Writing POC 101

Native American Characters - @ShipaKwoli

No, I'm not vegan. No, I don't get visions. The only voice I'm guided by is my GPS.

Now that we've got the basics over and done with, we can get to the rest of the chapter.

Oh boy.

So, I am Native American, as you probably guessed. By blood, I'm many many different tribes, however, I identify more with my people in the Pacific Northwest, so we'll just stick to that. As you may have guessed, especially more recently, I've had to deal with a lot of well-meaning, but ignorant, people when it comes to Native Americans. Specifically mascots, but we won't be talking about that today.

No, today I want to bring to light the stereotypes I have found in Native American characters on Wattpad, you know, in the few books that have Native American characters.

Here is a list of the major stereotypes that I've found:

They are ridiculously sexy and turned into more of a fetish than a character.

They are ridiculously wise and connected to the "spirit world".

They're glorified hippies.

Of course, there are other problems that also can be found, mainly they're along the lines of romanticising history. Trust me, if you're trying to write a story about a Native American's perspective of colonialism, you really want to do some research and you probably shouldn't be the type of person who gets queasy easily because what you're going to find is horrifying.

How do you fix this? How do you write a Native American character and avoid the stereotypes? Well, the answer is simple:

First off, pick a tribe (or tribes) that this character is from, but be creative about it. Not every Native American is Navajo and Cherokee. Instead, decide where your story is going to be placed and choose a tribe from the particular area.

Secondly, don't use Pocahontas or Vanessa Hudgens as your guide to what a Native American should look like. Yes, high cheekbones are common, but so are round cheeks. Imagine if all white characters were based off of Snow White or Ashley Tisdale, everyone would look the same. We don't all have straight hair, copper skin, or inset eyes. Some of us have wavy to curly hair, some of us are darker and some of us lighter. That said, don't try and make them unique by giving them blue eyes, that really only happens when the character is only half Native.

Thirdly, treat them like you would a white character. Their ethnicity shouldn't affect their personality. You can be athletic and Native American, a punk and Native American, a romantic and Native American, I can go on and on and on.

As for powwows, frybread, and jingle dresses, that is up to you. None of it is wrong if you do it correctly, and it's different for each tribe/tribal region. Do research if you really want to put emphasis on his/her culture.

Also, something that I want to clear up, Native Americans aren't anti-American. Native American have the highest troop to population ratio of any race/ethnicity of the U.S, and almost three times as much than the second highest ethnicity, Caucasian. We sing the pledge, honor our veterans, and show respect for the Honor Guard before every powwow. You won't, however, see us celebrating Columbus Day.

We dress just like every other American, and we have normal, American names. The only thing that I would say is a bit out of the ordinary is the fact that we really like graduations. In Native cultures across the continents, education is highly respected, so when someone graduates from high school or college, it's a BIG thing.

Yes, continents, anyone who is Native in North America, South America, or the Caribbean, is Native American. (Hawaiian is Pacific Islander.) You don't have to stick your story in the U.S. if you really want a Native American character in your story. That said, Canada and the majority of South America are not exactly great places to be Native, at the moment, so I'd stick with the U.S. and Mexico if you don't want to open that Pandora's Box. (I wouldn't blame you if you didn't.)

There's definitely more to say, but they'd probably be better as a Q/A thing, if necessary. So, these are the basics. If you'd like to ask me if your Native American character is offensive or not, just PM me and I'd be more than happy to answer your questions. I sincerely hope this was helpful!