Trudell: The politics belong to somebody else so it's likely to never synchronize with us; but again, our culture and our art--that's us. That's the reality of who we are, and it is only through this way that we can truly speak our truths. We couldn't do it through the politics because you had to compromise your truths or deny them to get things done. But through our culture and our art we can speak our truths. We can express the reality of who we are and how we feel and how we see. And this communication and expression of reality I think is very important for us collectively as a people because it is some kind of a bonding. It's some kind of a joining, communion almost in a way.
19 comments:
Writerfella here --
But writerfella always has known that art supercedes politics, simply because art obeys the rules the artists make, and politics are games that obey rules the player did not make and, in fact, cannot make.
Jeez, ya think getting older makes militants wiser?
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'
You must be smarter than the average bear, Russ.
I've always argued that the media (Wild West shows, dime novels, Western movies, Dances with Wolves, Pocahontas, mascots, etc.) have had a profound effect on how we viewed and treated Indians. That's why I've focused on writing stories and creating comics rather than carrying signs or marching in the streets.
But note that Trudell does say activism was a necessary step in the process. I agree with that too. I think blacks, Indians, women, et al. had to raise the nation's consciousness before Americans could treat them as equals. Once their agendas were on the table, then we could deal with them in diverse and personal ways. Some could continue organizing or demonstrating while others could run for office or work within the system for change.
Others could stand back and serve as educators and information brokers for those on the front lines. That's what I've chosen to do by disseminating news (PECHANGA.net), analyzing issues (this website and blog), and telling stories (PEACE PARTY).
Writerfella here --
But that's likely only because Kiowas believe they are bears, and that bears are Kiowas. I once was asked in a science fiction class of 50 students at the Univ/Miami (FL) what my tribe believed about reincarnation. I replied that Kiowas believe you are born as a bear, then die and are reincarnated one time as a Kiowa. Or that you are born as a Kiowa, then die and are reincarnated one time as a bear. Whereupon the instructor said, "Of course, with a big guy your height and size, it's kinda hard to tell!"
Got me! But I got him the next day. We were discussing sci-fi movies and he said, "THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN is a classic film where one man shrinks toward reverse infinity and winds up living in a doll house and is nearly eaten by a cat. It's a good movie but hardly scientific at all." And I replied that Richard Matheson's science fiction, both in the novel and the film, was ahead of its time, as all good SF must be. We live in an expanding universe, with all matter expanding uniformly everywhere. The 'shrinking' man's exposure to H-bomb fallout and then insecticides interfered with the expansion of matter in his body and slowed it down. Therefore, he did not so much shrink but the rest of the universe expanded at its normal rate, and we left him behind...
Got him back! That is the essence of good science fiction, wherein the artist obeys the rules as he makes them but STRICTLY according to the laws of science as we know them. When it comes to science, I guess I can be a bear, but smarter? Who makes those rules?
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'
I'd love to know the story behind that Action comics cover.
Writerfella here --
I'm interested, too. But the price of the comic means I can't ask Denny O'Neill at DC because at 15 cents, the comic must have been published before 1970. I'll consult with some of my comic fanatic friends, as they always are saying, 'Come on, name the comic, go ahead, just ask!'
You meet any and all in this business!
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'
Writerfella here --
Wow, that didn't take long at all! Do I know the right people or do I know the right people? Arthur Cover and Ron Moore were up when I called and they gave me almost too much info instantly!
OK, ACTION COMICS #401 (June '71)-- INVADERS, GO HOME! -- Story: Superman becomes involved in a conflict between Navarro Indians, who want to reclaim their land, and industrialist Frank Haldane, who has built a missile-manufacturing site on that land. The Navarro leader, Don Red Hawk, steals Superman's powers away with a mysterious red jewel, and the Navarros take Superman captive, intent on trading him for their land. Indian characters were Old Snake (who dies), Red Hawk, Moon Flower, Various Navarros, and --MONTEZUMA!! Story then continued in ACTION COMICS #402 July '71 --
The cover showed Superman being burned at the stake by Red Hawk and the Navarros. Story -- Superman discovers that the red jewel draws energy from the nearest red sun to Earth, and frees himself by blocking its light. Then he discovers that Frank Haldane acquired the Navarro land because Montezuma's treasure is buried there, and Haldane is attempting to steal it using a mechanical mole of his own design. Superman captures Haldane and turns the treasure over to the Navarros.
Wow, that was fun! This was the only story that featured the Navarros (no doubt founded by the silent actor, Ramon Navarro) but Frank Haldane returned many times to bedevil Superman in future stories.
Nice work if you can get it!
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'
I'm glad your friends remembered the plot, because I didn't. I would've thought you could find a summary of ACTION #401-402 via Google, but a quick search didn't turn up anything.
And what a lame-sounding plot, too. You can be sure that any comic with "mole machines" automatically sucks. ACTION started to decline in quality a couple years earlier and this two-parter continued the trend.
I guess they called the Indians "Navarro" because they were too chicken to call them Navajo. I've written about the problem of using fictional tribes before--e.g., in Wingfooting It with Wyatt. In my stories, I'm not afraid to call real tribes by name.
Another quick search suggests the price for these comics might range from maybe $3.00 in fair condition to $10.00 in near mint condition. So they're not totally out of reach if you want to collect them.
Writerfella here --
No, I gave up comic collecting when I came home on leave from the USAF in 1966 and found that my mom had given away my comic collection, including my complete set of MAD Magazines that had the entire run of the original comic-sized issues from the early 50s. *sigh* They would be worth hundreds if not thousands today.
I know all about that 'fictional comic book names' business for Indians, though. In 1970, I met Gerry Conway at the Clarion SF Writers Workshop, and he worked for Marvel. That fall, he put a story in THE FANTASIC FOUR, I believe, about the "Keewazzi" tribe. Ick all criminentlies!
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'
Wyatt Wingfoot first appeared in FANTASTIC FOUR #50 (May 1966). Stan Lee created him and the Keewazi tribe. Later writers merely perpetuated the problems Lee introduced by using a fictional tribe.
Is it always bad to use a fictional tribe?
Using a fictional tribe may be necessary occasionally for technical or legal reasons I don't quite understand. It's never good, but sometimes it may not cause much harm. In other words, it may be tolerable if not beneficial.
The "Three Nations Reservation" in Edge of America is a good example of a fictional Native nation that does little harm. It's located in Utah near the Ute, Paiute, and Navajo reservations, so a combined reservation is plausible. The movie doesn't delve into the tribe's history or culture, so there's no need to invent those things. As far as I can tell, all the bits of language and culture are Navajo, so one can pretend that Three Nations is essentially Navajo.
Marvel's Keewazi tribe has a few unique problems. One, it's a super-scientific culture that's pretending to be poor and backward, which raises a host of questions. The whole history of American Indians is bogus if a tribe like the Keewazi exists. Two, the comics eventually delve into Wingfoot's ancestry. They link him to his grandfather's mystical powers and various made-up myths.
Look at the illustration on my Winging It with Wyatt page. It shows a mixture of Pueblo dwellings and a Navajo hogan. Since the Keewazis have no real culture, the creators thought it was okay to jumble together these unrelated constructs.
The result? Readers learn there's no difference between the Keewazi, the Pueblos, and the Navajo. All the tribes in the American Southwest might as well be the same. Conflicts like the Hopi-Navajo land dispute can't exist because they're one big happy family.
If a fictional tribe is "never good", then is a ANY fictional country or ethnic group always bad? I guess I don't understand why you perceive the concept as always "less than good" in fictional creations.
Writerfella here --
It remains to be seen as to whether the fictional tribe, the Komchita, in my story "The Last Quest," works for good or not. For the story, the Komchita are a representational Northwestern tribe that had an intensely personal relationship with the Bigfoot. When John Tallowhands looks up at Cassiopeia and Ursae Major and Minor, he sees the constellations of Raven and the Whales. These figures are shared by several real tribes from the area, which I took as givens. That only the Komchita see the Bigfoot as a benificent being, I took as the central focus on which to hang the story. It all works, for me. Rob has the story, which as yet is unpublished and cannot appear anywhere, and so I will welcome his critique when it comes.
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'
Writerfella here --
Just came from looking over the Wingfooting It With Wyatt article in PEACE PARTY. Wow, and I thought my comic book fanatic friends gave me too much info!
Okay, it makes me glad I mostly dropped out of comics as a copnsumer(the last I accumulated before selling them was CAPTAIN CANUCK; talk about a stereotype!), after a brief flirtation with HOWARD THE DUCK, THE SECRETS OF ISIS, and KAMANDI. I also used to hunt down every TUROK SON OF STONE, not because of the Native characters but because I always have been nutso for dinosaurs. Otherwise, it does not look or sound like it has been a very happy medium.
One note: the two bands of Cherokees here in Oklahoma have become wealthy through their casino operations, though they battle each other with lawsuits over casino locations, lands, and other entitlements. Your info is dated.
Makes me wish all the more to see what your comics present, as it has to be better than the mainstream guys!
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'
Fictional countries and ethnic groups are almost always less than good. Go to my Wyatt Wingfoot postings and read my arguments there, because I don't have time to repeat them here.
The short version is that the fictional nations are usually in Latin America, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, or Africa. Or they're in the middle of the US, if they're Indian nations. But you never see a fictional US state or English-speaking country. Basically, real nations are members of the West or the "First World" while fictional nations aren't.
Why is, say, a fictional African country okay but not a fictional US state? Because African peoples, cultures, and geography aren't real to us. We don't care if some comic-book creator jumbles them together and makes a mess of them. All African countries are pretty much the same, right? They have corrupt governments, armed militias, colorful marketplaces, cattle-herding tribes, witch doctors, and jungle animals...right?
The same applies to Indian tribes. If they're not real, you can characterize them with a few basic stereotypes. You don't have to deal with the complex history and culture of each individual tribe. In fact, doing this denies their individuality. It makes them into one homogenized and undifferentiated mass of people.
As for the Cherokee, I'm well aware that they have casinos. I work in the Indian gaming industry, remember.
But how wealthy is wealthy? Oklahoma has almost 100 casinos competing with each other, so no tribe is doing as well as those in Connecticut or California. These casinos tend to be truck-stop bingo halls rather than destination hotel-resorts with concert halls and golf courses.
Moreover, Oklahoma's tribes have large population bases, so they aren't earning as much per capita. Their gaming income has to go to fund a lot of social services for a lot of people.
In gaming articles and at gaming conventions and, no one refers to Oklahoma's tribes as wealthy. A review of a 2001 report on Indian gaming revenue shows that the tribes in California, Connecticut, Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, Washington, Arizona, Florida, New Mexico, Oregon, and New York earned more than Oklahoma's tribes. So until I see further evidence, I'll stick with my claim. Oklahoma's gaming tribes may be comfortably middle-class, but they're not rich.
Concerning fictional tribes. See the much newer item on "Touching Spirit Bear". The reviewer said "Touching Spirit Bear is fatally flawed by Mikaelsen’s inexcusable playing around with Tlingit culture, cosmology and ritual". I think that much of this problem might have gone away if Mikaelsen had used a fictional tribe. (I did read the Wyatt Wingfoot page).
Using a fictional tribe would've solved the problem of bastardizing the Tlingit culture, but it would've introduced the problem of simplifying and homogenizing diverse Indian cultures. The best solution would be to 1) learn the Tlingit culture well enough to depict it accurately, or 2) get a Tlingit co-writer or Tlingit advisers to help you with it.
Alternatively, Mikaelsen could've said the Indian was a "mixed breed" from several tribes who was using a combination of cultural techniques. Unless his goal was to make some point about Tlingit culture, there was no need to use the Tlingits or any particular culture.
The goal of Touching Spirit Bear seems to have been a generic study of Northwest Indian banishment techniques, so a generic NW Indian would've sufficed. Making him Tlingit didn't do anything except prove Mikaelsen didn't know the Tlingit culture.
In summary, writers, make your Indians as specific as they need to be for the story, but no more. If the story requires characters who are more specific than you're able to create, don't change (simplify) their culture to fit the story. Change the characters or the story instead.
Writerfella here --
Both the Cherokee and the Chickasaw are granting funds to the counties where their casinos are operating, to build roads and rebuild bridges for use by all. The per capita disbursements to tribal members have never been higher. Those two tribes also have been in the casino business far longer than any of the other tribes who think they've jumped on a bandwagon. No articles published here have stated an exact number of such operations, so I cannot say if there are 100 or not. But it is growing.
What you cannot know is that I was one of the most vocal Native voices against this state's plan to make state-run lotteries legal. I wrote and even said in TV interviews that such an action would let the genie out of the bottle, as anti-lottery laws were the only factor that prevented Oklahoma's tribes from running gaming operations other than large bingo halls. Mainly, I liked bingo and was quite good at it. But I had been to Iowa and Minnesota and New York and Connecticutt, and the tribal gaming concerns in those states had moved bingo upstairs into broom closets while electronic slots and gaming tables and other games ran rampant all the way to the very walls.
When it came time for the statewide vote, the lottery was approved, and Indian casinos began to rise overnight. I predicted that every tribe would feel free to start their own casino and so they have, not realizing that it is akin to a single town of 10,000 having a car dealership for every brand and make of automobile. Here in Anadarko, there only had been the Delaware bingo operation for years. But overnight the Delawares started their Gold River Casino, the Wichitas began work on their casino, the Caddo tribe began work on their casino, the Apache Tribe of Oklahoma converted their gymnasium and tobacco store into a fair-sized casino, and now the Kiowa casino will open on Sept. 30. Some will operate well, some will operate badly, some will be cheated by the out-of-state managers they have hired or to whom they otherwise turned over control of operations, and so on. Only the oldest operations will prosper, and so they have, for the Cherokee, the Chickasaw, the Choctaw, and the Potawatomi. Even the tiny Absentee Shawnee band has one of the most succesful operations in central Oklahoma, having first run bingo at their Thunderbird Gaming Center since 1988. The Kickapoos were late to the game, but their casino was so successful that they simply ran out of room and began building while people played the games.
I am no casino advocate and never will be. But I am here to observe and shake my head at the success of the Cherokee and the Chickasaw, which only has served to vindicate their claim that gaming is the only wave of the future possible to Native tribes. Yet, the Feds have made noises that consideration is underway to try to return Native gaming back to its bingo roots and then to hold it there in perpetuity, likely in response to the downturns in Nevada and New Jersey and elsewhere that non-Indian gaming and even horse/dog racing is held. Stranger things have happened and if this wrinkle happens, the Native gaming industry will go --pouff!-- and that will be that.
I will not weep.
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'
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