By Livity.Blog
A System of Cultural Erasure
The United States has long been heralded as a land of diversity and freedom, yet beneath its surface lies a system of cultural apartheid—a deliberate suppression of Indigenous, Black, and Latinx cultures through economic, legal, and social exclusion. Unlike the explicit laws of South African apartheid, the U.S. operates through erasure, economic barriers, and systemic control, ensuring that marginalized communities remain disconnected from their heritage, art, and power.
At the heart of this cultural apartheid is the whitewashing of history, the theft of Indigenous and African art, and the suppression of spiritual traditions. Despite these forces, our cultures persist—through resistance, creativity, and the reclamation of our ancestral knowledge.
1️⃣ The Erasure of Indigenous and Black Histories
One of the most effective tools of cultural apartheid is historical erasure—removing or distorting the past to control the present.
• Indigenous History Erased: Native nations once thrived across North America with complex governance, art, and spirituality. Yet, mainstream education teaches only of their “discovery” by Europeans, reducing thousands of years of civilization to footnotes.
• Black History Censored: Schools emphasize the “heroism” of European settlers while minimizing the brutality of slavery, Jim Crow, and ongoing systemic racism. Topics like Black Wall Street, Indigenous genocide, and colonial oppression are often omitted entirely.
• Banned Books & Censorship: Indigenous and Black scholars face constant censorship. Books by Indigenous, Black, and Latinx authors that expose the realities of colonization and white supremacy are frequently banned in schools and libraries.
Art as a Tool of Resistance
Art has always been a weapon against erasure. Through painting, storytelling, dance, and music, Indigenous and Black artists reclaim what history tried to bury.
• Robert Joyette’s paintings capture the struggles of Indigenous and brown people, ensuring their stories are not forgotten.
• Native muralists across the country are reclaiming public spaces with bold depictions of ancestral strength, warrior queens, and tribal sovereignty.
• Black artists like Kehinde Wiley and Kara Walker use their work to rewrite the visual narratives of power and history.
2️⃣ The Theft & Appropriation of Indigenous and Black Culture
Cultural apartheid is not just about exclusion—it is about theft. Black and Indigenous art, music, and spirituality are constantly appropriated, stripped of their roots, and resold for profit.
Art and Spirituality Turned into Commodities
• Indigenous Sacred Symbols Misused: Sacred items like dreamcatchers, tribal regalia, and spirit animals are mass-produced and sold by non-Natives, often with no understanding of their meaning.
• African & Indigenous Spirituality Whitewashed: Practices like smudging, African ancestral rituals, and drumming ceremonies are commercialized by wellness influencers with no connection to their true spiritual depth.
• Hip-Hop, Blues, & Jazz Stolen: Black music—born from pain, resilience, and revolution—is repackaged, exploited, and profited from, often with little credit given to its origins.
Artists Who Are Fighting Back
Despite the ongoing cultural theft, Indigenous and Black artists are taking artistic sovereignty into their own hands:
• Indigenous-owned fashion brands like Orenda Tribe are reclaiming Native textile designs.
• Black artists in the Afrofuturism movement are using digital art to tell futuristic stories rooted in ancestral wisdom.
• The Tree of Life Art Shop continues to uplift Indigenous and Caribbean cultural heritage through museum-quality art.
3️⃣ Economic Apartheid: The Barrier to Cultural Wealth
Even when Indigenous and Black artists create powerful works, they face systemic barriers to funding, exposure, and economic independence.
• Art Galleries & Museums Favor White Artists: Despite Indigenous and Black artists shaping global culture, white artists receive the majority of art grants, museum space, and gallery representation.
• Gentrification Forces Cultural Spaces to Close: Historically Black and Indigenous neighborhoods that served as artistic hubs are being taken over by wealthy developers who price out local artists.
• Underfunding of Black and Indigenous-Owned Businesses: The same redlining policies that denied Black and Native people homeownership now affect their ability to secure loans for businesses and cultural centers.
Restoring Cultural Power Through Art & Business
Reclaiming economic power is key to breaking the cycle of cultural apartheid:
• Supporting Indigenous and Black-Owned Art Markets: Platforms like Tree of Life Art, Indigenous art cooperatives, and African cultural festivals are creating spaces where artists can thrive on their own terms.
• Funding Our Own Cultural Institutions: Instead of waiting for mainstream acceptance, artists are creating their own galleries, schools, and community spaces to showcase their work.
• Decolonizing the Art World: Artists and activists are calling for museums to return stolen Indigenous and African artifacts to their rightful communities.
4️⃣ Mass Incarceration: The Criminalization of Cultural Expression
A hidden aspect of cultural apartheid is how the criminal justice system disproportionately targets Black and Indigenous people, effectively stripping them of their ability to contribute artistically, economically, and politically.
• Indigenous Spirituality Criminalized: For centuries, Native ceremonies like the Ghost Dance and peyote rituals were banned under U.S. law, criminalizing spiritual expression.
• Hip-Hop & Street Art Labeled as “Criminal”: Graffiti—one of the purest forms of urban storytelling—has been demonized as vandalism, while corporate brands profit off its aesthetic.
• Mass Incarceration as a Form of Cultural Erasure: The prison-industrial complex disproportionately targets Black and Indigenous men, removing them from their families, erasing their contributions, and silencing their voices.
🔥 Resistance Through Art: Despite systemic attempts to suppress them, incarcerated artists are creating powerful poetry, paintings, and music that expose the injustice of the prison system.
🔹 Conclusion: Reclaiming Our Cultural Sovereignty
Cultural apartheid is not just about history—it is about ongoing systems designed to suppress Black and Indigenous identity, art, and power.
But the resistance is strong.
🌿 Reclaiming our history means:
✅ Supporting Indigenous & Black artists and businesses
✅ Demanding decolonized education & ending censorship
✅ Creating cultural spaces outside of white institutions
✅ Fighting for the return of stolen artifacts and sacred lands
📢 Join the movement. Share the truth. Support Indigenous and Black art.
🌍 Explore more at Livity.Blog
🔥 ✨ Rooted in Ancestral Truth. Unveiling Hidden Legacies. Nurturing Indigenous Resilience. ✨
photo credit: Jon Leguizamo, Latin history for idiots
References and Further Reading 📖
1. Alexander, Michelle. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness. The New Press, 2010.
2. Anderson, Carol. White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2016.
3. Dunbar-Ortiz, Roxanne. An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States. Beacon Press, 2014.
4. Kendi, Ibram X. Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America. Nation Books, 2016.
5. Kelley, Robin D.G. Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination. Beacon Press, 2002.
6. Muhammad, Khalil Gibran. The Condemnation of Blackness: Race, Crime, and the Making of Modern Urban America. Harvard University Press, 2010.
7. Painter, Nell Irvin. The History of White People. W.W. Norton & Company, 2010.
8. Wilkerson, Isabel. Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents. Random House, 2020.
9. Davis, Angela Y. Are Prisons Obsolete? Seven Stories Press, 2003.
10. Lipsitz, George. How Racism Takes Place. Temple University Press, 2011.
11. Rothstein, Richard. The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America. Liveright, 2017.
12. Tuck, Eve, and K. Wayne Yang. Decolonization Is Not a Metaphor. Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society, Vol. 1, No. 1, 2012.
13. Delgado, Richard, and Jean Stefancic. Critical Race Theory: An Introduction. NYU Press, 2017.
14. LaDuke, Winona. Recovering the Sacred: The Power of Naming and Claiming. South End Press, 2005.
15. Horne, Gerald. The Counter-Revolution of 1776: Slave Resistance and the Origins of the United States of America. NYU Press, 2014.
16. Warren, Jonathan. Indigenous Visions: Rediscovering the World of Franz Boas. Yale University Press, 2018.
17. Smith, Linda Tuhiwai. Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples. Zed Books, 1999.
18. Estes, Nick. Our History Is the Future: Standing Rock Versus the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the Long Tradition of Indigenous Resistance. Verso, 2019.
19. Mora, Mariana. Kuxlejal Politics: Indigenous Autonomy, Race, and Decolonizing Research in Zapatista Communities. University of Texas Press, 2017.
20. Yellow Horse Brave Heart, Maria. The Historical Trauma Response Among Natives and Its Relationship with Substance Abuse: A Lakota Illustration. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 1998.
