Eisenberg's squaw and chief schtick a teachable moment

Just because actor JesseEisenbergdidn`t know the history of the word 'squaw,' doesn't mean he isexcused forusing it,MarleneAtleosaid.

Atleowas responding to Eisenberg's story Men and Dancing in the May 25 edition of The New Yorker. In the story, hewrites about a "squaw" telling a "Native American chief" to do a "rain dance."

Atleo,a member of the Ahousaht First Nation,is a professor at the University of Manitoba, and some of her research has focused on language and achievement.

• Hear Marlene Atleo on Unreserved with host Rosanna Deerchild
• Actor Jesse Eisenberg called out for using the term 'squaw' in The New Yorker

"I'm not surprised thatEisenburgused [the]word. I don't suspect ignorance," Atleo said.

"Historical ignorance only goes so far. It's not an excuse and not funny."

There`s adisconnect between historical use of the word squaw and the way it's interpreted today.

The word 'squaw' is derived froman Algonquin word meaning 'woman', andhas origins in New England and in Quebec, saidAtleo.

Other tribal groups, such as the Cree, Shawnee Nation andOjibwe, had their own variations of squaw as well.

The problem isn't so much the word, but the pejorative nuance that non-indigenous people cloaked it with over time.

Italian explorerAmerigoVespucci was the first to use the word disreputably whendescribing hospitable indigenous women in the new world, a behavioural trait of women that was foreign to him.

Vespucci's writings about this observation spread across the continent, and so began the irreversible ugliness that now shrouds the once innocuous word.

Eisenberg'sNew Yorker piece is proofthat history still plays out today.

It seems indigenous women continue to be locked in a fight they didn't pick.

But such fightsare also teachable moments.

"When we have this kind of background subconscious piece coming on us repeatedly you can`t fight it unless you drag it out,"Atleosaid.

"Drag those myths out of the dark of our subconscious. Bring them forward and say, 'this is why we are being flummoxed again and again.'"

According to Manitoba Treaty Commissioner James Wilson, calling outEisenbergand others for inappropriate behavior towardindigenous women should also be the duty of indigenous men.

"If I hear jokes about women and it's men [telling them], then it's my responsibility to call them on it,"he said.

"It's a difficult thing to do. But you have to teach yourself to do it and you have to hold yourself accountable for doing it."

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