From: "Barbara E Munson"

Why the Protest of Viroqua High School’s “Little Mary Sunshine”?

By Barbara E. Munson (Oneida)

Inside the Temple Theater, a Viroqua High School student actor strikes a pose
meant to evoke the image of an “Indian Chief” as a “Noble Warrior”. Students sit
cross-legged “Indian Style”, speaking broken English and lacerated Lakota and of
course greeting each other with “How”. One scene in the Viroqua High School
production of “Little Mary Sunshine” suggests that Indian people think that
alcohol is sacred, another scene alludes to Indian abilities as “great scouts”.
Students portray characters with names like “Chief Brown Bear” and “Yellow
Feather”. There are the obligatory tipi and feathers.

Outside the theatre, Indian tribal members from several Wisconsin tribes:
Oneida, Ho-Chunk, Stockbridge-Munsee and various bands of Lake Superior Chippewa
stand in protest. Many of the Indians who are protesting are in academic fields.
There are administrators and student advisors from four different UW campuses,
and professors active and retired. There are two board members from Wisconsin
Indian Education Association. There are American Indian college students and
their non-Indian allies from the student body, faculty and staff of the
UW-LaCrosse, UW-EauClaire, UW-Stout and UW-Oshkosh. Finally, there are family
and local allies of an Indian student and an Indian teacher, who are past and
current complainants against the Viroqua School District.

It is ironic hearing comments from a few people entering the theater suggesting
that the protestors should “Get a Life”, or saying “Why don’t you do something
positive? You know, do something about alcoholism on the reservation.” If any
group of people is doing something to work with Indian people as they move out
of a lengthy history of oppression and begin to fulfill their potential and
their dreams, it is these Indian educators and students, and their allies.

It is no mistake that the production of “Little Mary Sunshine” performed by a
group of high school students, brought Indian educators and college students to
Viroqua. The production is replete with and reinforces the very stereotypes that
the American Indian Studies Statutes were created to counter. These statutes,
enacted in 1989, are a focal point of Indian education in our state. The
statutes mandate schools to teach about Wisconsin Indian Tribes, about tribal
sovereignty and about human relations as a counter measure to the stereotypes
and ignorance that fueled racism against Wisconsin Indian people during the
1980’s and early ‘90’s. The UW-System is mandated to prepare future classroom
teachers to do this teaching.

Nor was it a spur of the moment decision to protest the play. Many of the
protestors were involved in attempts to mitigate the content of the play or to
halt the production fully six weeks prior to opening night. That the Viroqua
High School production of “Little Mary Sunshine” drew so many to protest speaks
volumes about the depth of responsibility educators feel about accurate and
authentic representation of Indian peoples and about the depth of discrimination
and hostility against this protected class that exists in the Viroqua School
District.


What is the Viroqua School District teaching its student body?

The play’s director, English teacher Sherry Getter, is not only teaching
stereotypes based on ignorance and inaccuracies about Indian people, she is
teaching students to be comfortable acting out these stereotypes. “Little Mary
Sunshine,” first performed in the 1950’s, is the artistic parallel to a black
face Minstrel Show, only this time it is Indian people who are the butt of jokes
that demean on the basis of race, ethnicity and religion. The problems with this
performance taking place in Viroqua go beyond a single teacher’s unfortunate
play selection and insistence that “the show must go on.” The Viroqua School
Board, by choosing to change the venue for the high school play, under the
pretense that doing so absolves the district from culpability, is teaching
students to be hypocritical and dishonest and to zealously do whatever is
necessary to work their will at the expense of others from a protected class.
This is an extraordinary example of the exercise of a power differential which
is at the heart of oppressive discriminatory practices. The choice of this play
after the district was sanctioned for promoting similar stereotypes of Japanese
people in a past production involving selections from “The Mikado” indicates
that the district is not learning from its earlier mistakes. All these lessons
rest on a contentious history of stereotyping American Indian people through the
misguided use of the Viroqua School District’s “Blackhawk” logo. Has living
under an “Indian” logo stereotype inured administration, faculty and students to
the very nature of racism?

In addition to the American Indian Studies Statutes teaching mandates, the
Viroqua School Board is responsible for upholding the Pupil Non-Discrimination
Statutes protecting members of protected and minority classes from stereotyping
and harassment. The Viroqua School District is also expected to supply teaching
materials that contain accurate and authentic information about diverse
populations and to provide learning environments that encourage the successful
achievement for all students intended by the No Child Left Behind Law of 2003.

Finally this blatant insult to Indian people with egregious disregard of core
education policies was done for the purpose of public entertainment.

What remedial action will the Viroqua School District take so that students so
exposed, unlearn racism and become responsible and effective citizens in an
increasingly inter-connected world?


Barbara E. Munson, Chair

WIEA “Indian” Mascot and Logo Taskforce

231 Steeple Road

Mosinee, WI 54455

(715) 693-6238






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