Nursery rhyme 'in bad taste'

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Wuttunee 'horrified' by nursery rhyme

When Yvonne Wuttunee bought a nursery rhyme record and bookset for her six-year-old daughter, Terra-Dawn, she never imagined for one minute that this would lead her to make resolutions at an All Chiefs' conference or to organize a delegation to the International court.

It all started when Wuttunee began to read the rhymes to her daughter. AT first she read the usual traditional rhymes such as Humpty Dumpty and Jack and Jill. However, one rhyme called Ten Little Indians made her stop short.

"I was horrified," said Wuttunee from her Calgary home. "There was this rhyme innocently portrayed with cute little Indian children giving racist and red neck views of Indian people."

Wuttunee was so distressed that she immediately pulled the record off the record player and destroyed it.

Then she began to read the rhyme again, especially the verse that says "little Injuns never heard of heaven". This particularly upset Wuttunee, who points out that many children would think that Indian people have no concept of God or the Great Spirit.

Another verse says: "Three little Injuns out in a canoe-One fell overboard, and then there were two." It also upset Wuttunee, who points out that Indian people invented the canoe, a structure that has never been improved upon, and that Indian people are generally good sailors.

However, what upset Wuttunee the most was the final verse:

"One little Injun living all alone-He got married, and then there were none!"

"This smacks of assimilation. Obviously the book infers that Indian people are a dying race and that once we marry, presumably to a white person, we are no more. I just couldn't believe my eyes."

Wuttunee who is currently studying psychology at the University of Calgary, has analyzed the rhyme and points out that the message is pre-packed and subliminal.

"Children don't realize they are being fed this racist propaganda. They just see the pretty little pictures and the cute little Indians. But the underlying message is that Indians are stupid and that we are a dying race," she says angrily.

Wuttunee was so angry that she took the matter to the All Chiefs Conference on Oil and Gas held in Edmonton March 6 and 7. She made a resolution that derogatory publications be banned and that the use of such material also be banned.

The motion was seconded by Richard Behn from British Columbia and Vernon Belgarde from the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations (FSIN) and passed unanimously. Now Wuttunee wants to take the whole matter to International Court.

"When Jewish people receive hate literature, something is done. But this rhyme appears in a Walt Disney record album and is distributed all over the world. Something must be done."

Wuttunee has begun a fund-raising campaign in order to pay for any legal expenses in taking this matter to the world's highest court.

"I hope other Native people will join me in this endeavour. It seems that right now we are being bombarded with all kinds of redneck literature and comments. We have to make a stand."

Wuttunee draws similarities between the rhyme book and the hate literature coming from neo-Nazi organizations, and points out that many non-Native people still hold the old stereotype ideas of Indian people.

Last week, officials working on the opening ceremonies for the Calgary Olympic Games outlined a plan which would involve an Indian war party chasing a covered wagon and then setting it on fire. Many local Indian groups bitterly complained about what they called a "Hollywood" view of Indian people and the plan was scuttled.

"This is happening right across the country," says Wuttunee. "And we must act swiftly before more of this hate literature comes through our mailboxes."

Wuttunee is currently preparing a letter to the Walt Disney Company. The record book set in question is called Walt Disney's Treasury of Mother Good Nursery Rhymes, published by Walt Disney Records, Number 3935.