Monday, February 16, 2004
LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- CBS television issued a new round of apologies, this time for any offense taken at the American Indian-motif Grammy Awards performance by the hip-hop group OutKast that some Native Americans have condemned as racist.
The San Francisco-based Native American Cultural Center posted a notice on its Web site last week calling for a boycott of CBS, OutKast's label Arista Records, and the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, which sponsors the Grammys.
"It was the most disgusting set of racial stereotypes aimed at American Indians that I have ever seen on TV," NACC board member Sean Freitas said in the online statement. "It was on par with white people dancing sexually in black face, or yarmulkes ... I am shocked and outraged."
NACC Chair Andrew Brother Elk said he has lodged a formal complaint with the Federal Communications Commission over the telecast, which he branded as "racist TV programming."
A little more than two weeks ago, CBS came under fire from the FCC for the breast-baring Super Bowl halftime performance by Janet Jackson on the Viacom Inc.-owned network.
"We are very sorry if anyone was offended," CBS spokeswoman Nancy Carr said when asked about the NACC boycott. She declined to comment further.
The performance in question came near the end of the Grammy telecast last Sunday night, as OutKast singer Andre "3000" Benjamin, dressed as a Native American, led a show-stopping dance number built around the hit song "Hey Ya!"
The piece opened with the sound of drums and smoke wafting from a teepee-shaped structure before a group of female dancers emerged to bump and grind in skimpy, fringed costumes, braided hair and feathered headdresses. They were accompanied on stage by members of a university marching band.
Benjamin told reporters backstage afterward that the number was meant as an American Indian-inspired performance.
OutKast went home with three Grammys that night, including the coveted prize of best album for its hit double-CD release "Speakerboxxx/The Love Below."
Did anyone see the Grammys last night? The hip-hop duo OutKast performed (live on stage) their hit "Hey Ya!" in pseudo-Indian outfits, with skimpy back-up singers wearing feathers in their headbands, a tipi, and a DJ in full feather headdress. The group then won the Grammy for Best Album of the Year, and lead singer Andre 3000 accepted in the same outfit.
My problem: I loved that song and OutKast's original video, until now. I wonder how Andre would feel if Eminem performed a rap in blackface.... I also wonder why CBS apologized for Janet Jackson showing skin at the Super Bowl, but not OutKast stereotyping a people at the Grammys.
SIGN THE PETITION AT
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/2outkast/petition.html
To: Andre Benjamin, OutKast, Arista Records, The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, CBS/VIACOM, and the USC Marching Band
Let us first offer our congratulations to Andre Benjamin and OutKast for their well deserved recognition. As high-profile entertainers, Outkast has the influence and responsibility to resist racial stereotypes that contribute to the dehumanization of minorities and the neglect of their legitimate concerns. Unfortunately, this principled stance was NOT seen during the televised performance of “Hey Ya” at the recent Grammy Awards Ceremony [February 8, 2004] -- instead we were appalled by the misuse of Native American imagery and cultural symbols as outlined below:
CAUSE FOR PETITION
1) Dehumanization: The objectification of native men and women as painted warriors and 'go-go-girls' was thoroughly demeaning -- a stage filled with grinning minstrels in ‘black-face’ would never be similarly tolerated.
2) Respect for traditional culture: The native regalia (feathers, dresses, headdresses, and lodging etc.) that was so crudely imitated holds much symbolic and sacred meaning to Native Nations, comparable only to the religious icons and vestments of other cultures. Symbols of a peoples’ spiritual life should never have been used in such a profane and disrespectful manner.
3) Respecting diversity within Indian country: One of the most damaging stereotypes is the assumption that over 500 tribes share one generic ‘Indian’ culture. The indiscriminate mixing of desert, woodlands, and plains cultures in the “Hey Ya” performance was fair to no one, and mocked the integrity of individual nations.
4) Respecting and involving native artists: The saddest and most ironic twist was that while the faux-Indian performance was highlighted as the closing act of the evening, the granting of the award for Native American music was not even televised, and authentic native musicians received little or no on-air recognition.
REQUEST
Many individuals and tribes are working strenuously to dispel the negative effects of native stereotypes on our children and communities, yet these are the very images the “Hey Ya” staging exalted and reinforced. As concerned citizens and supporters of popular music, we ask all parties involved to publicly apologize for the affront to native peoples evidenced in this performance. We respectfully request a full and formal public apology, including the acknowledgement that ethnic stereotypes, and the conscious or unconscious racism that supports them, must not and will not be tolerated within the industry now, or at any time in the future.
On February 8, The hip-hop duo OutKast performed (live on stage) their hit "Hey Ya!" in pseudo-Indian outfits, with skimpy back-up singers wearing feathers in their headbands, a tipi, and a DJ in full feather headdress. The group then won the Grammy for Best Album of the Year, and lead singer Andre 3000 accepted in the same outfit.
My problem: I loved that song and OutKast's original video, until now. I wonder how Andre would feel if Eminem performed a rap in blackface.... I also wonder why CBS quickly apologized for Janet Jackson showing skin at the Super Bowl, but minimizes OutKast stereotyping entire peoples at the Grammys.
As Debi McNutt observed last night, it feels in the past few months that public perceptions of Native cultures have regressed about 15 years. Tonight's performance is just one part of the backlash that has been building for some time.
(By the way, Black Eyes Peas performed their great antiwar song "Where is the Love," but did not win a Grammy.)
Zoltan Grossman
Assistant Professor of Geography &
American Indian Studies,
University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire
http://www.uwec.edu/grossmzc
WHAT YOU CAN DO
