- Indigenous youth, and the retelling of the single story -

As I sit writing this article, in a library in Colorado, I can help at chuckle at the coincidence. On a Friday afternoon I am in the university library writing the response in complete silence. Including the Librarian there might be 5 people in the whole building. In front of me is a collection of Navajo rugs framed on the wall like a artifact of the past.

I can’t help but wonder what rhetorical message this is sending whether intentional or not. The article points to several examples of imagery that depicts indianity as:“

- monolithic” and only existing in nature and in the past.

- Make broad assumptions and generalizations about indigenous people are the same as they all are dressed same. Thus negating the cultural diversity of the Americas.

- Depict dress that is pre conquest. Which relegates indigenous culture to a thing of the past.

Here are a few examples:

Both the University of Utah, and Florida State pay the Ute tribe, and the Seminole tribe for rights to their name, and they give scholarships to students who are from those perspective tribes. However, I still wonder if this hurts more than helps.

Thus, in order to combat the singular ideas about what it means to be a Native American I am posting several new and contemporary images / art that represents the modern native experience:

- Supaman mixes / remixes traditional Crow sounds and images with modern technology to create a new and really cool sound.

A Tribe Called Red - (Six Nations of the Grand River, and Cayuga First Nation) mixes awesome electric music. More importantly this video depicts the stand off at Standing Rock, a movement that began with indigenous youth.

Apache SkateBoards - Artist Douglas Miles designs skateboards and manages a skate team out of San Carlos AZ. His art is pretty cool and his skate team rips.

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/433q8q/15-years-of-apache-skateboards-links-indigenous-and-skate-cultures

Disrupting monolithic images with contemporary images helps revitalize an old and oppressive narrative on what it means to be Indian. All of these artist are using contemporary technology to tell a new, more complex story.