Dan's Papers - March 13, 2009 - Twentysomething... The Indian

I was at the YMCA in East Hampton recently. I was in the mood to hit the rowing machine - it brings me back to my glory days in college. The YMCA was ridiculously packed with people. I felt kind of old when I realized I could remember when that place was first being built, wasn't owned by the YMCA and was largely unpopular. That was about 10 years ago. The Y was vacant, even with the pool and all the new equipment, the vibe in the town was that it was a lousy place to go. Things have really changed there.

I was on one rowing machine and next to me was another rower - a guy with long hair, maybe 50 years old, and I could tell he was probably a Shinnecock, judging by his t-shirt that had a big Shinnecock logo on it. His rowing form was making me crazy. His spine was bent back, he was pulling off of his biceps. His knees were all over the place. I watched as he pulled and felt compelled to teach him how to row in proper form to avoid injuries and increase speed. "Hey do you like this machine?" I asked.

"Yes, I enjoy it very much, it's boring but it's a good workout."

"Cool. I used to row competitively at the Division I level and I can tell you that your form is all wrong. Want me to show you how to do it correctly so you are faster and won't get injured?"

Okay, I thought. Maybe he didn't hear me correctly. "No, you don't know what I mean. Some of the guys I used to row with are Olympians now."

"You have your way, I have my way. There is the Western way, there is the Chinese way and there is the Native American way. I'm doing it the Native American way."

He said this with a real attitude, and I said quickly, "Okay, no problem."

He got up from the machine and told his daughter that they were leaving in five minutes.

I felt like Larry David in "Curb Your Enthusiasm." Had I just been racist? I was just trying to show him the correct way to row. There is no "Native American" or "Western" way to row on a machine. There is the "slow and injury prone way" and there's the "fast and safer" way. I was just trying to help. I'm not racist. I'm like the most unracist person I know. I make it a point to argue with people that make racist comments.

It then kind of hit me that this guy is so used to people treating him differently and dealing with racism, that he takes just about any kind of dialogue between a white guy and himself in a defensive way and that is a sad thing.

The rift between the Shinnecocks wanting a casino and Southampton Town is very real, and the nightmares of the past have created an "us versus them" mentality on both sides, which is really an extremely stupid way of going about things. Whatever needs to be done (A concert? A parade? A pie eating contest?) to bring a sense of more togetherness and understanding of each other needs to happen to combat this type of interaction, so sensible and forward thinking progress can happen.

Otherwise, I'm just gonna keep getting yelled at every time a I try to tell a Shinnecock dude how to row on a rowing machine.