A Liberal
Dose
February 23,
2023
Troy D.
Smith
“Thinking
about issues that concern Native Americans”
My apologies for going AWOL last week. It is an
incredibly busy time at work, and I couldn’t find time to write a column. You know I'm busy when I miss a chance to bloviate.
This week I want to respond to a couple of things my
friend John has said recently -not in an antagonistic way, but rather with a
view to set the record straight. First, briefly, John has commented that most
people parrot a party line rather than think for themselves. I tend to agree with
that statement, actually. I don’t recall him specifically naming me among that
group, but I wanted to point out that I wrote a whole column outlining the ways
in which I diverge from the mainstream Democratic party line. I do not base my
principles, opinions, or passions on what some group-think tells me to believe.
However, the Democratic Party lines up with what I think (rather than the other
way around) ten times more than the Republican Party does. That said, I am in
fact a Democrat (and adviser to the TTU College Democrats), and I chose to call
this column “a liberal dose,” so it should come as no surprise that I present a
viewpoint from the left rather than the right.
Here’s the other thing. A few weeks ago, I wrote a
column about the need to use critical thinking (in other words, to think for
yourself) and read between the lines and look for context when viewing news
reports. I did not favor or condemn one media outlet over another, equally including
Fox, MSNBC, CNN, and everyone in between. I specifically talked about two
examples: coverage of missing or murdered women and coverage of oil pipeline
protests. My overall point was that the fact TV news is commercially sponsored
is going to influence what they cover, and how. John wrote in response, “Of course, he used examples that make
groups he opposes look like the ones guilty of doing this. Perhaps that was
part of his plan. Showing through example, how omission can be used to
influence.”
I want to clarify that. While it is fair to say I
oppose big oil companies, I do not oppose TV news media, nor the idea of
commercial sponsorship. I was just trying to explain how they interact in ways
that necessitate reading between the lines. However, it is not an accident that
I chose those two examples -because they directly affect the Native community,
which I teach about, write about, think about, and in fact stand strongly in
solidarity with, so it should come as no surprise that such examples would be
the first to come to my mind.
This brings me to something not directly related to my
column (or John’s). Very few Americans think about the indigenous perspective
-not just in the issues I mentioned, but just in general. This is largely due
to the fact most non-indigenous people don’t encounter, interact with, or
sometimes even know any Native Americans, who are only about 2% of the
population. On the other hand, that means there are about as many indigenous
people in our country as there are Muslims, Jews, Mormons, and several other
groups. Sadly, that doesn’t keep many non-Natives from speaking FOR them,
saying what does or does not, or should or should not, concern or insult
American Indians.
At 6:00 p.m. tonight, Thursday, February 23rd,
at the Backdoor Playhouse on Tech campus, I’ll be hosting a panel about
contemporary indigenous issues. I will be doing very little talking, most of it
will be done by our panelists- five Native Americans from around the state (one
from Cookeville) representing five different tribal nations. The second half of
the hour will be them answering questions from the audience. This is a rare and
wonderful opportunity to find out what is important to these individuals and
their communities. I hope you can join us, it’s free to the public.
(NOTE: the event went extremely well, with a lot of engaging discussion between the panelists and the audience.)
--Troy D. Smith, a White County native, is a novelist
and a history professor at Tennessee Tech. His words do not necessarily
represent TTU.
You can find all previous entries in this weekly column HERE
A list of other historical essays that have appeared on this blog can be found HERE
Author's website: www.troyduanesmith.com
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