Charlie Hill on politics

Charlie Hill: 'The Indian Spirit is America'

By Jason Morgan EdwardsHill is no fan of politicians, in general. "I don't support none of those SOBs," he says. "I don't believe politicians have any kind of answers. They never did. They never will. They're just 3rd and 4th generation Europeans that have no answers for Native people." Hill believes that the real instigators of change in the world "have been the artists, the writers, the poets, the musicians because they're the ones people always censor. They're the ones people lock up. Those are the ones who make you think." He goes on to say, "There's always controversy when they put new artistic products out. They take off the straitjacket." As an example, Hill brings up the late-80s gangsta-rap group NWA: As he sees it, they were shining the spotlight on the conditions and problems that exist in the inner-city, not unlike Richard Pryor when he came onto the scene. "People were terrified of him, until later they caught up, and started imitating him," Hill recalls. "He was about freedom of expression, and what you say in your story."

Despite his disdain for politicians, Hill voted for Barack Obama--the only Presidential candidate he has ever voted for. "He's a tribesman, and a person of color," Hill says. "And, I just thought, this one time, I'll vote." Hill is confident that America will never have another white President. "Once you go black, you never go back," he quips. The nation is in the process of rejecting the old-boy network. "That kind of thinking is on the way out, like the 8-track tape," Hill says. "Guys like Romney and Bush and Bush II and all those guys--Dan Quayle, Sarah Pale-face--all of them. They're obsolete and they're out of touch." Hill believes that "overall, the Indians have the key to everything. I always say we have the answers to fix this country because we have the owner's manual--and that's not just a joke."

"It gets right down to us," Hill explains. "If people don't know Native people, they don't know America. If Americans don't know anything about us, they don't know anything about themselves. When Americans don't know Indian people, they must look at their own world, their own science, their arts, their medicine in the same myopic way. It's right in their faces, and it's like, they don't get it." Hill is quick to point out that he does not believe that white people are evil, but collectively, and generically, when it comes to Indians, "Americans are stuck on stupid. It's not a skin color, it's an attitude. And, the only way they're going to get right with everything is to get right with Indians. The way it should be done--with honor and respect."
Comment:  For more on Charlie Hill, see NIGA 2012 (Day 1) and IIIRM Festival Honors Charlie Hill.