Facebooking the 2016 Oscars

Some people live-tweet events such as the Oscars. This year I posted a running commentary on Facebook. Here it is:

Opening monologue

I guess Chris Rock is giving a speech rather than telling jokes this year? ‪#‎OscarsSoWhite‬

"Writers, we know that you are the true backbone of the industry, and we love you for it. We also think you're all extremely hot."

So true! ‪#‎WritersSoHot‬

Commercial break! Debuting next week on ABC: The Real O'Neals. Finally, an Irish American family gets a turn in the spotlight. ‪#‎diversity‬

After #Blackish, #FreshOfftheBoat, #Empire, and #DrKen, it's about time someone featured a white family.

Kind of awkward to bring out Stacey Dash since everyone knows she's a Fox commentator and apologist for white supremacy. What's up with that? ‪#‎OscarsSoWhite‬

Response: awkward silence from the audience.

Pretty average ‪#‎Oscar‬ show so far. Obviously they decided to make it mainly about diversity. Slamming the issue with a sledgehammer rather than slicing it with a scalpel.

Moving along

Jared Leto makes the first merkin joke in Oscar history.

Consider the Merkin: A Brief History of Pubic Wigs in Hollywood

Guy thanked his one-week-old daughter. Not sure what her role was in the years-long production of Mad Max: Fury Road.

The "thank you" crawl beneath the award winners is a good idea. Everyone gets thanked on-screen and the winner can focus on thanking the key people. Or saying something distinctive and memorable.

At least the show is zipping along nicely. None of Neil Patrick Harris's middling stunts.

Let's cut to Sofia Vergara every so often! She's pretty...and Latina! ‪#‎OscarsSoWhite‬

We get to see some Indians on screen--usually savage warriors--whenever they play the standard clips from The Revenant. Yay? ‪#‎OscarsSoWhite‬

Giving Andy Serkis recognition for, well, anything is a novelty.

So far nothing that qualifies as a memorable moment. ‪#‎OscarsSoBland‬

Picking up the pace

Really? Selling your daughter's Girl Scout cookies? Is that supposed to be funny and charming rather than crass and competitive? ‪#‎OscarsSoMercenary‬

The interview segment straight outta Compton was cute. ‪#‎OscarsSoWhite‬

Louis CK was good. All the awards should be presented like that--with smart and seemingly spontaneous riffs.

Leonard Nimoy got the final spot in the "In Memoriam" montage! ‪#‎SpockLives‬ ‪#‎OscarsSoVulcan‬

Vice President Joe Biden! Another white guy! What film was he in? ‪#‎OscarsSoWhite‬

Cue the conservative Twitter outrage over the domestic violence segment. How dare the Oscars talk about the real world? It's only movies!

Unlike the Stacey Dash bit, that will go on the show's highlight list.

Pharrell has hair? Who knew?

Sacha Baron Cohen was entertaining. Thus proving my point re Louis CK.

Alejandro González Iñárritu mentions his Native American cast! ‪#‎OscarsSoWhite‬

Where's Sean Penn to make a follow-up joke about immigrants?

Not sure why the show is over three hours. It's not as if they padded it with a lot of unnecessary bits. ‪#‎NeilPatrickHarris‬ ‪#‎OscarsSoLong‬

The big awards

Gender confirmation surgery! I haven't heard that term before. ‪#‎OscarsSoFluid‬

Forrest Goodluck featured in Leonardo DiCaprio's Best Actor clip! ‪#‎OscarsSoWhite‬

DiCaprio won because of the kid!

"Climate change is real," says Leo. Cue the conservative numbskulls still raging over Lady Gaga and domestic violence.

Another one for the highlight reel. DiCaprio uses his speech time effectively.

2016 Oscar Winner DiCaprio Dedicates his speech to Mother Earth and Indigenous PeopleLeonardo DiCaprio used his Oscars speech to address climate change. He urged the audience to “support leaders around the world who do not speak for the big polluters or the big corporations but who speak for all of humanity, for the indigenous people of the world, for the billions and billions of underprivileged people who’ll be affected by this”.

"Making The Revenant was about man's relationship to the natural world, a world that we collectively felt in 2015 as the hottest year in recorded history. Our production had to move to the southern tip of this planet just to find now. Climate change is real. It is happening right now. It is the most urgent threat facing our entire species and we need to work collectively together and stop procrastinating.

We need to support leaders around the world who do not speak for the big polluters or the big corporations, but who speak for all of humanity, for the indigenous people of the world, for the billions and billions of under privileged people who will be most affected by this, for our children's children, and for those people out there whose voices have been drowned out by the politics of greed.

I thank you all for this amazing award tonight. Let us not take this planet for granted, I do not take this night for granted. Thank you so much."Glad to see Spotlight won Best Picture. Just because I hate it when a film gets "momentum" and sweeps.

Sorry, The Revenant. Better luck next year.

Thus endeth the Oscars. A few good moments in the second half, but still nothing special. ‪#‎BlackLivesMatter‬

And Fight the Power plays over the final credits.

Journalism wins

A few final tweets:

Retweeted Kate Sheppard (@kate_sheppard):
I haven't seen any of these movies but hey, nice to see attn paid to sexual assault, climate change, and need for investigative journalism.

Retweeted Dave Pell (@davepell):
The message of Spotlight.
The media helps to protect us. Stop maligning it.

I forgot that conservatives also will rage at the Girl Scouts. Damn liberal feminist atheist girls!

For more on the subject, see The Best Indian Movies.

Duane Howard at the Oscars

It's extremely rare to see a Native at the Academy Award ceremony. So it's worth noting that actor Duane Howard attended this year.

The Revenant's Duane Howard outfitted by Haida designer for Academy Awards red carpet

Dorothy Grant had one week to stitch outfit that could be seen by millions at Oscars





With Forrest Goodluck, Arthur RedCloud, and Leonardo DiCaprio. I think this photo was taken before or after the ceremony, but I'm not sure. It could've been taken somewhere else.





With Cate Blanchett.

Others at the Oscars

Meanwhile, another Native actor in The Revenant wasn't invited.

Despite controversy over #OscarsSoWhite, Canadian actress and Revenant star Grace Dove was not invited to the Academy Awards

As a newly elected member of the Academy, veteran actor Sonny Skyhawk was planning to attend the ceremony too:

Sonny Skyhawk Bringing His War Bonnet to Oscars, Fighting for His People

But I didn't see any reports from him or others about his being there.

For more on the subject, see Why Are Oscars So White? and #OscarsSoWhite 2016.

The Revenant vs. Life of Pi

More on The Revenant:

Consider Life of Pi. Man (boy) vs. nature (tiger or bear, sea or snow). Who greenlit that without Cruise, Clooney, or DiCaprio and why?

It earned $609 million worldwide on a $120 million budget, which would put it near the top of DiCaprio's hit list. But without a white man as the star...puzzling!

No one even needs The Revenant or the Hugh Glass story. If DiCaprio wanted to work with González Iñárritu on a sweeping Western epic, they could've made a story up. Something with DiCaprio and a co-equal Native star.

With roughly the same ingredients, it would've done roughly as well. DiCaprio could've thanked his Native co-stars without becoming the great white savior. That movie would've advanced Natives, whom he supposedly cares about, more than The Revenant.

My Facebook friend joined in:This is my point, since I'm actually reading the book. it's a story of survival, and in this day when we are sorely lacking in diversity it would've been so much bolder to make this change.

Or how about a screenplay portraying Indians any time after say, 1915? That would be truly revolutionary!Like my Breaking the Code movie!

Lots of indie films

Of course, indie films about modern Natives get made all the time. In the last couple of years there's been Drunktown's Finest, Rhymes for Young Ghouls, Empire of Dirt, The Jingle Dress, Songs My Brother Taught Me, Mekko, Le Dep, and the upcoming Neither Wolf Nor Dog.

I haven't seen most of these, so I'm not sure how good they are. There aren't many (or any) commercial or mainstream stories among the bunch. Nothing I'd send my mom, who doesn't care about Indians, to see.

One could argue against more period pieces like The Revenant, Bone Tomahawk, or the upcoming Diablo starring Adam Beach. Not to mention The Ridiculous 6.

The question is: Does it help Indians to appear as minor characters in old Westerns? Which reinforce the idea that Indians are dead and gone? I dunno.

Yes, it reminds people that Indians were a part of the West. But do people get that modern Indians with jobs, SUVs, and cellphones were only play-acting between their Starbucks and yoga classes? I'm not sure about that.

Upcoming projects

Q'orianka Kilcher, Graham Greene cast in Chickasaw Nation film, 'Te Ata' (VIDEO)

After 1915, so it counts!

Charles Red Corn’s 'A Pipe for February' to be a Film

Only 95 years in the past! Getting closer!

For more on Leonardo DiCaprio, see Native Lead in The Revenant? and The Revenant = "White Savior" Story

Native lead in The Revenant?

A Facebook friend wrote the following about The Revenant:I'm reading The Revenant, and it seems after the creators of the film bought the rights they took the liberty of completely adding in the story of Glass having a Native wife and son. So my question is, if they felt they needed to drastically change the story to add more humanity and drama, why didn't anyone think to just make the main character Hawk? He survives a bear attack, watches his white father get stabbed in front of him, and the movie ensues as is, a story of revenge, but with an Indian as the lead character. The movie would be filmed in the same fashion, therefore getting the same nominations, an Indian wins "Best Actor" and the Oscars don't have to explain another year lacking in diversity. BOOM everyone wins.I said something similar!

DiCaprio could've played the Tom Hardy role. Or, if we're further fictionalizing the story, a made-up role.

Marketers don't necessarily care whether a star plays a leading role or a supporting role. E.g., Johnny Depp in Into the Woods.

If DiCaprio's in it, they can sell it as if he's the star. Because audiences don't care that much either.Right. If audiences really cared, the turnout for Star Wars would've been significantly lower after learning of the storm trooper role. That's the logic of "white male leads put more butts in seats."There's also the fact that a star doesn't guarantee anything. See Johnny Depp in The Lone Ranger. No one could tell in advance whether The Revenant would be a hit or a flop.

DiCaprio vs. Depp

Someone else chimed in:Right, but I bet you [Depp] was a huge reason that movie got green lit. And the reason is flopped is, well, that is a TERRIBLE movie.Right, but the "Lone Ranger" experience contradicts your initial claim:

"The sad truth is, Leo [Johnny] sells tickets. He gets movies made. You couldn't realistically make this flick without him. With a budget of about 130m, you need to make sure you're going to get a certain amount back by casting a face who puts people's butts in seats."

The "selling tickets" part isn't a sad truth, it's a wish or a hope. An article of faith. The truth is that except for maybe Tom Cruise, no white actor can guarantee a hit movie. Certainly not Johnny Depp, whom Hollywood considers a hitmaker. These actors can't put "butts in the seats" and "make sure" a movie earns a profit.

I checked and DiCaprio's movies have a solid record of earning profits. But he generally does prestige projects with the likes of Martin Scorsese, Christopher Nolan, Steven Spielberg, and James Cameron. I.e., big names who often have hits because of their directing and producing skills regardless of whom they cast. DiCaprio doesn't take many risks with low-brow popcorn fare like The Lone Ranger.

So The Revenant was a gamble, not a sure thing. A $60 million film with a Native star, DiCaprio as the co-star, and a big-name director also would've been a gamble. We won't know which is the bigger gamble until DiCaprio and Hollywood actually make the second movie.

The "gets movies made" part is the sad truth. Because Hollywood ignores the success of diverse films and continues to operate via its old-boy network aka racism.

In short, the facts are these:

Diverse movies are a huge business. Why doesn’t Hollywood make more?

Not whatever Hollywood thinks they are.

For more on Leonardo DiCaprio, see The Revenant = "White Savior" Story and Is The Revenant a Game-Changer?

The Revenant = "white savior" story

The Revenant is not an indigenous story

Grandiose frontier epic never escapes colonial gaze of western genre

By Jesse WenteThe Revenant is not an indigenous story. Like Dances with Wolves before it (among many others) it is an American fable that uses First Nations characters to support its allegorical intent, and one that never escapes the colonial gaze of the western genre.

Like Kevin Costner's more traditional western, The Revenant takes great strides to get period details correct around clothing, language, housing and combat, but does little to elevate the indigenous characters beyond narrative and storytelling devices.Indigenous People’s Stories Need More Than Just Leonardo DiCaprio’s Speech

By Ryan McMahonMy social media is split between people who love the film for what it was—a story about how lost the English and the French were when they arrived in our territories—and people who hated the film for its tired tropes of violent Indians, and the portrayal of sexual violence against Indigenous women (and, yeah, one scene of sexual violence against an Indigenous woman is enough to mention it here). I've accepted the film for what it is: a look at how ugly and violent the fur trade and the settling of North America was.

Among friends, our "inside the circle" conversations (yes, Indigenous peoples have private conversations y'all are not privy to) about The Revenant have revolved around the white savior complex of the story, the bloodthirsty revenge narrative of the Arikara Chief, and the general musings of the violent times that were. For some, the anger and frustration at the representations of Indigenous people in the film don't allow all of us to see that The Revenant wasn't an Indigenous film. It was a film that happened to have a "B story" that included Native people, but it was not an Indigenous story alone.'Revenant' Review: It’s Ok, But Still the Same Ol’ White Savior Stuff for Native People

By Gyasi Ross[T]he actual human story pushed Revenant into the same “white savior” garbage pile that has permeated pretty much any mainstream movie that includes Natives as major characters. DiCaprio’s “Glass” character is a dirty, vicious, capitalistic and brutal white man who is trying to get some quick money at the expense of Native people’s resources just like every other white man in the movie. The only difference is that Glass has a half-Native son (some of his best friends are black) and so that, evidently, somehow makes him different than the rest of the dirty, vicious, brutal and capitalistic white men. Glass instructs his half-Native son to be silent and to not upset white men, for survival, as white men hold the key to Native people’s survival and can exterminate them at any time. “Be invisible.”

When one of those other dirty, vicious, capitalistic brutal white men kills Glass’s son, DiCaprio goes full-on Native; somehow surviving the worst tragedies, misfortunes and pains that the world can throw at him (‘cause that’s what we do). He’s bent on revenge—the only way that he can find redemption is through avenging his Native son. And that’s kinda the way Hollywood historically uses Native people and black bodies: as lesson providers and tragic figures. We usually don’t live long enough to see the glory of the white man’s redemption, but instead have to be killed so that the white protagonist can find his or her humanity.Chris Hemsworth and Leonardo DiCaprio Suffer for Oscars in Their New Movies

Both stars try to prove their seriousness as actors in old-timey survival tales In the Heart of the Sea and The Revenant, but there is a winner.

By Alison WillmoreThe Revenant is so prettily constructed that it’s painful to admit how ridiculous it actually is, and how empty it feels to watch a gruff, pseudo-mystical Western consisting of two actors method-style grunting their way toward an inevitable showdown in the snow. Like In the Heart of the Sea, The Revenant is set in a realm that’s entirely female-free, save for Glass’s ghost wife and an Arikara woman who’s kidnapped and raped. Movies don’t have to have a gender balance to be good, but The Revenant’s monotonous manliness is part of its weakness—it isn’t about anything other than the savage, violent world it’s so convinced has innate weight to it. Its revenge plot brings no satisfaction and its observations about the indifference of nature are prosaic. It’s a movie about survival in which survival seems as meaningless as everything else in its universe.

Though The Revenant is a more ambitious film than In the Heart of the Sea, in the end, the two survival dramas do the same thing: They treat struggle as synonymous with substance, even though one definitely doesn’t guarantee the other.Excellent points, especially in the final review. Even if The Revenant is historically accurate, its portrayals sound disturbing.

Indeed, they sound like a 19th-century version of "poverty porn." See how bad the violence against Indians was? See? See? See?

We could call it massacre porn, genocide porn, or something like that. I'm not sure it serves a useful purpose either artistically or historically.

Someone defended the movie as "based on a true story," to which I said:

If you're going to fictionalize Glass's story--as they did--you could fictionalize it with a female, black, or Native protagonist. Heck, you could set it in Africa with a lion or Asia with a tiger instead of a bear.

It's a choice to make a movie featuring a white male protagonist such as Hemsworth or DiCaprio. Not an unalterable law of nature.

For more on Leonardo DiCaprio, see Is The Revenant a Game-Changer? and DiCaprio's Speech Isn't Enough.

Is The Revenant a game-changer?

The Revenant is a Game-Changer

By Leo KillsbackIn The Revenant we see sides to American culture and history that are typically romanticized—lawlessness and greed. History reveals that, in fact, the hordes of traders and trappers brought lawlessness to Indian country, which was not lawless and inhabited by sophisticated Native nations. The introduction of the alcohol, gun, and sex trades destabilized numerous Native nations. As presented in the movie, the Indians did not want much from the whites aside from muskets (which were inferior to the efficiency and accuracy of bow and arrows) and horses (which they could have acquired through trade with other Indians in the first place). The white traders however, wanted everything from the Indians—their land, animals, their women, and even their children.

The white men in The Revenant had one loyalty above all others, money. In the film most of the trappers were motivated by money, and they were reluctant to help one another without compensation. In fact, without the promise of pay the trappers had no other reason to be in the wilderness, and I believe this to be historically accurate. Whether deliberate or not, the writers revealed a fundamental difference between Indigenous and colonial cultures—one was motivated by greed, while the other by family ties and tribal loyalties.A press release written by me for Red Nation Films:

'The Revenant' showcases Native Americans in Hollywood“Leonardo DiCaprio is today’s Brando,” says actor/director Joanelle Romero, founder of Red Nations Films and its annual film festivals. “Not since Sacheen Littlefeather took the stage at the 1973 Oscars has anyone spoken this much truth to Hollywood. Like Marlon Brando and a few others, Leo gets it.”

The Revenant is further proof that indigenous-based movies can not only win awards, but succeed at the box office. In its opening weekend, it earned $39.8 million, narrowly losing to Star Wars: The Force Awakens. With the Oscar buzz it’s getting, it’s likely to join Avatar and the Twilight series in the pantheon of Native-themed hits.Comment:  For more on Leonardo DiCaprio, see DiCaprio's Speech Isn't Enough and Mixed Reactions to DiCaprio's Speech.

DiCaprio's speech isn't enough

Leonardo DiCaprio Ended His Golden Globes Speech With a Cynical Remark About Indigenous Peoples

By Aisha HarrisWhat makes this moment so awkward and cynical is the fact that it’s so at odds with the movie DiCaprio and director Alejandro González Iñárritu produced. The Revenant is only the latest in a long history of major Hollywood studio films featuring indigenous characters that is told from the white male perspective. Their history is only “recognized” here in marginal juxtaposition to that of a white fur trader who is mauled by a bear, left to die, and then seeks revenge for the murder of his half-indigenous son (who barely says more than a few lines in the entire movie). The Pawnee tribesman (played by Arthur RedCloud) who later assists him in his journey home? He's much more a mysterious, kind person of color than any real, flesh-and-bone character. And while the film employed Native American performers from a dozen reserves in Alberta, those performers have, needless to say, not been the focus of the film's publicity or awards campaign, though DiCaprio has credited RedCloud with helping to psych him up to eat that bison liver.

Does DiCaprio believe in this cause? I'm sure he does. Does his movie have anything, truly, to do with this cause? Nope. But it's awards season, so sincerity doesn't matter. Cynically hitching your movie to a cause everyone can get behind—that matters.Indigenous People’s Stories Need More Than Just Leonardo DiCaprio’s Speech

By Ryan McMahonEvery representation matters in 2016 because we've never controlled what we, as Indigenous peoples, look/sound like to the mainstream. In 2016, it's time the world to step back from the historical "white gaze of Hollywood" and allow Indigenous peoples to tell them who they are. There are brilliant Indigenous writers and filmmakers chomping at the bit to work with budgets, studios and resources to tell the stories in our own words.

Leo, if you're serious about Indigenous representations and it being time to hear Indigenous stories, I can introduce you to some people.Leonardo Dicaprio Recognizes 1st Nations in Golden Globe Speech

By Chase Iron EyesThat is good but that is not our narrative. Those are not our awards. We are objects in that arena; the camera is directed at us not by us. We are consistently dressed out of time and out of place for their marketability, indeed our marketability as well. Our place in their media is as our ancestors pre-1900: feathers, leathers, plains-people the whole bit. That’s where we fit as Reel Injuns. We’ll keep taking those roles, that’s part of our survival and evolution. Much could be said about the portrayal of Natives in The Revenant or the very act of celebrating other people in idolatrous fashion when Natives show more allegiance to NFL teams than their own Tribal Nations but that’s none of my business.

We clamor to any recognition given where previously we have been ignored, or objectified. Look at all the Natives clawing at DiCaprio to leech of any social capital even mentioning his name will bring much less asking DiCaprio to recognize them. Reminds me of those hordes of Natives clamoring for a picture of President Obama because he hosted Tribal Nation conferences. These are huge steps no doubt but steps whose true character must be appreciated, must be kept in perspective when our great-grandfathers refused to even meet the President of the United States.Comment:  For more on Leonardo DiCaprio, see Mixed Reactions to DiCaprio's Speech and DiCaprio's Golden Globes Speech.

The Revenant exemplifies white privilege

In response to this:

Leonardo DiCaprio Does Not Deserve An Oscar for The Revenant. Come On.

I wrote:

Someone could do a good analysis of how this Oscar talk exemplifies and perpetuates white privilege. DiCaprio used his clout to make a movie about him--I mean his character. He chose a historical period where white men were the predominant "heroes"--unless you try to do a risky slave or suffragette narrative. And he's "due" for an Oscar because of all his previous roles--Titanic, The Aviator, Wolf of Wall Street, etc.--featuring a white male protagonist.

The odds are stacked in his favor. Good luck, Will Smith and Denzel Washington, in finding, pitching, and making a similar movie featuring a nonwhite protagonist. As for you, Viola Davis and Taraji P. Henson, forget about it.

For more on Leonardo DiCaprio, see Mixed Reactions to DiCaprio's Speech and DiCaprio's Golden Globes Speech.

Mixed reactions to DiCaprio's speech

Reactions to Leonardo DiCaprio's Golden Globes speech poured in quickly. Some of them were off-the-charts ecstatic:

Leonardo DiCaprio's Golden Globes Acceptance Speech Is One of the Most Important He's Ever Made

Leonardo DiCaprio's Golden Globes Speech Made B.C. 'The Revenant' Actor All 'Choked up'

Others were more nuanced:

Leonardo DiCaprio's shout out to First Nations cause for introspection

Some quick to praise, but others skeptical of The Revenant star's Golden Globe speech

Native American Groups Officially Respond To Leonardo DiCaprio’s Call To Action

Representatives of the groups depicted in The Revenant spoke with BuzzFeed News about the actor’s Golden Globes speech calling on listeners to “protect … indigenous lands.”

By Ariane LangeThis week, Mark N. Fox, chair of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation, wrote to BuzzFeed News: “Mr. DiCaprio’s words and support for our rights and the rights of all Indigenous nations are amazing and courageous. Like a man with true character, he is willing to challenge American Society where many others of influence fear to tread. His efforts both on and off the screen have brought honor to our Arikara, Hidatsa, and Mandan people. We look forward to allying with him in the struggle to promote truth and protect our rights as sovereign and Indigenous people!”But:Assiniboine activist Lauren Chief Elk-Young Bear tweeted Sunday night, “I think that shoutout was him making Native people his mascot,” noting that he did not thank any groups or individuals specifically and instead relied on vague language that rendered all Native peoples a monolith. In a separate series of tweets the next day, she criticized his wording as part and parcel of “white saviorism.”

“The reason the Leo shout out was so remarkable to folks is that Native peoples are invisible,” Keene tweeted. “It shouldn’t be revolutionary to call upon the peoples whose land you occupy, but it is.”Comment:  For more on the subject, see Indians at Previous Oscar Ceremonies and All About Sacheen Littlefeather.

DiCaprio's Golden Globes speech

After the Golden Globes Sunday night, Leonardo DiCaprio's acceptance speech was the talk of Indian country:



Beginning at the 2:19 mark. PopSugar.com summarizes it:Leonardo DiCaprio was one of the honorees at the Golden Globe Awards on Sunday evening—he took home the trophy for best actor in a motion picture of his role in The Revenant. Not only did he look as handsome as ever, but he also a delivered an inspiring speech touching on the importance of raising awareness toward indigenous cultures and corporate greed, saying, "I want to share this award with all the first nation's people represented in this film and all the indigenous communities around the world. It is time that we recognize your history."Activist Dallas Goldtooth provides some context:Leonardo DiCaprio in his acceptance speech at the Golden Globe Awards tonight called out the need to support First Nations and Indigenous Peoples rights and our fights to protect Mother Earth.

I got to meet him last year when he marched with the Indigenous Bloc of the Peoples Climate March in NYC. Here is a photo I took of him standing with our folks in that march, holding a banner from IEN, Indigenous Environmental Network.

If you look closely former congressman Dennis Kucinich and Mark Ruffalo are in this photo as well--standing with many other frontline Indigenous leaders. ;-)

Much love to Leo. He walks his talk. And I hella respect that.

Comment:  For more on the subject, see Indians at Previous Oscar Ceremonies and All About Sacheen Littlefeather.