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As a part of a larger effort to reckon with its historical ties to slavery and other atrocities, Harvard recently held an event looking at its legacy of mistreatment of Indigenous people.
The Mountain West News Bureau’s Murphy Woodhouse reports.
Actor, comedian, and activist Dallas Goldtooth (Mdewakanton Dakota and Dińe) is well-known for his role in the acclaimed series Reservation Dogs.
He did not mince words in his keynote at the Responsibility and Repair conference.
Harvard’s massive collection of Native American remains came up often.
“Y’all had the audacity to do a report, name a whole conference. Legacies, Indigenous, slave, indentured, and you still got bodies in the buildings… Man, you guys are saucy.”
He says the work that led up to Reservation Dogs taught him about the power of collective action.
“Accountability is not an individual task necessarily. When we’re talking about social injustice and the harm perpetuated by institutions. It is a collective task that we as individuals take responsibility for. Institutions like Harvard cannot undo the harm of the past until it stops the harm that it is doing today.”
The fourth season of the show Native Shorts, which airs on FNX TV and is presented by Sundance Institute’s Indigenous Films program, is now in production.
Jill Fratis from our flagship station KNBA has more.
The show focuses on short Indigenous films from around the world.
Bird Runningwater (Mescalero Apache and Northern Cheyenne) is film curator and host.
He has also worked with Sundance’s Native American and Indigenous Program for more than 20 years.
Host Ariel Tweto is Inupiaq. She connects with the everyday viewer asking questions that the audience might have about the film.
Tweto says they have a lengthy process to choose which episodes air on the show.
“I mean we wanted an array of films or genres, and so they’ll find a horror, a romance, comedy, something very abstract and so we want to get films from all over the place.”
From New Zealand, to Australia, to the Aleutian chains of Alaska, Indigenous filmmakers share stories of their cultures, and ways of life.
Tweto says she notices a lot of differences from one continent to the next.
“Just to see how other people live is I think really special. I’ve learned a lot just about different cultures from around the world. I think that’s really cool. Different ways of storytelling, how someone in New Zealand tells a story a lot different than someone say from Finland, and it’s cool to see the diversity.”
Tweto says Native Shorts is a great platform to showcase short films, when in the past, it was only shown at film festivals
“It’s so cool that we get to showcase the short films because there’s not really a platform for short films after festivals. Usually if it’s not in a festival, it’s just, I don’t even know where it goes, so this is just a really cool opportunity for us to showcase all these amazing indigenous filmmakers and actors and actresses. I’ve learned about different cultures from around the world.”
Production of this season will wrap up on November 14 with the series premiere on November 30 at 8pm on FNX.
Marla Ollinger says her son Justin Lee Littledog died of a fentanyl overdose at her ranch on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. (Photo: Tony Bynum for KHN)
The U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs is holding a hearing on fentanyl and Native communities.
Senators will hear from tribal leaders and Native health experts about its impacts on tribal communities and also learn about some tools being used to address the crisis.
The hearing is taking place Wednesday in Washington, D.C.
Wilma Mankiller is the newest addition to the Barbie Inspiring Women series.
Barbie is recognizing the Cherokee Nation leader in advance of her birthday on November 18.
Mankiller was the first female Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation.
According to the Cherokee Nation, a special event to celebrate the release of the Wilma Mankiller Barbie is being scheduled for a future date in Tahlequah, Okla.
The doll is available for purchase online at the Mattel Shop.
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