Your decision to reprint John T. McCutcheon’s cartoon “Injun Summer” (Magazine, Oct. 5) reflects a failure of the Tribune to incorporate new insights about supposedly “benign” but nevertheless racist attitudes.
Imagine a Chicago Native American mother explaining to her 7-year-old Native American daughter or son that terms like “Injuns” and “redskins” are “really very benign, certainly never intended to hurt anyone.” How will this same mother explain the line, “Don’t be skeered–hain’t none around here now, leastways no lives ones,” when this child believes that he or she is one of nearly 10,000 Native Americans from more than 130 native nations currently living in the Chicago area? Besides, who should be “skeered of” this child?
In a country where sports teams, alcoholic beverages, academic institutions (e.g., Illinois), iced teas and other products continue to depict Native American names, symbols and images in degrading ways, you missed an opportunity to not reinforce negative stereo-typing. Perhaps other ethnic or racial groups in Chicago represent bigger market shares or more politically vocal populations than do Chicago’s Native Americans. Surely you know better than to reprint supposedly “benign” depictions of African-Americans, Mexican-Americans and Asian-Americans.
This letter is not about “correctness”; it is about my hope for a world in which the diversity of the human family is respected and valued.
Historians tell us that a Potawatomi woman named Archange Chevalier made her home with her husband, Antoine Ouilmette, about where the Tribune Tower stands today. Imagine if the Tribune had used its 150th anniversary as an opportunity to raise awareness regarding the Native American contributions to this area, especially related to those Potawatomi women who were wives and mothers of some of the early city’s most influential citizens.
Most of us who are descendants of the latecomers to this land are heirs to a regrettable history relative to this continent’s first people. Let’s work to not repeat those transgressions–even in “benign” guises.
