The Purepecha: The Poorest of the Poor

Documentary on Purepecha Indians selected for Indio Film Festival

By Nicole C. BrambilaA documentary on the plight of poor, east valley American Indians who migrated from Mexico more than 20 years ago has been selected for the Indio Film Festival in December, the producer has announced.
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The 27-minute documentary called “The Purepecha: The poorest of the poor,” which was screened at the Palm springs International Shortfest in June, was produced and directed by LA-filmmaker Cheryl Quintana Leader.

The documentary traces the struggle of these Mesoamerican people who settled in a dilapidated trailer park known as Duroville on the Torres-Martinez Reservation in Thermal, about 30 miles east of Palm Springs.Comment:  For more on the subject, see Native Documentaries and News.

Water Totem the drinking fountain

Water fountain blends North and Central American Indian imagery

By Sheila ReganAncient Traders Market Plaza, on Franklin Avenue, is one of 10 Minneapolis sites to get a drinking fountain sculpture this fall as part of the city's Artist-Designed Public Drinking Fountains project.

Guatemalan artist Peter Morales will install "Water Totem," a 72" granite sculpture of a crow sitting on a turtle, which blends Native American and Central American imagery.

Coinciding with the city's 150th anniversary, a total of 10 drinking fountains will be installed to "to celebrate the role water has played in Minneapolis history and to foster a commitment to honoring and protecting water as fundamental to all life," according to the city's website.Comment:  For a somewhat related subject, see Fountain Resembles Luiseño Basket.

Deconstructing Birdwatchers

Birdwatchers betrays the troubled tribespeople it depicts

Marco Bechis's film Birdwatchers urges us to help Brazilian tribes keep their traditional way of life. But is that what they want? And why do we persist in patronising such people as noble savages?

Posted by David CoxMarco Bechis wants to do more for Brazil's Guaraní-Kaiowá people than simply recount their plight. His new drama, Birdwatchers, ends with a call to action. As we make for the exits, we're urged to back efforts to resolve the tribe's predicament. But what's the solution for which our support's being solicited?

Watch the film, and you'd have to assume it's this. The white farmers whose genetically-engineered soya fields are overrunning the Mato Grosso do Sul should push off. The land they've appropriated should be allowed to revert to forest, within which its rightful owners, the previous inhabitants, would be free to hunt and gather like their ancient forebears, worshipping their Eternal Great Grandfather, Ñande Ramõi, and remaining joyously free from the loathsome temptations of urban consumerism.I haven't seen Birdwatchers, but Cox's presumption about what the Guarani want is stupid. Most indigenous people don't want to be "noble savages" existing as their ancestors did 500-plus years ago. They want the best of both worlds: the Western conveniences that make life bearable and the Native values that make life worth living.It's a proposition that may beguile some European filmgoers, but not, perhaps, a helpful one. Brazil's indigenous peoples constitute less than 0.5% of the current population. The remaining 180 million aren't simply going to hand them the land on which their livelihood depends. So far, despite the supposed rape of the Amazon, less than 10% of Brazil's land surface has been cultivated, but agricultural production employs a quarter of its workers.Even if it's true, Cox's statistic about cultivated land is worthless. Developers are cutting down much of the Amazon for logging, mining, or ranching operations, not farms.

Okay to keep stealing?So what, you may think: the land was stolen from the Amerindians, and they're entitled to have it back. It's possible, however, that the Guaraní themselves acquired their territory through just the kind of land-grab of which their white adversaries currently stand accused. The ancestors of Brazil's current "indigenous" peoples may have been interlopers from Siberia who displaced existing settlers from Australasia. No one knows for sure, but the point is that none of the country's peoples enjoys ownership as of right of the national freehold.Wow. How many ways is this pathetic paragraph wrong? Let's count:

1) Cox's entire position is based on unsubstantiated speculation about the origins and rights of indigenous people. That makes it worthless from the get-go.

2) Most traditional Natives would deny their ancestors came from Asia. They'd say they've always lived at their present location.

3) There may be some evidence that Polynesians visited South America in the last couple of millennia. I don't think there's any evidence that they arrived here 12,000-plus years ago, when Siberians allegedly migrated across the Bering Strait.

4) Suppose traditional Natives did acknowledge the scientific theories about how the first Americans arrived. Does Cox seriously believe they'd say something like this? "We accept Asians as our ancestors. But if anyone else was here--Polynesians, Africans, Europeans--we repudiate them. We're pure Asians and we deny that any other race tainted our blood."

That's the exact opposite of how a traditional Native might think. Instead, he'd probably say something like this: "It doesn't matter who was here first. Whether our ancestors were Asians, Polynesians, Africans, or Europeans, they all merged into the people you call Native Americans. So the Polynesians were just as much our ancestors as the Asians. We embrace and accept them all.

"Therefore, it's meaningless to say, 'Our ancestors stole the land from someone else." Our ancestors stole the land...from our other ancestors? Whoever was here first, whoever claimed the land first, they were our ancestors."

5) I love how white apologists for genocide use the "two wrongs make a right" defense. "The Indians stole the land from somebody," they say, "so it's okay for us to steal their land." Try that moral defense in a court of law and see how it works.

6) The theory about conquest determining ownership doesn't apply when it's been so long you can't identify who the previous owners were. Or even if there were any previous owners. That's why Indians can rightfully claim their homelands but countries like the US and Israel can't rightfully claim the land they took from others.

7) I'm pretty sure that provisions in international law--not to mention the recent UN declaration of indigenous rights, which Brazil signed--do give Indians a legal right to their land. Nor is the concept of ownership a recent development. As we saw in Guarani Is Brazilian National Hero, Brazil's Indians have always fought to keep their land. So have thousands of tribes throughout the Americas.

Cox's stupidity continuesThere's an even more compelling reason to dispute the apparent message of Bechis's film. It's that many of the Guaraní don't actually want to be returned to the stone age. Birdwatchers opens with tribespersons putting on a fake show of war-painted spear-carrying for the benefit of birdwatching tourists. Once they've been paid, however, they quickly don the T-shirts which form their current habitual garb. Youngsters are shown sneaking off from a reclaim-our-land protest to prowl the shops of a nearby town.In other words, the evidence presented in the film contradicts Cox's made-up claims about the film's message. It's pretty clear that Cox doesn't have a clue about what Bechis or the Guarani are really saying.

Cox's conclusion:Encouraging indigenous peoples to cling to obsolete ways of life has proved counter-productive all over the world. Autochthons have usually forgotten how to hunt, and lost the will to do so. Reservations rarely play host to picturesque noble savagery. They're more likely to be dominated by alcoholism, domestic violence and child abuse.

Bechis implicitly condemns the birdwatchers he shows treating tribespeople as spectacle. Yet he himself regards his subjects in much the way that David Attenborough views chimps. His film treats their ancient habits as sacred, but not, apparently, their hopes of betterment. Cinemagoers who really want to help them and their kind might best do so by avoiding films like Birdwatchers.It may not be clear to Cox what Bechis's message is, but it's clear to us what Cox's message is. Traditional, reservation-based life is bad. Therefore, Indians should give up their way of life and blend into the Brazilian mainstream. Once they abandon their land for the cities and suburbs, developers can carve it up like a turkey.

Seriouly, Cox can't imagine any middle ground between living like Stone-Age savages on reservations and living like Westerners in cities? How about living like Westerners on reservations, you silly twit? With their own natural resources to develop and technology to make their lives comfortable?

Readers agree

Some readers of this piece ripped Cox about as much as I did. Their comments include:Slobloch
21 Sep 09, 10:54am

Yeah, the sooner we burn down the Amazon and get these people working in MacDonald's, the better.

Slobloch
21 Sep 09, 11:02am

'Betterment'--what does that mean. Take these tribal boys and compare their lives with the poorest kids living on a council estate in Glasgow. Who has the better life? Whatever the modern world brings to the forest boys, it won't suddenly transform them into cappuccino-sipping MacBook users. They will likely become the poorly paid manual workers of environmentally damaging industry. They may not want to stay in the Stone Age, but that does not mean we should turn the forest into farmland to feed cows which will eventually end up in a burger carton.

Berzerker
21 Sep 09, 11:06am

"Twenty of Brazil's state and federal universities reserve places for indigenous students. Racism is officially opposed, and affirmative action programmes are in place."

...Oohh, that's alright then--as long as that's all sorted there shouldn't be any problems.

The safety net's in place, guys--hurl yourselves from your flimsy primitive plinths, we'll catch yer....

Now, what we gonna do with all these friggin trees....

SeanD
21 Sep 09, 12:20pm

What a load of tripe.

Your argument is completely illogical: "the tribespeople want their children to obtain educations etc., therefore they don't want them to remain in the Amazonian forests." Perhaps, in reality, they are not so stupid as you assume, have realised their only means of livelihood is disappearing by the actions of greedy companies, and so to survive they must learn to live in the cities.

Your self-serving argument has been used many times by invaders and settlers.

I can't be bothered with the other stupidities in this article--there are too many. e.g.: "only" 10% of the Amazon has disappeared. So how much of the Amazon, think you in your infinite wisdom, should be "raped"? 50%? 90%?

What a newspaper the Guardian has become...where the trolls write the articles....

Verlaine76
21 Sep 09, 12:38pm

The reservations for Native Americans were less about "encouraging indigenous peoples to cling to picturesque noble savagery" than herding a troublesome minority into rural mega ghettos where they could be contained and not impeded on those of the European farmers who were taking over the American plains.

The "alcoholism, domestic violence and child abuse" are perfect examples of the damage done when a indigenous population's way of life is transformed and amended at the hands of and for the benefit of a non-indigenous majority.

Dave82
21 Sep 09, 12:42pm

'A normal way of life.' Seriously do you live on the same planet as the rest of us? Some 35 million Brazilians live below the poverty line and about 35% live on less then 2 dollars a day while less than 10% of the population controls more than 75% of the wealth. A normal way of life in Brazil is a life of misery.For more on the film, see Making Birdwatchers and Native Documentaries and News. For more on the issues it raises, see Technology vs. Native Values and Globalization According to Gilligan.

P.S. As usual, I've made minor corrections to the comments to make them more readable.

Below:  "Tribes as spectacle ... the Guaraní-Kaiowá in Marcho Bechis's Birdwatchers." (I guess this is the part where Westernized Indians pretend to be their pre-Columbian ancestors for tourists.)

Hudson websites omit Indians

Hudson's forgotten observers

By Geoffrey L. BrackettHudson's journey is remembered mostly by the scrawls in the logbook of his churlish first mate, Robert Juet.

Juet was simultaneously bewildered and enraged by the natives who came out to meet the explorers. His most poetic writing comes in his muted wonder at these people's manners and accoutrements. Yet as the first mate in charge of the Half Moon's safety, he growls "we durst not trust them."

By the time these strangers had encountered each other half a dozen times, the English second mate John Colman had been killed by an arrow through the throat and several Indians had died--one by drowning in the river after having his hand cut off.

As we know from encounters of other civilizations, there is, unfortunately, nothing shocking in this record. But it is shocking to see how dreadfully little in this year's celebrations even acknowledges the populations who watched that mutilated brave drown in the Hudson's tides.

The Hudson 400 and exploreny400 Web sites do somewhat better, but the NY400 site and its events show scant references to Native Americans beyond a throwaway phrase in a linked program at the Museum of the City of New York.And:To help us see through the other end of the explorers' telescope, Pace University is partnering with the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian in New York, the George Gustav Heye Center, to premiere an original dramatization of the early contacts and tragic misunderstandings.

Commissioned by Pace, "The River of Tides" is written by the novelist, anthologist of Native American tales and playwright Joseph Bruchac (Abenaki) of Greenfield Center.

"The River of Tides" tries to articulate the native voice, past and present, as a tool for understanding the complexities we have inherited from our common, 400-year history.

A Pace troupe, including native actors, is presenting performances this week at locations along the Half Moon's journey. There will be a performance at 10:30 a.m. today at Bush Memorial Hall of Russell Sage College,followed by a symposium of Sage and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute professors.Comment:  Bracket says the HenryHudson400 website does "somewhat better" than the NY400 site. If it's somewhat better, I'd hate to see what constitutes "worse."

But there's no need to speculate. I checked out these two websites. I didn't click every link, but I tried to click all the major headings.

The NY400 site actually fared somewhat better. Under the NY400 History heading, at least two of its two dozen features mention Indians. One is on minister Everardus Bogardus, who spoke up for the Indians. The other is on the Schaghenbrief letter, which documents the infamous "buying" of Manhattan.

So...nothing really about the Native people whom the Dutch met and ultimately displaced. You might think that the story of Hudson's discoveries was all about encountering Indians. You might think that perhaps a quarter of the features would document these interactions. Just as they would in a website about Columbus or Jamestown or Plymouth, whose stories were also all about Europeans encountering Indians.

If so, you'd be wrong.

Hudson website sucks

And the NY400 site is the one I said was better. As far as I can tell, the HenryHudson400 website doesn't have a single feature on Indians. In fact, I didn't see the words "Indian" or "Native." There may be some information on Indians buried deep in the site, but it isn't obvious.

Here's a fairly typical example of this website's content:

Why Celebrate?September 2009 will mark 400 years since captain Henry Hudson's ambitious 3,000-mile left turn led to his discovery of the world's finest harbor and a promising strip of new world wilderness the natives called 'Manna Hata'.

In many ways Manhattan, not Plymouth Rock, is where America, and all that it represents, began. Following Hudson's voyage, the Dutch Republic, the most progressive and commercially powerful force in the 17th century established the settlement of New Amsterdam in 1625

At its peak, fully half the residents of New Amsterdam were from other nations, making it a true multicultural enterprise, a lively, liberal, idea-driven business community united in its focus on trade as the abiding source of the common good.

So it can be said that, from the start, New York was then what it has become today, a working symbol of freedom based on competence and respect, diversity and tolerance. The progressive connections between New York and its Dutch progenitor, Amsterdam, were and are profound.

The 400th anniversary of Hudson's voyage comes during the age of globalization and offers a timely opportunity to celebrate and reinvigorate this vital transatlantic connection. Hudson's discovery, and the achievements of Dutch businessmen in the years following, embody the unshakeable belief in new horizons, spirit of enterprise and diversity of views that remain defining characteristics of New York. Festival events will stimulate fresh understanding of this correlation, one that stimulates the city's expansive cultural and trade developments to this day.Note:  This posting does contain the word "natives," obviously. But it appears in a popup box, not a dedicated page. People looking for information about Indians will stumble across this word only accidentally.

Conclusion

Let's sum it up. These websites, and the 400th anniversary as a whole, celebrate the triumph of white Europeans. How wonderful it is that they came to America, found an empty land (i.e., "new horizons"), and started us on the road to greatness. The presence of the existing inhabitants is relegated to a footnote.¹

This blog entry belongs in my Stereotype of the Month contest. It's a good example of stereotyping by omission. And a good example of the American myth-making process. This myth follows the lines of Julius Caeser: They came, they saw, they conquered. The Spanish conquistadors, English Pilgrims, and Dutch traders made America what it is today: a country founded on slavery and genocide.

It's nice that Bruchac's play is providing what the Hudson celebrations and websites don't: some perspective on what really happened. But this kind of information should be central to the anniversary, not a minor sidelight. Hudson's voyages were good for Europeans, but not so good for millions of Native Americans.

If the truth hurts...well, too bad. Denying the truth leads to things like tyranny, oppression, and injustice. The truth is always better.

For more on Hudson, see Indians Not Invited to Hudson Anniversary and How Mannahatta Became Manhattan. For more on plays in general, see Native Plays and Other Stage Shows.

1. The Dutch and other colonizers had to displace or destroy many Indian tribes that lived along the Hudson River and Hudson Bay. They presumably justified this under the "You have to break eggs to make an omelet" doctrine of Christian conquest. But who really cares, right? They were just anonymous savages, not real people like your ancestors and mine.

Preview of Brian Jungen: Strange Comfort

A short description of a new exhibit at the National Museum of the American Indian:Brian Jungen: Strange Comfort
October 16, 2009–August 8, 2010
NMAI on the National Mall, Washington, DC

This major survey of Brian Jungen (Dunne-za First Nations/Swiss/Canadian) transforms the familiar and banal into exquisite objects that reference themes of globalization, pop culture, museums, and the commodification of Indian imagery. Jungen first came to prominence with Prototypes for New Understandings (1998–2005), for which he fashioned Nike footwear into masks that suggested Northwest Coast iconography. Later works have included a pod of whales made from plastic chairs, totem poles made from golf bags, and a massive basketball court made from 224 sewing tables. Strange Comfort features Jungen's iconic works, as well as major pieces never before seen in the United States.A longer description:

"Brian Jungen: Strange Comfort" to Open at the National Museum of the American Indian in OctoberThe Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian presents a major exhibition of the critically acclaimed works of Brian Jungen (b. 1970), one of the leading contemporary artists of his generation. On view from Oct. 16 through Aug. 8, 2010, “Brian Jungen: Strange Comfort” features new pieces never seen before in the United States.

This is the first exhibition in which works by the Vancouver, Canada-based artist, whose heritage is Swiss-Canadian and Dunne-za First Nations, have been organized by a Native American museum. It is also the first solo exhibition of a contemporary artist at the museum since it opened five years ago.

Both monumental and intimate in scale, Jungen’s installations are playful and provocative, transforming familiar everyday consumer items into exquisite works of art. The exhibition begins with “Crux (as seen by those who sleep on the surface of the earth under the night sky),” a giant mobile created for the 2008 Sydney Biennale, that turns colorful, hard-plastic luggage into a crocodile, an emu, a possum, a shark and a sea eagle. “Crux” is the Latin name for the Southern Cross constellation, but the subtitle and the animals suggest an Aboriginal interpretation of the stars.And:Jungen’s investigations of museology, globalization and the commodification of Indian culture surface throughout the 24 beguiling works on display. At 21 feet long and suspended from the ceiling, “Shapeshifter” (2000) suggests a magnificent whale skeleton on display in a natural history museum until one realizes it is made out of white-plastic deck chairs. “Shapeshifter” demonstrates Jungen’s fascination with morphing the common into the rare and the unnatural into the natural.

Visitors can walk through “Carapace” (2009), a large, dome-shaped structure made out of green-plastic industrial trash cans suggesting a giant turtle shell (many First Nations creation stories say that the land to support human life rose from a turtle’s back). The piece reflects the artist’s long-standing interest in geodesic architecture, the environment and his preoccupation with exposing the interior of things.

Also in the show are six objects from a series of 23 titled, “Prototypes for New Understanding.” These stunning works, which first brought the artist to prominence, are Nike Air Jordans refashioned to resemble Northwest Coast masks. Jungen began the series a decade ago after visiting the Niketown store in Manhattan where the sensational red, black and white shoes were displayed in elegant vitrines as if they were in a museum rather than a shoe store. A commentary on consumerism and collectors, Jungen’s “Prototypes” (1998-2005) turn into the very thing they critique: iconic and collectible Nike Air Jordan shoes become iconic and collectible Northwest Coast masks.Comment:  I've been hearing about this exhibit for the last month or two. The notices didn't strike me until I saw some photos of Jungen's work.

Wow...impressive. I love the idea of Aboriginal creatures and artifacts made of Western household goods made of plastic. They suggest how Native thoughts and feelings lie beneath our everyday existence. How a Native spirit still imbues the land.

Below:  Carapace, 2009. Industrial waste bins, 11.63' x 26.25' x 21.9'. Courtesy of the artist, Casey Kaplan, NY, and Frac des Pays de la Loire, France. (Photo: Mathieu Génon)



National Museum of the American Indian's Photos--Brian Jungen

2009 script winners named

Creative Spirit 2009 Winners AnnouncedSteven Judd (Kiowa/Choctaw) and Roberto A. Jackson (Gila River Indian Community) are the winning writers of the 4th Annual Creative Spirit short script competition. The scripts will be produced this fall by the Southern California Indian Center in Los Angeles and the VSA North Fourth Art Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The scripts were chosen by blind judging committees assembled by both organizations.

The L.A. judges chose Judd's script, "Search for the World's Best Indian Taco," a fanciful comedy of an old Indian man telling his grandson the story of his search for true love; while the Albuquerque judges selected Jackson's script, "Indios Primeros," a drama about a Native American man who helps a young Mexican family that has just crossed the border.

"Indios Primeros" will shoot in September with a premiere date set on Oct. 9 and 10 at the VSA North Fourth's 2nd Annual Two Worlds Festival in Albuquerque. "World's Best Frybread" will lens in November and will screen in Los Angeles in early 2010.

Both judging panels were comprised of members of the entertainment industry and the American Indian community and included SCIC Executive Director Paula Starr, VSA North Fourth Art Center Executive Director Marj Neset, screenwriter Travis Adam Wright, filmmaker Rodney Johnson, producer Stephanie Stonefish Ryan, producer Tony Estrada, journalist Robert Schmidt, Native American Public Telecommunications marketing director Kim Baca, writer Tom Clagett, Two Worlds Festival Program coordinator Ollie Reed Jr., filmmaker Tim Ramos, writer/actor Michael Callas, former Creative Spirit winner Shawn Imitates Dog, SCIC producer Pamela Peters, VSA Marketing Director Susanna Kearny, and SCIC consultant Leroy Bingham.

SCIC, InterTribal Entertainment and the VSA North Fourth Art Center would also like to extend honorable mentions to the following scripts and writers: "The Yard" by Vincent Blackhawk Aamodt, "Two Indians, A Fountain and a Light" by Andrew Roa, "People of the Loom Room" by Ron J. Hoskie and "The Chairman" by Daniel L. Stone.Comment:  For the third year in a row, I was a judge in the Creative Spirit script competition. I'm glad to say that I've picked at least one of the two winners each of the three years.

This year, I read all the scripts named except Indios Primeros and People of the Loom Room. Search for the World's Best Indian Taco was by far the best script I read; there were no other contenders for the no. 1 spot.

These results tell us a couple things. One, that Steven Judd has the goods as one of the few Native writers in Hollywood. Two, that as perhaps the only non-Native and non-filmmaker among the judges, my tastes are roughly the same as everyone else's.

For more on the subject, see 2008 Creative Spirit Competition and 2008 Script Winners Named.

2009 NAMMY nominations

11th Annual Native American Music Awards nominees announcedThis year’s Hall of Fame induction will be held for the late Ritchie Valens, who is of Yaqui heritage on his mother’s side. It has been 50 years since his tragic passing--he was killed on a small private plane that took off from Clear Lake, Iowa bound for Fargo, N.D. that never made its destination. The plane crash also claimed the lives of Buddy Holly, J.P. “Big Bopper” Richardson and the pilot Feb. 3, 1959.

Special recognition will also be given to guitarist/musician/producer Stevie Salas as this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award recipient. Salas is an American born rock guitarist of Apache descent. With humble beginnings, Salas’ unique heavy funk/rock guitar styling’s quickly helped him make a name for himself in music industry circles in the late 1980s. After 20 years in the business, Salas’ talent and swagger have earned him great respect in the music world as a studio and concert musician. He has recorded, toured with, written, produced and directed many record industry greats including; Mick Jagger, Rod Stewart, George Clinton and Justin Timberlake.

A plethora of new up-and-comers were nominated alongside established artists and previous winners throughout a diverse array of 30 music categories spanning all genres. This year’s leading nominee is classical guitarist Gabriel Ayala (Yaqui) with five nominations surrounding his three recordings; “Portraits,” “Allegro” and “Tango!” Three of those nominations are in the World music category and the other two in Instrumental and Male Artist.

Following up with four nominations each are: Apryl Allen (Comanche) with “Na Unu Nahai” (Shape Shifter) for Debut Artist, Pop, Record of the Year and Song/Single of the Year; Bryan Akipa (Dakota Sioux) with “Songs From The Black Hills” for Flutist, Male, New Age and Record of the Year; Jana Mashonee (Lumbee) with her recording “A Change Is Gonna Come” for Pop, Best Video and Song/Single as well as for her release, “New Moon Born” which earned her Artist of the Year; and Joanne Shenandoah (Oneida) and Michael Bucher (Cherokee) for their recording “Bitter Tears Sacred Ground.” Together they share nods for Record of the Year and Best Compilation. Shenandoah earned Best Female and Song/Single for the track, “Riding Free.” Bucher earned Best Video for his single, “Don’t Forget About Me,” and Best Male.Comment:  For more on the subject, see Birmingham to Host NAMMYs and The 2008 NAMMY Winners.

Foxwoods joke on David Letterman

David Letterman Marks 5,000 Late Night Broadcasts on CBS's "Late Show With David Letterman," Friday, Sept. 25

Guests Include Film Star Bruce Willis and LL COOL J from the New Hit CBS Drama Series “NCIS: Los Angeles”David Letterman marks 5,000 broadcasts in his late night television career on the LATE SHOW with DAVID LETTERMAN, Friday, Sept. 25 (11:35 PM-12:37 AM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network.

Letterman, who has notched 1,810 “Late Night” shows and, as of Friday, 3,186 broadcasts and four primetime specials of CBS’s LATE SHOW in his late night television career, comments during Friday’s monologue that people “say to me, ‘Dave, what keeps you working night after night, week after week, month after month, year after year after year? Seriously, why do you keep working?’ And I just tell them, ‘Well, Foxwoods gambling resort.’”Comment:  I don't know why, but jokes about Indians and casinos are busting out all over late-night talk shows.

For more on the subject, see Casino joke on Jimmy Fallon and "Indian Giver" Joke on Tonight Show.

Heavyweight champ to get Native name

Shannon “The Cannon” Briggs, Honored With Warrior Name…

Shannon Briggs, Former Two Time Heavyweight Champion of the World, now a warriorShannon Briggs will be honored in the coming weeks by Native Indian Whitecap Dakota Reserve First Nation Sioux and Ojibwe tribes of Canada. Briggs, will be the first World Heavyweight Champion in world history to be given a Native Warrior name.

Being a full quarter Native Indian himself, Shannon accepts this honor with great pride. The purpose of a “sweat” is cleanse the soul, purify oneself; mind, body and soul. Others who have endured the heat of the ceremonial sweat state that it is 10 times hotter than an average sauna, which takes the internal temperature of the hut well above 140 degrees.

Ojibwe Medicine Man and Tribe Elder, Walter Linklater from Ontario will perform the historic ceremony in the town of Regina. While in Canada, Briggs will be visiting local schools, media outlets along with foundations directly related to Canadian Lung Associations in regards to his global awareness tour “Fight 2 Breathe.”Comment:  For more on the subject, see Hipp in Athletic Hall of Fame and Comanche Boxer Does War Dance.

Guarani is Brazilian national hero

Brazil Indian Who Battled Conquerors Recognized as National Hero

By Carlos A. MorenoAn 18th century Guarani leader who fought and died defending indigenous lands from the Spanish and Portuguese armies has become the first Indian officially recognized as a Brazilian national hero.

Sepe Tiaraju, previously unknown to most Brazilians, now shares that honor with 11 other figures in the nation’s history, including an emperor, five military leaders, the inventor of the airplane and the leader of a slave rebellion.

“This acknowledgment is of great significance because Sepe has always been ignored by Brazilians and by history, because he represents Indian resistance to the occupation of their lands, a struggle that still goes on today,” scholar Jackson Antonio Lopes, coordinator of the Indigenist Missionary Council, told Efe.Sepé TiarajuSepé Tiaraju was an indigenous Guarani leader born (no date available) in the Jesuit mission of São Luiz Gonzaga and who died on February 7, 1756, in the municipality of São Gabriel, in the present-day state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.

Sepé Tiaraju led the fight against the Portuguese and Spanish colonial powers in the Guerras Guaraníticas (Guarani War) and was killed three days before a massacre that killed around fifteen hundred of his fellow warriors. After two hundred and fifty years of the date of his death he still remains a very influential figure in the popular imagination, considered a saint by some.

This conflict in South America resulted from the land demarcations established by the European powers with the Tratado de Madrid (1750). According to this treaty the Guarani population inhabiting the Jesuit missions in the region had to be evacuated. After one hundred and fifty years living a unique communal life, neither the prospect of returning to the forests nor moving to another place were considered as options by most mission Guaranis.Comment:  Here are some romantic images of Sepé Tiaraju. And here's a simple but effective piece of Sepé Tiaraju artwork.

Journeys with First Nations

Journeys with First Nations puts Native businesses on tourism path

By Catherine WhippleThe Anishinaabe Cultural Center and other Native organizations and businesses in Callaway, Minnesota have partnered with the new eco-tourism service Journeys with First Nations (JWFN), which was created to develop green tourism destinations in Indian Country.

JWFN, part of Greenroutes, the tourism arm of Renewing the Countryside, worked with Tribal Chair Erma Visenor and other programs at the White Earth Reservation to undertake the pilot project. Deborah McLaren, who works for JWRN, says they were initially invited to White Earth by author and activist Winona LaDuke, who had already done a tourism survey at White Earth. McLaren said start up grants from the Minneapolis Foundation and Otto Bremer were used to create Journeys with First Nations.

McLaren said the numerous small businesses and organizations were identified through public outreach, presentations, and informal visits to local businesses that want to go “green.” She said Greenroute and JWFN’s goal is to help small businesses and organizations bring tourism to their communities, with the emphasis on sustainable, environmental tourism.

JWFN is focusing specifically on tribal communities in Minnesota. According to their website, their focus is to help promote “small, unique businesses that are rooted in their communities” and “places to have fun while helping to ensure that our natural and cultural resources will be around for many generations to come.”

Instead of staying at a chain hotel and eating at a fast food restaurant, travels can stay on a local farm, visit an organic Minnesota winery, or stay at a cabin or a resort on reservation lands.Comment:  For more on eco-tourism, see Ramona's Eco-Friendly Retreat Navajo View Hotel Is Eco-Friendly.

Shawnee Indians in Colonial Williamsburg

Colonial Williamsburg Debuts Scene Depicting Native Americans on Eve of American RevolutionThe Native American presence in pre-Revolutionary War Williamsburg is reflected in a new Revolutionary City story that begins a three-week run Oct. 3.

"So Far From Scioto" chronicles the story of three young Shawnee emissaries brought to Williamsburg in 1774 as security to ensure compliance with a peace agreement that ended Lord Dunmore's War in the Ohio Country.

As diplomatic hostages, the Shawnee delegation witnesses the turmoil and public outcry at the beginnings of the American Revolution in Williamsburg; the seizure of the colony's gunpowder at the Magazine by British marines, news of bloodshed at Lexington and Concord, and Lord Dunmore's hurried departure from the Governor's Palace and Williamsburg in the face of growing conflict with Virginian patriots. Torn by homesickness, political uncertainty and their sense of honor to serve as security for the safety of the Shawnee people, they consider their course of action.

"So Far From Scioto" is presented at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. daily except Mondays, Oct. 3-24 in the Governor's Palace garden and is part of The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation's American Indian Initiative, which takes a broad-based approach to include the histories of Native peoples in 18th-century Williamsburg.

"So Far From Scioto" will be the first Revolutionary Story to draw on the talents and resources of the American Indian community. The Shawnee characters will be portrayed by an all-Native cast.Comment:  It's not clear if this is the first program about Indians, the first program about Indians during the Revolutionary War, or the first program using Indians as cast members.

For a similar subject, see Cherokee "Living History" Tours.

Quileute Nation on Twilight Weekly

From a press release:

Quileute Nation sees 'Twilight Weekly: Spotlight" as opportunity to educate

Premieres Monday, September 28th at 10pm ET/7pm PTTV About Movies® today announced that the Quileute Nation has granted permission to the show "Twilight Weekly: Spotlight" to gather footage and imagery within tribal lands. This unprecedented access is the first-ever for a television network and was granted to REELZCHANNEL in recognition of the network's commitment to authenticity and the opportunity to educate those who have taken an interest in the Quileute Nation from their exposure to the culture through the Twilight saga of books and movies.

"The 'Twilight phenomenon' gives the Quileute Nation the opportunity to educate the world about their true history, traditions, culture and creation story," said Quileute spokesperson Jackie Jacobs. "It was very important to this Nation to partner with an organization that we felt understood that the non-fictional Quileute story is more complex, multi-dimensional and sacred than [the one] everyone has been exposed to. We have been inundated with requests from various outlets to tell the story but felt that REELZCHANNEL embodied the authentic direction we wanted to explore while keeping it fun and interesting for the fans."

The "Twilight Weekly: Spotlight" episode will give viewers an exclusive look at the Quileute Nation on Monday, September 28th at 10pm ET/7pm PT. This episode, shot on tribal lands of the Quileute Nation near La Push, Washington, captures the rich heritage and cultural traditions of the tribe that captivate Twilight movie fans. Viewers will learn the truth behind the Quileute legend that tells the story of a tribe descendant from wolves.Comment:  For more on the subject, see Quileute Werewolves in Twilight.

Comanche wins with casino essay

Town column:  Teen looks at casinosOn the whole, have casinos benefited the Comanche Nation and other Native American tribes who own and operate them? This question became the subject of an Advanced Placement English class research paper for Rob Boling last year, and his essay impacted more than just his grade point average.

"I wanted to explore the issue and see how it was affecting my tribe and other tribes," Boling said. "I found out that, for the most part, the money is being used well."

Boling, 18 years old and a Hinsdale Central senior, is a member of the Comanche Nation, headquartered in Lawton, Oklahoma.

In June, Boling was named one of five winners in the national 2009 Young Native American Writers essay contest for his submission, "Preserving Native Values: The Effects of Casino Income on Tribal Traditions."Some of Boling's conclusions:What Boling found is that casino revenues can help or corrupt tribes. Some of the revenues from the Comanche's four casinos are being used to create a museum to honor the Comanche Code talkers, veterans of World War II who played a significant role in the war because the enemy was unable to decipher the Comanche language. Revenues have also been used to offer scholarships and medical care to tribe members.

Tribes seeking to preserve their heritage "will find that the income is indeed a blessing of economic security which they have been struggling to obtain for decades," Boling wrote.Comment:  These findings are obvious to anyone who understands gaming. Money, including income from casinos, is simply a tool. Having enough is good because people need money to live on. Having too can be a problem because money tends to make people more materialistic and status-oriented.

For more on the subject, see The Facts About Indian Gaming.

"Nigel the crazy Noonga"

'Crazy Noonga' website sparks racism outrage

By Fran RamrodA website set up by a Perth student about a fictional Aboriginal character has been shut down and is being investigated by police amid racism claims.

The website, which Radio 6PR reports was created by a 19-year-old Curtin University student, features audio excerpts of a character called "Nigel the crazy Noonga," who prank calls businesses and fast-food outlets with a fake Aboriginal accent.

The portrayal of negative Aboriginal stereotypes has sparked outrage from the Aboriginal community.

Craig Somerville, lecturer at the Curtin University Centre for Aboriginal Studies, told 6PR he believed the material on the website had crossed the line between humour and racism.Comment:  For more on the subject, see Aborigines Stereotyped in Australia and Aborigines Wallow in Garbage on "Arses."

2nd NB3 Challenge raises $1 million

Notah Begay golf tourney raises more than $1 million

By Will ChavezIn August four pro golfers gathered on the Oneida Indian Nation reservation in Verona, N.Y., to play a charity skins golf tournament for Native youth.

The field included 14-time championship winner Tiger Woods and the only full-blood Native American who is part of the Professional Golfers Association, Notah Begay III (Navajo, San Felipe and Isleta Pueblo), whose foundation hosted the event called the NB3 Challenge.

The foundation recently announced more than $1,053,000 was raised by the event. Funds will be used in efforts to fight the disproportionate incidence of obesity and diabetes among Native youth.Comment:  For more on the subject, see Tiger Wins 2nd NB3 Challenge and Tiger Helps "Skins" in Skins Game.

Historical trauma transmitted biologically?

A PBS NOVA program may explain how the disease and hunger experienced by Indians generations ago affects their descendants today.

Ghost in Your Genes--TV Program DescriptionScientists have long puzzled over the different fates of identical twins: both have the same genes, yet only one may develop a serious disease like cancer or autism. What's going on? Does something else besides genes determine who we are? NOVA explores this startling possibility in this program.

The "something else" turns out to be a network of chemical switches that sit on our DNA, turning genes off and on. Called collectively the epigenome, the switches appear to play a major role in everything from how our cells keep their identity to whether we contract dread diseases. Epigenetic switches may even help mold our personalities—or so it appears to Canadian researchers studying a group of epigenetically modified rats.

"We're in the midst of probably the biggest revolution in biology, which is going to forever transform the way we understand genetics, environment, the way the two interact, and what causes disease," says Mark Mehler, Professor of Neurology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. "It's another level of biology, which for the first time really is up to the task of explaining the biological complexity of life."And:The program closes at the controversial cutting edge of this burgeoning new field. At the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, researchers are investigating epigenetic means to treat a deadly form of leukemia (see Epigenetic Therapy). In Washington State, a researcher finds that a toxin given to rats still affects their offspring four generations later, without producing any changes in their genes. And in Sweden, a study of historical records seems to show that the lifespan of grandchildren is affected by their grandparents' access to food.

Might these effects be epigenetic? Might our experiences, by changing our epigenomes, literally change the fate of our offspring ... and their offspring ... and theirs in turn? And might our own states of health owe something to the diets and exposures of our forebears?

Some researchers are already convinced. "You live your life as a sort of ... guardian of your genome," says Marcus Pembrey of the Institute of Child Health at University College London, a co-investigator in the Swedish study. "It seems to me you've got to be careful of it because it's not just you. You can't be selfish ... you can't say, 'Well, I'll smoke' or 'I'll do whatever it is because I'm prepared to die early.' You're also looking after it for your children and grandchildren...." Epigenetics, Pembrey says, "is changing the way we think about inheritance forever."Some quotes from the show about research on Swedish villagers:

Ghost in Your Genes--TranscriptNARRATOR:  Overkalix offered Pembrey a unique opportunity to see if the events that happened in one generation could affect another decades later.

MARCUS PEMBREY:  Olly first reported that the food supply of the ancestors was affecting the longevity or mortality rate of the grandchildren, so I was very excited.And:NARRATOR:  This was one of the first indications that an environmental exposure in a man, one that did not cause a genetic mutation, could directly affect his male offspring.

MARCUS PEMBREY:  It really did look as if there was some new mechanism transmitting environmental exposure information from one generation to the next.And:MARCUS PEMBREY:  Once I had plotted out the full extent of those results, it was so beautiful and such a clear pattern, I knew then, quite definitely, that we were dealing with a trans-generational response. It was so coherent—and that's important in science, that the effect was coherent in some way—was tying in when eggs and sperm were being formed.

NARRATOR:  The diagram showed a significant link between generations, between the diet in one and the life expectancy of another.And:NARRATOR:  It raises a tantalizing prospect: that the impact of famine can be captured by the genes, in the egg and sperm, and that the memory of this event could be carried forward to affect grandchildren two generations later.

MARCUS PEMBREY:  We are changing the view of what inheritance is. You can't, in life, in ordinary development and living, separate out the gene from the environmental effect. They're so intertwined.And:MICHAEL SKINNER:  What this means, then, is what your grandmother was exposed to when she was pregnant could cause a disease in you—even though you've had no exposure—and you're going to pass it on to your great-grandchildren.

NARRATOR:  And if a pesticide can generate such effects, what about stress, smoking, drinking? To some, the epigenetic evidence is compelling enough already to warrant a public note of caution.Comment:  This could help explain the concept of intergenerational trauma. The evidence suggests that the effects of physical hardship may be transmitted biologically as well as culturally.

Making Birdwatchers

Birdwatchers:  A tribe's fight for justice

The cast had never acted and scripts were impossible, but Chilean director Marco Bechis still managed to make his film about obscure Brazilian Indians. Tom Phillips finds out how

By Tom PhillipsWhen Bechis touched down in Brazil in April 2004, he came expecting to make a film about the Indians of the Amazon rainforest: remote and ancient tribes who wielded bows and arrows and lived in straw huts hidden deep in the jungle. "I wanted to do a film about indigenous people in Latin America. But [like] every romantic European, I was supposed to do a film about the Amazon," says Bechis.

Instead, acting on the advice of members of indigenous rights group Survival International, whom he had met in Milan, Bechis travelled to the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul. There he found Vilhava and the Guaraní-Kaiowá people struggling to regain their land, thousands of miles south of the world's largest tropical rainforest. "When I met the Kaiowá just dressed in normal clothes, drinking alcohol and using mobile phones–even if they were never charged up because they don't have electricity–I said: 'This is what Indians are today. This is the film.'"

Shot over 10 weeks in 2007, Birdwatchers focuses on a group of Guaraní-Kaiowá as they attempt to reclaim their land from a local farmer, in what is known in Portuguese as a retomada or "retaking." While the wealthy cattle rancher kicks back on his idyllic country estate, showing European birdwatchers slides of the local wildlife, the Guaraní-Kaiowá eke out a precarious existence, slaving away on sugar cane plantations and living in a shabby squatter settlement.Comment:  Kind of lame that Bechis wanted to devote his time and money to make a romantic film about Indians--a subject he apparently knew little about. But at least he got straightened out when he actually met the Indians.

Then there's this tidbit:Bechis believes working with untrained performers gave the film a realism that would have been impossible with non-indigenous actors. Often Vilhava or other cast members would approach him and say: "Listen, Marco: I can do it like you want–but I wouldn't do it like that."Thanks for succinctly stating the benefit of using indigenous actors. Twilight producers, take note.

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

Below:  "Ademilson Concianza Verga as Irineu in Birdwatchers."

Casino joke on Jimmy Fallon

On Tuesday's edition of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (airdate: 9/22/09), Fallow told a joke about Indians:The US government is giving American Indian tribes $224 million of stimulus money to help fight crime on reservations. The tribes said that they're grateful for the money, and plan to bet it all on black.

That's what they said. "Thank you so much. This is so nice."Comment:  It's always good for Indians to get exposure. But this joke is so lame that it pretty much cancels out the benefit.

Talk-show hosts and other comedians should forgo the stupid casino jokes. They're so predictable that we can write some fill-in-the-blank formulas for them:

"Indians [verb phrase] [some honor, celebration, or holiday]. The Indians celebrated by going to their casino."

or

"Indians [verb phrase] [anything to do with money]. The Indians spent their money at [or on] a casino."

For instance: "Did you hear this? An American Indian won the Nobel Prize in medicine for inventing a cure for cancer. Yup. That's great. Unfortunately, he lost it on a busted flush in his casino." Ha ha ha ha ha!

For more on the subject, see "Indian Giver" Joke on Tonight Show and Leno:  Mobsters Run Foxwoods.

Signs placed on Trail of Death

Trail of Death now marked

By Brandon SteinertA notorious path known as the Trail of Death has been officially recognized by the states of Indiana, Illinois, Missouri and Kansas.

Signs have been placed all over the four states to highlight the regional historic pathway.

The trail, which marks the route of Potawatomi tribes forced to leave Indiana, begins in Rochester, Ind., and meanders through Illinois and Missouri to end in eastern Kansas.Comment:  For more on the subject, see Caravan on the Trail of Death.

Below:  "Workers install a sign north of Paola on Thursday marking the Trail of Death." (photo by Brandon Steinert)