Re: The Portrayal of American Indians in Popular Media

Small consolation that the gaming licenses given to various tribes are reaping a windfall. Hopefully they will be able to go forward in strengthening their tribes and culture.

Panzade, the scandal is growing. Here is a link to a CNN article with a couple of clips.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/11/02/lobbyist.tribes.ap/

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A lobbyist and his partner exaggerated

the threat of competing casinos opening in Texas and

Louisiana to siphon millions from the Louisiana Coushatta

tribe and then used the money to pad coffers of personal

charities and political allies, two tribal leaders told a

Senate committee Wednesday.

"Our vulnerability simply provided an opportunity to steal

and they hit the jackpot with us," Sickey said of lobbyist

Jack Abramoff and Scanlon, his partner. (Read analysis of

Abramoff involvement)

$80 million paid to lobbyists
The Senate committee has been investigating Abramoff and

Scanlon, a public relations specialist who formerly was a

spokesman for ex-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, and the

more than $80 million they were paid between 2001 and 2004

by six American Indian tribes with gaming casinos.

I am Canadian, but I am aware of the Wounded Knee massacre and Sand Creek massacre. I do not have any first hand knowledge of the plight of the American Indian, but I doubt that it is much different than the Canadian Indian.

For instance, most of us take clean water for granted. The majority of the reservations in Canada have bad water. That is the beginning. Much is being done to right the wrongs of the past, but it is a slow process. Some reservations are doing quite well and some are not. Unfortunately, things go from bad to worse for those who decide to leave the reservations. There are some rights and privileges that the Indian has that others don't, but this should not be taken that they have a good life.

There are cities like Winnipeg, Edmonton, Regina, Hamilton and others where our Indian brothers try to integrate. There are the far north areas that most of us never see.

We are currently raising a 11 year old full blood Indian and her half Indian brother. The are integrated into society through us and do not have any problems from a racial point of view. We are caucasian. They, and others like them, are the lucky ones.

I would hope that one day every citizen of the U.S.A. and Canada could be treated equally. We came later. They were here all along.

checking in..

mark...hi Di!

Intrepid, you're doing a great thing. I know you're Christian, and I'm not, but good works can transcend religious or cultural differences.

Hmmm... I don't recall the other threads on this subject, but this one is a bit broad for me to know how to respond. Snood's was very narrow, and while your title mirrors his, you seem to be asking much more than that.

To answer the narrow question, I know that the depiction of American Indians I see in most movies has very little to do with the many people I knew in Minneapolis. I read the book that the movie "Smoke Signals" is based on, "The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven" by Sherman Alexie, and that is a better reflection -- I understand that the movie version is good but I haven't seen it.

The whole noble savage thing is deeply annoying to a lot of people I know. Even "Dances with Wolves", which had its moments, was mostly annoying.

I can't think of many recent Native American characters depicted in the media. They are invisble in the media.

I spent a good part of my youth in Oklahoma with neighbors named Sixkiller and Many Feathers, I have a Cherokee mother in law, I had a very good friend from the Ponca tribe who went to live for a year on the reservation and came back a changed woman.

My perception of Native Americans are that they are my neighbors and relatives and friends. A few of them have been angry about the treatment of their tribe's population but most of them are aware of their history but are no longer angry.

Diane, I know absolutely nothing about the indigenous people anywhere. The best first hand information that I ever got was from Yitwail. I don't think that I have ever had a biased bone in my body, but I know when people are cheated and I know when people ache and I will always do the very best that I can do to alleviate that.

Patronizing and posturing and political maneuvering are the worst thing that man can do to man, but that will never change. Please understand this. The biggest threat to all of us, everywhere, is the inability to absorb the fact that any ethnic group has its good guys and its bad guys.

Okay. I'm through.

How to Play Indians
by Umberto Eco

Since the future of Native American culture at present seems dire, the sole possibility for the young brave bent on improving his social position is to appear in a Western movie. To assist him in this endeavor, we offer some essential guidelines, tips on correct behavior in both war and peace situations, to help him qualify as "movie Indian" thus providing as well a solution to the problem of underemployment among members of this beleaguered minority.

Before Attacking

Never attack immediately: make yourself visible at a distance a few days ahead of time, producing easily observed smoke signals, thus giving the stagecoach or the fort ample time to send word to the Seventh Cavalry.
If possible, appear prominently in small groups on the surrounding hills. Set up sentinels on totally isolated peaks.
Leave clear traces of your progress: hoofprints, smoldering campfires, feathers, and amulets allowing identification of tribe.

Attacking the Stagecoach

In any attack on a stagecoach, always follow the vehicle at a short distance or, better still, ride alongside it, to facilitate your being shot.
Restrain your mustangs, notoriously faster than coach horses, so you won't outstrip the vehicle.
Try to stop the coach single-handed, flinging yourself on the harness, so you can be whipped by the driver and then run over by the vehicle.
Never block the coach's advance in a large body. The driver would stop at once.

Attacking an Isolated Farm or a Circle of Covered Wagons

Never attack at night when the settlers might not be expecting you. Respect the tradition that Indians attack only in daytime.
Insist on making your presence known by giving the coyote cry, thus revealing your position.
If a white man gives the coyote cry, raise your head immediately to offer him an easy target.
Attack by circling the wagons, but never narrow your circle, so that you and your companions can be picked off one by one.
Never employ all your men in a circle, but progressively replace those that fall.
As you lack stirrups, manage somehow to entangle your feet in the reins, so that, when you are shot, you are dragged after your mount.
Use rifles, bought illegally, whose operation is unfamiliar to you. Take a considerable emount of time loading them.
Don't stop circling the wagons when the good guys arrive. Wait for the cavalry without riding out to confront it, then scatter at the first impact in total disorder to allow individual pursuit.
In preparing to attack an isolated farm, send only one man to spy on it at night. Approaching a lighted window, he must observe at length a white woman inside, until she has become aware of the Indian face pressed against the pane. Await the woman's cry and the exit of the men before attempting to escape.

Attacking the Fort

First of all, turn the horses loose at night. Do not steal them. Encourage them to disperse over the prairie.
In using a ladder during the assault, climb up it one man at a rime. First allow your weapon to appear, then your head, slowly, and emerge only after the white woman has indicated your presence to a marksman. Never fall forward, inside the fort, but always backward, toward the exterior.
In shooting from a distance, assume a clearly visible position on the top of a peak so that you can fall forward, to be shattered on the rocks below.
In the event of a face-to-face confrontation, wait before taking aim.
In the same situation, never use a pistol, which would resolve the confrontation at once. Only naked steel.
In the case of a sortie on the part of the whites, never steal the weapons of the slain enemy, only his watch, Wait in wonderment, listening to its tick, until another enemy arrives.
On capturing an enemy, do not kill him immediately. Tie him to a stake or confine him to a tent, awaiting the new moon, by which time others will come to free him.
In any event, you can be certain that the enemy bugler will be killed the moment the signal of the Seventh Cavalry is heard from afar. At this point the bugler inside the fort always stands up and returns the signal from the highest turret of the fort.

Further Instructions

In the event that the Indian village is attacked, rush from the tents in total confusions. Run around every which way, trying to collect weapons previously left in places of difficult access.
Check the quality of the firewater being sold by the peddlers: the sulfuric acid-to-whisky ratio must be three to one.
In the event of a train's passing, make sure there is an Indian hunter on board and ride alongside tht train brandishing rifles and emitting cries of greeting.
In leaping from a roof to seize a white man from behind, always hold your knife in such a way that he is not immediately wounded but is allowed to engage in hand-to-hand struggle. Wait until the white man turns around.

Perfect.

Nothing like an authentic indian

Intrepid, we've had our differences, but your willingness to help make the lives of two Indian children better is commendable. They are lucky to have you. Do you try to teach them any of their cultural heritage?

Soz, yes, this does cover a broader range than Snood's thread, but the information and the inclusion in everyday American society is so small that the range really makes very little difference.

I love Sherman Alexie. He did an interview on Public Radio a while back, mentioning a young Indian (Not sure if the tribe was mentioned--I wasn't able to hear the entire interview) who went off to college. She was treated as if she were an 'Indian Princess' with mystical powers. She told friends that she decided to let the assumptions about her remain as that was one of the only ways she was included in social activities. She found it sad that no one saw her as a college student with the same worriess, wants and insecurities as any of the other students.

Boomerang, Indians used to be in movies quite often as the bloody, violent Indians that scalped innocent white people; or they were the typical 'drunken' Indian, slothful, stupid and the butt of jokes by white men. Remember the cigar store Indian?

Fbaezer, perfect! Another reason why I love Umberto Eco.

Thomas, the best depictions of 'authentic' Indians have been on Public Television, usually as documentaries.

Didn't I see another post by you with a photo of some evil German in an American movie? Have I lost what I have left of my mind?

You did. I thought at first this was Snood's thread, so when I noticed my mistake I pulled it to read this one ofirst.

As I type I am awaiting the arrival of Five Moral Pieces by Eco.
I keep forgetting I want to read Sherman Alexie. Off to Amazon..

I had been pointing out the striking similarities between Walter, Urs, Calamity Jane, Hamburger, yours truly, and Dr. Szell of "Marathon man".

Two weeks ago I showed Smoke Signals as my last film program of the year (we quit during the holidays and start back up in January). It is a good film that will make you think and, like many films made by and for Indians, not much like Hollywood films. I also just saw "The Business of Fancy-Dancing" which was actually written by Alexie and recommend that to you, too. A couple of other great Native American films: Medicine River and Powwow Highway. THey're slower than Hollywood films and don't get great reviews but I find them to be humorous and heartfelt.

Americans mostly ignore the tribes except to grouch about their status as soverign nations. I was heartened last night, watching Book TV, to hear Steven Hayward say that George Washington was extremely respectful of the Indian chiefs and gave them, if anything, more honor than any he'd offer to Europeans.

Here's a quick look at Washington's letter to the Senate regarding the Cherokee.
Washington letter to the Senate from the Library of Congress

Oh yes, Marathon Man. He does remind me of all you Germans--the mad, evil eyes and the blatant disregard for human life.

We all have been caricatures in the media of our own and other country's media. I, personally, am very like one of the glamorous women on Dallas...

The Sand Creek Massacre:

http://www.lastoftheindependents.com/chivington.html


According to John S. Smith, Colonel Chivington knew these Indians to be peaceful before the massacre. Smith witnessed, as did helpless Indian mothers and fathers, young children having their sex organs cut away. U.S. soldiers mutilated Native American women, cutting away their breasts and removing all other sex organs. After the Massacre, soldiers displayed the women's severed body parts on their hats and stretched them over their saddle-bows while riding in the ranks. The sex organs of every male were removed in the most grotesque manner. One soldier boasted that he would make a tobacco pouch with the removed privates of White Antelope, a respected elder. Conner witnessed a soldier displaying the body parts of a woman on a stick. The fingers of Indians were cut off to get at the rings on them. Connor remembered a baby only a few months old who had been hidden in the feed box of a wagon for protection. When the soldiers discovered the baby some time later, the baby was thrown onto the frozen ground to die. In going over the site the next day, it was noted that every corpse was mutilated in some way, and scalped.