Native American Community

After a wonderful three day weekend I am dreading the week ahead. It’s going to be full of meetings, trainings, and an endless stack of paperwork. There are aspects of my job that I like and then there are parts of it that I really dread.

On the home front hubby left for yet another mini tour this morning. This time they will be in Phoenix, AZ; Riverside, CA; San Carlos, AZ; Gallup, NM and finally home on Sunday night. I am really glad they are booking more shows this year and I really hope it picks up in the future. Musicians often joke that they are paying their dues,well, that’s where this band is at right now. Paying their dues but there’s always hope. Hope that maybe someone in that audience that they play for is a scout. Hope that soon it will all be well worth the sacrifices, time, energy, and money. I for one would just love to see Native Americans break into mainstream music, that for me would just be amazing.

I have been pondering on a subject over the weekend, that is quite a sensitive one for the Native American community. The use of Native American culture, traditions, art, and designs in mainstream media/fashion by non natives. For example, the recent music video by the popular band No Doubt and most recently the use of a Native American headdress on Victoria’s Secret’s runways (For the record, both have apologized for doing so). Even fashion at this very moment is very inspired by Native American Art and Designs as I observed walking through our local mall. As far as the fashion goes I can’t say I was offended at first to see Native American inspired clothing on the racks of my favorite store, actually, I was excited and somewhat proud, thinking wow, we’re mainstream! Then, I started thinking about the business side of things. I thought I wonder how much money these companies are making using these designs and my mind automatically went back to the Native American Artist at the Santa Fe Indian Market. Will they have to lower their prices now because these are now available at a lower price? Because they have to be made in China, right?  How will this affect our artists? I went back and forth about the pros and cons. After all the battles I had with myself on the subject I came to one pro on my list that may benefit my native people. I thought maybe….. just maybe this will open doors for Native American Actors and Musicians because I can’t really see the Native American community upset about real Native Americans expressing their own culture in No Doubt’s music video or a Native American super model with a headdress in Victoria’s Secret’s runway show. I have even seen a recent music video by Nelly Furtado with actual Native American Hoop Dancers and that my friends is what I look forward to seeing a whole lot more.