Cultural appropriation, according to the left, is “the unacknowledged or inappropriate adoption of the customs, practices ideas, etc. of one people or society by members of another and typically more dominant people or society.” By now, you are all aware that a frat or a sorority cannot throw a “Mexican Party” with tacos, enchiladas, and people wearing sombreros. Nor will you find any buckskin costumes complete with feathered headdresses among the costumes being offered for Halloween sales.
But recently, Minnetonka, the Minnesota company that has manufactured and sold very comfortable moccasins for 75 years issued an apology for having appropriated Native American products for all of those 75 years. In their statement, they did not say they will stop manufacturing moccasins, but rather that they will give more back to the Native American communities, honoring their culture and their designs which have influenced their product.
If that seems to be a bit of a non-apology, I tend to agree with you. But let’s consider some salient facts.
Fact #1: Those we refer to as “Native Americans” (Sioux, Comanches, Apaches, Ute, Arapaho, Cherokee, Navajo and others) are NOT in fact Native Americans any more than we are. Like early English, French, and Spanish, they emigrated to this continent, though many thousands of years earlier. A study done in England suggests they may have arrived from Asia as early as 35,000 years ago. Some no doubt crossed the land bridge across the Bering Strait from Siberia to Alaska which was created by the drastic drop in the sea level during the last ice age, and which remained until about 10,000 years ago. Others no doubt came across by boat and then down along the coast, spreading in the thousands of years before Europeans arrived, across the entire continent. So, Native American are not Native Americans, just earlier Americans!
Fact #2: Also, to celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day (better known to the majority of Americans as Columbus Day) is to celebrate every man, woman, and child born on American soil, since indigenous simply means, native to an area which you are if you are born there.
Fact #3: So, although the left has come up with some interesting but wholly inaccurate terms to refer to those Sioux and Comanches, and Navajo, if you can’t just call them “Americans,” which is what they, just like the rest of us born here or naturalized are, then call them “Early Americans.” They have no more right to this land than we do if we consider history. According to history, before the modern era where most countries (other than the U.S.) have defined borders, people moved from one place to another, displacing those who lived there before them and eventually assimilating many of them into what has become the modern countries. Modern day France was a thriving, tribal society of Gaels until the Romans conquered them. But as the Roman Empire declined, the Roman soldiers were called back to defend Rome, leaving the Gallo-Romans, who had become comfortable under Roman protection ,defenseless. Germanic tribes including the Goths, the Visigoths, and the Franks, overran the country, fighting among each other until the Franks eventually subdued them all. Those who did not die in the fighting, were assimilated into what eventually became France, the country of the Franks.
England was populated by the Britons but like France, conquered by the Romans until the collapse of the Roman Empire. Then the Germanic tribes of the Angles and the Saxons moved in, driving the Britons farther and farther west. Eventually the remaining Britons were assimilated, some historians now believe, simply becoming the peasant class under their Anglo-Saxon over-lords. Then, in 1066, William the Conqueror of Normandy defeated King Harold Godwinsin of England at the Battle of Hastings and Normans became the over-lords of the Anglo-Saxons.
Fact #4: We can look back at history and decry its violence and its injustice, but every country in the world has experienced virtually the same thing through the centuries. America is not unique in that, but here the political left has determined to right every historical wrong by punishing today’s Americans for things they did not do. And the list, by their criteria, should grow longer yet.
Fact# 5: If Minnetonka must apologize for making and selling moccasins rather than allowing Americans to simply enjoy the soft comfort of something that originated from Early Americans, then shouldn’t Taco Bell and any other fast food Mexican restaurant immediately go out of business since they are not run nor manned by Mexicans? And can we, who are not of Mexican descent, even eat Mexican food without appropriating their culture? Certainly no one should make and eat homemade Chow Mein or Chop Suey for fear of appropriating Asian culture. Lasagna is out and Olive Garden must close its doors or find and hire only Italian cooks and wait staff.
Indiana must immediately change its name since it contains the despised word “Indian” as must Indianola, Illinois. And Illinois, named after the Illinois Confederation of so-called “Native American” tribes who inhabited the Mississippi Valley should also change its name and anything in the state named Illini must change their names as well, as that term also referred to the Illinois Confederation.
Don’t buy a Swiss watch or (gasp!) a cuckoo clock. You may be appropriating the Swiss culture!
No Italian loafers, or French wine, or that nice pair of sandals you picked up in Cancun. No English tea, no German beer and certainly no lederhosen!
How surprised the Left will be when they discover that their ludicrous “cultural appropriation” is actually going to force us to buy American! It’s America first, brought to you by the fascist left!