Academy Awards, still hanging Indians

Contact: Red Nation Media, Nadine Aragon, 818.854.6078, info@rednation.com

THE COEN BROS 'TRUE GRIT' SHOWS AMERICAN INDIAN IN HANGMAN STAND AS THE 83RD ACADEMY AWARDS APPROACHES
By Red Nation Media

Photos: Oscar nominees Will Sampson and Graham Greene

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LOS ANGELES -- This weekend is the 83rd Academy Awards Show and where is American Indian cinema and image in all this? Where’s the diversity, the American Scene?

In the latest affront to American Indians in Hollywood, True Grit shows an
Indian on an hangman stand, who starts to speak and his voice is cut off.
This is a metaphor for how Hollywood treats Native images and filmmakers.

Native actors worked more when silent films were produced, than they do
today. Twenty years after the Oscar winning Dances with Wolves, American Indians are still relegated to playing savages. Where is the modern voice of the American Indian?

“If people of color are not portrayed in multifaceted ways or remain invisible and the main images of us as undesirables, then the public perception is that we are parasites and strangers in our own land. How painful it must be for Native Americans, who are the only minority who was the majority in the U.S., to be portrayed mainly in regalia on period films and not as productive members of our society," said Jesse Jackson in an open letter to the entertainment industry.

In the history of Hollywood, Indians have been stereotyped. There have been trailblazers. In 1972 Marlon Brando, an activist for American Indians, refused the Oscar for the Godfather and sent Sacheen Littlefeather to accept it instead. In 1975 Will Sampson won acclaim for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, but did not receive a nod from Oscar for his memorable role as Chief Romden. In 1991 Kevin Costner’s Dances with Wolves showed American Indians playing Indian roles and speaking their own native language. It proved that American Indian talent is bankable and marketable.

In fact there have only been two Native actors to be nominated an Oscar; Chief Dan George for his role in the 1970 Little Big Man and Graham Greene for his roles in the 1991 Dance with Wolves and The Green Mile (1999).

American Indian women have not been recognized yet! The closest they came
was Joanelle Romero’s documentary, American Holocaust: When It’s All Over
I’ll Still Be Indian, in 2000, narrated by Edward Asner. This documentary is the first and only film that compares Hitler’s attempted genocide of German Jews with the U.S. government’s treatment of American Indians and the lasting effects on the culture today.

Twenty-two shorts were entered that year. Nine were picked for consideration. American Holocaust When It’s All Over I’ll Still Be Indian, was part of that nine chosen.

“American Holocaust is very powerful and honest. It is probably more than most non-Indian people, and unfortunately, most Indian-people, want to acknowledge or hear. It is a laboring and sad truth that anyone who is truly Indian understands and lives with to some degree everyday. As polarizing as this movie is, its existence is critical for the hundreds of thousands of people that come to understand more about the real story and for those that need to reflect and heal as they walk their own red road," said Chris Eyre, director/producer of Smoke Signals and Skins.

“The talent is out there," Romero said. “There’s San Francisco’s American Indian Film Festival, Canada’s ImagiNATIVE Film Festival, and this year’s Sundance delivered a great pool of talented Native filmmakers."

Romero, director of Red Nation Film Festival, founded the festival eight
years ago in Los Angeles, to bring American Indian images, independent
films, documentaries, and Native talent to the forefront of the industry.

The Red Nation Film Award, which is equivalent to the Oscar, was born in 2010. “We cannot wait for the industry or other Award shows to honor us and recognize us, we have to do it ourselves, show Hollywood we are here, we are alive and worthy of being recognized and have Oscar worthy films and performances," stated Romero.

We expect a powerful list of films this year at the 8th annual Red Nation Film Festival – the Authentic Voice of American Indian & Indigenous Cinema Star-Studded Red is Green Carpet Galas November 1st to the 7th, 2011.

Join us, Please visit: http://www.rednationfilmfetsival.com/

for more information. ABOUT US
RED NATION FILM FESTIVAL (RNFF) - The Authentic Voice of American Indian & Indigenous Cinema Est. 2004. - The Film Festival, Awards Show, Red Nation Film Award Statuette-has positioned itself to become the most recognized American Indian trophy in the world, a Night of Tribute Ceremony including Star-Studded Red is Green Carpet Gala's-Native Fashion with Social Action truly highlights the commitment of the festival's
mission with Independent Films, International Films, Exclusive Screenings with Major Studio Executives, Film Companies, providing the entertainment industries with direct access to Federally Recognized Tribes, Urban Native Communities, Native Talent, including the support of Hollywood's biggest names in the entertainment industry as well as dignitaries.

Red Nation Celebration is the parent organization of Red Nation Film Festival and is the founding non-profit of the American Indian Heritage Month (AIHM) in the City/County of Los Angeles, every November. The
seven-day film festival held during AIHM in the Entertainment Capital of the World-Los Angeles and home to the largest American Indian Urban Community in the Country, celebrates American Indian & Indigenous Cinema in supporting emerging and established filmmakers, entertainers, performing artists, and cultural events.

Red Nation Film Festival (RNFF) mission is dedicated to breaking the barrier of racism by successfully replacing American Indian stereotype with recognition, new vision, arts, culture and economic prosperity by
placing American Indian Filmmakers at the forefront of the entertainment industry and to introduce American Indian Filmmakers and Native Talent to larger, global mainstream audiences.

RNFF advocates on behalf of American Indian artists, performers, actors, directors, producers, writers as a liaison organization, promoting strong federally recognized artists including urban native communities as well as promoting a better understanding among the general public regarding American Indian, Alaska Native and Indigenous Nations, and people to the entertainment industry, arts, social justice, tribal nations,
environmental and educational communities in Los Angeles and County, the State of California and world.

Red Nation True Leader in Media Relations and Innovative Creative Productions Red Nation 9420 Reseda Blvd Suite 352 Northridge CA 91324 American Indian Owned Non-Profit- Since 1995 I 818.854.6078
http://www.rednationfilmfestival.com/

Wikileaks Peru: US feared Indigenous power

US Ambassador in Peru obsessed with fears of Venezuela, radicalism and Indigenous rule

By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
http://www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

Updated Feb. 28, 2011

Wikileaks releases from Peru once again reveal the pro-copper mining and anti-Indigenous sentiment of the US Embassy in Lima.

Former US Ambassador Curtis Struble in Peru expresses fear that Indigenous may once again govern Peru. Struble is again on the look-out for Venezuela's "meddling," and again is tracking Indigenous activists.
This time, on the US watch list, is Aymara activist Felipe Quispe of Bolivia, leader of Pachakuti Indigenous Movement, according to the June 19, 2007 cable.
In one of six cables released Friday, Feb. 25, from Lima, Ambassador Struble writes of the regions of Peru. He said the southern highland province of Puno has an "affinity for far-left radicalism." Struble fears Venezuela is involved here and fears the movement of Bolivarism.
"Evo Morales is widely popular, but he is admired for his poor, indigenous background, not for his political views," Struble wrote.
Continuing his obsession with the feared "radicalism" and Indigenous rule in Peru, Struble writes of the "ethnocacerism" of Antauro Humala. He calls this "a murky philosophy that seeks to return Peru to a past when only indigenous persons wielded political power."

Struble calls Apurimac, "a southern highlands region and former Humala stronghold." He fears that "Apurimac voters would again turn to radical, 'anti-system' candidates -- to the Humalas or 'someone just like them' -- in future elections."

The diplomatic cables from Peru reveal the US white imperialism backbone of the US Embassy in Lima. Further, the cables reveal the secretive global structure that promotes and protects mining operations, without regard to the environment. The US Embassy in Lima identified Indigenous activists and placed them on their watch lists. Mining companies around the world have been responsible for the assassinations of Indigenous community organizers.
In a previously released cable, Ambassador Struble exposed the fact that the diplomats of five countries -- US, Canada, Britain, Switzerland and South Africa -- organized in Peru to promote and protect mining. This was done in response to ongoing Indigenous protests of mining.

The US and Canadian Ambassadors met with these mining companies: Antamina, Newmont (Minera Yanacocha), Minera Quellaveco, Barrick, BHP Billiton (Tintaya mine). The diplomats were from the US, Canada, the Swiss Charge, the new Australian Consul General, and the British Embassy Trade and Investment. "A representative from the South African Embassy, which forms part of this diplomatic mining group, was unable to attend," the cable said.
In Friday’s release Ambassador Struble writes, "Many foreign mining firms are finding that the region is rich in mineral deposits, and will soon seek permission from the Ministry of Energy and Mines to develop these resources. The Ministry has few if any back-linkages to the highlands, Quechua-speaking communities that live in potential mining areas," according to the cable of May 7, 2007.
"Two mega-mining projects could transform this predominantly agricultural region with massive, multi-billion dollar investments. The Las Bambas copper project, operated by the Swiss company Xstrata Copper, is located on remote land in southeastern Apurimac, far from major population centers. Xstrata executives told Emboffs that the project is in the exploration phase and that they expect to earn some $200 million in revenue per year once they begin production in 2010 or 2011. The second project, controlled by the consortium Apurimac Ferrum, would focus on mining Andahuaylas province's vast iron ore deposits," according to the Sept. 8, 2008, cable.

Expressing the pro-mining and anti-Indigenous stance, Ambassador Struble said in another cable that the US had found a friend in Prime Minister Pedro Pablo Kuczynski in 2005.

Kuczynski is now a presidential hopeful in Peru in 2011.

"With the appointment of new Prime Minister Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, we have an influential government ally in a position that is willing to tackle the lawlessness issue in mining communities," Struble said in a cable on August 19, 2005.

Kuczynski has a long history with the World Bank, and International Monetary Fund and as president of Halco Mining Co. in Penn, responsible for mining in Africa. He is the son of a German scientist who relocated to Peru.

In another cable released Friday, Feb. 25, Former US Ambassador Michael McKinley discusses the protection of water resources in Peru. Once again, the Ambassador is on the lookout for Indigenous activists at a protest blocking a highway in Peru, where protesters were opposing taxes on water for farmers.

"The police also reported having spotted Bolivian and Ecuadorian activists among the Indigenous protesters," Ambassador McKinley wrote.

In previously released cables, the US Ambassadors in Lima name names, placing Indigenous activists opposed to mining on their watch list. Also on the watch list is one Indigenous newspaper, La Lucha Indigena.
Today's six Wikileaks cable releases from Lima:
http://213.251.145.96/reldate/2011-02-25_0.html

Cable stating US found a friend in Kuczynski:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-embassy-cables-documents/38881

Previous article targeting La Lucha Indigena: Preventing America from Buying Machu Picchu
http://213.251.145.96/cable/2008/03/08LIMA389.html

La Lucha Indigena newspaper on the web (Spanish)
http://www.luchaindigena.com/

Previous article: Wikileaks: US Engaged in Espionage of Indigenous Activists in Peru
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2011/02/wikileaks-us-engaged-in-espionage-of.html

Copyright Censored News. May not be used without written permission.

Strong Heart Warrior Society: Oglala Tribal Council snubs elders again

Cante Tenza Okolakiciye - Strong Heart Warrior Society
Free & Independent Lakota Nation
Box 512, Hill City, South Dakota 57745 605-454-0449 or
605-517-1547 lakotaoyate.net
MEDIA RELEASE Feb 13, 2011
DELAY, DECIEVE, DENY! OGLALA TRIBAL COUNCIL SNUBS ELDERS AGAIN
By Strong Heart Warrior Society
PINE RIDGE, South Dakota – The ongoing effort to get accountability
for a series of physical and psychological abuses against Lakota
elders on Pine Ridge continues to be stalled by Oglala tribal
officials who fear investigations into years of graft and corruption
within tribal government.

Following the most recent revelation of elder abuse in the Porcupine
Elderly Meals Program, elders have met regularly with the traditional
Strong Heart Warrior Society in order to explore ways to get
accountability. Even tribal officials that have voiced support for
the elders are now backtracking, likely out of fear of retaliation by
corrupt families and officials.

Porcupine District President Virgil Bush and Porcupine Representative
Scott Weston announced a hearing for the elders on February 21st -
but the hearing never happened even though elders had gathered to
attend. The meeting has reportedly been delayed to February 28th
though activists are skeptical.

“Tribal government has always eroded its position,’’ explained Strong
Heart Warrior headsman Duane Martin Sr.. “You cannot tell community
members you are upholding policies and procedures but then deny elders
due process.”

The truth depth of corruption within the Oglala Tribal Council, as
well as its cultural separation from traditional elders and the Lakota
people, is becoming clear to those even outside of Pine Ridge.

“So we have become our own worst enemies, we don’t listen to what our
elders have to teach us,” added Martin.

Pine Ridge elders, many of whom count Lakota as their primary
language, have made complaints and filed grievances to the best of
their ability. But the tribal council is playing a cat and mouse game
of delay and denial, saying the elders fate lies solely at their
discretion. Elders and activists point out that Council member
Deborah Rooks-Cook still remains in her council position despite her
admission she pushed and threatened elders with a gun at a secret
council meeting.

The Strong Heart Warrior Society points out the corruption in the
tribal government is a reflection of the distrust, dishonesty, and
cultural genocide that has been brought to Pine Ridge and other
reservations by white colonization and Christianity. Nearly ¾ of the
Lakota people have lost their language, and the traditional language
is on the verge of extinction in Pine Ridge. Few bother listening to
the traditional elders – which is part of the cultural system that
keeps elders healthy, engaged, and valued.

“We never take the opportunity to listen to the elders anymore – to
hear them,” Martin said. “They get upset and angry – into stress modes
– then they get sick, some of them die.”

The Strong Heart Warrior Society is calling upon all people who
support Lakota elders, Lakota sovereignty, and accountability to send
letters to tribal council officials as well as to the U.S. Department
of Justice and President Obama demanding a full-fledged investigation
into the corruption in the Bureau of Indian Affairs supported Oglala
Tribal Government.

"The laws of the Oglala Tribal Council don't belong to our people, but
to White America. Only by taking on traditional Lakota customary law
can our people be truly sovereign and free."

Umatilla Indian Nation welcomes Long Walk 3 Oregon

Photos copyright Christina Akaquiqui, published with permission. Umatilla Indian Nation welcomes Long Walk 3 for the reversal of diabetes, with Native youths who run the distance. More photos from Umatilla Indian Nation Long Walk 3:

http://censored-news.blogspot.com/2011/02/photos-umatilla-indian-nation-long-walk.html
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NEW: WATCH VIDEO OF UMATILLA YOUTH RUNNERS:
http://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2011/03/video-umatilla-children-run-for-long.html

VIDEO Long Walk 3 Northern Route Simnasho-Warm Springs Oregon

(Thursday, Feb. 24, 2011) Long walkers on the northern route are still trekking through the snow. Lisa Peake, Ojibwe/Pomo, said Wed night, "It snowed all day. We have 25 more miles to bring the walk into Pendleton, heading Walla Walla way and the salmon talks." On Wednesday, the community of Pendleton, Oregon, joined for a morning walk. On Thursday, Navajo coordinator Chris Francisco said the walkers and runners appreciate the warm welcome by their current stay host, the Umatilla Indian Nation. The next base camp is Lapwai, Idaho, next week.

Two more arrests as Indigenous protest Border Patrol and militarization

Alex Soto: 602.881.6027
stopbordermilitarization@gmail.com
http://www.oodhamsolidarity.blogspot.com/
http://www.survivalsolidarity.wordpress.com/
Border Patrol Headquarters Occupation Protesters Stand Trial to Fight Charges

Two Arrested During March to End Border Militarization and Racist Laws
Press statement
TUCSON – On February 23, more than 40 protesters took to the streets – two were arrested – while six people who locked-down and occupied the US Border Patrol Tucson Headquarters on May 21, 2010 stood trial fighting charges of "criminal trespassing" and “disorderly conduct.”

Lawyers William G. Walker and Jeffrey J. Rogers represented the six as the city prosecutor called Border Patrol agents and Tucson Police to testify. The defense argued the trespassing charge was not properly filed and were granted a request to file a memorandum addressing the technicality. The trial is expected to continue on March 22, 2011. Corresponding rallies and actions are being planned.

At 1:30 pm people gathered in downtown Tucson at Library Park for a rally and then took the streets with banners reading, “Indigenous Resistance, Protect Sacred Places”, “Free Movement for People Not Commerce, Tear Down the Wall” and chanting “No Borders, No Border Patrol.”

Two people were arrested for allegedly hanging a banner that read “Las Paredes Vueltas de su Lado son Puentes (Torn Down Walls Become Bridges)” on a street traffic light. They were arraigned and released at 8 pm at Pima County Corrections.

Additional banners were hung at various locations throughout Tucson stating “Egypt, Wisconsin, O’odham Solidarity," “No raids, No deportations, No colonialism” and “Stop Militarization on Indigenous Lands."

O’odham Elders attended the court proceedings to demonstrate their support.
Donations can be made to support direct action efforts through Border Opposition Action Fund at http://www.borderopposition.blogspot.com/

END BORDER MILITARIZATION NOW!
Communiqué from the occupiers of the Border Patrol Headquarters in Tucson, Arizona

We demand that the Border Patrol (BP), Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE), their parent entity, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the Obama administration end militarization of the border, end the criminalization of immigrant communities, and end their campaign of terror which rips families apart through increasing numbers of raids and deportations.

The state thrives off of the climate of terror and fear that racist laws like HB2281 and SB1070, and new proposed laws like SB1611, 1308, 1309, 1405, have caused. This terror also manifests with thousands of troops invading indigenous lands, such as the Tohono O’odham, Yaqui, Kickapoo, Lipan Apache, to name a few. Since the creation of the current U.S./Mexico border, 45 O’odham villages on or near the border have been completely depopulated. This terror manifests with the bones of thousands – making the southern Arizona desert a grave yard, where the hopes and dreams of migrant families are stomped into the ground by border patrol agents, National Guard, minute men, and profiteering coyotes.

Through the military strategy of terror and fear the state maintains power and control.

We take direct action because we have decided not to be afraid. We are more afraid of not standing up to the state and what other crimes against humanity will be committed if it remains unchallenged.

We are not guilty of criminal trespassing or disorderly conduct.

The state, and by extension the border patrol, is guilty of occupying and destroying indigenous communities and ripping families apart. The development of the border wall has led to desecration of ancestor’s graves, it has divided communities and prevents them from accessing sacred places. When will this end?

These buildings, the court house, are made of brick and mortar and are the same brick and mortar that are the operation streamline immigration court just down the street. It is a direct manifestation of this system’s criminalization, where in the 3 hours that we’re in court today, nearly 100 people will be detained, adjudicated and deported through the streamline process.

Who are these building for? Who do they benefit? These are the same brick and mortar prisons are made of. It’s the same steel and concrete that is ripped from Mother Earth that’s used to build the border wall.

Politicians aren’t going to negotiate away our oppression. They are sitting in the chairs in their offices that are built on it. Our oppressors can only maintain their oppression as long as we are afraid of them.

If they are not going to do it, then we are going to find creative and direct ways to ensure that our communities are safe. We recognize that this is not going to happen within the walls of these institutions, these walls, these borders. It’s only going to happen if we tear them down. What does that look like?

Let’s come together, strategize, and embrace diverse tactics to effectively become the answer.

Today we also shed the term immigrant that has been used to attack our brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers, and children, many of whom are also indigenous, and to acknowledge and help restore the full human dignity that has been stripped away. To be immigrant should not be considered a crime unless 99 % of the U.S. is going to be ashamed and guilty of their pasts.

Our relatives are attacked on both sides of the border by colonial governments. The migration that the U.S. government is attempting to stop is driven more than anything else by the economic policies of the U.S. Free trade agreements such as NAFTA have severely reduced the ability of Mexicans and others from the global south to sustain themselves by permitting corporations to extract huge amounts of wealth and resources from these countries into the U.S. This has led to millions of people risking the terror and death that so many face to cross into the U.S. looking for ways to better support their families.

If the U.S. really intends on reducing migration it must end its policies of exploitation and wealth extraction targeted at the global south and instead pursue policies of economic, environmental and social justice for all human beings on the planet, thus reducing the drive to immigrate. But are they really going to do that?
Direct Action is about Direct Democracy. Building community is about communication, having respect for each other and doing something.
This is a struggle for freedom of movement and self-determination for all!
No racist laws, No colonial borders, WE WILL NOT STOP!
~NO BORDERS NO BORDER PATROL~