Still Here

September 22, 2016

Still Here

Just recently, this past week to the exact, I was reminded on social media about an incident that took place over a year ago. Facebook has this little cool option that allows you to reflect on what happened years ago, by allowing you to look back at memories you posted on that day. About this time last year, I was purchasing a new laptop from Phoenix and I was so excited to be purchasing a new MacBook, that I could barely see past the conversation the salesperson and I were having. He asked where (state) I was from, and I told him Arizona and he was like, “Oh really?” Almost surprised sounding, and it wasn’t until later that I figured out what he was trying to get at. He then asked about a local event that I had no clue was going on, and he made a silly reference about elotes and how Mexicans make the best food. I agreed using a third person reference and he replied, “Oh wait, you’re not Mexican?” I said no and he asked what ethnicity I was. “Oh I’m Navajo,” I replied calmly. “Navajo? What’s that?” he asked again. I told him it’s a tribe and that I’m Native American and he couldn’t believe the words coming out of my mouth. The next words I thought I would never hear again and were so grammatically incorrect for such an educated man, “I though all y’all were extinct?” 

2015. My existence is being questioned as if I’m some type of dinosaur. People ask me why Natives and other minorities alike make cultural appropriation such a big deal. “Y’all just want something to complain about,” is what commenter wrote to me online in the past. Until we understand why it is wrong, and why borrowing things from other cultures can be harmful to a minority group, then you can’t really begin to understand the many underlying factors involving such a big issue. Native Americans are often depicted as mystical beings and maybe that’s why this individual concluded we were all extinct.

I spent the next thirty or so minutes (while finalizing paper work)  giving this person a history lesson on the five hundred or so tribes only located in the United States (and North America), and told him there are more throughout South America. As easily as it could have been for me to explode and become upset, my patience quickly took over. I forgot all that I said but it was enough to leave him in awe and appreciative of the time I took help him understand. Learning from each other and being understanding can do more than become upset. I was happy he was brought in my path, because another Native wouldn’t have been so calm and collected in doing so.