Offenses Piling Up

Apparently, some readers take offense when I’m offended by something.

Some of the notes I received were to the point.

“Get a grip,” “Get over it” and “Please put a cork in it,” for example. (I’ll take that under advisement, thanks.)

Some tried to be clever.

“Victim! We have a victim! Call the ACLU, call Jesse Jackson, call all `unity’ this and `coalition’ that groups.”

This was my personal favorite:

“In my view, you are morbid to the point of suggesting a visit to a mental health counselor.”

Which I did, with four counselors, but I’ll get to that in a minute.

Let me back up and explain how this all started.

On Dec. 12, I shared my thoughts in a column about seeing a 1912 portrait of “Miss Spokane” hung at the entrance of the new downtown restaurant called the Sawtooth Grill.

Most see it as a nice historic photo. To me, it’s a little offensive to hang it in a public place today.

This is why:

Miss Spokane is a symbol of oppression.

She came to be when the tribes had no power or voice, yet their image was taken, changed and used to sell the city.

I wanted people to know this history and understand what it means.

And I explained how a Montana Indian like me is bothered by non-Indians who dress up like Indians, like Miss Spokane.

Evidently, there are people fighting for their right to dress up like Indians. And they take offense at what I wear.

“Maybe we of European descent object to you wearing the costume of our (European) ancestors … . Where are your braids and Native American clothes?” chided one reader by e-mail.

And, “By your logic I should feel offended if an Indian woman wears a denim skirt, high heels and stockings, since that is what white women wear,” wrote another.

So I shouldn’t be offended because white people aren’t offended when Indians dress like white people, right?

Does this make sense to you?

If it helps, I’d like to offer an apology to all those non-Indian people who are offended when I wear Gap khakis.

Now I wonder: Why does everyone feel so entitled to claim a piece of Indian heritage?

Why is dressing up like an Indian somehow OK, while wearing blackface is offensive?

Why was there such a passionate slam on my ideas?

I sent my column to a friend who works for the Los Angeles Times to get a fresh perspective.

“I love your column. It raises crucial points … unseen, unintended, hidden racism that must be decoded,” she wrote. Whatever the intent, the consequence is always the same, she wrote.

One local scholar said the people who called me oversensitive are displaying a common reaction that masks massive denial on the subject.

Digging deeper, I rounded up four mental health professionals.

They agreed to meet with me and discuss my feelings at seeing Miss Spokane in her braids and faux-buckskin in a public restaurant.

One counselor did question my motive - did I want to educate or agitate?

Fair question. My motive is to give the greater community some insight into how many Native Americans view commonly accepted objects.

One counselor said there’s nothing morbid about my views because it is history. It’s not like I made this up.

Another, an African-American man, said he could relate to my feelings at seeing my heritage misrepresented in a public place.

Had he entered a restaurant and seen a statue of a lawn jockey at the entrance, he’d have issues with the management.

Then I received a note from a stranger that made my day.

“I understand your sadness and anger, and I am not American Indian, but it took me a quite a while to `get it.’ … You are not alone in this struggle.”