Out of the blue the 1969 song “Indian Giver” came to mind. Can you believe the cover art for the album it debuted on?
Surely even the most anti-PC among you sees something wrong with this? Two years later Paul Revere & the Raiders came out with “Indian Reservation” sans demeaning cover art. There we’re told, “though I wear a suit and tie/ I’m still part Redman deep inside.” Of course, as far as demeaning songs about Indians go, the award in my book goes to Tim McGraw’s 1994 “Indian Outlaw”. Sure it gives props to Indian spirituality and hunting prowess, but it takes away with, “They all gather ’round my teepee/ Late at night tryin’ to catch a peek at me/ In nothin’ but my buffalo briefs.” The only song I can think of that honors Indians is John Anderson’s 1992 “Seminole Wind.” Though a case can be made for Gordon Lightfoot’s 1975 “Cherokee Bend” and it’s in your face attack on racism against Indians.
What brought on this sudden Indian reverie? I think it’s reading the 2003 A People’s History of the United States 1492-Present. It’s meant for high school and college courses, and if it’s the only textbook on history your child reads be assured he will become a card-carrying member of the Communist Party if not the IWW. This being said you can’t argue with the primary source documents own words about U.S. government intentions towards Indians.
Really this rethinking about racism and political correctness started about 30 years ago when the matter of the Washington football team having the name Redskins first appeared on my radar. I mentioned to a man who is half Apache, and was always reasonable in regard to real prejudice versus political correctness, that I didn’t see the big deal since even some Native Americans didn’t mind the name. He said, “Okay. Let’s have the Atlanta Blackskins.”
See? It’s a whose ox is being gored thing. Or the old joke about the man hearing the preacher denounce womanizers, welfare cheats, and laziness encouraging him saying, “Right on; preach it, Brother.” But when the preacher gets to drinking and gambling, he said, “Now you done gone to meddling.”
The lyrics to “Indian Giver” were catchy and the hook was the phrase Indian giver and the primal rhythm. Give it a listen; I think you’ll be hooked too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnhUULkU-xo .
The thing is in 1969 I didn’t know any Indians. But even my limited education taught me that white men were the ones who regularly made treaties with the Indians then proceeded to break them, rewrite them, or just ignore them.[i] So, how did the concept of ‘Indian giver’ become a part of my zeitgeist? And it was. We referred to anyone who reneged on a promise as an “Indian giver” long before this song.
Was this a case of Accusation in a Mirror (No, I didn’t know it was called this. I had to look it up.)? White men accused red men of what they themselves were or was it simply the product of all the 50s and 60s “Cowboys and Indians” shows where the goods and the bads were clearly the former and the latter? But then there was Tonto. He was a good Indian.
The only way I can think about it is by analogy. When the WWII generation started entering nursing homes, assisted living, etc., places where they had day to day contact with African Americans, many of them after being attended by a black person, sometimes while being attended, said in sotto voce manner that came out as a stage whisper, “These people are really quite nice.” I would feel an inner cringe. Most of the time the African American woman would turn and look at me with a smile. That smile was like Mona Lisa’s. I wasn’t always sure what it meant, but I found it captivating if not beguiling.
[i] A People’s History says that the U.S. broke every one of the approximately 400 treaties it made with American Indians. For more on “the other side” of the United States’ and Texas’ relationship with Indians, see Francis Parkman’s History of the Conspiracy of Pontiac, and the War of the North American Tribes Against the English Colonies after the Conquest of Canada and T.R. Fehrenbach’s Lone Star A History of Texas & Texans.
