Technical Difficulties

I'd like to thank those who read and commented on my recent post about the racist valentine cards.  I read, enjoyed, and considered each and every one of them and am humbled by your caring enough about the native people to make the discourse so lively.

Unfortunately, I have had problems with making the responses to your fine comments appear on the blog and I apologize for not being able to acknowledge them all.   

I thought you might be interested in a Native American Valentine story about a girl who was suspended for teaching a fellow student two words in her language--yet another and very current example of the oppression of indigenous  people in this country.

Hello.  I love you.

Miranda Washinawatok, of the Menominee tribe and a student at Sacred Heart Academy in Shawano, Wisconsin, was suspended from playing a game on her basketball team for speaking Menominee to a fellow student during classtime.  The seventh grader is bilingual.  She speaks Menominee and English.

The Sacred Heart Academy has a student population that is over sixty percent American Indian.  It is six miles south of the Menominee Reservation.

Miranda's mother, Tanaes Washinawatok, was puzzled to learn of her daughter's suspension:  "On January 19 I was told by Miranda she was being benched from playing that night. I found out at 4:20 and we were back at school at 6:30 pm so I could get to the bottom of why she could not play."

"Miranda kept saying she was only told by her assistant coach she was being benched because two teachers said she had a bad attitude. I wanted to know what she did to make them say she had a bad attitude."

As can be expected, according to Washinawatok, teachers and coaches began blaming each other.  "I wanted to talk to the principal, but he was not there before the game started."  Miranda's mother got the run-around on campus until she reported to the school early the next morning to speak with the principal who said that her daughter was benched for "attitude problems."

What exactly did she do?  She taught a friend how to say two words: "Posoh," that means "hello" and "ketapanen," the Menominee word for "I love you." 

Miranda's mother said that her daughter described the incident this way:  "The teacher went back to where the two were sitting and literally slammed her hand down on the desk and said, "How do I know you are not saying something bad?"

"Miranda knows quite a bit of the Menominee language. We speak it. My mother, Karen Washinawatok, is the director of the Language and Culture Commission of the Menominee Tribe. She has a degree in linguistics from the University of Arizona's College of Education-AILDI American Indian Language Development Institute. She is a former tribal chair and is strong into our culture."

"On Wednesday, a letter was sent to parents and guardians. A real generic letter of apology, that really did not go into specifics as to why there was this apology," reported Miranda's mother after attending three meetings with the school district.  Washinawatok told the Native News Network Thursday evening, "I still don't think it was enough."

The Native News Network reported that the Sacred Heart Catholic Academy, operated by the Diocese of Green Bay, has an option on its answering machine for messages in Spanish, but not Menominee. Their call was not returned by press time.

A Retired Educator Speaks about this Issue.

When I first moved to New Mexico from Virginia, some of the first words my fellow students taught me were the Spanish curse words!  Not "hello" and "I love you."  Forty plus years ago, I remember students who were punished by teachers for speaking Spanish in class.  Those days are not over, my friends.

Later, I was a teacher in New Mexico's public schools for twenty years and though my Spanish is not very good, I knew enough to be able to understand who was sick, got married, or died.  No one ever cussed me out, but if he did, I would know it.  I have had to stand up to at least one principal in defense of students who spoke Spanish in class.  When a teacher is in a district of diverse population, it makes sense to learn the language enough to respond as a human being, right? 

Finally, a comment pm'd to me by Fusun that wouldn't post nor could I cut and paste it for her:

Miguela, I find this very fascinating, because I was so unaware of the racism these cards implied. Coming a different culture, it took me a very long time to understand the concepts of racism, prejudice, and hatred. I never connected the pictures of a few similar cards with these notions I saw in my friends' possessions . They were the drawings, colors, cuteness that attracted us. But that is history. I hope times are different from the depictions of those cards. I understand it now, but I cannot deny the mindframe of a part of history.  Thank you for this beautiful exposé.

Source:

http://www.nativenewsnetwork.com/menominee-seventh-grader-suspended-for-saying-i-love-you-in-her-native-language.html