Comments on: What Do Native Americans And Rainmaking Have To Do With The Law?

By: Mark Johnson

Mark Johnson — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 17:41:12 +0000

I am pleased that the writer believes I “got it” about Native Americans, and anybody who knows me well will confirm that. And one of the things that I “got” a number of years ago was a deep and abiding respect for those Native Americans. It would be too easy to react with a list to support my feelings. I will say for the record, however, that I have been called a lot of things, but never once has anyone said I was disrespectful of any culture. I certainly didn’t mean to imply any disrespect in my article, but there is no way for me to control those who see what they want to see. As for the lack of accountability of US attorneys who won’t prosecute rape cases in Indian Country, shame on them. The law may indeed be a noble profession, but some people clearly haven’t gotten that message. If I implied anything other than my deep respect for Native Americans and their culture I am sincerely sorry. We can all learn from the first Americans. They have much to teach.

Mark

By: ArizAttorney

ArizAttorney — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 05:57:55 +0000

This is what I wrote to the editors of Arizona ELegal, a periodic email publication sent to Arizona Bar members after I saw this article in a hyperlink:

What? What is this article from the Complete Lawyer entitled “What Do Native Americans And Rainmaking Have to Do With the Law” doing in the Arizona elegal publication? I clicked on the hyperlink because I wanted to see who would write something so crude as “[w]hen you drag new clients into the teepee….” in reference to Native Americans.

The article was apparently written by some marketing exec, who, while ostensibly trying to demonstrate his interest in and respect for Hopi culture, instead demonstrates his apalling ignorance. He meets a Hopi medicine man in Northern Arizona and is surprised to see him in a “Hawaiian” shirt and khaki shorts, rather than “a lot of feathers and war paint.” He refers to the Kachinas the tribal member discusses with him as “dolls.”

His flippant tone (his attempt to be amusing?) while comparing Hopi rainmaking ceremonies with the legal profession is sophmoric and offensive. (“I’m certainly not suggesting that your chief business person don a kachina outfit and burst into the local country club. That tends to scare the diners and you wouldn’t want one of them choking on a crumpet.”) He states that “rain dances, while certainly entertaining, are distracting in front of your building or outside an office.”

He makes a perjorative and stereotypic reference to “teepees”–a dwelling used at one time in the past by Plains Indians, not Hopis–when he writes, “[t]hose of you who are charged with dragging new clients into the teepees might keep in mind that new clients are looking beyond the networking, sales pitches and snazzy brochures.” And it doesn’t end there. He goes on to say, “[w]hile building a campfire and passing a peace pipe may be going over the edge, being at peace with yourself and transferring that to a new client isn’t.”

And finally, to add insult to injury, the article is illustrated with a clip-art drawing of pastel-colored teepees.

It’s not funny. It’s stupid and offensive. Surely you can find better filler articles for your email publication than this.

By: N8tive Grandma

N8tive Grandma — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 16:05:56 +0000

Unfortunately many people believe that the indigenous people of the United States all lived in teepees and/or still do. We do not dress with feathers in our hair and wear buckskin clothing as part of our daily wardrobe and utter ughs. Many of us are educated and some are even lawyers! While Mark figured that out, he still has a very disrespectful view of Native people. He jokes about our ceremonies and practices. Appropriating these aspects of our religious ceremonies for their own use or misuse is not funny. Here is an idea to write about Mark – how about the lack of accountability of US Attorneys who will not prosecute rape cases in Indian Country?

By: MarshaHunter

MarshaHunter — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 15:53:21 +0000

Nice column, and I like Mark’s approach. The accompanying photo of Easter-egg-colored teepees on green grass is comical and, for those of us who live in northern Arizona, slightly annoying. The Hopi reservation occupies a starkly beautiful part of the world. There are surely millions of photos available. The medicine man Mark talked to does NOT live in pink teepee. A photo of his actual environment would anchor Mark’s comments in reality, and isn’t that what we need in the law? To understand the client, the jury, judges, the public, as real people? As Mark writes, “They want to see who you really are.” And they want to know you can see who they really are.

Interesting web site!