| By: CC Hovie Every October, Halloween decorations line the shelves, costumes fill the racks, and horror movies flood our screens. But for Native Peoples, this season is another reminder of how our cultures—and even our Ancestors—are too often turned into backdrops for entertainment. From “Indian costumes” that reduce diverse Native Peoples to stereotypes, to haunted house attractions that use burial sites as props, this pattern is not harmless fun. It is dehumanization. It is appropriation. And it continues to cause real harm. |  |
That harm was on full display at Fort Hood this summer. Their Directorate of Family, Morale, Welfare and Recreation (DFMWR) promoted a “Spooky Movie Night” at The Courses of Clear Creek, leaning into its proximity to what they described as “ancient burial grounds.” According to Fort Hood’s own public affairs director, one of the sites in that area is a documented Native burial site. Yet organizers still chose to screen Poltergeist—a film about homes built on top of graves—and even encouraged families to “have a spooky experience” because of the burial sites nearby. Their defense, that the screening happened “outside the boundaries” of the sites, misses the point entirely. A Native burial ground should never be a marketing gimmick. Our Ancestors are not movie props.
The irony here is devastating: the very office tasked with supporting family, morale, and welfare chose desecration-by-association as its version of “fun.” This is not spooky. It’s grotesque. It’s a values failure.
Native Peoples are still bringing our children home from boarding school cemeteries. We are still protecting sacred sites from extraction and development. And we are still forced to explain--again and again—why our burial sites deserve peace, why our living Peoples deserve dignity and human rights.
Halloween is one holiday that has been used to profit off the stereotyping of Native cultures. “Indian costumes” mock our identities, collapse hundreds of diverse Native Peoples into one false image, and teach children to see us as relics of the past rather than sovereign Peoples alive today. Pairing this cultural theft with events like a “spooky” screening near a burial site sends a chilling message: that Native Peoples are not human beings, but characters, props, or costumes to be borrowed and discarded.
The Association on American Indian Affairs demands policies that keep Native burial sites permanently off-limits for desecration of any kind, and accountability for those who turn our cultures into a for-profit venture at the expense of Native Peoples. But we also believe in the power of education, allyship, and change. This Halloween season, we ask everyone to make different choices: leave the “Indian costumes” on the rack, speak up when burial grounds or sacred sites are threatened by desecration, and learn whose land you live on and honor it.
As we move into Native Heritage Month, let’s shift from harm to healing, from caricature to connection. Stand with Native Peoples by choosing respect over stereotypes and dignity over spectacle. Together, we can honor our Ancestors, celebrate our living cultures, and build the kind of future our next generations deserve.
The irony here is devastating: the very office tasked with supporting family, morale, and welfare chose desecration-by-association as its version of “fun.” This is not spooky. It’s grotesque. It’s a values failure.
Native Peoples are still bringing our children home from boarding school cemeteries. We are still protecting sacred sites from extraction and development. And we are still forced to explain--again and again—why our burial sites deserve peace, why our living Peoples deserve dignity and human rights.
Halloween is one holiday that has been used to profit off the stereotyping of Native cultures. “Indian costumes” mock our identities, collapse hundreds of diverse Native Peoples into one false image, and teach children to see us as relics of the past rather than sovereign Peoples alive today. Pairing this cultural theft with events like a “spooky” screening near a burial site sends a chilling message: that Native Peoples are not human beings, but characters, props, or costumes to be borrowed and discarded.
The Association on American Indian Affairs demands policies that keep Native burial sites permanently off-limits for desecration of any kind, and accountability for those who turn our cultures into a for-profit venture at the expense of Native Peoples. But we also believe in the power of education, allyship, and change. This Halloween season, we ask everyone to make different choices: leave the “Indian costumes” on the rack, speak up when burial grounds or sacred sites are threatened by desecration, and learn whose land you live on and honor it.
As we move into Native Heritage Month, let’s shift from harm to healing, from caricature to connection. Stand with Native Peoples by choosing respect over stereotypes and dignity over spectacle. Together, we can honor our Ancestors, celebrate our living cultures, and build the kind of future our next generations deserve.
