Glastonbury Banned the Sale of Native American War Bonnets - Here's Why Other Festivals Should Follow Suit

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Whether you live in North America or Europe, the presence of Native American war bonnets is an unsightly and offensive blemish on the music festival scene. Glastonbury just banned the sale of these headdresses at their festival, but why is that important, and why should others follow suit?
Look, I get it - headdresses look cool. Many of us grew up in the era of cartoons riddled with racist stereotypes, and between Princess Tigerlily in Peter Pan and the Washington R******s team, these stereotypes have been normalized for us, and we think it's no big deal.

We're WRONG.

Imagine this:

You're at a party with some people you don't know, and you meet a guy who is wearing a t-shirt with your favorite band on it. "Hey, dude, nice shirt! Didn't you totally love their last album? The production album was so sweet!"

"Haha I don't listen to their music at all, I just thought it looked cool."

You'd be confused, right? Wondering why anyone in their right mind would wear a t-shirt for a band they've never listened to, why they'd bother adding something they've never emotionally invested in or cared about to their wardrobe. How, weird, right?

Now imagine that people who like this band are regularly persecuted. Back when they released their first album, the government rounded up all the fans and shoved them onto tiny portions of land; they were raped, starved, and executed, leading to the most horrific genocide your country has ever perpetrated. Imagine that decades, centuries after this genocide, your fellow fans are still being wrongfully imprisoned, having their children taken away from them, still being raped, starved, and killed.

Do you see the connection? This guy wearing the t-shirt isn't just weird, he's an insensitive, tone-deaf caricature of himself. You'd be wondering how this guy doesn't understand why wearing that t-shirt is offensive to the people who were (and still ARE) being raped, starved, and murdered. ow did he graduate school without getting that memo?

War bonnets are for sacred religious rights, not for stomping around in the mud at Glastonbury. It's disrespectful, and it's an outright affront to the people of those cultures. You can wear a Native American headdress, but take it off at the end of the day and your life carries on. Native Americans keep their traditions and their war bonnets, and they can't take that off. They are still being starved, raped, and murdered. Every day.

But banning the sale of war bonnets isn't enough. Glastonbury needs to take the lead from the Bass Coast Festival in British Columbia, who have banned the sale AND wearing of feathered headdresses at their concerts. Coachella Festical promoters and organizers, take notice. Don't tolerate the blatant appropriation of Native American culture at your concerts.

It's 2014, people - time to step up and recognize where we've been wrong. It's time to make the world a better place.