Custer's anti-Indian reputation

Correspondent DMarks asks:Where is the best place to read about the crimes of Custer that set him apart, say, from any Army Indian fighter such as Abe Lincoln? One of my blog-readers is a huge Custer fan (not conservative at all, actually, and not any sort of racist that I can see).I think Custer's fame re Indians rests on three things:

1) Little Bighorn.

2) The battle (massacre) of Washita.

3) Leading an expedition to open up the Badlands.

Most people don't know about 3), or don't consider it remarkable, so they focus on 1) and 2).

One could argue that Custer's intent at Little Bighorn was a sneak attack that would turn into a rout if not a massacre. In other words, he was acting as an "Indian killer" even if his plan utterly failed. Hating him for that is somewhat understandable. It's like hating Hitler or Stalin for being anti-American even though they never attacked the US.

But really, Custer's infamy among Indians is mostly due to Washita. Along with Wounded Knee and Sand Creek, Washita was one of the "top three" massacres in the Indian Wars. There may have been one or two others where more Indians died, but these are the ones we remember.

Other "Indian fighters" may have killed more Indians over time, but Custer a) killed dozens in one swoop, and b) knew how to attract and hold the public's attention. I suspect Washita cemented his fame as an Indian fighter--with Custer stoking the legend himself.

Custer the symbol

When people like me list Custer as an Indian hater or killer, it's really because most people know him as one. He's useful as a symbol of anti-Indian aggression, not because he was a racist who hated Indians. Because of Washita and Little Bighorn, he represents someone who wanted to kill Indians, even if he didn't do that much of it.

In fact, Custer's view of Indians may have been typical of the times: he admired their fierce fighting prowess, but thought they had to get out of the way of progress. At one point he even testified on their behalf:

Custer ScrapbookNo one can really understand Custer's Last stand and its whys and hows unless they have a good knowledge of its background and how that background would lead to both an Army and Government coverup of what did take place at the Battle. Robert J. Barnes stated, "...this coverup is perhaps the most massive in American history with effects still being felt today". In 1876, politics were flaming in America with a Presidential Election in sight. The Grant administration was, in many ways, totally corrupt ...especially in the Indian Bureau where government figures were making fortunes cheating the Indians. Few Army Officers dared to speak of it, for their careers would be ruined. Custer, whatever one thought of him, was one of the few in the Army who actually was an admirer and friend of the Indian ... despite political correctness today trying to show the opposite. Custer did speak out and was called before Congress to testify about corruption. Outside of General Sherman and Sheridan, Custer was the most loved and famed Army Officer of the time ... and highly respected. His testimony led to the impeachment of Grant's favorite, Secretary of War Belknap. When Custer implicated Grant's brother, Orville, as king of the thieves, Grant went on a rampage. Custer has set off a firestorm and wrecked any chance Grant had for the third term he wanted so badly.Of course, testifying against the corrupt government doesn't necessarily mean Custer was the Indians' friend. He could've thought they were subhuman savages even though he indirectly took their side. Similarly, many Northerners opposed the slaveowning states while thinking blacks were children who couldn't govern themselves.

Custer open to interpretation

So I'm not sure any firm conclusion about Custer is possible. He led one of the worst massacres of Indians, but otherwise he didn't do much against them. Does that make him much worse than average, just average, or what? Depends how you rank the moral crimes, I'd say.

A better choice for Indian killer would be Col. John Chivington, who led the massacre at Sand Creek. I believe he genuinely hated Indians and thought they should die. Most Indian fighters respected their foes, but not Chivington.

I guess your friend could be a fan of Custer's Civil War record, or his larger-than-life personality. It would be like admiring the South's generals even though they lost the Civil War. But if he's a fan of Custer's Indian record, I'd have to ask why. Unless you think hunting and killing Indians is good, Custer didn't do anything great in the post-war years.

For more on the subject, see Racist Pro-Custer Website and Why We Love Custer and Indians.

Bizarro joke about 2012

Comment:  Dan Piraro isn't the first one to make a 2012 joke like this one. But he does it without stereotypes, which is rare for him and for cartoonists in general.

For more on 2012, see 2012 Joke on Tonight Show and Maya Fed Up with 2012. For more on Native-themed comic strips, see Native Comic Strips vs. Comic Books.

Cherokee language on Facebook

Read about a Cherokee translation page in Facebook in my Pictographs blog.

Indians in The Last Refuge

In October I posted an overview of Ken Burns's documentary National Parks: America's Best Idea. As I said, the first episode, The Scripture of Nature, included two segments on Indians. The second episode, The Last Refuge, offered more on Indians:

The Last RefugeThe Ancient Ruins of Mesa Verde

In 1889, rancher Richard Wetherill and his four brothers stumbled across ancient ruins in the cliffs of Mesa Verde in Colorado. They excavated the site, gathering thousands of artifacts which they sold to museums. The brothers sought to protect the ruins by making Mesa Verde a national park, but the government turned down their request.

When authorities tried to stop a Swedish archaeologist from sending a huge shipment of Mesa Verde artifacts abroad, they discovered that they were powerless to do so. There was no law in existence protecting antiquities.

Richard Wetherill and the Discovery of Chaco Canyon

Without any law protecting them, the ruins that the Wetherill brothers had first discovered at Mesa Verde were subjected to looting and vandalism.

Archaeologists were horrified by it all, fearing that a record of an ancient civilization would be lost forever. In their eyes, the Wetherill brothers were as much to blame as anyone else. This was a particularly sore spot for Richard Wetherill, who, despite his lack of formal education, wanted to be taken seriously as an archaeologist.

He had left Mesa Verde to search for other ruins in the southwest. Finally, in New Mexico, he came to a place called Chaco Canyon, where he began to study another set of ruins left behind by the ancient Puebloans.

Although Wetherill tried to carry on his work as scientifically as possible, he was still dismissed as a "pothunter," and professional archaeologists urged the government do something to stop him. Wetherill offered to give up any claim to the Chaco Canyon ruins, if only the federal government would do something to protect them.

The Extraordinary Power of the Antiquities Act

On June 29, 1906, President Roosevelt signed the law creating Mesa Verde National Park. It was the first park created specifically to celebrate a prehistoric culture and its people, and marked a broadening of the park idea.

But while Mesa Verde had been saved, there was no law protecting any of the other ancient ruins scattered throughout the Southwest. Growing anger over Richard Wetherill's excavations at Chaco Canyon would set in motion events that would change the course of park history.

With the help of John F. Lacey, the Act for the Preservation of American Antiquities was passed. Now, any unauthorized disturbance of a prehistoric ruin was a federal crime.

The Antiquities Act also gave the president an extraordinary power: the exclusive authority--without any Congressional approval--to preserve places that would be called national monuments.

A President's Delight

Theodore Roosevelt wasted no time in putting his new powers to use. Devils Tower, in eastern Wyoming, became the first of many national monuments. And on March 11, 1907, the president did exactly what Richard Wetherill had wanted, by creating Chaco Canyon National Monument.

Roosevelt would also use the Antiquities Act to protect Muir Woods, an endangered grove of giant coastal redwoods named after his friend John Muir. He would use it again at Muir's request, to save an endangered fossilized forest in Arizona that dated back 200 million years. With a stroke of his pen, he created the Petrified Forest National Monument.

There was one more national park that President Roosevelt wanted to add to his list: the Grand Canyon, which was under threat by developers, miners and ranchers. But local opposition was so strong that not even he could persuade Congress to act.

Roosevelt realized that the wording of the Antiquities Act could be used to his advantage. He created a furor when on January 11, 1908, he stretched the Act to its limit by declaring the Grand Canyon to be "an object of unusual scientific interest"--and a national monument.Comment:  This episode did a decent job on the history of Mesa Verde and Chaco Canyon, the first parks to preserve human antiquities. The narration on Chaco Canyon correctly called the inhabitants Puebloans rather than "Anasazi." It also mentioned the Indians' regard for Devils Tower and the Grand Canyon, and Crater Lake and Mt. Rainier too.

What The Last Refuge didn't mention was how the Navajos living around Chaco Canyon were forced out to make way for the park. Nor did it mention the frequent conflicts between park managers, environmentalists, and the Havasupai living in the Grand Canyon.

Once again we see Ken Burns's sanitizing of American history. Indians occupied the land, something or someone made them disappear, and the parks took shape where they used to be. With Indians no longer around, the parks brought (white) people together, and everyone lived happily ever after.

Ask the Indians whose land was taken if they agree with that. Answer: Probably not.

For photographs of my visit to Mesa Verde, see Colorado Trip Pix--Day 8. For more on the series, see Review of Burns's National Parks and Burns on Our National Parks.

Below:  "Ruins at Pueblo Bonito, Chaco Canyon National Historic Park, 1940."

The Legend of Tillamook's Gold

Tillamook TreasureTillamook Treasure, now known as The Legend of Tillamook's Gold, is an independent 2006 family film set in the city of Manzanita, Oregon, United States. Based on a Native American legend about a treasure buried on Neahkahnie Mountain by Spanish sailors in the 1590s, this is the story of a 14-year-old girl's discovery of what is important in life.The Legend of Tillamook's Gold

By Elliot V. KotekPunctuated with a fine performance by a pretty youngster in Suzanne Marie Doyon (as Julie) and by veteran thesp Max Gail as Grandpa, this flick succeeds by not patronizing its audience, and by celebrating the central role that extended families play in small towns. That the film does not strive for Disney perfection is also admirable.

Set on the shoreline of the serene state of Oregon, Tillamook unravels over one summer vacation. Julie, who narrates the adventure, relocates with her financially troubled family from Los Angeles to Manzanita and into her Uncle Jimmy's modest home. Surrounded by sparring parents, a storytelling grandfather and a college-bound sister whose life consists of a constant game of tonsil hockey with her immature boyfriend, Julie spends her summer sauntering along the oceanfront without direction until she stumbles across a Spanish gold coin. The tale of the Tillamook Treasure is local lore, the legend being that the finder of the loot is not to be a simple explorer but an individual brave enough to not be afraid of the ghost of the slave buried with the booty.

Inspired by her find, Julie is soon entranced by an imposing elk that appears intermittently, and she finds herself following bird feathers, mystical runes, fate-filled voices and her innate Native American feelings into the mountains and into a collection of real and dream-like adventures.Comment:  Kind of funny how the film's producers went from a dark poster to a light one. The new poster is so suffused with sunshine that Suzanne Marie Doyon has changed from a brunette into a blond.

I don't think either poster is great, but at least the old one hints at something dark and interesting. The new one screams "feel-good Afterschool Special with a heartwarming message."

Anyway, I haven't seen this movie. Sounds like it includes heavy doses of Indian mysticism and a wise elder (Floyd Red Crow Westerman). I'll have to see it someday.

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

Indians in Call of Juarez: Bound by Blood

Call of Juarez: Bound by Blood is a Western-themed video game with an Indian subplot. Here's the basic story from the official website and an IGN review:THE OLD WEST, 1864. In order to save their family, the McCall brothers will kill anyone who stands between them and the legendary Gold of Juarez. But when the allure of women and money tests their bond as brothers, will the blood they share prove to be thicker?Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood Review

Blast a bloody path through the Wild West.
Bound in Blood is a rather complex tale that once again raises the specter of revenge and cursed treasure, amongst a backdrop of the western frontier; I'll try to summarize the story without providing any spoilers of any kind. Players are introduced to Ray and Thomas McCall, two brothers in the Confederate army that desert their posts to save their family home from Union soldiers. Seeing the destruction of their land and swearing that they'll rebuild their property one day, the McCalls head west to seek fortune and glory. However, going AWOL infuriates their former commander, who declares that he'll hunt them down to the ends of the earth for their abandonment of the Confederate cause. Fleeing both the Confederate troops on their heels and various lawmen from some of their illegal activities throughout the country, the McCalls eventually connect with the Mexican bandit leader Juan and his concubine Marisa, who has information regarding the treasure of Cortez. The McCalls will also have to deal with the Apache, whose connection with the gold could potentially threaten the entire West.This video gives a more detailed summary of the game, as well as a look at its impressive visual landscapes.



Although they don't appear in the video, Native actor Jay Tavare plays the Apache chief Running River. Dante Basco, a "Filipino American actor, voice actor, dancer, and rapper," plays his half-white son Seeing Farther. That's one casting hit (Tavare is part White Mountain Apache) and one miss.

IGN sums up its review as follows:As a prequel, Bound in Blood does a good job of presenting the characters, their storylines and what eventually leads back into the franchise history. It also packs in a ton of fast action, loads of explosions and a heavy dose of duels against opponents that want to take you to Boot Hill. Unfortunately, the repetitive nature of the missions, coupled with some technical issues, really keeps this title from standing out more.For more on the subject, see Video Games Featuring Indians.

Most influential "maid" since Pocahontas?

In First Native Rocket Scientist? I reported on Mary G. Ross, the Cherokee rocket scientist. Here's another article on her accomplishments:

People:  Mary G. Ross blazed a trail in the sky as a woman engineer in the space race

By Kara BriggsBy 1948, Ross was on the ground floor of what would become the space race. In 1952 Lockheed asked her to be one of 40 engineers in what became known as the Lockheed Skunk Works, a super-secret think tank led by legendary aeronautics engineer Clarence “Kelly” Johnson. It was the start of Lockheed Missiles & Space Co., a major consultant to NASA based in Sunnyvale, Calif.

Ross was 45, the only woman and the only Native American. Most of the theories and papers that emerged from that Lockheed group, including those by Ross, are still classified.

Around the time of the Soviet Union’s 1957 launch of Sputnik, Ross moved into the public eye. In 1958 she appeared on the television show “What’s My Line?” It took contestants many guesses before they realized that the smiling woman in a V-necked, sleeveless black dress in fact, as the caption read, “Designs Rocket Missiles and Satellites (Lockheed Aircraft).”

One San Francisco-area newspaper article from 1961 called Ross “possibly the most influential Indian maid since Pocahontas,” and noted that she was “making her mark in outer space.” She told the interviewer, “I think of myself as applying mathematics in a fascinating field.”Comment:  I wonder how often Indians appeared on What's My Line? It would've been interesting to have a tribal chief who didn't look like a (stereo)typical Indian as the mystery guest.

Sacagawea is undoubtedly the most famous Indian woman, and the most influential in terms of pop culture, since Pocahontas. But that raises the question of who really are the most important and influential Indian women in history. Most people would put Pocahontas and Sacagawea on the list, but they actually didn't do that much. They certainly didn't do much to help Indians in general.

But if not them, then whom? There must be better candidates than these two, but I'm not sure whom I'd put on the list. Do we go with someone (relatively) obvious such as Wilma Mankiller or Winona LaDuke, or are there better candidates in the historical record?

Below:  "Mary G. Ross, at 96, joins the 2004 opening procession for the Smithsonian's new National Museum of the American Indian on the National Mall in Washington, D.C." She's accompanied by Suzette Brewer, the author of Sovereign: An Oral History of Indian Gaming. (Photo by Mary McCarthy)

Preview of Callous

Here's a Native movie I just heard about. I gather it premiered at the Riverside International Film Festival in 2009.

CallousBased on true events, CALLOUS is an unpredictable and violent ride on the shoulders of Garrett Blackfoot. This once-abused fragile boy is now a single father haunted by the demons of his childhood. In denial of his Native American lineage, he is brought face to face with the reality that there is a spiritual plane and the things he saw in the shadows as a child may be more than just imagined. His own mother is the catalyst of his painful youth and devourer of his future. He must wrestle with his best intentions for his daughter, a race against time to save his dying brother, and the unceasing effort to contain a rage sown from the seeds of despair, abandonment and revenge.Joey Lanai, the writer, director, and star, apparently is part Native:Joey Lanai was born in Compton, California, and has been a Los Angeles Native ever since. His father is from American Samoa and his mother from Charleston, West Virgina. Joey is an uncommon mix of ethnicity with an islander father and a mother of Native American origin. This diversity allows him to pursue a great range of roles as an actor.

Comment:  Hmm. I'm not sure the world needs another Native movie about despair, abandonment, and revenge. Seems to me filmmakers have tackled those themes enough already.

Also, Lanai's character defines "callous" as a thick patch of skin in the trailer, but that word is spelled "callus." Unless he intended the title to have a double meaning, that's a big oops.

Marcos Akiaten as Blackfoot's brother is the only Native actor I recognize in the cast. But there may be others.

Anyway, you can watch the trailer at the official site. Get ready with the volume controls, because the site launches with loud music that you can't turn off.

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

Indian marching bands

A report on the Standing Rock High School Band and Indian marching bands in general:

Music:  Native American school band rocks the oldies--and the ancientsAmerican Indian marching bands emerged in the boarding-school era, when students were trained in European musical instruments and patriotic marches. From the 1930s through the 1950s, dozens of Indian nations had their own marching bands made up of musicians trained in boarding schools. A few of these bands survive, such as the Fort Mojave Indian Tribe Band of Arizona and Nevada, which celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2006.

But today all-Indian high school bands are rare, said Georgia Wettlin-Larsen, director of the First Nations Composer Initiative. Musical education, beyond culturally-based drumming and singing, is almost nonexistent in tribal schools, she said.Plus another pre-Columbian Native song:This year the band began a collaboration with Courtney Yellow Fat, the lead singer of Grammy-nominated powwow drum group Lakota Thunder and a culture and language teacher at Standing Rock Middle School.

Cournoyer worked with Yellow Fat to as she wrote sheet music for an ancient Lakota song so her student band could play it. The song, “The Land You Fear,” which originated before Columbus landed in the Americas, had not been written down before, like much indigenous music.Comment:  For more on ancient Native songs, see The Oldest Native Song? and The Huron Carol. For a non-Indian marching band in the news, see Marching Chiefs Reverse Decision and No Marching Chiefs at Inaugural?

Below:  "North Dakota’s Standing Rock High School Band performs on the back of a flatbed truck." (Courtesy of Kim Cournoyer)

Smudging on Tonight Show

On Wednesday's Tonight Show (airdate: 12/23/09), Lakers basketball player Derek Fisher was a guest. Conan O'Brien asked Fisher about coach Phil Jackson's unusual motivational techniques. Fisher said that when the team starts losing, Jackson wafts sage smoke over the locker room to get rid of "evil spirits." Conan asked if that worked, laughing, and Fisher tactfully noted that Jackson has won 10 championship rings. They concluded Jackson must know what he's doing.

Watch the exchange in the first 1:45 of the video below:



Although neither person identified the practice, it's obviously a Native smudging ceremony. Jackson is familiar with Native lore and has used it before in his coaching.

The point I made way back in Indian Comics Irregular #23, Bulls Won with an Indian Assist (Feb. 2000), still holds. Native beliefs and practices are one route to success.

Incidentally, I'm still curious about O'Brien's interest in multicultural subjects. He tackles black, Hispanic, and even Native issues fairly often. He approaches them like a naive American, and sometimes stumbles over stereotypes, but his heart seems to be in the right place.

For more on the subject, see First Thanksgiving on Tonight Show and Native Float Joke on Tonight Show.

Indians in The Scripture of Nature

In October I posted an overview of Ken Burns's documentary National Parks: America's Best Idea. The first episode, The Scripture of Nature, included two segments on Indians:

The Meaning of the Name "Yosemite"Early in 1851, during the frenzy of the California Gold Rush, an armed group of white men was scouring the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada. They called themselves the Mariposa Battalion, and they were searching for Indians, intent on driving the natives from their homelands and onto reservations.

Late on the afternoon of March 27, the battalion came to a narrow valley surrounded by towering granite cliffs, where a series of waterfalls dropped thousands of feet to reach the Merced River on the valley's floor. One of the men, a young doctor named Lafayette Bunnell, found himself transfixed by the vista. "As I looked, a peculiar exalted sensation seemed to fill my whole being," he wrote, "and I found my eyes in tears with emotion."

Bunnell's enchantment with the scenery was not shared by the rest of the Mariposa Battalion. Its commander, a hardened Indian fighter named Captain James D. Savage, was angered that the natives he sought had somehow disappeared into the mountains. He ordered his men to set fire to the Indians' homes and their storehouses of acorns, in order to starve them into submission.

But before the battalion moved on, Bunnell convinced the others that, as the first white men ever to enter the valley, they should give it a name. He suggested "Yosemite," based on Savage's information that this was the name of the tribe they had come to dispossess. Long after the tribe was finally located and forced from their beloved valley, scholars would learn that in fact the natives called the valley Ahwahnee, meaning "the place of a gaping mouth," and that they called themselves the Ahwahneechees, in honor of the valley they had considered their home for centuries. "Yosemite," it was learned, meant something entirely different. In the native language, "Yosemite" refers to people who should be feared. It means, "they are killers."Danger and Lawlessness in the ParkIn August of 1877, a group of nine tourists from Radersburg, Montana, traveling with a carriage, supply wagon, and small string of horses, made their way along the Firehole River, taking in the sights. Among them were Emma Carpenter Cowan, 24 years old, and her husband, George, planning to celebrate their second wedding anniversary in Yellowstone.

But on the morning of August 24, their anniversary day, Emma opened the flap to discover a group of Indians standing by the campfire, demanding food and supplies. They were members of the Nez Percé tribe, part of a much larger band associated with Chief Joseph, currently being pursued by the U.S. Army because they had refused to move onto a reservation.

Only two weeks earlier, nearly 90 Nez Percés had been killed–more than half of them women and children–when their sleeping village had been attacked by a column of troops in the battle of the Big Hole.

The Cowan party's wagon and carriage were ransacked and destroyed, but the tourists were sent on their way unharmed. Then they met a different group of warriors. George Cowan was shot in the head and another tourist was shot in the face. Three members of the party escaped into the nearby woods, but Emma Cowan, her brother, and her 13-year-old sister were taken as captives.

When he was informed about it, Joseph and the other chiefs ordered that the whites not be harmed. They were released the next day, finally reaching safety at the north end of the park.

As the army moved through in pursuit a few days behind the Indians, they picked up George Cowan, somehow still alive. Army surgeons probed his head by candlelight and removed the bullet, flattened by his skull.

By the time Cowan was reunited with his wife, the Nez Percé war was ending hundreds of miles away, with Chief Joseph's surrender in northern Montana. Yellowstone's new superintendent soon arranged for the native Sheepeaters, who had not taken part in the conflict, to be evicted from their homeland so he could assure the public that Yellowstone National Park was now free of all Indians.Comment:  These stories exemplify the series' approach to Indians. Although The Scripture of Nature discusses the Indian presence in Yosemite and Yellowstone, the tone is matter-of-fact. The stories are told from the Anglo POV, not the Indian POV. Along with ranchers and miners, the Indians were simply another obstacle to the public's enjoyment of the parks.

In other words, these incidents are colorful historical anecdotes to Burns and company, not crimes committed against the grandparents of people living today. The series editorializes about how wonderful the parks are, but not about the injustices done to Indians to create the parks. Like most Americans, Burns notes the genocidal tragedies in passing, then moves on.

For more on Yosemite, see Yosemite to Update Indian Displays? and Yosemite's Paiutes Mislabeled as Miwoks. For more on the series, see Review of Burns's National Parks and Burns on Our National Parks.

Native roots of Hendrix and the blues

Roots of the blues go deep into shared Native and African American history

By Kara BriggsHendrix—who not only identified himself as Cherokee but also performed at Woodstock in buckskin, and elsewhere wearing a hand-beaded jacket—is featured in an exhibition at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian called “IndiVisible: African-Native American Lives in the Americas.”

Ron Welburn, a Native poet and English professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst who contributed a chapter to the book accompanying the exhibition, explains that the roots of the blues lie deep in Native America. It was the blues guitar that Hendrix taught himself as a young man.

The blues were born at a unique moment in history when the slave trade and colonization of the American South forced people and their musical traditions together, he said. The blues came to life on the Tuscarora Indian trails that the Underground Railroad followed across the Niagara River to the Six Nations and freedom, said Elaine Bomberry, host of “Rez Bluez,” a show on the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network in Canada.

The blues peculate up from the soil of the experience of stolen peoples and stolen lands.

“There are things (in blues music) that say to me that someone knows something about stomp dancing,” said Welburn, who is Gingaskin and Assateague, Cherokee and African American. “It’s the call-and-response phrasing, and the length of the statement, which may be longer than the response.”

The chika-ching syncopation, pioneered in jazz by innovative Mohawk and African drummer Jesse Price, sounds much like the bells or deer hooves that Native dancers wear. As Oscar Pettiford, the Cherokee, Choctaw and African-American bandleader, told Jazz Times in 1960, it’s jazz attempting over and over to render an American Indian beat.

Or as Carlos Santana said in 1995 to “UniVibes,” a Hendrix fanzine, “Most music comes from Indian reservations,” from cultural and spiritual practices interpreted by “just two people—Jimi Hendrix and Bob Marley, you know.”Comment:  For more on the subject, see Natives Sing It Their Way.

Casting The Broken Circle

'Broken Circle' casting call attracts strong turnout

By Noel Lyn SmithTom Mark stood in front of a camera in a small conference room inside the Navajo Nation Museum and recited lines in both Navajo and English while his performance was recorded.

Mark, 63, was auditioning for the character Wilbert Tsosie for the upcoming feature film "The Broken Circle."

The movie is based on the 1992 non-fiction book of the same name, which uses the 1974 torture-murders of three Navajo men by three Anglo teenagers near Farmington to examine racial tensions in the community and the impact of the murders.And:Several familiar faces from the Native American entertainment industry were in attendance at the Window Rock casting call. Among those waiting in the museum's lobby were actor and martial artist Reggie Mitchell, entertainer Cody Nez, musicians Gabriel Yaiva and Robert Tree Cody.

In a nearby exhibit hall, Ernest Tsosie III sat on a bench studying the script.

"(I'm) trying to get into the movies," Tsosie said jokingly.Another interesting project:Recently, Tsosie worked with fellow actors Natasha Kaye Johnson and Tatanka Means to develop a comedy show along the lines of "Saturday Night Live" and "MADtv." The show premiered Dec. 12 in Albuquerque and another show took place Dec. 18 at Mesa View Elementary in Chinle.Comment:  For more on the subject, see The Best Indian Movies.

Below:  "Cody Nez reads the part of Wilbert Tsosie while auditioning for 'The Broken Circle' at a casting call Dec. 10 at the Navajo Nation Museum in Window Rock."

(Times photo--Leigh T. Jimmie)

Three Native Olympic gold medalists

Morris held eagle feather high on Olympic podium 25 years ago, dreams 2010 is a new startAlwyn Morris held an eagle feather high during a historic medal ceremony where he became the first and only Canadian aboriginal athlete to win gold at an Olympic Games.

It was in 1984--25 years ago--in Los Angeles when Morris, a Mohawk from Kahnawake, Quebec, and his partner Hugh Fisher won gold in the men's 1,000 metre, doubles kayak race.

Morris's gold medal victory is a rare achievement for any athlete, but even more rare for an aboriginal competitor. He joined the great American aboriginal runners Jim Thorpe and Billy Mills as the only three North American aboriginals to ever win gold at the Olympics.

Morris, now 52, says his eagle feather salute in Los Angeles allowed him to say everything he wanted to his family, aboriginals, Canadians and the world, without uttering a word.Comment:  For more on the subject, see Olympics Organizers Diss Natives and Native Participation in 2010 Olympics.

Below:  "Alwyn Morris, 1984 Olympic gold medallist, shares the Olympic Flame with local children Tuesday, December 8, 2009 as he carries it through the Mohawk town of Kahnawake south of Montreal." (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz)

Aamjiwnaang celebrates torch relay

Native community opts to celebrate torch

By James BradshawFrom the reserve, the smoke stacks of numerous chemical plants can be seen belching out grey clouds, and a putrid stench from some plants wafts over the reserve lands when the wind changes direction. Little more than a kilometre down the road, the smell intensifies outside Shell Canada's Sarnia refinery, where a ghostly fog rises from a canal that passes the plant before emptying into the river.

But Chief Chris Plain refused to use the torch's visit as a soap box from which to air his grievances.

"I didn't come to be political today. I'll talk about the torch, but I don't want to talk about community issues," he said, softly and politely. "I started my speech that way, but I thought, no, I'm not going there. We didn't want this event to showcase some of the issues we have outside. This is a celebration."Comment:  Chief Plain has more restraint than I would've had in his situation. He could've alluded to the problems, at least, without getting heavy-handed about them.

For more on the subject, see Torch Blocked on Canadian Reserves and Aboriginal Youths to Carry Olympic Flame.



(Kevin van Paassen/The Globe and Mail)

2009 Christmas pix

Pix of my Christmas celebration with my family, including a shot of all the Native (and Star Trek) books I got:

Christmas--December 25, 2009

Jana's American Indian Christmas

Read about Jana's American Indian Christmas, in which she sings 10 Christmas carols in 10 Native languages, in my Pictographs blog.

For more on Jana, see Jana the Museum Ambassador and The 2009 NAMMY Winners.

Below:  Jana Mashonee's latest album is called New Moon Born. (Carter James)

Oldfield's Native-themed songs

Correspondent DMarks brings the work of Mike Oldfield (Tubular Bells) to our attention:Here's Cochise:There's no "official" video. The music makes me think of someone on horseback.

Here's Pacha Mama:

Huaca Pacha Mama
Huaca Pacha Mama
Huaca Saqsaywaman
Huaca Saqsaywaman
Huaca Yachaq Runa
Huaca Yachaq Runa
Huaca Munaq Runa
Huaca Munaq Runa

Pacha Mama
Pacha Mama

(Repeat First Verse)

Pacha Mama
Pacha Mama

(Repeat First Verse)

(Words in Quechua meaning "Temple of the Earth Mother /
Temple of the Speckled Hawk / Temple of the Wise One /
Temple of the Loving One")
Looks kind of New-Agey....

Here's Santa Maria. Inspired by the voyages of Columbus. One-sided, of course:

The Santa Maria
The Santa Maria

The Santa Maria
The Santa Maria

Far the horizon
Hove to the wind
We're sailing the sea
To the edge of the world

Bow to the waves
All to the earth's end
We're sailing the sea
To the edge of the world

The Santa, Santa Maria

Santa Maria, the Santa Maria
The Santa, the Santa Maria

Santa Maria, the Santa Maria
The Santa, the Santa Maria

Santa Maria, the Santa Maria
The Santa, the Santa Maria
I already covered Oldfield's Song of Hiawatha with you.Comment:  As usual, thanks for the info, DMarks.

Hmm. I guess lyrics aren't Oldfield's strong suit. Either that or he's "honoring" his children by using the poems they wrote in grade school.

Yes, Cochise sounds like reworked music from an old Western. I wouldn't be surprised if that's what it was: an electronically transformed version of an existing movie theme. Good stuff.

While we're at it, why don't we include these Oldfield songs too?





For more on the subject, see Natives Sing It Their Way.

Big Foot ride for holiday season

What I’m riding for this year--on horse--during my anti-colonial holiday season

By Jessica YeeAs I rush off and dash to jet-set again for yet another destination and another area of Turtle Island--I’m reminded this time around that the place I’m going to requires me to stop, pause, and really think about what it is I’m about to do.

This year I’ve decided to join my Dakota/Lakota/Sicangu/Crow family on a journey they call the “Big Foot” or what it is now known as the “Future Generations Youth” ride. The story goes that 25 years ago, this ride started with the Lakota Youth of Pine Ridge (Red Cloud Agency) to retrace the steps of their ancestors from Standing Rock to Wounded Knee. This 7+ day non-stop horseback ride commemorates the December 1890 events with Chief Big Foot’s band, where more than 250 men, women and children were shot by the U.S. 7th Cavalry in the Wounded Knee massacre, including Sitting Bull.
And:I’m riding because to be honest--my frustrations with differing opinions on what actualizing Aboriginal youth leadership really means have been maxed out on many different fronts and far too many occasions as of late where people saying they support youth is one thing, but actually DOING something where youth ARE actually in power and being leaders and taking up our rightful space is quite another (and in most instances not happening at all despite the nice and fine talk about it at conference after conference--or if it is happening it was short-lived since apparently people didn’t seem to be “used to” youth having “that much power.” It’s really just bullshit).

Knowing that so many of the youth on this ride live through countless hardships, chose not to celebrate Christmas, and decided themselves to give back their time, energy, and spirit to their community in this most honorable way by riding on the trails of the ancestors during the so-called “holiday” season fills my heart and soul with incredible hope for what are next generations are capable of doing. I’m so completely excited to learn from all these youth I will meet.Comment:  I don't think I've reported on the Big Foot ride before. That's because it's more of an internal Native commemoration than an external pop-culture affair. But with Yee talking about how she and others are riding instead of celebrating Christmas, I figure it finally qualified.

Incidentally, it's okay with me if we give twentysomethings like Yee the power to get things done. Who do you think's going to accomplish more: 20- to 30-year-olds who are optimistic, energetic, and tuned into the Internet and new media, or 50- to 60-year-olds who are set in their ways, burdened with responsibilities, and unfamiliar with the latest technology. If I'm choosing sides, I'll be sure to pick a lot of youngsters for my team.

Maxwell Smart, Indian chief

Episode 12 of Season 5 of the spy spoof Get Smart (airdate: 12/12/69) featured Maxwell Smart as an Indian chief. Here's the story:

Is This Trip Necessary?A mad scientist threatens to poison the Washington water supply with a hallucinogenic drug which causes people to suffer bad dreams. Max and 99 have to investigate KAOS's operations at the Dartfoot Spring Water Company.

The interesting part is the first 2.5 minutes, but enjoy the whole clip. A few notes:

We get only a glimpse of the Smarts' bedroom before the psychedelics begin, but they may have tribal art over their bed.

Max is wearing a buckskin outfit and warpaint. He does a "woo woo" gesture instead of a yawn.

Besides putting on a Plains headdress, he dons what look like genuine Native snowshoes. It would be a nice touch if the writers knew that northern Natives invented and used such snowshoes.

When the psychedelics begin, we see scary, wide-angle shots of a stuffed bear, a stuffed owl, and a tribal mask. When Max returns with the baby, it's a baby alligator. The message? Indians are associated with nature, and not in a good way. Nature is full of dangerous or ominous creatures. Indians have some sort of connection to these dark, demonic things and the forces they represent.

We could dismiss Max's hallucinogenic dream by saying that's what he thinks of Indians. Since he's absorbed the stereotypes of his time, the dream reflects his stereotypical thinking.

But I'm not inclined to give the writers a pass. They were probably thinking, "Let's do Max as a genuine Indian chief," not, "Let's do Max as a stereotypical Indian chief." I'm guessing they, like most Americans, thought a Plains chief was an accurate representation of all Indians.

Summing it up (literally): Subtract seven points for Indian stereotypes. Add two points for the snowshoes and (possible) tribal art. Net score: Minus five points.

For more on the subject, see Hello Columbus in Get Smart and TV Shows Featuring Indians.