)
