california teacher mocks native american

Perhaps well-intentioned as a way to include Indigenous experience during Thanksgiving, the Wampanoag tribe has been public about the deep harm the longstanding dominant narrative about their encounters with the Pilgrims has caused. The week was announced by President Ronald Reagan as November 23-30 in 1986 and the heritage month has existed every year since 1995. The origins are similar to other heritage celebrations with an additional irony in timing. What many may not realize is that November is also Native American History Month. While that may seem particularly out of place in a high school math class, education institutions have a long history of wildly inaccurate re-tellings of a “first Thanksgiving” coupled with problematic activities and performances. This made its way to social media feeds because a Native American student in the class began filming out of concern and posted on their Instagram account later to share what he had to endure at school that day. Many groups have worked to shift perspectives about what is appropriate for Halloween with “ Cultures are not costumes” campaigns in recent years.Īdditionally, clips of a high school math teacher in California mocking Native American culture by chanting and dancing around her classroom while wearing a mock feather headdress was recently spread.

is rife with opportunity for cultural appropriation and white-washed versions of history that have become ubiquitous with several holidays that mark time in this semester.

California teacher mocks native american