Johnson teaches Indian lore for Boy Scout merit badges

A local resident, himself a Boy Scout Eagle Scout, is teaching scouts about Native Americans to help them earn a merit badge and more.

Andrew Johnson, a member of the Navajo Tribe, said part of the reason he wants to teach about Native culture is the hope it will debunk negative stereotypes about Native peoples.

Johnson, a graduate student at Montana State University-Northern and a former welding instructor at Northern, is teaching a three-week, three-part course through which they will earn their Indian Lore merit badges.

Andrew Johnson taught his second class in the series Thursday night at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Two of three scouts taking the course, Jeffrey Hummert, 13, and Nathaniel Manriquez, 10, were at Thursday's class. Next week will be the last in the series.  

Johnson said the first week's activities focused on cultural storytelling, the second's debunking negative stereotypes about Native people, and next week they will make pemmican, Native food that consists of dried pounded meat, berries and buffalo tallow or other animal fat. The protein-rich food was used by travelers on long journeys or mountain climbers who did not have time to hunt, and is something tribes taught settlers how to make when Europeans started coming to the Americas, Johnson said. Next week, the scouts will also learn about different Native games.

Johnson, who has long been involved with the Scouts, said he was asked by Anthony Cammon to teach the class.

Cammon said that often Scout leaders, when they teach courses for merit badges, do so using a  manual. He said he wanted to go beyond the manual and knew that Johnson had a knowledge of the subject matter.

With Johnson's background as a teacher, Cammon said, he could also teach the class in a way that students can relate to.

"I see it as a cross-cultural teaching," he said

Johnson added that when different cultures learn about each other, they have more respect for each other.

Johnson said he hopes the class will help dispel stereotypes about natives in the minds of the Scouts and allow him to share aspects of his Native culture with them "because in order to respect a culture, it is best to learn about them."

Johnson showed Hummert and Manriquez four short video clips of Natives being interviewed about what they thought about the term redskins and sports mascots and halloween costumes that negatively depict and promote misconceptions about Natives.

He showed another video that featured Native children talking about common negative stereotypes focusing on Indians, like they all wear headdresses, live off the government, don't work or live in tepees. Between each video, Johnson engaged the students in a conversation asking them what they think.

When the videos first start, Hummert and Manriquez were laughing, but as time went on, their tone became more serious.

Johnson said that as they started to relate to the subjects in the video, they started to realize they are normal people, not stereotypes.

"At this age, they are having an introduction to it and are starting to recognize it," Johnson said.

When he teaches, he said, he asks them questions throughout the process and also asks them how they feel about what the subjects in the interview, said.

By the end of Thursday's class, Manriquez said people are all the same, like a rainbow.