What's more, I've never seen a chief who looks like a tanned,
twenty-something bodybuilder or a hipster gangsta'. (See Emerson Windy's video "Peace
Pipe" here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2nleTwSIB4) Emerson Windy committed a quadruple faux pas (perhaps even more - does anyone have a calculator?) by wearing a headdress with bull or goat horns sticking out from it and he's bare chested and has some kind of a dress covering his thighs. He smokes marijuana from a peace pipe - another sacred instrument used in Indian religious ceremonies. And special herbs that aren't mood- or mind-altering are smoked from a peace pipe. Tribes even delegate trusted vanguards to to protect and care for them.
Windy sings a rah-rah anthem to promote rampant marijuana use while simultaneously advocating a salacious sexual lifestyle. During this wavy weird visual, which at times breaks into a kaleidoscope effect, meshing colors and shapes. Is Windy trying to simulate a hallucinogenic narcotics trip?
According to Windy's interview on a radio station that features hip-hop and rap, he said after "Peace Pipe" was released in early May, he admitted that he considered pulling "Peace Pipe" after it went viral - with more than 14 million views in a matter or only a few days. "Peace Pipe" became notorious and infamous for being wacko, wild and an attack on Indian culture - it's hardly famous for being a "great" hip-hop song. And Windy admits that he was overwhelmed by the negative wave of backlash "Peace Pipe" flooded him with - like a bad tsunami of intense disfavor and rage.
In the Indian corner of social media. AIM In-Ky (the American Indian Movement of Indiana - Kentucky) circulated an online petition requesting immediate online removal of the video. AIM In-Ky also urged its members and supporters to post on Windy's Facebook page their contempt and disapproval of the video and the song. Windy's Facebook page was flooded with negative and sometime, very caustic comments about "Peace Pipe." (See Emerson Windy's radio interview here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xn-6RxiQOu4 ) Aim In-Ky's Facebook link is here: www.facebook.com/aim.indianakentucky?fref=ts)
*****
What a long time it took to collect all those feathers. But after a lifetime, those headdresses became filled with feathers and were majestic and ornate symbols of an old, wise, noble chief's life's work. In all those pictures, the chiefs were fairly old - and some, elderly - because of that big drawback of this time-linear existence we're trapped within. By the way, some tribes did not have this feathery head regalia. To an Indian brave, each feather was given to him by an elder or a chief in his tribe for an act of bravery, or for some noble act the young Indian man did for his tribe. A lot of these feathers came from braves risking their lives on the battlefield, though, and perhaps above everything else, a headdress is a war bonnet.
It's easy to see why Native Americans aren't very happy about the current fashion craze, using the traditional tribal chief's headdress as a Halloween costume gimmick, or buying these things to wear during high school, college, or professional football games. And although the funky headdresses which I linked to above were most likely pieced together in a factory in 15 minutes to a half hour, an Indian tribal chief's headdress took a lifetime to come together. From battle after battle fought and endured; or from one noble act, good deed, or spiritual gesture to another, he was awarded a feather, sometimes two, if the deed was very righteous and worthy. And he'd add these feathers to his headdress , most likely the most valued material possession he owned.
So a headdress to an American Indian is not a "hat"
for a Halloween costume, and neither is it something to be worn at a football
game by some guy drinking beer in the stands with a baker's dozen of other
screaming pigskin fanatics. And unfortunately, culture vulturei-sm has permeated American
society and a nefarious fashion trend is being set.
Case in point: Kloe Kardashian recently donned a headdress as she
was photographed in front of a little teepee, sitting cross-legged, Indian
style, for her sister Kim's baby North West's first birthday bash, at a shindig called a "Kidchella."On June 21, Aunt Kloe posted Facebook and
Instagram photos as Chief Kloe, with long comment threads on social media either praising or booing her. But the Kardashians have an enormous, avid and loyal following, so most of these comments were benign, congratulatory, sometimes even flattering. On Native American social networking venues and in Indian online magazines, however, there were a lot of hard feelings, resentment and rebuff. (See: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/22/khloe-kardashian-native-american-headdress_n_5519514.html)
On Instagram, Chief Kloe captioned the picture "Ray of clouds. Chirping of birds. Gurgling of water. Granting desire. One with water. #Kidchella my first Coachella!!!" (Read more at http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/06/23/native-culture-makes-great-kids-party-accessory-kardashianland-155436)
"It's terrible," said Cliff Matius, cultural director of the Redhawk Native American Arts Council, in a US Magazine article. "It's absolutely terrible that they have no conscience to discontinue to do such things. I just can't believe she would be that insensitive to think it was okay to wear that war bonnet at a kids' party . . . Now you have a celebrity at a kids' party creating a whole new generation of insensitive thinking." See: http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-style/news/khloe-kardashian-slammed-native-american-council-headdress-2014236 and read more at: http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-style/news/khloe-kardashian-slammed-native-american-council-headdress-2014236#ixzz36z9nexDb)
The Indian Country Today Media Network.com article, which flew online June 23, reads, "Khloe's photo met with criticism from some Instagrammers who found it disrespectful. They were of course slammed by Kardashian fans who feel they should lighten up. It's fair to debate this, but here's something to consider: Khloe's picture has 369,000 likes (and counting); Kylie's (Kloe's younger half-sister, who posted a pic of Chief Kloe, too --writer's aside) has 623,000 likes and counting. Love 'em, hate 'em, or don't care, the fact remains that any little thing the Kardashians do reaches a massive audience. More people consume a Kardashian or Jenner Instagram picture than consume all of the Internet's Native news sources combined. Debate is fair, but hundreds of thousands of Kardashian devotees gleefully shouting down a few Native voices isn't much of a debate." (See ibid: http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/06/23/native-culture-makes-great-kids-party-accessory-kardashianland-155436)
ICTMN continues, "As celebrities these people have the choice -- and one wishes they'd feel some responsibility -- not to spread ignorance to followers who will defend them and seek to emulate them. We can't say how many Kardashian fans now think Native Americans meditate in the lotus position, but we'd bet it's more than a few." (See ibid: http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/06/23/native-culture-makes-great-kids-party-accessory-kardashianland-155436)
Everyone knows you can't fight fashion. Soon, I
fear, a lot of women -- not American Indians, of course - might have a tribal
chief's headdress hanging in their closets, dangling between the little black
dresses and the designer jeans, tees, and hoodies.
Ignorance and a cavalier "I don't give a damn" attitude about what a headdress signifies and what its sanctity mean to Native Americans is becoming reckless, obnoxious and dangerous. With such a small sector of the American populace being Native American -- with only 0.9% of the U.S. Population legally registered as American Indian, Eskimo and Aleut, according to the 2010 U.S. Census (but it's growing -- it was 0.3% in 1940 and 0.2% in 1920), America's First Nations residents are a marginalized, relatively poor and underprivileged, widely misunderstood, neglected race. It can be argued that American Indians have been made an invisible segment of the United States populace. (See race census statistics here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_Americans_in_the_United_States)
What if someone who never served in the military bought a U.S. Marine Corps dress uniform, along with a slew of spitting-image duplicates of combat metals, and then wore the officer's uniform around with two or three stars on his shoulders, like a general? And say he went to Halloween bashes dressed up like this? How's about the local gin mill? Or to sporting events and maybe even things like gay pride parades, rock concerts, and performances at the opera or the theater? Many veterans in his city and neighborhood, along with non-vets alike (of strict patriotic fervor), would be raving in condemnation of such a patriotic blasphemy "fashion statement." This is very understandable -wearing such a symbol of American war sacrifice should not be tolerated. - No way, no how! Even the federal government goes after frauds who claim they've earned combat metals. Even prison sentences could be a consequence of living out such a lie.
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