Alex Jacobs: Reflecting on year of Native activism and arts

2013 will be known by many actions and events in the historical record, including Canada declaring war on its own First Nations peoples and the indigenous IdleNoMore response. Canada seems hell bent on resource extraction via transnational corporations. Will Canadians derail this runaway train and get a chance to vote green? Will Americans vote green against Keystone XL, will Obama say yes or no? Brazil’s Kayapo Indians are once again fighting back on the Belo Monte hydroelectric power project, something they thought they had defeated once. Brazil has upped the ante, saying they would scale back from 5 dams to 2 dams. Now there is legislation pending that would allow Brazil to go ahead with all development and not be required to inform its indigenous peoples. Sounds like The Canada Plan. Also disturbing this year was the exposure of the missing and murdered First Nations Women in BC and the American Northwest and the lack of police investigative results.

This year was strange in that us Native Folks were debating and arguing over Johnny Depp, his portrayal of a fictitious Tonto and whether we should like Johnny or Hollywood or any Native portrayals at all. Did you know one part-time Hollywood actor who demanded just the chance to be able to play a Native American (or any other character) was able to scuttle an attempt to “authenticate” Native representation in movies (re: Native Preference in Hiring), because studios don’t want lawsuits, fights with actor unions or bad PR for movie projects.

Now that was just the scary stuff. It was actually a good year for small, independent Native films and intimate portrayals, away from the Hollywood machine. That should actually put the Johnny Depp/Tonto arguments away for good. If you want a Hollywood blockbuster then you have to put up with the machinery and the BS. If you want to develop a proper foundation for Native Cinema, then just keep doing what they’re doing now with small indies and features. Just revel in all the small Native themed movies lately: Frozen River, Rez Bomb, A Thunder-Being Nation, Mesnak, Tiger Eyes, The Lesser Blessed, Winter in the Blood, Empire of Dirt, the Activist, Road to Paloma. I did hear that the original movie script for Wilma Mankiller’s bio was rewritten to remove controversial material (that she was an alleged AIM activist!) see the movie to find out, The Cherokee Word for Water.