Posted on 11/24/2008 6:50:13 AM PST by Sopater
PLYMOUTH - It may be 2008, but staff members at Plimoth Plantation's Wampanoag Homesite regularly have to ask little boys to stop war-whooping and little girls to remove costume feathered headdresses and beaded dresses brought from home.
Parents must be admonished for making jokey greetings like "How" or calling the performers "Chief," "Squaw," or "Indian." Just last week, an adult chaperone of a school group had to be corrected for asking Tim Turner, a staff interpreter who is a member of the Cherokee Nation, where he bought his alcohol.
"I told him straight out that wasn't appropriate, especially not in front of children," said Turner, who wore traditional native dress of breechcloth, moccasins, and skunk pelt while talking to tour groups last week. "I don't have a problem making people feel stupid if that's what's necessary."
Visitors' gaffes - deliberate or accidental - are not laughed off or ignored here, especially during Thanksgiving season, when 70,000 visitors are expected during the month of November. Confrontation and reeducation is a near-daily chore at one of the state's top tourist attractions for many of the homesite's approximately 15 staff members all of whom are Native American, or as they prefer to be called, Native people.
Plimoth Plantation now makes these requests for "cultural sensitivity" explicit in five languages on its website, and a main thrust of the revamped orientation film watched by the nearly 400,000 guests who tour the site, and the nearby Mayflower II, each year.
Signs erected in 2005 urge visitors en route to the homesite, where costumed guides cook over open fire and build dugout canoes called mishoons, to "please avoid harmful stereotypes."
"Our job is to educate people and break down stereotypes one person at a time coming down that hill," said Paula Peters
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
Cherokees and Wampanoags are as different as Irish and Serbs. How dare they substitute one for another as if all Redskins are interchangeable!
Another load of PC horse sh**.
Wow. That's BOUND to attract more tourism to Massachusetts. EVERYONE likes to be belittled on their vacation... I know I do... /s
Wonder what they’d say if someone wore a redskins jersey, or a braves hat. Muahahaha.
I do believe that IS the point of this rule changing.
I don't worry about what folks want to be called today: my Irish ancestors are "micks" to me, and the guys from Nihon who shot up my dad are forever going to be "Japs."
And F' 'em if they can't take a joke.
And an Indian is an Indian.
Whoop whoop!
Gee...how about Earlier Immigrants?
Good thing the Pilgrims weren’t so “sensitive” or we’d all be wearing moccasins and skunk pelts....[and living in the dark and dying at an average age of 40 and...and...and....].
Yeah yeah yeah,,,,they gave us corn.....
Another liberal pure Jason Blair type of bs/pc wet dream posing as an oped.
I have two documented ancestors on the Mayflower, and I am a Cherokee descendant.
There were no Cherokee’s in the Plymouth area.
But it’s OK to use harmful stereotypes about the Pilgrims (who were seeking religious freedom).
And it’s OK to dilute the fact that at Thanksgiving they were rendering thanks to GOD (not to the Indians, as some seem now to think)...
No. He just enjoys it.
**************
LOL! I can't imagine anyone who read this article wanting to visit Plimoth Plantation.
"It was hard, because the last thing on this girl's mind was giving offense; she was trying to 'honor the Indians,' " said Coombs, a 30-year veteran of Plimoth Plantation and a member of the Aquinnah Wampanoag community of Martha's Vineyard. "I did what I had to do for the sake of my staff, and correcting the stereotype."
Such costumes are not tolerated because Native people find them to be a mockery of traditional dress. "We're here to explain how people feel. It makes people feel made fun of," Coombs said.
So, hurting a little girl's feelings is ok but hurting the feelings of adults is not?
I'm pretty sure I can find other places to visit.
Now, now, Grandpa,
Who Ya gonna believe? That nice presstitute or that d*mn DNA which tells all those lies about the Cherokee not being Squanto’s tribe?
Native people my Charlie; land bridge or boat, their ancestors were exotic as we all are.
The offended are their advocates, protectors and overseers, different plantation - same old fields.
I have to agree that snide or derogatory remarks -and yes, in front of children especially- are inappropriate.
That said, seeing this condescending attitude right out of the gate is disturbing. The whole article seems to describe an environment preened and eager to be offended and able to "re-educate."
In these economic times, the fact that these visitors are even interested in history enough to pay their ticket fees of $28/18 plus the expense of the travel/accoms is nothing to be trifling with.
They may want to rein off a bit before biting the hand that feeds them.
I can see some pretty lively exchanges should I be approached in that manner... I would be sure to get my $28 worth in "making people feel stupid" and "re-educating" the liberal fools.
Can a hunter-gather existence be called “flourishing”??
This is nothing more than politically correct, anti-western civilization cr@p masquerading as “education.”
By all understanding to date, the American continent was populated by siberian-asians by 11,500 BC. For 13,000 years, most of those original Americans did NOTHING but survive.
Meanwhile their counterparts in Europe and Asia built civilizations. The mesoamerican people eventually created a civilization, but they were about 4,000 years behind most others.
Tell me again why we're supposed to feel sorry/guilty for bringing civilization with its prosperity and enlightenment to this continent?
As for the “interpreters” (aka “actors”) being offended; that's a lot like the GEICO commercials with the offended cavemen!!
Ah, the lovely politically incorrect Monty Python.
I think we better get some of those episodes, because one day they’ll stop selling them, like Song of the South or Speedy Gonzalez.
It’s funny, on reading this article, the first thing that popped into my head was the “Indian” skit where they put on plays. That would obviously send them into conniptions at Plimouth.
...an adult chaperone ...had to be corrected for asking ... a member of the Cherokee Nation, where he bought his alcohol.
Besides, everybody knows Cherokees don't bother with alcohol when there's peyote around...<;^)
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