When we hear about Indians sharing spiritual wisdom with White people, they call to mind this second stereotype, the friendly noble Indian. When we hear the anger of Indians, it is easy for the first stereotype Indian to re-emerge, the hostile savage. We might feel angry or defensive or fearful.

It is important to realize that these images are really fantasies – projections of fears and dreams of White people onto those perceived as "other." While the second image, the noble spiritual wise Indian, might seem to be an improvement on the first, it is actually also harmful to Native people. So for any of us with some desire to learn more about Native people, the first layer we encounter is this layer of distortion, like a mask which obscures the voices and experiences of actual Native peoples.

What is called "Native American spirituality" in various New Age movement settings is actually a part of this distorted image. So-called "Native American spirituality" draws on the "Noble Savage" stereotype, mixed with elements of symbol and ritual from various actual Native religious practices. What interests us about these Indians might be the way they are portrayed as having a spiritual world view, while mainstream culture seems increasingly secular. We might be looking for an emphasis on female deities and positive roles for women, or a focus on the earth, grounded in the interconnectedness of all beings. Men have seen the Indian as an image of manhood to be reclaimed.

These can all be important visions, and contain elements of truth. But the mask is still a mask. Andrea Smith, Cherokee activist and member of Women of All Red Nations, points out, "The 'Indian ways' that these white, new-age 'feminists' are practicing have very little basis in reality… theses new agers do not understand Indian people or our struggles for survival and thus can have no genuine understanding of Indian spiritual practices. [Andrea Smith, "The New Age Movement and Native Spirituality," in Indigenous Woman, Vol. 1 #1, Spring 1991, p. 18]

Resistance, Colonialism and Structural Racism

Of course, I didn't know any of this right away. I mentioned that spirituality had led me into political activism. As part of my journey, I was also drawn into political activity with Native people. It was in this context that I began to learn about the lives and issues faced by actual Native Americans. I learned about the continued theft of the land and displacement of its inhabitants. I learned about forced acculturation through forbidding people to practice their religions, sending their children to boarding schools, and forbidding them to speak their languages. I learned about the mining of coal and uranium on reservations with disregard for the consequences on the lives of the communities there. And on and on.

I also learned about the reclamation of Indian pride and identity and the history of