August 31, 2016

Racist stereotypes in Sausage Party

“Sausage Party”’s race problem: This “equal opportunity offender” is just plain offensive

No matter how well-intentioned, this kind of comedy only really works in a world where opportunity itself is equal

By Nico Lang
Humphrey also pointed to Firewater, a Native American chief played by Bill Hader, who is distressingly reminiscent of the redface caricatures in “Peter Pan.” Like the Indian Chief in the Disney feature, he speaks in “grunts and uses sign language.”

August 30, 2016

Totem Vodka

Totem Vodka and Indigenous Cultural Appropriation

When, if ever, is it acceptable to adopt the cultural icons of an outside group?

By Alexandra Rodney
Totem poles are important symbolic creations of some First Nations families in Canada’s Pacific Northwest. They are symbols of family lineage that serve to document stories or histories of people, communities, or clans. The Totem Vodka bottle and marketing images erases these families while appropriating their symbols.

The bottle stopper is shaped like a Thunderbird, a supernatural bird that causes thunder and lightning according to First Nations mythology. The Thunderbird crest is traditionally carved on the totem poles of people from the Thunderbird clan of the Kwakwaka’wakw nations (on Vancouver Island).

August 27, 2016

The Indians Are Coming in The Beverly Hillbillies

The Indians Are Coming
Episode aired 1 February 1967When Crowfoot Indians come to Beverly Hills to discuss a boundary dispute at the Clampett oil field, Granny prepares for war.

John Wayne on The Beverly HillbilliesThroughout the episode Granny wishes John Wayne were present to help fight the Injuns. He shows up at the very end in a brief cameo appearance.

August 26, 2016

Indians in Laramie

I recently caught one or two episodes of the old Western TV show Laramie. Its attitude toward Natives wasn't bad for the times.

Here are the two episodes that come up when you search for "Laramie TV show Indians."

Wolf Cub
Episode aired 21 November 1961Jess rescues a crippled Blackfoot boy from a scalp hunter. Several of the Blackfoot have escaped the reservation with the Army rounding up most of them. With tensions high Mike and the boy leave putting both into danger from both sides.The Perfect Gift
Episode aired 2 January 1962After saving the life of an Arapaho girl in a fire and helping acquit her in a trial for killing a man, Slim finds her his possession due to Arapaho law. When she won't leave him, he takes her in but soon finds he has feelings for her.

August 20, 2016

Chippewa adoption in The Good Wife

The Good Wife: A Weird Year (5.22)The lawsuit that hangs over Alicia's head: The $6-million suit that's on the periphery of the episode and gets the central story rolling has been a recurring plot point this season. Alicia is being blamed for David Lee's attempted bribery of the Chippewa Nation, which screwed up an adoption. Why? Because Lockhart-Gardner bribed an associate with a partnership to secure his testimony pinning the blame on Alicia. Some of the facts of the case are based on Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl, in which a couple from South Carolina adopted a child in 2009. Two years later, the child's biological father, a member of the Cherokee Nation, contested the adoption on the grounds that he wasn't properly notified, and the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) set guidelines for how parental rights for members of Native-American tribes can be relinquished. In a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the relevant sections of the ICWA do not apply when the parent in question never had custody of the child. In 2013, the adoption of "Baby Veronica" was finalized.