Diversity Awareness – Annotated Bibliography & Media Representation – DUE Sun 10/17

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10/12/21, 2:29 PM Research reveals media role in stereotypes about Native Americans - Women’s Media Center

https://www.womensmediacenter.com/news-features/research-reveals-media-role-in-stereotypes-about-native-americans 1/5

Crystal Echo Hawk, co-project leader of Reclaiming Native Truth

WMC NEWS & FEATURES

JULY 18, 2018 | Rebecca Nagle (/profile/rebecca-nagle) | MEDIA (/CATEGORY/MEDIA),

RACE/ETHNICITY (/CATEGORY/RACE-ETHNICITY)

Research reveals media role in stereotypes about Native Americans

This

month,

a team

Native

researchers and thought leaders, organized under the project

Reclaiming Native Truth

(https://www.reclaimingnativetruth.com/research/), released a

groundbreaking report that reveals for the first time how the

American public views Native Americans. The report includes

some stunning statistics on just how distorted and inaccurate

public perception really is. Central to the findings is the role of

the media in creating the problem, but also the potential for

news and media to be part of the solution.

Over the course of two years, the First Nations Development

Institute (https://firstnations.org/), a national organization

dedicated to Native economic development, and Echo Hawk

Consulting conducted extensive research to uncover the

dominant stories and narratives about indigenous people in the

United States, and how these views affect public opinion and

public policy. The research team conducted 28 focus groups in

11 states, surveyed 13,306 people online, analyzed 4.9 million

social media posts, and interviewed members of Congress and

judges as well as philanthropy, business, and other industry

leaders.

The study found that largest barrier to public sympathy for

Native rights was “the invisibility and erasure of Native

Americans in all aspects of modern U.S. society.”

Representation of contemporary Native Americans was found

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10/12/21, 2:29 PM Research reveals media role in stereotypes about Native Americans - Women’s Media Center

https://www.womensmediacenter.com/news-features/research-reveals-media-role-in-stereotypes-about-native-americans 2/5

to be almost completely absent from K-12 education, pop

culture, news media, and politics. Two-thirds of respondents

said they don’t know a single Native person. Only 13 percent of

state history curriculum standards about Native Americans

cover events after the year 1900. For the average U.S. citizen,

the main exposure to contemporary Native Americans is

through media and pop culture. Unfortunately, contemporary

Native Americans are almost completely absent from

mainstream news media and pop culture, and “where narratives

about Native Americans do exist, they are primarily deficit

based and guided by misperceptions, assumptions and

stereotypes,” says the report.

Crystal Echo Hawk (Pawnee), co-project leader of Reclaiming

Native Truth, said that in the focus groups, “the only references

[to Native Americans] that we continuously heard as people

were struggling to make a connection were Dances with

Wolves and Parks and Recreation. So these stereotypes and

caricatures are really forming perceptions of Native people.”

The sheer invisibility of Native people leads to some very

warped perspectives about contemporary Native life. Forty

percent of respondents did not think that Native people still

exist. While 59 percent agree that “the United States is guilty of

committing genocide against Native Americans,” only 36

percent agree that Native Americans experience significant

discrimination today — meaning nearly two-thirds of the public

perceive Native Americans as experiencing little to no

oppression or structural racism.

Nationally, Native Americans are more likely to live in poverty,

be unemployed, experience rape or abuse, and be killed by

police than any other ethnic or racial group. Despite the fact

that Native Americans face the highest rates of these (and

other) indicators of systemic racism, their oppression is mainly

invisible to the American public. Unsurprisingly, this perception

that Native people no longer experience oppression results in

very low support for Native struggles and social justice issues.

“The complete lack of representation in the media, in pop

culture, in K-12 education not only erases us from the American

consciousness, it inadvertently creates a bias,” explained Echo

Hawk. “People were less likely to support certain rights and

social justice issues for Native people when they had zero

perception and understanding of who we are. Invisibility and

erasure is the modern form of racism against Native people.”

On the rare occasions contemporary Native people are

portrayed in the media, the report found they are often

“associated with negative outcomes such as alcoholism and

suicide rather than everyday roles like student, lawyer or

plumber.” Even well-intentioned coverage that focuses on

issues like poverty can reinforce negative stereotypes.

Respondents, especially those living near Indian Country, listed

negative associations with reservations such as “They drink too

much and get in fights” and “Alcohol abuse. Drug abuse. Child

abuse. Gambling addictions.”

Respondents also held stereotypical and contradicting views

that Native Americans are both poor and flush with casino

money, both spiritually focused and addicted to drugs and

alcohol, and both resilient and dependent on government

benefits. Many participants expressed the misconception and

even resentment that Native Americans get “free money,” with

one respondent stating, “They get a monthly stipend if they are

at least 1/16th Native American.”

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10/12/21, 2:29 PM Research reveals media role in stereotypes about Native Americans - Women’s Media Center

https://www.womensmediacenter.com/news-features/research-reveals-media-role-in-stereotypes-about-native-americans 3/5

The ignorance is shared by members of Congress and the

federal court system, who often have direct impact on the rights

of tribes and their citizens. Even though Native Americans

make up 1.3 percent of the U.S. population, they are only 0.3

percent of people currently elected to Congress. Congressional

members interviewed by the research team admitted knowing

little to nothing about Native issues. One congressperson

reported that a colleague had asked him if “Indians still live in

teepees on the reservations.” Federal judges and law clerks

had similar responses, with the report finding the majority “have

little to no experience with tribal nations or Native Americans

and know little about tribal sovereignty or federal Indian law.”

Given the dearth of accurate, authentic information about

Native Americans available to the American public, the

researchers explored the possible impact of new and more

accurate narratives. When exposed to narratives about Native

people that included factual information about present-day

Native life, more accurate history, positive examples of

resilience, and information about systemic oppression,

respondents from all demographics showed more support for

pro-Native policy and social justice issues. Information that was

shared with respondents included simple statements such as

“The government signed over 500 treaties with Native

Americans, all of which were broken by the federal government.

From 1870 to 1970, the federal government forcibly removed

Native American children from their homes to attend boarding

schools.” On key issues such as the Indian Child Welfare Act,

racist mascots, and tribal sovereignty, 16-24 percent more

people supported the position of tribes after being exposed to

these new messages.

That large a shift in public support can easily be the difference

in an election outcome, a bill’s passage, or the actions of large

corporations, such as sports teams. Positive and accurate

portrayal of Natives in the mainstream media has the potential

to significantly advance Native rights in this country. Alongside

the report, Reclaiming Native Truth released a guide for allies

on how to improve coverage of Native Americans

(https://www.reclaimingnativetruth.com/wp-

content/uploads/2018/06/MessageGuide-Allies-screen.pdf).

The guide includes examples of positive messaging and

questions for media makers to ask themselves, such as “Am I

inadvertently contributing to a false or negative narrative by not

taking into account or including contemporary Native peoples in

my work?”

“The research really challenges the media to do their job better.

The media has a deep ethical responsibility to not fall into these

standardized tropes,” said Echo Hawk. “We can do a lot in

terms of empowering Native voices and telling Native stories,

but we can’t do it on our own. We need non-Natives as allies

who are also talking about us and championing accurate

representation.”

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