Native Ex-NBC Employee "Siouxs" for Harassment

Dear New York Post,

I read your August 5th article entitled "Native American ex-NBC employee suing for harassment". While I commend you for covering the story, which details the horrific harrassment of a Native American employee of NBC Universal, I couldn't help but be troubled by one aspect of your coverage. Being a blogger, I copied the url to the story and was ready to write a summary and begin a discussion on micro (and macro) aggressions against Native peoples in the workplace. Then I looked at it a little more closely:

Notice something at the end? 

Clever, NY Post, clever. A convenient homophone for sue is SIOUX. I'm rolling my eyes right now, though I realize you can't see. In the grand scheme of things this may not seem to be a big deal, and I also realize that it was probably some tech intern who made the url, chuckling to him or herself about the cleverness of it all, not thinking anyone would look closely enough to see it. Well I saw it, and to me it points to EXACTLY what this article was talking about. When Native people are harassed because of their heritage, there's always an underlying smirk. This man had a doll dressed as a Native American (a very stereotypical one, at that) strung up on a noose in his office. That is completely unacceptable, yet your subtle play on words makes the whole story into a joke. "Har, Har, Har look at this Indian SIOUXing NBC! I wonder if he will take his payment in firewater!"

I can hear you now. "Whoa there. Just calm down, bury the hatchet, smoke the peace pipe, woman! We were just kidding!" I'm sick of Native issues being made into a joke and racism against Native people being condoned and ignored.

Please change the permalink for the article. I don't find it entertaining, and I'm sure Peter Wells wouldn't either.

Thanks,

Adrienne

Readers, if you're interested in more information about the story itself:

NY Post: Native American ex-NBC employee suing for harassment
Native American Journalist Association Response: http://www.naja.com/

Ridiculously Maddening Quote of the Day: Rush Limbaugh Blames Indians for Tobacco-related deaths

 
Rush Limbaugh saying ridiculous things is kinda par for the course at this point, but this one definitely takes insensitivity and stupidity to a whole other level. It's a little old, but I thought it was still worth it.

He begins by talking about the "un-Thanksgiving" and "Day of Mourning" that Native activist groups celebrate rather than "traditional, American" Thanksgiving, and that they "claim" it is their response to the democide (a new vocabulary word for me! it means any person or people killed by the government, including genocide) of Native peoples in the Americas. Then he goes on to this:

"Let's check the scoreboard. How many Native Americans were killed by the arrival of the white man through disease and war...how many people have died since the white man arrived due to lung cancer, thanks to the Indian custom of smoking? Who are the real killers here?…Where are our reparations? I'm just saying."

um, really? Yes, Natives introduced tobacco to the greater world. But Indians did not introduce Philip Morris and the other Big Tobacco companies, blend tobacco with a ton of toxic chemicals, pour millions of dollars into marketing to kids and adults, and deny the links to lung cancer. Shoot, if Indians had control of the multi-billion dollar tobacco industry, then things would be different in many ways.

Traditional tobacco use in Native tribes is also not the 2 pack-a-day western model. Tobacco is sacred to many communities, a gift from the creator, and used in ceremony and to commemorate important events, not to smoke back to back cigarettes.

Then to compare the outright genocide of millions upon millions of Native peoples to tobacco deaths? He wants someone to "do the math." I'll do the math for you, Rush:

White Privilege+Arrogance+Stupidity=Rush Limbaugh

Here's the clip. Listen for yourself. Be prepared to roll your eyes.

The blog Pharyngula offers a great critique, definitely check it out.

I would also like to point out that in about 60% of his pictures on Google image search, Rush is smoking a cigar. I'm just saying. 

Pharyngula: Rush Limbaugh, racist pig and sterling representative of the modern Republican

Earlier:
Ridiculously Maddening Quote of the Day: Avatar Edition