October 15, 2006

Adam Beach cries

Raising Maple Leaf on Iwo JimaBeach, who was brought up on the Dog Creek Indian Reserve in Manitoba and is a member of the Salteaux tribe, sees Hayes as an inspirational figure. He feels that portraying him has brought him closer to his personal goal of becoming an influential leader of the Indian nations.

"Ira Hayes is a hero to me," he says, dabbing his eyes. "He is like a lot of other heroes of war who struggled to maintain their dignity through those horrors. The American Indian in him kept him strong."

4 comments:

writerfella said...

Writerfella here --
Adam Beach's lofty political and social aspirations aside, he does say several things here that are of value. He indeed finds his change in status somewhat confusing because there is no one else at or near the same position from which to learn. So, he knows he has to do what is necessary -- go after it and make it up as he goes along.
And the other is expressing that the horrors of both tribal and government boarding schools still continue, in the US and in Canada, though Natives and non-Natives alike believe that such matters are of a different past age entirely. Not so...
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'

Rob said...

I wonder if people voted against him as chief because they thought he was too "Hollywood"--not serious enough. These voters might've had a point. I'm not sure how he could've been a successful actor and a successful chief at the same time. One of his jobs would've had to give.

writerfella said...

Writerfella here --
When you are Beach's age, you want everything and think you can do everything. The lucky ones get only those pieces they can handle best at the time, leaving other pieces for the future. For if one got it all at once, it simply would be too overwhelming for you as the master of all trades and getting jack for none...
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'

Not a Sioux said...

I've read a couple of claims that the Canadian Maple Leaf flag was originaly the emblem of a Native American (US) leader. I've not been able to substantiate it, however.