To think racist stereotypes shouldn't feature in a school play?

[LadyFuckrington]

Went to see dd in her play last night and was pretty horrified by the 'Indians' dressed in feathered headgear and talking like um how.

I sat there with my mouth open because it had shades of 'blacking up' and just didn't sit well with me.

Am I being ridiculous? Dd was a cowboy in the play, which was set in the Wild West and they all did terrible American accents, but the whole pidgin English representation of the native Americans speech made me wince. That and the fact they were listed in the flyer as Indians.

Aibu? I feel like complaining to the school really but I'm not well at the moment and can't tell if I'm overreacting.

Shakespeare literally changed his stories to make them politically correct- to flatter the reigning monarch at the time (Richard III and Macbeth have examples of this).

YANBU. Are you going to complain?

You are not being unreasonable. Some interestin opinions on here. Wow! What year is it?

I agree. YANBU. I am a teacher and every year the Year Sixes put on a panto-esque show to end the term, always full of sexist/mildly racist overtones. They all seem similar in the way they are structured and written, so I reckon it's by the same people. We had a show with a Native American scene last year, wonder if it was the same? This year there was the line "get out you stupid traveller!" which I did cringe at. Not appropriate or remotely funny yet the other teachers rave about the shows!

OP our musicals are always Craig Hawes musicals... same guy?

Love it if it had to carry on in front of an OFSTED inspector. You would the find out just how not unreasonable you are being. Stereotyping and poor use of language is not generally a great sign.

I think this is hugely offensive. American Indians continue to fight stereotypical language that portrays them as 'Redskins', 'savages', etc. It's hugely diminishing to a very valid culture (or cultures, really, since there are so many different tribes) to reduce them to little more than semi-literate bad guys like something out of a John Wayne film.

I grew up in America and my primary school class did a performance of a Kalapuya tribe myth. We used a script and dance choreography provided by the tribe, and created masks in keeping with the tribe's cultural practices. That was over twenty years ago, and it still stands out vividly in my memory, particularly when we were invited to perform the myth at their reservation. I learned a phenomenal amount about their culture and felt a real sense of respect for their values and beliefs.

I appreciate that's my experience as an American will be different to that of children growing up here, but there's no reason to give into stereotypes just because the culture is foreign.