The TSA crap is really galling, that should be in their training. It's a real bad oversight. You know they'd never pull that with a military ID. Even before 9/11 when everyone became a Hero(tm) we had the Saving Private Ryan / Greatest Generation propaganda going. My friend, a Marine, would tell boy scouts "thank you for your service" and that was his take on the whole thing. That it was meaningless. If we cared about the troops we wouldn't have a 2 year backlog for mental health care at the VA.
I'm sorry you have to deal with the "family stories" from ignorant white people. It does sound exhausting. As for the famous person ... I'm glad you changed your speech and gave them all what they needed to hear. I'm sorry that you had to.
Racism and privilege seem baked into the stories that too many white people seem to embrace without any awareness of it. I know I was raised with them, taught them, shared them. We often expect others to behold our “shared” experiences with enthusiasm. I am glad you found some solace in the end but the toll this imposes on you and others is continual and all of it can affect physical and mental health long term. I know how the stress of living with a severely immunocompromised person since March 2020 has affected me; I have a lot more empathy and understanding of what racism must do to people over a lifetime. I guess I’m glad you spoke out but hate what it costs you.
Its probably no consolation but maybe some validation.....I also flew with my LS tribal ID about 18 months ago. I got on the plane just fine in Bozeman. We were flying during the storm of the century that paralyzed Texas and all airports between Montana and El Paso so we missed our connecting flights on the way home. We ended up having to stay overnight in Denver unexpectedly which meant we had to leave the airport and come back. With the exception of Bozeman, all of the white-appearing airport agents rejected my ID. I had to argue and explain what it was every time. This was in Texas and Colorado which are indigenous homelands. I was so unimpressed. I was even less impressed by "You don't look Native."
There are so many things here but the picture of "books by Native authors" is really catching me up. How exactly did *that* happen? I shouldn't be surprised anymore but ...
You're a much-appreciated fire in the world, Chris.
I love these essays that allow us to walk with you through your experiences--the humor, the rage, the exasperation, all of it. I felt my blood starting to boil at the treatment and idiocy of tsa--another performative ruse inflicted on us all to have to prove we are who we say we are. I can't stand that while the incidents seem routine and everyday it is such a feeling of death by a thousand cuts of people being untrained, unaware, ignorant, and rude. Another reason I am loath to go back to flying... how much of our support the troops (ugh) and front line workers and teachers and all of it is just performative ruses to keep everyone in line. I love that you re-wrote what you presented, but like someone else commented, so wish there weren't a thousand reasons why you shouldn't have to. It's maddening as all hell.
I am so with you on the vet thing. I see the use of veterans as a "think of the children!" cry—it's a script used to not address systemic failures (or systemic successes, since the point is the few who benefit from the system have no reason to challenge it) or even look at the systems at all. We can't talk about mass-poverty, colonialism, white supremacy, or the destruction of late-stage capitalism because tHaT iS iNsUlTiNg To tHe tRoOpS. *deep beleaguered sigh*
The TSA and tribal ID situation is really sticking with me. How many ways can humans find to devalue others, to say "you're not valid," "you don't belong here"? It's endless. If I look a little deeper into myself, I find an ocean of rage about this dynamic crashing around. How many billions of others are walking around with the same rage, acknowledged or not?
"I get emotional and a little worked up and I don’t know if it is the presentation they wanted or expected but it felt more like the one they needed." Hmm. I don't know who all was in the audience, but when it comes to issues affecting Indigenous people, I don't think White people should get to decide what presentation they "want". So you gave the right presentation--the one the audience needed to hear. And for that reason I, too, am disappointed you didn't get to address the entire conference.
You'd think they'd have taken that picture down by now, especially considering HCN's very vocal focus on Native issues. Damn that's a bad look. I had to cringe at seeing Stephen Ambrose on there. I went to a talk he gave years ago where he proudly stated that Western Civilization is better than the rest.
Thanks, Chris. Your comments about vets reminded me of Noam Chomsky’s response to “We Support Our Troops”.
“The point of public relations slogans like “Support our troops” is that they don’t mean anything. They mean as much as whether you support the people in Iowa. Of course, there was an issue. The issue was, Do you support our policy? But you don’t want people to think about that issue. That’s the whole point of good propaganda. You want to create a slogan that nobody’s going to be against, and everybody’s going to be for. Nobody knows what it means, because it doesn’t mean anything. Its crucial value is that it diverts your attention from a question that does mean something: Do you support our policy?” -Media Control: The Spectacular Achievements of Propaganda -1991
I think that’s what gets stuck in the craw and also what’s effective about propaganda - that it’s a tacit agreement with the policy that landed soldiers there (wherever the There du jour is).
I know you were and are tired from this experience. But your sharing it makes me hopeful from the way you peacefully negotiated these weird spaces w/o giving ground to foolishness. I admire that ability. Thanks again. (P.S. Just dragged my son to hear The Who in Portland. Those old guys can still stick it to the man. And my (20-yr-old-bass-playin) son thought it was great.)
Whew. Where to start. I’m sorry you had to endure the airport experiences.
In case you are wondering if what you do alters perspectives, I can say it has for me. Example. I just started working through ancestry.com and trying to learn a bit about my own history. In researching the tree and reading the documentation of others, it seems possible that my second and third great grandmothers were of native origin (speculation is Cherokee from Tennessee). I can see exactly how the timelines line up with the trail of tears and the forced removal from Tennessee. There’s actually a picture of my second great grandmother and she is stunningly beautiful and looks nothing like the rest of that side of my redheaded Irish family. So as I looked at this information – and I will say it specifically said forced removal, it didn’t try to paint a pretty picture about people denying their heritage – what I thought about was did these women married voluntarily? Were they forced? And even if not forced, was this the only option even if it wasn’t a good option? and what happened to the rest of their families?
More to the point, none of this gives me any perspective on what it means to be Native Peoples in America. 
I’ll tell you a little different native ancestors story. My father was New Mexican Spanish and like most in his generation very proud of being pure Spanish . Now in the days of genetic testing and Ancestry.com, like many New Mexican Spanish I have learned I’m also Sephardic Jew and Native American. Back a more than 150 years ago, there is a native woman in the Ancestry.com records who is only known as wife. No tribe no name. I’d love to know her story but the details are lost along with with my father’s birth certificate. I hope she was loved and honored.
Looking at our fellow humans as other is a sad disease that makes all of us poorer.
The TSA crap is really galling, that should be in their training. It's a real bad oversight. You know they'd never pull that with a military ID. Even before 9/11 when everyone became a Hero(tm) we had the Saving Private Ryan / Greatest Generation propaganda going. My friend, a Marine, would tell boy scouts "thank you for your service" and that was his take on the whole thing. That it was meaningless. If we cared about the troops we wouldn't have a 2 year backlog for mental health care at the VA.
I'm sorry you have to deal with the "family stories" from ignorant white people. It does sound exhausting. As for the famous person ... I'm glad you changed your speech and gave them all what they needed to hear. I'm sorry that you had to.
Racism and privilege seem baked into the stories that too many white people seem to embrace without any awareness of it. I know I was raised with them, taught them, shared them. We often expect others to behold our “shared” experiences with enthusiasm. I am glad you found some solace in the end but the toll this imposes on you and others is continual and all of it can affect physical and mental health long term. I know how the stress of living with a severely immunocompromised person since March 2020 has affected me; I have a lot more empathy and understanding of what racism must do to people over a lifetime. I guess I’m glad you spoke out but hate what it costs you.
Hi Chris,
Its probably no consolation but maybe some validation.....I also flew with my LS tribal ID about 18 months ago. I got on the plane just fine in Bozeman. We were flying during the storm of the century that paralyzed Texas and all airports between Montana and El Paso so we missed our connecting flights on the way home. We ended up having to stay overnight in Denver unexpectedly which meant we had to leave the airport and come back. With the exception of Bozeman, all of the white-appearing airport agents rejected my ID. I had to argue and explain what it was every time. This was in Texas and Colorado which are indigenous homelands. I was so unimpressed. I was even less impressed by "You don't look Native."
Keep fighting the good fight for us all.
Laura
Not only was this piece beautiful and moving, it also shone a spotlight on the travesty that is the Panera app.
There are so many things here but the picture of "books by Native authors" is really catching me up. How exactly did *that* happen? I shouldn't be surprised anymore but ...
You're a much-appreciated fire in the world, Chris.
I love these essays that allow us to walk with you through your experiences--the humor, the rage, the exasperation, all of it. I felt my blood starting to boil at the treatment and idiocy of tsa--another performative ruse inflicted on us all to have to prove we are who we say we are. I can't stand that while the incidents seem routine and everyday it is such a feeling of death by a thousand cuts of people being untrained, unaware, ignorant, and rude. Another reason I am loath to go back to flying... how much of our support the troops (ugh) and front line workers and teachers and all of it is just performative ruses to keep everyone in line. I love that you re-wrote what you presented, but like someone else commented, so wish there weren't a thousand reasons why you shouldn't have to. It's maddening as all hell.
I am so with you on the vet thing. I see the use of veterans as a "think of the children!" cry—it's a script used to not address systemic failures (or systemic successes, since the point is the few who benefit from the system have no reason to challenge it) or even look at the systems at all. We can't talk about mass-poverty, colonialism, white supremacy, or the destruction of late-stage capitalism because tHaT iS iNsUlTiNg To tHe tRoOpS. *deep beleaguered sigh*
The TSA and tribal ID situation is really sticking with me. How many ways can humans find to devalue others, to say "you're not valid," "you don't belong here"? It's endless. If I look a little deeper into myself, I find an ocean of rage about this dynamic crashing around. How many billions of others are walking around with the same rage, acknowledged or not?
Geeze. some fun in Boise, eh? Sounds like A Weekend at Bernie's, Night at the Museum, and Raising Arizona all rolled into one cluster f**k.
Thank you for continuing to share your story and perspective. Especially when’s it’s hard. Respect!
"I get emotional and a little worked up and I don’t know if it is the presentation they wanted or expected but it felt more like the one they needed." Hmm. I don't know who all was in the audience, but when it comes to issues affecting Indigenous people, I don't think White people should get to decide what presentation they "want". So you gave the right presentation--the one the audience needed to hear. And for that reason I, too, am disappointed you didn't get to address the entire conference.
You'd think they'd have taken that picture down by now, especially considering HCN's very vocal focus on Native issues. Damn that's a bad look. I had to cringe at seeing Stephen Ambrose on there. I went to a talk he gave years ago where he proudly stated that Western Civilization is better than the rest.
I love reading your stuff. You always open my eyes a bit more. And I’m sure wherever you travel or speak you do that for others too.
Thanks, Chris. Your comments about vets reminded me of Noam Chomsky’s response to “We Support Our Troops”.
“The point of public relations slogans like “Support our troops” is that they don’t mean anything. They mean as much as whether you support the people in Iowa. Of course, there was an issue. The issue was, Do you support our policy? But you don’t want people to think about that issue. That’s the whole point of good propaganda. You want to create a slogan that nobody’s going to be against, and everybody’s going to be for. Nobody knows what it means, because it doesn’t mean anything. Its crucial value is that it diverts your attention from a question that does mean something: Do you support our policy?” -Media Control: The Spectacular Achievements of Propaganda -1991
I think that’s what gets stuck in the craw and also what’s effective about propaganda - that it’s a tacit agreement with the policy that landed soldiers there (wherever the There du jour is).
I know you were and are tired from this experience. But your sharing it makes me hopeful from the way you peacefully negotiated these weird spaces w/o giving ground to foolishness. I admire that ability. Thanks again. (P.S. Just dragged my son to hear The Who in Portland. Those old guys can still stick it to the man. And my (20-yr-old-bass-playin) son thought it was great.)
Whew. Where to start. I’m sorry you had to endure the airport experiences.
In case you are wondering if what you do alters perspectives, I can say it has for me. Example. I just started working through ancestry.com and trying to learn a bit about my own history. In researching the tree and reading the documentation of others, it seems possible that my second and third great grandmothers were of native origin (speculation is Cherokee from Tennessee). I can see exactly how the timelines line up with the trail of tears and the forced removal from Tennessee. There’s actually a picture of my second great grandmother and she is stunningly beautiful and looks nothing like the rest of that side of my redheaded Irish family. So as I looked at this information – and I will say it specifically said forced removal, it didn’t try to paint a pretty picture about people denying their heritage – what I thought about was did these women married voluntarily? Were they forced? And even if not forced, was this the only option even if it wasn’t a good option? and what happened to the rest of their families?
More to the point, none of this gives me any perspective on what it means to be Native Peoples in America. 
I’ll tell you a little different native ancestors story. My father was New Mexican Spanish and like most in his generation very proud of being pure Spanish . Now in the days of genetic testing and Ancestry.com, like many New Mexican Spanish I have learned I’m also Sephardic Jew and Native American. Back a more than 150 years ago, there is a native woman in the Ancestry.com records who is only known as wife. No tribe no name. I’d love to know her story but the details are lost along with with my father’s birth certificate. I hope she was loved and honored.
Looking at our fellow humans as other is a sad disease that makes all of us poorer.