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Writer's pictureThomas Tittmann

Reclamation Efforts: Give back what you stole from us: Our lands, our cultures & our names on your vehicles & sports teams

Updated: Aug 3

A few months back, I had a conversation with someone about how members of Native American peoples find vehicle nameplates that use various tribal names and references as offensive.


-->>>If you agree with their perspective, please share this post on your social media channels.


Examples (from the second article below): "The most obvious cars named after Native American tribes are Jeep’s Cherokee and Comanche. But don’t forget Chevrolet’s Apache, Pontiac’s Aztek, and the entire Winnebago brand. In addition, over a dozen more automakers use place names that were tribe names first."


"Pontiac certainly didn’t shy away from the native origins of its name. This automaker released the Pontiac Aztek, Pontiac Chieftan, Pontiac Star Chief, and Pontiac Super Chief. I mean, its logo is even an arrowhead."



I began to learn more...went online and found a lot about this...from Native nations throughout our shared country. Here are two articles.






CONTACT MANUFACTURERS TO LET THEM KNOW TO STOP THIS APPROPRIATION

Here's the contact info for Jeep:



Scroll until you see the "Chat Now" icon. Click the underlined words.



Next, click the Blue "Chat" box in the lower RH corner of the screen.



Fill in the requested information and then click "Start Chat".



VEHICLE NAMEPLATES-PROPOSED RECLAMATION PROJECT: Remove OEM one & Replace with your favorite band

The Reclamation/replacement process is simple:


Step 1: Remove the OEM nameplate


Here’s a way to remove the offensive originals. AND Replace them with more appropriate names.



Step 2: Install Your Replacement


Here's a source for several styles of Grateful Dead-themed vehicle nameplates.


Available in chrome and matte black...and there may be other sellers...




ANOTHER POSSIBILITY...


The lower section of this next image was what I was hoping to offer for this reclamation project. I saw it online but found out it's no longer available. Subsequently, I contacted a fabricator who sent me a quote for producing them. To date, Jeep has manufactured 3.3 million Cherokees.


Let me know if you're interested in working on this with me.



To Colonizers Everywhere....


Listeners: Some rough language from an angry person...




Grateful Dead's Relationships with Native Americans



One more…"SUNRISE" - a song written and sung by a female member of the band about a sunrise service led by Medicine Man Rolling Thunder. 


Some background:


"Sunrise" was written and sung by the only female member of the Grateful Dead, Donna Jean Godchaux, who was with the band from 1972-1979. The song is about a Native American medicine man named Rolling Thunder, who spent a lot of time with the Dead.


"'Sunrise' is about sunrise services we attended and what Rolling Thunder would do," Godchaux said on the Songfacts Podcast. "It's very literal actually. Rolling Thunder would conduct a sunrise service, so that's how that came about."


Donna Jean Godchaux wrote this song on piano after Jerry Garcia asked her to write a song for the Terrapin Station album. She said it just flowed out of her - music and lyrics - and was one of the easiest songs she ever wrote.


The drumming at the end of the song was played by a real medicine man. "We cut it in Los Angeles, and he came and brought the medicine drum, so what you hear on the end is the real deal," Godchaux told Songfacts. "It was like a sanctuary in that studio when he was playing that. It was very heavy."


There is a nod to this song on the back cover of the Terrapin Station album, which merges Native American imagery (an eagle feather) with the Grateful Dead bones.


Rolling Thunder...


Some take issue that Rolling Thunder was never a member of an actual Native American tribe...


As I see it, the message he spread is more important that the credentials of the messenger.







SUNRISE Song: A meditation in art and music...




--filled with wonderFULL images...




ALCATRAZ-On this Rock...We will take our stand...



[from the article]

For many people, Native and non-Native, this was the first time such issues were being discussed out in the open. And for many non-Natives, this was the first time they were exposed to the true history of their country. It's no wonder that the FBI's dossier on Trudell would run over 1,000 pages.


It was because of Radio Free Alcatraz that Trudell was able to garner so much support from celebrities such as Marlon Brando and Jane Fonda. Musical groups like the Grateful Dead and Creedence Clearwater Revival donated money and food and even held a concert off the coast of Alcatraz on a boat, donating the boat afterward. Radio Free Alcatraz persevered through bad weather and spotty electricity, but the broadcasts came to an end when the federal government shut off all electricity and radio services on the island.



Closing this post with a song about a young boy's search of the nation's major prisons looking for his Daddy...





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