got an email tonight...these folks got my email off some flyers i put up on campus at evergreen. the flyers were advertizing my free didj class that meets once a week for six weeks... not really sure how to handle this one anyboy got any ideas, thoughts, words of wisdoms.....is this just a young pissed off college kid that just took a class on cultural apropration...or what.... this is sort of voilent in nature... is this a threat.
are you a brother from what is now known as australia?
in other words are you indigenous? if not then stop
now what you are doing. it's racist and we as Native
people here in olympia will not stand for it. six
weeks to teach other white people how to play an
instrument that is thousands of years old, and was and
is still used by traditional people to pray, to dream,
to live. Native people have been murdered for trying
to play this instrument that you apparently have
"borrowed". we want you to come to your senses,
before it's too late and you allow other people to
play along with your racism. this kind of crap needs
to stop in olympia. we wait you response.
and if you are charging money, then you indeed have
no soul.
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Washington
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Re: i think this is hate mail
Mon, February 4, 2008 - 7:50 AMWhat a loser. The real indigenous peoples of the world love spreading thier culture and music to the world. This is a way for them to buld an industry for themselves and to make a living. This is some pc idiot that does not know his head up his ass.
I remember at the 2006 JT the Doonoch dancer guys said that the Native Australians loved seeing people of the world playing didgeridoo and dancing to their songs. Also, this insturment is going through an evolution. It is no longer stuck in the outback, a good example would be Tyler Spencers Agaves or Geoffs Yuccas. Guitars are from Spain but look at the evolutionary pace that american blues music took it.
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Re: i think this is hate mail
Mon, February 4, 2008 - 5:42 PMhey Matty, when I used to make rattles for a living the shop in Olympia quit buying from me because they repeatedly got their windows smashed by folks claiming to be standing up for indigenous rights. I later met the guy that smashed the windows and he was an angry angry dude. When we met I was making rattles at a Shoshone ranch in Nevada where I was participating in a political action. We had some words and I came away with a little understanding of his perspective but that doesn't mean I support his actions or sentiment. He's a fighter for fightings sake and he will continue to fill the world with hatred and attempt to intimidate and attack others. Best case scenario is that he sent you one piece of hate mail and then he forgets about you. I'm more willing to bet though that he does show up at your workshop to create a stir and speak out for his crusade. If I were you I'd print up the email and take a trip down to the local police station to let them know that you're concerned about being the victim of a hate crime. This may seem silly but I'm being completely serious. If you call me I'll even tell you the name of the individual I suspect, though I don't want to put his name in print here on a public forum because if I'm wrong I could be slandering the SOB. Maybe if you get lucky a cop will want to sit in on your workshop as a participant just in case you get your visitor, and if not, don't expect to be tougher than this guy or put yourself at risk standing up against him because he is in fact a dangerous person who obviously pushes boundaries. -
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Re: i think this is hate mail
Mon, February 4, 2008 - 7:41 PM
i wrote three or four replys last night...didn't send any of them...it's seem that just leaving it be is perhaps best...if this is a fight for the sake of fighting, then no matter what i share or try to convay, will surely just make for more targets...
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Re: i think this is hate mail
Mon, February 4, 2008 - 11:23 PMHi Matty,
Geez, I'm sorry to hear that you're that target of all this. Good call on your part to not reply though. Chad's idea of taking a copy of the email to the police is also a good one just in case. Hope all goes well for you without incident.
Sending good vibes your way for success,
Peace,
Pam -
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another view
Tue, February 5, 2008 - 10:47 PM -
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Re: another view
Wed, February 6, 2008 - 8:43 AMGood links Zach. I always appreciate a view from both sides.
In regards to the original "hate" message, wow, I am kind of shocked that someone would write that. I do not see where teaching to play the didge is stealing from any culture. Playing the didge or instruments of the same format and techniques of circular breathing are not just unique to the Australian Aborigines.
All people need to be aware and sensitive to their culture, that goes without saying. But to relate playing the didge to cultural "theft", no, I do not agree.
I think it is interesting how the emailer wrote about being a "native" in Olympia!!
Do Olympians play the didge too? :-)
Stealing a culture and destroying natural resources is bad enough, do we really need "psycho advocates" running around too?
Good luck Matt
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Re: another view
Wed, February 6, 2008 - 10:08 AMThere are certainly issues of abuse, neglect, and cultural misappropriation surrounding the relationship between Westerners and the native people of Australia. These have been discussed at length on this and other boards.
In this case, however, the letter writer seems to be making many assumptions about Matt, his motivations, his experience and his understanding.
While it seems likely that there are some individual Aboriginal Australian people who would agree with the letter, there seems to be a general consensus among traditional players in favor of - or at least acceptance of - the spread of the didgeridoo among non-Aboriginal people, as a means of bettering inter-cultural understanding.
Here is just one example www.yirrkala.com/yidaki/dh...2play.html
Matt; if you wish to reply at all (personally, I wouldn't), I would point out this site to the letter writer, and leave it at that.
Love you, bro.
Jay
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Re: another view
Wed, February 6, 2008 - 9:29 PMone form of the cultural appropriation argument
which matt's correspondent might be expressing
is that the didg is a part of a magic
that should not (cannot) be made available to outsiders
zb -
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Re: another view
Wed, February 6, 2008 - 9:37 PMmatty,
the internet is a strange and wonderful thing. anyone can say whatever they want. so will i :P
i would NOT answer him at all. just let it go and talk to chad about the person he spoke of.
by the way chad, slander is only slander if it's not true ;)
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Re: another view
Thu, February 7, 2008 - 7:44 AM"Cannot" is the key word here.
[Let me preface this by saying that, when speaking of Aboriginal things, as a white Westerner, I naturally speak from a place of limited understanding. I do not speak for The People, and I may be entirely wrong, but I am trying to learn what I can.]
What I have been told by several traditional players is that the "magic" (to use our word, not theirs) is inherently a part of the land, and The People's relationship to it. One *cannot* separate the magic from the land or its people. One who is an outsider has no connection or access to that tribal magic to begin with, so cannot *steal* it. They can only (falsely) claim a connection to it (which is bad enough), but cannot make that magic available to outsiders because they never had it to begin with.
However, one can separate the instrument from the land, and still have a wonderful instrument.
Or, in the case of Matt, one can make a new instrument from that which the land here offers to him.
Again, I refer to the site that I mentioned earlier in this thread as having great information on this topic.
As for Matt's letter: From the tone of it, I don't believe that the writer was intending to engage in a discussion of the subtle nuances of Aboriginal magic in a cultural context. They are simply stating that White people should not play or teach the didgeridoo. This seems to be at odds with the ideas espoused by many Aboriginal elders and traditional didge players.
J
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This is the maximum depth. Additional responses will not be threaded.
Re: another view
Thu, February 7, 2008 - 3:28 PMif you just call it a drone
and maybe say it is "like" a didg
then you are not stealing anything
zb -
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Re: another view
Fri, February 8, 2008 - 8:40 AMPotato, Potahto, man.
Didgeridoo is not an aboriginal word, so to say that it is "Like" a didgeridoo, in the hopes of avoiding cultural theft seems a little bizarre. -
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Re: another view
Fri, February 8, 2008 - 1:27 PMPotahto, I love it:-)
So, just to split some hairs.
I am seeing it like this. Traditional Aboriginal playing (techniques and rythms) Western style playing (techniques and rythms). Traditional Yidaki (among other names) Western Didgeridoo (among other names). Playing for spiritual or cultural significance or playing for fun possibly profession.
There seems to be a definite line here. I do not see any problem with keeping to the Western, Didgeridoo, fun/profession side of things and let the other side alone, except maybe for study. Would I be wrong with that line of thought?
When in Rome right?
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Re: i think this is hate mail
Fri, March 21, 2008 - 6:56 PMwell i cant stop myself from commenting on this, i just cant. the way i look at things is that we wrestle with the idea of free speech as compared to the practice of it. now i dont really agree with this individual, but what makes this one of the great countries is that we are allowed to speak our mind in public. if you believe in the right to free speech, you have to be ready to hear things you dont like or agree with. they are all idea, opinions, all conjured up in my and your minds. now if there is actions associated with these opinions, now we are entering an entirely different arena. now it is not speech but hatred in action. now one could decide that the chance of this happening is scary and strike preemptively (sound familiar?), or just wait and see what happens, and defend yourself as you must. for me it is important to make the distinction between opinions and actions. how can we sustain the diversity of the world if we try and silence what is different. as far as i know people can threaten anyone verbally (except the president) and it is not a crime. i might be wrong on this one. i am really not taking any sides here, i just come from the "you cant change anyone but yourself" camp. why waste the energy.... good luck, please keep us posted
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Re: i think this is hate mail
Fri, March 21, 2008 - 7:40 PMThe Supreme Court in Watts v. United States (1969) said threats to personal safety are not protected by the Constitution nor it's amendments.
So, no. You cannot threaten anyone but the president.
In the United States, government is broadly forbidden by the First Amendment of the Constitution from restricting speech. Jurists generally understand this to mean that the government cannot regulate the content of speech, but that it can address the harmful effects of speech through laws such as those against defamation or incitement to riot, even if this is not a direct threat to personal safety or well-being.
Racial defamation is included in these laws.
I'm not a lawyer, but it seems pretty clear cut to me.
Is it worth pursuing legally? Probably not.
But the letter is definitely fucked up.
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Re: i think this is hate mail
Sat, April 19, 2008 - 8:50 AMThis dude is being silly - Saying a white person cannot teach didge is like saying a non-Brazilian cannot teach Brazilian Ju Jitsu, or someone who's not from India cannot teach Yoga. No one can own knowlege. As for community support et. cetera, the didge as an instrument has been "given" to the people of the world by various tribal groups on many seperate occasions. The didge when played as an instrument for non-ceromonial music is in a completly different context that IMO poses no threat to the "purity" of traditional aboriginal arts. I mean, it's not like you're teaching funeral or circumcision songs...
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Re: i think this is hate mail
Mon, May 19, 2008 - 6:41 AMHe used the internet to make this threat? Isn't he appropriating OUR culture? -
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Re: i think this is hate mail
Mon, May 26, 2008 - 2:31 PM
I certainly hope, if i have a funeral, didjs are played at it. Ceremony, ritual, and concepts of sacred there is no reason that these need to be strayed from ignored or unreallated in our relationships and inspirations of other cultures. The abillity or potential to experience and or connect with the divine is what truely makes us all equal. I can not and will not ignore nor hide my experiences with this instrument and these sounds because some one might find it offensive, or simply not trust or understand my experience. This instrument came to me as much as i came to it if not even more so it coming to me. In a world full of mutts, multicultural relationships how many drops of blood does it take? How much time spent on the home land or with the tribe? How much connection does it take for it to be "o.k", for it to not be appropreation and with what tools will we measure? Who will be judge?
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