The 1491s: Origin Stories – Gathering of Nations

In this skit by the 1491s there seem to be remarkably few stereotypes left unchallenged. This piece satirizes the commodification of Native American culture. They comment on the current state of Indian culture by making fun of the Gathering of Nations, a annual powwow event is an over thirty years old in Albuquerque New Mexico, started just two years after the skit it placed. This is an example of in-group humor as Watkins describes it, since I at least needed a footnote to get the joke.

The lines about running from the police as a common point of understanding are slipped in among the placement of Crazy Horse on his pedestal. Not only do they play with similar ideas of what it means to be Indian and what it means to be black in this country, but they do so in an offhand style that feels very comfortable and downplayed. In this way, neither group seems to be accusing the other of being greater than or less than. Interestingly, this skit seems to go against my claim that both groups frequently devalue the other in their comedy. I think it is fair to say this example shows the potential mutual understanding between Native Americans and African Americans, but it cannot be seen as the whole picture.

In all of my research this is the only video I found in which Native American comics referenced, mentioned, or breached the topic of black people. It was pretty hard to find examples of black comics talking about Native Americans but I did succeed, perhaps because of the relative quantities of material published online. I think it is important to note the dominance of accessible narratives, which center relationships between the comic and white society as opposed to relationships between groups of people of color in this country. We should question whether this blank spot is due to the importance of countering white supremacy for the individual comics writing material or if it has more to do with the lack of audience for this types of multiracial comedy.

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