I was wrong about the Lone Ranger

A little while ago I tweeted the cover of Rolling Stone magazine featuring Johnny Depp in Tonto costume and make and words like "Johnny Depp strikes a "I can crap out Native American stereotypes as easy as this" kind of thing. It was funny enough, but it was mostly bitter.

I had seen the commercials for Lone Ranger . I thought the movie looked horrible. In the sense that every movie looks horrible these days. Things are blowing up and flying at you from this future or that past and everything in between. All in stimuli crushing 3D.

Lone Ranger seemed to be another in a line of Depp Films that for me includes all the Pirate sequels, Alice in Wonderland and Dark Shadows that left me cold. Yet, the box office success for these films other than Shadows have been astronomical.

I was trying to remember the last time I had enjoyed Depp in a performance. It would have to be Sleepy Hollow, if you don't include Rango. He is one of the great actors of this generation and I no longer anticipated any of his work. I watched some of all of his recent films and it is not for me although I am looking pretty harshly at Tim Burton who also lost me after Sleepy.

Then I read about Depp getting paid $65 million for some of these films, maybe more and it just seems crazy. I thought if Young Depp could travel to the future would he kill Old Depp. I asked myself the same question a few years back when I was working in Ottawa, I didn't work out well for me.

Then there was The Tonto thing. The talking Tonto thing. The monotone monosyllabic Tonto thing. Where you got the feeling that the Lone Ranger considered Tonto only slightly more intelligent than Silver.

What is Tonto? It is not a Native American trope although we like to see it that way. He is the stereotypical other who helps the White protagonist for no other reason other than he is White. A dynamic which appears over and over again in American and Canadian popular culture.

He is also Native American and through a history that began with a radio show and continued onto movie newsreels, comic books, television and film; Tonto has become the single most enduring fictional Native American character in history.

Why would Depp who claims Native American ancestry, who directed a Native American themed film "The Brave" in his debut as a director and who starred in one of the most critically acclaimed films of recent years with a Native American theme "Dead Man" take this job?

Why in the world would Depp take on the most stereotypical Native American characters in all of popular culture? Why? Why? Oh, yeah. $65 million dollars.

So, I wasn't going to see it. I was going to mock the movie in advance and that was it. But, I did see it with only minor protests. My family was visiting from out West we had planned to see a comedy but all films were sold out. It was cheap Tuesday. The only film available was Lone Ranger. "All right, I will go. And I promise not to complain loudly, yell at the screen or laugh inappropriately as dramatic scenes that are not working".

The film reset the Tonto character as someone who is outside of his own world. He doesn't' have a tribe. He grew up alone obsessed by both vengeance and guilt. He isn't a Sidekick. He is someone into whose story the Lone Ranger enters.

Depp may be mugging to the camera and eating scenery like the shark in Jaws but in the Native American history of the clown and the Trickster it is absolutely what the performance requires. When an actor goes over the top it is often labelled a Vanity performance and when you take producer credit the whole film become a Vanity Project. There is are scenes early in the film that blow that notion up and ones that caused a bigger audience response that any of the special effects.

Armie Hammer the actor playing the Lone Ranger cuts an imposing 6' 4". Depp is not Hollywood short, but he is regular people short. Those scenes where he is walking side by side with Hammer sometimes with the camera shooting them from above. He looks really, really short. In one scene Tonto is referred to a "crazy little Indian".

This is not how it is done in Hollywood. No one calls Tom Cruise short.

Height has always been the greatest special effect ever created by Hollywood. It's like he's saying how can you trust Hollywood to tell you history when the whole thing is smoke a mirrors.

When the film starts to drift into Native American fantasy and a character is revealed to be a cannibalistic Windigo you wonder once again if the stereotypes of old Hollywood are creeping into the film. Spoiler alert, it turns out that some people are just evil.

It is all splash and entertainment and it is all of little consequence. Yet, the speech that matters, the most heartfelt oration of the movie comes from Chief Ten Bears, played by Saginaw Grant. There is no Tonto speak from the Native American actors. It is the most real thing in the film. It is a completely authentic and exists uniquely in the landscape of contemporary cinema.

If Depp's star power and all the smoke and mirrors in Hollywood can get you to hear that speech that that is the only thing that matters. That is not vanity, that is the heart and soul that still exists in one of Hollywood's biggest stars. '

Elijah Harper and the Meech Lake Accord. South Africa and The Canadian Media.

I had put this blog aside with the intention of focussing on fiction and writing that was not current events and news related. The recent passing of Elijah Harper, the Cree man who stood up to the powers that be and changed history in Canada reminded me that our story is not always being told honestly by those whose profession is based upon sharing fact.

The journalists, the storytellers of record, have ignored Native People at best.  At worst they have been eager allies in historical and cultural genocide. It is said that journalists write the first draft of history. Other voices must be heard. Our voices must be heard.

When I came to the profession, I came as a convert. I had attended journalism school with the idea that it would be a good place to get the background required to work in advertising. I hadn't given the profession any thought.

I had a job the previous summer in building where an Advertising Agency was leasing space. The guy that worked there had a Mickey Mouse watch and all the walls were covered with images from some of the big campaigns they had done in the city. A grown man wearing a Mickey Mouse watch.  It sure seemed like a better way to make a living than filing papers or swinging a sledgehammer on the railroad. I was going to be a Mad Man.

I decided that the Program in Journalism for Native People would be a place where I could get the writing and production background required to get a step up in the field of advertising. Instead, I met Native People from all over the country who had come to the University of Western Ontario in London, ON with the singular goal of telling the stories of their people. They wanted to tell the stories of their communities and their families and their histories. Their own lives and their struggles. Their truth. A light switched on. I looked at myself and the things I had seen and heard and experienced. I had stories to tell.

I never thought it strange that the Masters of Journalism students were using computers and the students at the Program were using typewriters. Manual typewriters with carbon paper. It wasn't the tools. It was always about the stories. I thought they were learning the same thing. Give voice to the people. Comfort the afflicted, afflict the comforted. Just the facts, ma'am.

At CBC Radio in Winnipeg, I had a first real time lesson in how the media operates in Canada. We were witness to the rise of the nations against South Africa and the outpouring of protest to end this totalitarian state.  Racism and Fascism upheld by constitution and brutally, horrifically enforced. It was a story of great historical importance a lesson to all humanity about what is right and wrong and it was unfolding before our eyes.

I had heard at the time that there may be a connection to the regime in South Africa and Canada. That in fact the South Africans had built the Apartheid system following the lead of the reserve system and The Indian Act legislations right here in Canada. A local angle on a big international story. I also thought that this was our job. We tell the story as honestly as we can so that our audience, our fellow man, can not simply judge but hopefully learn.

I remember the looks, the venom in some responses and harsher silent disdain. Being told that this was an out right lie and had no basis in fact let alone truth. I was 23 at the time. Still unsure and trying to keep my head above water inside the Mother Corp. I didn't push back, but I knew that the reaction suggested that the truth was being denied perhaps ignored.  (The story has never been fully investigated to my knowledge and it is an important event in defining Canada. See links below)

I have always been skeptical of the media since those early days and it has served me well. There are numerous other smaller examples but most significant is the reaction of the Canadian media to Elijah Harper and the death of the Meech Lake Accord.

The Meech Lake Accord was negotiated to bring Quebec into the Canadian Constitution. The province refused to sign the Constitution of 1982, which brought the constitution to Canada from England.

The Meech Lake Accord provided no consideration for the Native Peoples of Canada. The negotiations for the Meech Lake Accord were so drawn out the deal required unanimous support from all the provinces. In Manitoba this meant that all Members of the Legislative Assembly had to provide a yes vote in order for the Accord to live. Elijah Harper was an MLA. He said, "No". The Meech Lake Accord died on the floor of the Manitoba Legislature.

In the days that followed, the debate raged over who was responsible for the death of the Meech Lake Accord. It was unsettling. The facts seemed straight forward. The media seemed to be scrabbling together, in an unspoken and determined manner, to denounce and deny that Elijah Harper, A Cree Man had single handledly crushed all their machinations.

If Newfoundland would have done this and the Supreme Court that and on and on. There were all these things that could have happened but didn't that caused the thing that did happen to happen. I felt like Will Farrell's character from the movie Zoolander, "I feel like I'm taking Crazy Pills." Although the reference was yet to exist.

We chugged along with the newspaper. Nativebeat, the Beat of a Different Drum. It was all passion and faithful to the cause.

That fall my wife and I were invited to "The Gathering of the Giants." It was a fundraiser for the UWO Master's in Journalism Program and it brought together all the greats in Canadian broadcasting. Shelly and I along with other young alumni from the Masters Program were going to ask each of the Greats some questions on stage and then have dinner with them.

I had never driven into Toronto before. I had no idea what rush hour traffic was. I didn't know it wasn't an hour. We were too late.

Dean Peter Desberats interviews our Giants instead.(I still feel bad for Peter about that. He worked as hard anyone I know to give something back to Native People. He sincerely believed that journalism was the key to changing things for the better. There are many of us who owe our entry into the profession to Dean Desberats.)

My wife was going to sit with Barbara Frum and I with another Giant. We would both have to explain our lateness and have dinner in the company of those who dream to one day be a Giant or those who want to sit at the table with a Giant.

Lloyd Robinson, Barbara Frum and a whole bunch of Peters -  Mansbridge, Gzowski, Jennings
And I'm sitting with someone I do not know. I have done no research what so ever. That wasn't bad journalism. That was life. We are giving everything we have to publish Nativebeat, I am working at CBC in Toronto, we have 5 kids and a sixth on the way. When I was told I didn't need to do any research. I did none.

I explain my lateness. He seems understanding and we begin to chat about the evening. "It's too bad that you didn't arrive in time to do the interview. What questions would you have asked?" I tell him that I would have asked the same questions. He's puzzled, he thought all the young journalists would do their own research and craft their own questions. I told him that was my understanding. I explained that two weeks before the event we are sent a list of questions and told to stay on script. He seems perturbed. I agree it's not in keeping with the profession.

He soon adjusts and then asks, "What would you have asked me, if it was up to you."

I can't say at this time how quickly I responded. It could have been whipsmart, I don't recall. I do know that it was the question that had me puzzled.

"Why doesn't the media acknowledge that Elijah Harper killed the Meech Lake Accord?" I did not know at the time whether the Giant I had sat with had written anything about the Meech Lake Accord. All I know is that he took great offence to my question. He came back with stern force. My question was a direct attack on the credibility, the integrity of the whole room.

He went with the Wells Defensive. "We don't know what would have happened in Newfoundland with the Clyde Wells government..." That kind of thing.

I responded with the response I had prepared. "But we are journalists. All we have are the facts. Not what could have happened. The facts are. Elijah Harper said "No" and the Meech Lake Accord died."

He never spoke to me for the rest of the night. My wife was also ignored, but her lateness was a big enough sin at the Frum table.

In the morning of Elijah Harper's death, I watched the media coverage closely, in early reporting he was described as "key player" and "played a role" in the death of the Meech Lake Accord. As the day moved along it soon began to change and an expression closer to the truth emerged. "His vote killed the Meech Lake Accord", reported the Winnipeg Free Press. It was important that the fact is stated as simple as that in a newspaper of record.

It was acknowledged. It would have been nice if his place in history was more reasonably accepted and openly discussed during his lifetime. Although, I suspect that he did not seem to hold much concern in that regard. In the statement released by the family the focus was on his interfaith work.

"He was a true leader and visionary in every sense of the word. He will have a place in Canadian history, forever, for his devotion to public service and uniting his fellow First Nations with pride, determination and resolve. Elijah will also be remembered for bringing Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people together to find a spiritual basis for healing and understanding."

Elijah Harper showed the world that one person can stand up against the government and the media and all the forces at their disposal and single handedly change the course of history. That is a fact.


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LINK SOUTH AFRICA - CANADA CONNECTION




Canada's Long History with South Africa

"It is not often realized that Cape Town was one of Canada’s first foreign missions, being established in 1906, and a pre–World War One veterinary research program between the Canadian Department of Agriculture and the Onderstepoort Veterinary Institute was Canada’s first international cooperation program. We were allies during the First and Second World Wars, engaging in joint training initiatives as part of the Commonwealth’s efforts." - Keeping the Dream Alive 

http://reviewcanada.ca/essays/2013/03/05/keeping-the-dream-alive/

Providing a playbook

Canada’s support for Israel has taken many forms, but perhaps its greatest gift has been a real-life how-to guide for establishing and maintaining a settler society that includes an array of strategies, tactics, and programs for taking land, subjugating Indigenous populations, and weakening their resistance. It’s also worth noting that many of these tactics and strategies were used by the South African apartheid regime, including the Bantustan system and the use of the Dom Pass to restrict the movement of black South Africans.

http://briarpatchmagazine.com/articles/view/architect-of-apartheid

The End of 2012 Piece I Could Not Bring Myself to Publish At The Time

Death. This year has to end in death. 
What else? It was supposed to be the End of Days and for many it was, more than any other year that I can remember. 

More than I would ever care to see again, but I know that I probably will. My losses, heavy as they were, are light in the light of the day. 

Where war and genocide continue unabated around the world. Where murderers have easy access to combat weapons. Where losses of Native youth to murder, suicide, violence, accidental death and chronic illness are beyond comprehension. 

It begins with poverty and displacement. According to the United Nations, First Nations children in western countries live in Third World Conditions with an estimated 80% of urban children under the age of 6 living in poverty. The number of Aboriginal children involved with the child welfare system across Canada rose by 71.5% between 1995 and 2001.

The one time light upon the hill has twisted out of control just as the tornadoes that set upon them like monster wasps. A crazed man with weapons of mass destruction kills 20 children aged 5-6 and half a dozen adults. In the days to follow, sales spike for the guns used in the slaughter. This is why America is the scariest country in the world. Self-defense is constitutional. Self-destruction is gospel.  

Yet our suffering pales. In Syria, it is estimated that the nearly two year old civil war has claimed almost 50,000 lives. At year's end the UN - Arab Leagure envoy Lakdar Brahimi told reporters, "If nearly 50,000 people have been killed in about two years, do not expect just 25,000 people to die next year - maybe 100,000 will die." Bodies are piled and burned, piled and burned. Is this where the Arab Spring dies and the dreams of democracy in the Middle East?

Dec. 21, 2012 came and passed with a fizzle. It was not the end. It is perhaps the beginning of a new dawn as many Mayan would say to anyone that would listen.

My mother shushed talk of End of Days, "when your time is over that's your End of Days." She found the talk offensive. Offensive to the life we have. Offensive to the day we have today.

It is time that the people who have been predicting Apocalypse are silent and silenced for their disrespect of the life they have and the life around us. For the real life losses that we must endure.

There is a tomorrow. 

2012 - The year in review

Last year's newsmaker of the year for 2011, Chief Teresa Spence deserves to be acknowledged as the individual newsmaker of the year. But Newsmaker of the Year has to go to the Idlenomore Movement, the grassroots and online revolution that is growing everyday. It was the year in which the people stood up and declared, we will be idle no more. Where will the movement go in 2013 will be the testament of whether it comes to an end or becomes the change we seek. A revolution of spirit and ideas and vision exercised in every action.

Another social media campaign brought attention to the issue of Native American mascots on sports teams. Ian Campeau aka DJ NDN of a Tribe Called Red started a facebook and social media campaign to pressure the Nepean Redskins. Metro is the largest and most widely distributed free daily newspaper in Canada. On it's website it asked readers if the Nepean Redskins should change their name because it was racist. Almost  85% of responsdents said the name was racist and should be changed.
A Tribe Called Red recorded Canada's new championship anthem according to a poll on CBC Radio. Their song Electric Powwow   was not just the championship anthem it was the anthem of the summer of 2012.

It was a great year for music with standout releases by Plex (Demons), Janet Panic (Samples), Chrystal Shawanda (Just like you) which included my choice for single of the year, Fight For Me.

Bear Creek has nailed it with their  album Right Now. The drum group from Sault Ste. Marie  has written an anthem of their own with "Together Again".

Why is Don Amero not huge? The Winnipeg boy has got it all. Great songs, great voice, great looks and charisma to burn. His album "Heart on my sleeve" lives up to its name. The songs are intimate and almost too sincere but Amero's honesty carries the songs to another level. Beautiful work, world class pop.

My favourite record of the year was the soundtrack to the Documentary "Searching for Sugarman" one of the most inspiring films of recent memory. 

It was my good fortune to work with the Winnipeg Aboriginal Film Festival this year and had a chance to see some films that are not easily available outside of Native film festivals. I thought that Smoke Traders was the most controversial and compelling documentaries I have seen in a while. The protagonist in the film is challenging First Nations across Canada to seize their rights and participate in a potentially multi-billion dollar a year business.

My favourite film of the festival and huge audience favourite is the mockumentary More than Frybread, The film is "llol" literally laugh out loud funny. It is also endlessly quotable - "The wolves will even cry when they hear his name."  "He's the Jim Morrison of frybread." "There's a reason it's called Navajo Frybread, because Navajo Frybread is the best." "It's not about being overconfident it's what I call visionary."

Flooding Hope - The Lake St. Martin Story is the heartbreaking story of the intentional flooding of the Manitoba First Nation by the province of Manitoba.

The opening night film with actors Chaske Spencer and Tantoo Cardinal in attendance was Shouting Secrets.  A family drama that was not written for a Native American family but which evolved into a Native American family during development. The performances are wonderful across the board and the use of a cellphone message in this indie film is one that I bet will be seen in some big Hollywood film down the road.

Dakota 38 is the story of the largest mass execution in the United States. Under the orders of Abraham Lincoln, 38 members of the Dakota Sioux nation were hung at the same time on a massive gallows built for that sole purpose. It's the Lincoln film that Steven Spielberg doesn't want you to see.

In another story that lit up the twitterverse, Justin Beiber declared his Native heritage in Rolling Stone magazine. Unfortunately he described his lineage as "enough to get free gas". The teenybop star's comments inspired a pilebag from all corners with many Native people joining in the fun. Was that really necessary? He's a kid. The fact that he is acknowledging his ancestry is a good thing. Do you honestly believe that there aren't many young Native youth who have as little understanding of their own heritage, history and rights. Beiber's comments were a condemnation of the Canadian education system more than anything else.

And finally, the feel good story of the year, Native boys bring home the cup.  Jordan Nolan (Ojibway) and Dwight King (Metis) were part of the surprising Los Angeles Kings team that brought the City of Angels its first ever Stanley Cup. In the celebrations every member gets to take the cup home. Which also gets my vote for image of the year and it was the picture of Jordan Nolan holding the Stanley Cup over his head while standing on a bridge with the words "This is Indian Land" painted on it. Come on Toronto Maple Leafs think about it, the last time you won the cup, George Armstrong was the captain.