The New Red Order named themselves after the Improved Order of Red Men, a largely white fraternal organization fond of Native regalia. It’s easy to mock grown men playing Indigenous dress-up, but the New Red Order see something deeper: the way American national identity has defined itself in terms of an idealized Native authenticity and freedom. “Even Indians play Indian. Indian people want to appear to be more traditionally Native American.”Over the past five years, Indigenous artists have gained global prominence. Land acknowledgments, which name specific tribes forced to leave an area, may seem to be a kind of progress — but the New Red Order say visibility is not the end, and could even hurt Indigenous artists, if people decide organizations have done enough.

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Persons: Warren Harding, Franklin D, Roosevelt, Theodore, ” Zack Khalil, “, Jeffrey Gibson, Smith Organizations: Red, Liberty, Boston Tea Party, The Mississippi Choctaw, Cherokee, Whitney Museum, NRO Locations: Waco , Texas, The, United States, Venice, Kootenai Nation