Documentary uses Native poetry

Native American poetry gets a voice in locally produced documentaryVeteran local filmmaker Thom Marini has wanted to do a documentary using Native American poetry for a long time.

"Poetry is one of those things like music that has always been with man," Marini says. And he has always appreciated Native Americans' command of the language.

So when he had the chance to direct a project with Dan Jones at Turning Stone Casino, he asked if Jones knew a poet who might be interested in being the subject of his documentary.

Jones, vice chairman of the Oklahoma Indian Affairs Commission and the former chairman of the Ponca Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma, ran out to the car and got his book, Words of the Wind. Marini was sold after the first page.

The result, Blood of Our Earth, airs at 10:30 p.m. Wednesday on WXXI-TV (digital channel 21.1, cable channel 11). WXXI worked closely with Marini and producer Lou Angora at the local Morning Light Films to get it distributed across the country through American Public Television.Comment:  For more on the subject, see Native Documentaries and News.

Mixed Blessings TV series

Mixed BlessingsMixed Blessings is a half-hour dramatic comedy series set in Fort McMurray, the ultimate Alberta boomtown. A Ukrainian plumber and a Cree waitress, both widowed with kids, fall in love and set up a new family together.

Mixed Blessings stars Gary Basaraba as Hank Kowalchuk, and award-winning actress Tina Lameman as Josie Fraser. Director Francis Damberger leads the talented cast.

Mixed Blessings explores the realities, the complexities, and the humour of blending two families and two very different cultures. Hank brings to the mix his daughter Vicky (Kirklin Maclise), his son Walt (Jesse Frechette), his sister Doreen (Emma Duncan) and his best friend Tazz (Big Daddy Tazz). Josie is blessed with her sister Kate (Michelle Thrush), her mother Kookum (Wilma Pelly), her daughter Bobbie (Emma Ashbaugh), and her sons Mick (Allen Belcourt) and Donnie (Griffin Powell Arcand).Comment:  A mixed marriage seems like a good way to make Native culture accessible to the general public.

For more on the subject, see TV Shows Featuring Indians.

Wolf Pack on bronzing

The Twilight Saga: New Moon Wolf Pack Interview with Spencer, Meraz, Pelletier and Gordon

By Christina RadishQ:  Is it awkward to spend so much time with your shirt off in the movie, or did you get comfortable with it?

Chaske: Whatever puts the ladies in seats for the tickets!

Bronson:  That's right!

Alex:  We've been telling guys, "Watch the film because your girlfriends will be watching it."

Chaske:  The thing is, though, there's action in New Moon, so girls can bring their boyfriends. I think they'll really like it.

Alex:  They don't have a choice. Their girlfriends are going to be there. But, it wasn't awkward. By the time we started filming, we had already been working out shirtless. It's like a costume. It really is. You wear it. You don it and you own it. You can't be intimidated about your body. That's not the time to be doing that, when that little red light is blinking and you're being filmed.

Chaske:  It also helped us get into character, as well.

Bronson:  As soon as I got out there with my shorts and no shirt on, I felt the part.

Alex:  As soon as I got the bronzing on, I felt it.

Bronson:  The bronzing always ended up on my socks.

Chaske:  That stuff is hard to wash off, too.

Alex:  I think they put motor oil on us. It's all brown and copper. The shower looked like someone murdered a man.Comment:  So the Wolf Pack members go shirtless most of the movie--despite the freezing weather in Washington state. That's because they're weather-resistant like other animals. Their wolflike metabolism or something keeps them warm.

And the moviemakers have "bronzed" their skins too. In other words, these Indians are your stereotypical dark, menacing, half-naked savages. All they need is a few feathers and they could fit into any racist epic of the last 200 years.

I mean...bronzing, really? Because real Indians don't look enough like stereotypical Indians for the Twilight crew? I'd love to hear their justification for putting Native actors in "redface." "They just didn't look right...we know best...the audience won't believe they're Indians unless they're a swarthy dark brown."

Where's the Indians' intellect?

I still haven't heard about or seen these Twilight characters doing anything except standing around and posturing like pack animals. Do they read books? Surf the Net? Show their superior knowledge of anything other than fighting, hunting, and tracking? I doubt it.

As usual, I don't blame the actors for the bronzed, shirtless look. They probably didn't know what they were getting into when they signed their deals. And they're not in a position to demand better portrayals.

But still, they're kidding themselves if they think a secluded clan of beast-men is going to change our view of Indians. People already think Indians are nature-loving semi-humans who have no connection to modern society. What about Twilight's Indians as werewolves is going to change that?

For more on the subject, see Wolf Pack on Stereotypes, Wolf Pack Shows Savage Side, and Noble Savages in Twilight.

Below:  "Don't let our shadowy, scary brown bodies fool you. Not to mention our claws, fangs, and fur when we change into wolves. We're really moral, philosophical, and intellectual giants...no, really! Awhooooo!"

Review of A Song for the Horse Nation

Art Review | 'A Song for the Horse Nation'

Brief, Productive Love Affair With ‘Big Dog’

By Ken JohnsonAs Mr. Viola explains, scholars now believe that horses began to proliferate among Indians in the West after Spaniards in Sante Fe fled a Pueblo uprising in 1680, leaving behind hundreds of horses and other animals. At first the Indians were frightened and mystified by the large and unfamiliar creatures. They called it names like Big Dog and Big Elk. But by the time of the French and Indian War (1754-63), Plains Indians were among the world’s best horsemen. A century or so later, their horse culture was dead, a victim, as Mr. Viola put it, of “too many white people and too few buffalo.”

As the exhibition’s many different sorts of artifacts show, the horse was much more than just a beast of burden. It was a highly efficient form of transportation, and it enabled Plains Indians to hunt buffalo, a primary source of food and material for clothing and shelter. So Navajo, Crow, Comanche, Pawnee and other tribes were able to expand their territories and flourish.Johnson's reactions to the show:Captivating as the exhibition’s contents are, hardly anything in it is spectacular in the sense that European art and artifacts produced with elaborate refinement and expensive materials can be. There is an exceptionally appealing modesty and subtlety to many of the objects. A late-19th-century Sioux pipe tamper with one end carved into a horse head is among the smallest and most affecting things in the show.

The exhibition’s general ambiance, however, is regrettably aggressive. With loud graphics, interactive videos, mural-scale reproductions of old photographs papering the walls and the sound of clip-clopping piped in throughout, it seems as if the designers didn’t trust that the objects would be interesting enough by themselves. The show looks as if it were conceived with an audience of attention-challenged children in mind. The modern paraphernalia threatens to overwhelm the historical materials, inadvertently recreating the collision of worlds that ended traditional Indian ways more than a century ago.Comment:  I disagree with the presumption in Johnson's final paragraph. Appealing to attention-challenged children is exactly what a good exhibit should do.

The typical museum exhibit, like the history it chronicles, is a dry catalog of facts and artifacts. These facts and artifacts are divorced from human emotions, motives, needs, and desires. They're not much different from random passages in a dictionary or random objects in a junkyard.

Anything a museum can do to counteract history's abstract nature--to make it relevant to today's viewers--is good. It's possible this exhibit's designers went too far, but it doesn't sound like it. If the graphics and videos and so forth attract more patrons than they repel, they've done their job.

For more on the subject, see Preview of A Song for the Horse Nation.

Below:  "A Piikuni Blackfoot horse mask, made of hide, beads, hair locks, porcupine quills, brass tacks, buttons and more."

Beck's stupidity about tribal summit

Buffalo Post:  Fox anchor owes apology to Indians"It takes some real contortions to make this link, but somehow Fox News’ Glenn Beck managed to get from the tragic shootings at Fort Hood to the President’s address at the White House Tribal Nations Conference to the possibility of reparations for tribes.

Here’s the Fox News transcript of his remarks on Wednesday, Veterans Day (or watch the video clip above--the remarks come about 2 minutes and 25 seconds in):

"The first thing that hit me as I was watching television just like you were and I saw President Obama talking about native American rights in the middle of a tragedy at Fort Hood--I couldn’t believe it. I mean, it sounded almost like maybe, possibly, would there be some reparations involved?

" … Let me say this right off the top of the bat, nobody can question that Native Americans were mistreated, treaties were broken, promises not kept. Yes. You got it. We’ve definitely heard fairly recently about Native American rights and what we owe them. What we owe them. What we owe them."

Beck goes on to ascribe Obama’s remarks at the Tribal Nations Conference to the philosophies of the administration’s former green jobs czar Van Jones--who has been excoriated by the right--and then he says that "obviously, what he (Obama) had in mind goes far beyond giving them casino licenses and free government health care."

Finally, Beck wonders if it’s "just a coincidence that Obama "brought up Native American rights at such an inappropriate time--and it also just happens to be a pet issue of Jones? Maybe."

What a load of crap. The president didn’t "bring up" Native American rights--they were already on the table, as part of the long-scheduled Tribal Nations Conference, when Nidal Malik Hasan went on his murderous rampage. And he never mentioned reparations."Comment:  Right-wing pundits like Beck often talk about things we haven't experienced personally. But in this case, every person involved in the tribal summit knows what happened. To claim that Obama started talking about Native rights in the midst of the Ft. Hood massacre is sheer stupidity. Beck is either a blithering idiot or a bald-faced liar--maybe both.

And that doesn't even address his idiotic claims about Indians: that they get "free" healthcare or that Obama wants to give them "reparations." These are the typical ignorant claims you might hear from any ignorant American. Problem is that Beck and his fellow morons--Limbaugh, Hannity, Buchanan, O'Reilly, et al.--are the de facto leaders of the Republican party. Nillions of right-wingers take what they say as the gospel truth.

For more stupidity by right-wing pundits, see Limbaugh:  Indians = "Redskins," "Clowns" and Buchanan:  US "Built by White Folks."

Rima the "Native" white girl

Here's a little-known "Native" character who's back in the news:

RimaRima, also known as Rima the Jungle Girl, is a fictional character, a heroine of Edwardian literature who was adapted as the star of short-lived comic book series Rima the Jungle Girl, published by DC Comics in 1974 and 1975.

Like her literary cousins Tarzan and Mowgli, Rima sprang from an Edwardian adventure novel, in her case Green Mansions: A Romance of the Tropical Forest, published in 1904. The Argentine-British writer W. H. Hudson was a naturalist who wrote many classic books about the ecology of South America. Hudson based Rima on a persistent South American legend about a lost tribe of white people who lived in the mountains.

Rima starred in a seven-issue comic book series, DC Comics' Rima the Jungle Girl (May 1974-May 1975), adapted by an uncredited writer and with artwork by penciler-inker Nestor Redondo and covers by Joe Kubert. DC writer-editor Robert Kanigher is the credited writer from issue #5 on.

I read these comics when they came out. I didn't think much about them. They were okay for the same reason Tarzan comics were okay: exotic jungle adventures.

I think RIMA was reasonably sensitive to the indigenous people it portrayed. But you can't get past the central flaw: a white girl who's a better Native than the Natives around her. Whenever there was a problem--avaricious white men who wanted to clearcut the trees, a lost official or missionary, a forest fire--it was Rima to the rescue. The Natives were reactive while she was proactive.

But now the Racialicious blog informs us that Rima is making a comeback:

Race & Comic-Books: Rima The Jungle Girl

By Arturo R. GarcíaDC Comics has begun drumming up buzz for the “First Wave” world--an alternate universe populated by pulp characters like Doc Savage and The Spirit, and pulp incarnations of modern characters like Batman and the first Black Canary.

Monday, though, we got a first look at a potential wrong turn in the new line: creators Brian Azzarello and Rags Morales’ new take on Rima The Jungle Girl.The teaser copy says:Native South American with unnaturally white hair, late teens, early twenties. Rima has no trace of any European ancestry in her features--she is clearly native, and supernaturally beautiful. (Werner Herzog had a knack for finding this type in his South American films.) And always mysterious. She never speaks, but whistles as if she’s talking to birds--the siren of any story she’s in. She’s not a main character, but a catalyst that drags the real main characters along to their inevitable fates. Perhaps she's not real--but what she does always leads to the protagonist of the story showing what he/she really is all about.García continues:As it turns out, the character does indeed have its roots in pulp literature, specifically the novel Green Mansions: A Romance Of The Tropical Forest, where Rima--here a white, dark-haired teenage girl--is depicted as a sort-of Noble Lolita Savage: though only 17, the book’s narrator, Abel, falls in love with her because of her “pure” connection with nature--e.g., she can talk to birds. In the book, Rima is the sole survivor of her peaceful (of course!) tribe, which was allegedly based on the legend of a group of white-skinned people who lived in the South American wilderness. Her story ends when--spoiler alert!--she’s burned to death by another (presumably darker-skinned) tribe.

In the comic-book world, though, Rima would go on to live and have adventures, though by this point she was depicted as being an adult with lighter hair than in her prior incarnation.A blogger named BGF (Black...Geek...and Fine With It) puts a snarky spin on this that begins:Rima the Jungle Girl has no trace of any European ancestry in her features--she is clearly native no really don't go by the illustration, trust the copy over the illustration, or any experience you may have had talking to native persons in addition to whatever you think you saw in National Geographic because she is supernaturally beautiful as all native persons are, just tweaked a little bit so that she conforms to universally acknowledged standards of beauty which is necessary for the market and the wet dreams of our target audience, we went through the same effort that Werner did to find an native woman like this among all of the regular ones well except for the part where we just sat on our asses and drew it so anyway that's one of the reasons she is also always mysterious because that's why native persons keep showing up in National Geographic when you think about it, and we're just reflecting that in our work.Comment:  The original Rima was racist and stereotypical in almost every way and the new version apparently will be the same.

European features...a long, slender, European body type...dazzling white skin...long, luxurious white hair...there's absolutely nothing Native about this "Native" girl's appearance. This concept is as backward as the "white Indian" Firehair from the 1950s. The implication is that readers can't deal with a brown-skinned protagonist. The protagonist has to be white like Tarzan, Mowgli, and every other hero in pre-modern literature.

Judging by the picture, the only thing Azzarello and Morales have done to make Rima Native is add a couple dots under her eyes and a nose chain. Otherwise her big soulful eyes and pouty Botoxed lips are pure Anglo-Saxon. This girl would be at home at any Goth party in a major US city.

How insulting is it to claim that the only difference between a white and Native person is the skin color? That an albino Native or African person is essentially indistinguishable from a white person? Pretty damn insulting.

A nearly-naked Native girl-woman as a sexual object for white-male readers to drool over. That trend began with Pocahontas and continued with countless scantily-clad Indian princesses.

Nor were things much different in other areas of racially-tinged literature. You might meet an exotic Asian or Arab princess because their "olive" skins and long, luxurious black hair weren't too "unnatural." But you almost always found a white woman in place of anyone who might be too brown or black--i.e., too African or indigenous. For instance, Ayesha or Sheena the Jungle Queen. Apparently nothing has changed since then.

Rima is the catalyst for other people's adventures rather than the star of her own adventures. Right, because readers can identify only with non-Native characters who enter the exotic jungle and are changed by it. Who cares what the Native characters are thinking or feeling, because they aren't us? They're less human than we are--closer to nature, more a part of the animal kingdom than anything else.

Rima can't talk because that would make her a real person and not a white fetish substitute for Native people. I wouldn't be surprised if some Amazon tribes had bird whistles as signals, but as their primary or sole language? I don't think so.

Conclusion

Really, what's the justification for perpetuating the "white Indian" stereotype? "They did it a century ago, so it's okay to do it now, because we're just reiterating what they did"? Wrong.

Would you use that excuse to do an Uncle Tom, Aunt Jemima, or Amos 'n' Andy comic book? No? Then what's your excuse for this comic? There is no excuse that I can see.

Here's a deep thought. How about updating Rima by making her an actual Native? You know, a brown-skinned Amazon Indian who's five feet tall with a bowl haircut, some uncomfortable piercings or tattoos, and a child on her hip? Or would that be too exotic for Eurocentric audiences?

If you want to reference the old Rima, say the new Rima is her great-granddaughter. She's interested in white people because one of her eight great-grandparents was a strange white woman. But this Rima is wholly Native except for a bit of non-Native blood.

For more on the subject, see Comic Books Featuring Indians.

Below:  One of countless "white Indians" readers could identify with because she wasn't a brown-skinned savage.

Wolf Pack on Quileute tribe

The Twilight Saga: New Moon Wolf Pack Interview with Spencer, Meraz, Pelletier and Gordon

By Christina RadishQ: What is it that you wanted to convey in the movie, as far as Native American culture?

Alex: During the process of casting, when I was waiting to hear word if I got a role or not, there was a through-line where I prayed, every night. I was asking for permission, even to represent the Quileute tribe. I was putting out a lot of good thoughts. In essence, even though we're taking some of their mythology and their creation story, it's mixed in a fantasy, but we're still taking from the culture. Being Native, we needed to be conscious of that and ask permission to the people of the past, present and future for it. It's a very conscious thing. Native Americans have a right to be protective of their stories.And:Q: Since Taylor is not Native American, did you talk to him or teach him about what being Native American means?

Chaske: He was very open about that. He understands. We did the best we could with him, and he's the right guy for the part. I'm very protective of him.

Kiowa: He's like our brother.

Chaske: We have nothing but mad love for him. He asked a lot of stuff about the tribes, and we would talk to him and tell him about stuff. There are certain things that I do in my culture that I told him about, and he was really open to it.

Alex: The thing is that we're not even Quileute. So, for us to represent that tribe, it was as if we weren't even Native. It wouldn't really matter because they have different customs than all of us do. It wasn't like we had to teach Taylor how to be a Quileute Native because we don't know how to be that either. All we had was our culture to bring into the filmmaking. We just knew how to respect the mythology of the tribe, and Taylor was definitely receptive to it.

Chaske: He has his own culture, and he could draw from that.

Q: How did you learn about the Quileutes? What do you now know about them?

Alex: During the process of auditioning, I did as much research as I could about the Quileutes, knowing that they're whalers and they inspired the shape of their canoes to be pretty much clipper ships. They were really fast, and they were able to go from the Washington area, all the way down to San Diego, hunting whales. I learned about the mythology and their creation story. The Quileute came from wolves and transformed into people, but they don't go back. That's the thing. That's the aspect that Stephenie changed, when she took some things and put it in this fantasy realm.

Chaske: I was amazed by the storytelling. I was really attracted to that.Comment:  Alex Meraz seems to be the most thoughtful member of the Wolf Pack. Which may not be surprising since I believe he's older than the others.

I think Meraz gave about as good an answer as he could. But the most interesting things are what he didn't say. He asked permission to represent the Quileute tribe and tell their stories--if only in his prayers. Stephenie Meyer didn't. He researched the Quileutes in depth when he auditioned for his role. Stephenie Meyer didn't when she undertook the much more arduous task of writing four books about the tribe.

There's the difference between someone who respects Native people and culture and someone who doesn't. Meraz does; Meyer doesn't.

For more on Meyer's lack of respect, see Meyer Violated Quileute Etiquette and Twilight vs. Quileute Legends. For more on the Wolf Pack, see Wolf Pack on Stereotypes and Quileute Werewolves in Twilight.

Modern housing, traditional style

Pueblo living gone mod

Ohkay Owingeh project garners award for combining contemporary and traditional touches—and for solving a housing crisis through creative fundraising

By Ana Maria TrujilloRounding up architects and contractors from outside the pueblo, she knew she wanted everybody on the team to get a taste of Ohkay Owingeh. "We did an orientation, where I took them to the pueblo and showed them the boundaries of the reservation and our tribal lakes. I showed them everything I could possibly find," Duran said. "If they were going to work with us, they really needed to understand who we were and what we're about."

Duran also had public dialogue with community elders and other community members to ask them about what it was like to live in the pueblo and to get their ideas about the new community.

The design that came out of all those events was something that reflected traditional pueblo living—attached units divided around two plazas, one oriented to the solstice and the other to the equinox, which is a feature, Duran said, that was part of the original pueblo. The 40-unit development offers one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom apartments. Six hornos (outdoor ovens) are available for tenants to use throughout the property. A community meeting space, playground, computer room, weight room, business center and laundry facility are available to residents. Residents must be members of the tribe, and if a nonmember wants to move in with a member, he or she must get approval from the Tribal Council. Rent for the units ranges from $204 to $576 a month, Apodaca said.Comment:  Great idea to build modern homes in a traditional style. Other tribes should try the same approach if and when it's practical.

Below:  "Tsigo bugeh Village in Ohkay Owingeh has features of traditional pueblo living, including attached units divided by two plazas, one oriented to the solstice and the other to the equinox. Also, six hornos are available for the development's residents to use."

How the codetalkers won the war

Here's the first concrete statement I've seen on the role the codetalkers played:

Veterans who 'gave' their language

By John Wilson These Marines' precise impact of the code on the course of the war is impossible to measure; several historians think the US would have lost the crucial battle of Iwo Jima in early 1945 without it.

Even some code talkers dispute that claim--though there's no question their role was key. Navajo Marines coded more than 800 messages in the first two days of the battle alone.

Code talker Bill Toledo remembers his battalion commander at Iwo Jima waiting more than an hour to transmit a routine advance-and-report order to a forward company while the message was being encrypted by traditional means--eventually abandoning the effort. Then-Pfc. Toledo, speaking with a code talker at the advance position, transmitted the message in minutes.

As it was, more than 20,000 Japanese troops mounted a ferocious, 36-day defense of the island, using a network of tunnels to frustrate Marine advances.

Clearly, the rapid-but-secure communication that only the Navajo code could provide was crucial.Comment:  In most articles about the codetalkers, you can't tell if they played a moderate role in 20 battles, a major role in one battle, or what. Apparently a major role in one battle is closest to the truth.

For more on the subject, see Mythologizing the Codetalkers and Congressional Medal for Codetalkers.

Below:  "American heroes: Navajo 'code talkers' like brothers Preston and Frank Toledo played a key role in World War II."

Raiders honor Indians

Raiders Celebrate Native American HeritageThe Oakland Raiders will pay tribute to Native American Heritage Month this Sunday when the Silver and Black take on the Kansas City Chiefs at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. The celebration includes a KTNN radio broadcast in the Navajo language, an on-field ceremony to honor Navajo Code Talker and Former Leader of the Navajo Nation Peter MacDonald and a performance by the Native American dance group--Native Boogie and Beats.

“We salute the Navajo Nation and the Navajo Code Talkers and we are proud to broadcast Raider games in Navajo for the fifth consecutive season,” said Raiders Chief Executive Amy Trask. “We are committed to reaching our global fan base in a variety of languages and through a variety of multimedia options. Broadcasting our games in Navajo allows us to do this and also presents another opportunity to preserve the Navajo language and to salute the Navajo Code Talkers.”Comment:  Wow...a football team that actually honors Indians. Not with a phony mascot but with real honors--e.g., awards, ceremonies, and outreach efforts.

Obviously the Raiders don't have an Indian name, logo, or mascot. But they're showing how teams that dare to use mascots should honor Indians.

For another reaction to the Raiders vs. Chiefs game, see Native American Insensitivity:  An American Tradition.

Wolf Pack on stereotypes

The Twilight Saga: New Moon Wolf Pack Interview with Spencer, Meraz, Pelletier and Gordon

By Christina RadishQ: Has being a part of this franchise affected your lives, in a positive way?

Chaske: What's cool, is that we get to help people as well. When you meet certain people, it's pretty cool. I remember meeting some of my heroes, when I was a kid, and being like, "Oh, they're really nice guys. They're really cool people."

Bronson: I did a couple of Make-A-Wish Foundation things, brightening up somebody's day. If you have that kind of power, it's pretty good.

Alex: I think also, as representatives for Native Americans in this franchise, we have a responsibility not to present a bad image. We're portraying Natives, and that's what they're going to see. I think it's time for us to rewrite what Hollywood's take on Native Americans was, which was long hair blowing and a noble kind of people, like in leather and feather period pieces. Now you see something in a contemporary setting, and you see us being humans. It's a great thing. Well, we're kind of human, but we're not demonized, which is important. It's done in a very tasteful way.

Chaske: It's going to be one of the biggest movies of the year.

Q: Being Native American, you have a connection with land and animals. Playing a werewolf, did you find yourself feeling different about that?

Chaske: You have to have a balance as well. I know a lot of Natives who are lawyers and doctors, who don't always wear their hair in braids. I think that's a misconception from the stereotyping that Hollywood and pop culture has of us. Not all of us are like that.

Alex: Hollywood thought Adam Beach was the only Native American left.

Chaske: I lost out on a lot of roles to that guy.

Alex: Yeah, were extinct, except for Adam Beach. They were almost going to put him at the Smithsonian for being the last Native American. So, it's good that people did their research. A lot of thanks goes to Rene Haynes, who was the Native American liaison that added to the casting. Joseph Middleton did the primary casting, but Rene had cast Chaske before in other projects and myself as well. She knows her stuff. That was a good thing that Summit did. They really made sure they did it right for the Wolf Pack.Comment:  For more on the subject, see Twilight Wolf Pack Announced and Quileute Werewolves in Twilight.

White writer tackles boarding schools

Novel explores the legacy of Indian boarding schools

By Euan KerrBemidji-based writer Kent Nerburn sometimes struggles to categorize what he creates. He writes fictional narratives based on the real stories of people he has met on reservations in Minnesota and the Dakotas. Nerburn's latest book, "The Wolf at Twilight," explores the sad legacy of the Indian boarding schools.A summary of the book:In Nerburn's novel a mysterious message left under the wiper of a car sends off a character called Kent Nerburn on a road trip. He agrees to help his friend Dan, now aged and increasingly infirm, track down his sister who he last saw 80 years before in one of the schools.

There are moments of wry humor in the story, but it's a tough trip fraught with meaning. In the book Nerburn complains to one of Dan's friends about how the old man insists on going through history.Nerburn's outsider perspective:Nerburn acknowledges he can be walking on thin ice as a white man writing Indian stories.

"It's a very fair criticism and challenge and I keep it in my mind constantly," he said. Kent Nerburn said though through his experiences and friendships he believes he has something to offer.

"I heard someone the other day on NPR talking about how black culture is always depicted from the outside, and white culture is always depicted from the inside," he said. "What I can do is go to the inside and say 'This is how it looks. This is what I see.' And I can use the skills that I have as an observer and a writer to the stories I see and the stories I hear, and the things that I see, with a compassionate eye and hopefully a solid voice."

Kent Nerburn said he knows some people within the native community dislike what he has done. However he has received ringing endorsements from Winona LaDuke and even Leonard Peltier--which he also realizes will rub other people the wrong way.Comment:  For more on the subject, see The Best Indian Books.

Below:  "Kent Nerburn writes both fiction and non-fiction. For his latest book however he takes real stories he has heard on reservations around the Upper Midwest and hangs them on a fictional narrative." (MPR photo/Euan Kerr)

Protesting stereotypes in Northern Exposure

American Indian actress fights stereotypes

‘Northern Exposure’ cast member talks about racial issues at Blue Mountain

By Kathy AneyAs an actress, Miles told the BMCC students, she often comes up against stereotypes of Native American women.

During the first season, her hairstyle was a bone of contention.

"They always wanted my hair braided," she said. "Braids, just braids."

Outside of ceremonial dancing, Miles hadn't worn braids since she was a little girl. Eventually, she got up enough nerve to express her opinion and her hairstyles became more varied.

Another time, Miles butted heads with the show's writers over a powwow scene and her wardrobe of traditional dress.

"I knew Alaskan natives didn't dress like that," she said, "but they were hell bent on doing it. It was hard for them to understand the differences between each tribe--each tribe has its own ways."Comment:  For more on the subject, see Mercurie on Northern Exposure.

All-girl thrash metal band

Channing Concho

Thrash metal and girl power

By Kelly Koepke“My mom wanted me to play violin, and I did from the sixth grade through my senior year,” said Concho, Acoma/Hopi/Laguna Pueblo, whose long black hair is streaked with purple. “Then my friend Amanda’s father bought her guitars and drums and she invited some friends to play. We played the Beatles as our first song.”

The Beatles didn’t last long for Suspended. More than eight years after their debut in a local high school talent show, they have become the only all-girl “thrash metal” band, a musical genre known for its fast tempo and aggressive lyrics and playing style. Concho’s taken up her father’s instrument, the drums, in the three girl group.

“It’s the most unique music we’ve ever heard,” she said. “It’s got elements of thrash, of rock, of black metal, of everything we know. Mandy (the aforementioned Amanda Castillo) writes the most intricate music. It’s grab the bull by the horns music.” Suspended’s lead singer and bass player is Melynda “Mimo” Montaño, another of Concho and Castillo’s former classmates.Comment:  For more on the subject, see Metal-Punk Concert at Navajo Fair and Medicine Man Saved Thrash Band.

Walking the Trail in reverse

Oklahoma author retraces Cherokee ancestors’ tearful steps

‘Walking the Trail’

By David Zizzo Jerry Ellis was 41, frustrated and "feeling like I had not accomplished anything of worth.” So he went for a walk that changed his life.

It was 20 years ago when Ellis stepped off a bus in Tahlequah and headed east. On foot, he would cover 900 miles across eight states. In his mind, he would reconnect with the spirits of his ancestors, Cherokee Indians, and "basically redeem my soul.”

Ellis’ account of the walk, which traced in reverse the infamous Trail of Tears relocation of 17,000 Cherokees, during which 4,000 died, became a successful book that is still in print, "Walking the Trail.”Comment:  For more on the subject, see The Best Indian Books.

Pix of my stereotype presentation

Stereotype presentation at the USDA--November 5, 2009

For more on the subject, see Rob Unqualified to Discuss Stereotypes? and Speaking on Stereotypes in the Capital.

Johnny Cash, Ira Hayes, and Bitter Tears

The bitter tears of Johnny Cash

The untold story of Johnny Cash, protest singer and Native American activist, and his feud with the music industry

By Antonino D'AmbrosioIn July 1972, musician Johnny Cash sat opposite President Richard Nixon in the White House's Blue Room. As a horde of media huddled a few feet away, the country music superstar had come to discuss prison reform with the self-anointed leader of America's "silent majority." "Johnny, would you be willing to play a few songs for us," Nixon asked Cash. "I like Merle Haggard's 'Okie From Muskogee' and Guy Drake's 'Welfare Cadillac.'" The architect of the GOP's Southern strategy was asking for two famous expressions of white working-class resentment.

"I don't know those songs," replied Cash, "but I got a few of my own I can play for you." Dressed in his trademark black suit, his jet-black hair a little longer than usual, Cash draped the strap of his Martin guitar over his right shoulder and played three songs, all of them decidedly to the left of "Okie From Muskogee." With the nation still mired in Vietnam, Cash had far more than prison reform on his mind. Nixon listened with a frozen smile to the singer's rendition of the explicitly antiwar "What Is Truth?" and "Man in Black" ("Each week we lose a hundred fine young men") and to a folk protest song about the plight of Native Americans called "The Ballad of Ira Hayes." It was a daring confrontation with a president who was popular with Cash's fans and about to sweep to a crushing reelection victory, but a glimpse of how Cash saw himself--a foe of hypocrisy, an ally of the downtrodden. An American protest singer, in short, as much as a country music legend.Cash's empathy for Indians:Raised in rural poverty on the margins of America, Cash empathized with outsiders like convicts, the poor and Native Americans. But his identification with Indians was especially deep--even delusional. During the depths of his early '60s drug abuse, he convinced himself, and told others, that he was Native American himself, with both Cherokee and Mohawk blood. (He would later recant this claim.)

At the Gaslight, once he had listened to "Ira Hayes' and La Farge's other Indian protest tunes, including "As Long as the Grass Shall Grow" and "Custer," Cash was hooked. "Johnny wanted more than the hillbilly jangle," Peter La Farge would write later about meeting Cash at the Gaslight. "He was hungry for the depth and truth heard only in the folk field (at least until Johnny came along). The secret is simple, Johnny has the heart of a folksinger in the purest sense." In fact, Cash had written an Indian folk protest ballad of his own in 1957. "I wrote 'Old Apache Squaw,'" Cash later explained to Seeger. "Then I forgot the so-called protest song for a while. No one else seemed to speak up for the Indian with any volume or voice [until Peter La Farge]."Cash's meeting with Ira Hayes's family:But Cash felt a special kinship with Ira Hayes. Both men had served in the military as a way to escape their lives of rural poverty longing to create new opportunities. Plus, both suffered from addiction problems; Cash and his pills and Hayes with alcohol. He decided to anchor the album with "The Ballad of Ira Hayes." And since the song had provided the spark for Cash's vision, it just felt right that he should learn more about the song's subject.

Cash contacted Ira Hayes' mother and then visited her and her family at the Pima reservation in Arizona. Before Cash left the Pima Reservation, Hayes' mother presented him with a gift, a smooth black translucent stone. The Pima call it an "Apache tear." The legend behind the opaque volcanic black glass is rooted in the last U.S. cavalry attack on Native people, which took place on Apaches in the state of Arizona. After the slaughter, the soldiers refused to allow the Apache women to put the dead up on stilts, a sacred Apache tradition. Legend says that overcome by intense grief, Apache women shed tears for the first time ever, and the tears that fell to the earth turned black. Cash, moved by the gift, polished the stone and mounted it on a gold chain.The reaction to Cash's protest album Bitter Tears:The stations wouldn't play the song and Columbia Records refused to promote it. According to John Hammond, the legendary producer and Cash champion who worked at Columbia, executives at the label just didn’t think it had commercial potential. Billboard, the music industry trade magazine, wouldn't review it, even though Cash was at the height of his fame, and had just scored another No. 1 country single with "Understand Your Man" and No. 1 country album with "I Walk the Line."

One editor of a country music magazine demanded that Cash resign from the Country Music Association because "you and your crowd are just too intelligent to associate with plain country folks, country artists and country DJs." Johnny Western, a DJ, singer and actor who for many years was part of Cash's road show, recalls a conversation with "a very popular and powerful DJ." According to Western, the DJ was "connected to many of the music associations and other influential recording industry groups. He had always been incredibly supportive of John." Western and the DJ started discussing Cash's new album and the "Ira Hayes" single. "He asked me why John did this record. I told him that John and all of us had a great feeling for the American Indian cause. He responded that he felt that the music, in his mind, was un-American and that he would never play the record on air and had strongly advised other DJs and radio stations to do the same. Just ignore it until John came back to his senses, is what he told me."Comment:  For more on the subject, see Tribute to Cash's Bitter Tears and Interview with Johnny Cash.

Below:  "Johnny Cash touring Wounded Knee with the descendants of those who survived the 1890 massacre in December of 1968." (Courtesy of John L. Smith)

Stimulating tribes = waste of money?

Executive recognition or undeserved merit

Editorial

By The Daily TargumAccording to the chief executive, his administration has already aided Native Americans through the $787 billion stimulus, of which the funds for Indians were allocated accordingly: $100 million for job creation within tribal communities, $500 million for the Indian Health Service and nearly $500 million for various education, college and school construction programs.

The question that arises from this situation is, why now? In this economically unstable time, how does this benefit the economic system? Those $1.1 billion dollars given to closed communities and non-consumer tribes do not circulate in the system as they are meant to, thus are not an integral part of the financial reconstruction of the nation. The sad truth is that this money given to the Native Americans serves no purpose other than a medium for the president’s fluctuating rating.Readers respond:Ben Alex
Tue Nov 10 2009 13:04

"Closed societies?" Are you joking? There are no borders on our reservations that exclude other American people. What a blatantly ignorant view. I live in a community of Americans who are divided by economic hardships, not their race.

In fact, you would have a hard time finding an Indian community that wasn't mixed-race anymore. I have half black cousins, Asian cousins, and white cousins. If that's a "closed society," then I'm missing your point.

Your name
Tue Nov 10 2009 14:18

Inasmuch as very little funds stay on the reservations, any stimulus funds to the reservation will end up on the general economy. Payments to the IHS or schools are not retained on the reservation. Salary payments are spent usually in the border towns, whose economy is basically non-native. Payment for infrastructure rapidly find there way rapidly to the non-native economy as there are few native construction companies.

Johnny Flynn
Tue Nov 10 2009 14:18

New Jersey is a long way from Indian Country, but as a university it is appalling that someone has so obviously failed to educate themselves about Indian communities. ... Editors of the Daily Targum should realize that reservations are not on the moon, where there are no 7-11s or Walmarts. ... When someone sent me the link to this article with a tease of the content, I thought it was some right-wing KKK rag next to a reservation. Turns out it was a top tier university on the East Coast. Shame on you boneheads for knowing not enough about Indians to dance on the head of a pin.

Curt Mangino
Tue Nov 10 2009 14:55

Yeah, dumb editorial. 1) the tribal funds were included in the Recovery Act and were largely obligated by mid-summer, just like all the other Recovery Act funding; 2) Indian reservations have a significant positive impact on their neighboring economies, through jobs, contracts, spending, infrastructure development.Comment:  I believe this editorial has it exactly backward. Poorer communities such as Indian reservations spend money faster than richer communities, not slower. Investing in poor communities is probably the best thing you can do to stimulate the economy.

For more on the subject, see Indians as Welfare Recipients and Should Indians Cling to Reservations?

Preview of Carbon Black

Terry Gomez Premieres Carbon Black at Native Voices

By Ashley Steed[T]he core of the story is a mother’s relationship to her adolescent son. What is especially powerful for Gomez is “the worry parents have about their children.” Those were the catalysts along with the media coverage and fear following the 9/11 attacks. “If you’re not careful,” she warns, “you can really become crazy if you listen to everything.”

For the agoraphobic mother Sylvie, that’s exactly what she did. “Someone like Sylvie, she’s trapped inside the house and she has [the news] on like it’s a companion.”Some background on playwright Terry Gomez:Gomez grew up in a small town in Oklahoma. “In the Native communities, storytelling is in our background. My family did that. We would gather at one of our grandmothers’ houses and the adults would tell stories of our family history, people in the community; funny stories about people.” Growing up in that environment, Gomez always knew she wanted to be a writer.

However, it almost didn’t become a reality. When Gomez was 17 she went to a special program for Natives in Boulder, Colorado, which turned out disappointing. “I handed in my story. Then they called me into the principal’s office.” Thinking they were going to congratulate her on a great story, she went in. “They asked, ‘Where did you copy this story from?’ I replied, ‘I didn’t; this is about my grandmother.’ I wrote specifically about the land we grew up on. I wrote specifically about her as a person, it was very detailed. The Native TA said, ‘You’re lying, I’ve read this before.’ It really freaked me out. I had no idea what to do so I dropped out. I was really disheartened.”The play's Native subtext:Although this play isn’t about race, Gomez writes with it in the subtext. “I write my characters from the point of view of a Native woman, there’s no way I couldn’t.” The character of Ms. Yellowtree is the only character written specifically as a Native person. “We are in every aspect of society and in the work force but we’re still not seen that way,” stresses Gomez. “Either we’re invisible or seen as a stereotype. Ms. Yellowtree… she’s a competent parent, a competent employee, very compassionate and she’s living right here, right now. She’s very much in society.”

Humor also plays an invaluable role in the story. “Native people in general use a lot of humor to talk about our condition. We’ve had a very traumatic history,” she admits. “I tried to bring [humor] out in my characters. There needs to be something to lighten it.”Comment:  For more on the subject, see Developing Carbon Black and Native Plays and Other Stage Shows.

Below:  Michael Drummand as Inky and Sheila Tousey as Sylvia Black.

SCALPED to become a TV series?!

DC Vertigo's Scalped Being Developed as a TV show?

The production is prioritized by the newly formed DC EntertainmentJason Aaron's Scalped, a series from DC Vertigo, is gritty mix of crime fiction that is set in the world of present day Native Americans. The story revolves around Dashiell Bad Horse, a boozing and bitter young tough guy, who returns to his birth place in Prairie Rose Indian Reservation. He became a muscle for hire, who worked under a corrupt chief of the Oglala Lakota tribe name Lincoln Red Crow. In truth Bad Horse is an FBI agent, working to bring Red Crow down.

It's been reported that DC has planned to set up the project since the series debuted back in 2007. Now it seriously being considered under the newly formed DC Entertainment brand. Many high-profile writers are eager to pitch for the project. DCE is committed to bring this to the Small Screen, rather than make it a feature film, to accommodate the complexity of the story.

This will be great for HBO, give it something like a Soprano spin to it, and this is something really worth watching.Comment:  If you don't know SCALPED, it's basically The Sopranos on the rez. That means a series drenched in murder, crime, corruption, sex, violence, gangs, drinking, and drug abuse. It's as if the GOON squads of the 1970s now ruled a criminal empire based on an influx of casino money. (Never mind that no South Dakota tribe has a major casino.)

To give you an idea, the thuggish tribal chairman kills and scalps someone in the first issue. There's no federal or state presence except a single FBI agent who has to "infiltrate" the tribe. This rez is basically a lawless third-world rogue state--an Iraq or Afghanistan in the middle of the US.

A SCALPED TV series would reinforce almost every negative stereotype: that Indians are savage, uncivilized, warlike, drunk, lazy, shiftless, greedy, corrupt, crime-ridden, incapable of governing themselves, etc. It would be a major setback for accurate, authentic portrayals of Native people and culture. I'd suggest keeping this on your radar screen and preparing to protest it if necessary.

For more on the subject, see TV Shows Featuring Indians.