Day 4: Power, White Privilege, & Settler Privilege
Choose one thing to read, watch, listen to, do, or engage with today. Try to mix it up each day between the categories!
READ
Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack of Settler Privilege Dina Gilio-Whitaker (Colville Confederated Tribe) builds on Peggy McIintos’s seminal Knapsack frame to convey what settler privilege is and what it looks like. Beacon Broadside (2018)
Settler Fragility: Why Settler Privilege Is So Hard to Talk About by Dina Gilio-Whitaker (Colville Confederated Tribe) builds on Robin DiAngelo’s white fragility insights to convey what settler fragility looks like across multiple non-Native identities. Beacon Broadside (2018)
America Has Always Used Schools as a Weapon Against Native Americans Native US students still languish in failing schools and often face worse outcomes than their White, Black and Latino peers. How, exactly, did we get here? by Katrina Boone Ed Post (2018)
Land-grab universities Learn about the history and repercussions of the 1862 Morrill Act which gave 79,461 parcels of Indigenous lands, totaling about 10,700,000 acres to 52 land-grant universities (LGUs) to fund their endowments. by Robert Lee and Tristan Ahtone High Country News (2020)
What are captive narratives? How an entire genre falsely characterized indigenous peoples while pushing western religious ideals. New England Captivity Narratives (2021)
WATCH
What is privilege? Learn how to take meaningful action as an ally. Allyship at Work helps you understand your privilege and positional power and learn specific actions you can take to show up as an ally. Lean In (2022) 4 minutes T CC
500 Nations This eight-part TV docu-series on the Native Americans of North and Central America documents events from pre-Columbian times to the end of the 19th century. Much information comes from text, eyewitnesses, pictorials, and computer graphics. Hosted by Kevin Costner, narrated by Gregory Harrison, and directed by Jack Leustig. Available on YouTube and Amazon, as well as in local libraries. (1995) Full series 6:15 hours
We Shall Remain Five-part, 7.5-hour documentary series about the history of Native Americans spanning the 17th century to the 20th century. It was a collaborative effort with several different directors, writers, and producers working on each episode, including directors Chris Eyre, Ric Burns, and Stanley Nelson Jr. Available on Kanopy, Amazon Prime in some locations, and iTunes. (2009) 75 minutes per episode
LISTEN
A Reassessment of the Legend of Hannah Duston | New Hampshire Public Radio Reported at the height of the controversy over Confederate statues, this conversation explores the question of how to view the New Hampshire statue of Hannah Duston, a white woman lauded as a hero for killing and scalping 10 natives who had captured her. (2020) 57 minutes T
Removal of Cultural Icons of Colonization and Genocide Federal programs and the Code of Indian Offenses reflected a dehumanization of Native women by the American public—its cultural icons such as Christopher Columbus. While honoring historical figures, who committed genocide through the power of the US government are coming down across the nation, other symbols continue to stand. Listen to Speaking Our Truth: Podcast for Change (2020) 12 minutes
BRING IT HOME
Watch these videos to help understand culture.
What are cultural norms? (2020) 3 minutes
What are cultural values? (2020) 3 minutes
What is cultural assimilation? (2020) 2 minutes
What is acculturation? (2020) 4 minutes
Think about your own culture. If you, or your ancestors, did not assimilate to the Indigenous culture of the United States (which controlled most of the land until 1900), what culture did they assimilate to?
4 Directions Medicine Wheel painted by IFTM, 2024 (photo by Claudia A. Fox Tree)
DO
If you are not living on the land your ancestors lived on prior to 1492, you are a settler on another nation’s lands. List five privileges you have just by living on another Indigenous nation’s land. Take a look at this article if you need inspiration.
EXPLORE & REFLECT
Reflect on the Luis Arcas Brauner painting Boston Tea Party, which depicts the renowned 1773 resistance act in which a group of white men, disguised as Natives, dump tea overboard into Boston Harbor
21-Day Questions
Why did the Sons of Liberty dress up as Native Americans?
What stereotype were they invoking?
How is this related to cultural appropriation and settler privilege?
Curious to learn more? Listen to this : Native American Costumes and the Unwritten Constitution Professor Farah Peterson investigates the history of mob protests for economic rights on the path to America’s unwritten constitution. UVA Law School (2020) 33 minutes T
T Transcript Available
CC Closed Captions Available