No Time To Rest When Fighting Cultural Appropriation
Native Opinion Episode 111 TITLE: “No Time To Rest…when Fighting Cultural Appropriation…” How to Reach our show: E-Mail: hosts@nativeopinion.com Twitter: @nativeopinion Facebook: facebook.com/nativeopinionpodcast/ Webpage: nativeopinion.com Leave us a voicemail: Call us! (860) 381–0207 Guest This Episode: John & Kenn Little GUEST Introduction: The issue of Native American cultural appropriation and sports mascots has sadly been around for a very long time. Tonight we take a look at the subject through the lens (as it were) of two filmmakers. Both are brothers, and both are members of the Standing Rock Sioux tribe. They are John & Kenn Little. John graduated with his BA from South Dakota State and MA in history from the University of South Dakota. His research focus is on Native American veterans, music, cultural appropriation, and mascots. He is currently a Ph.D. student at the University of Minnesota. Kenn received his BA in Graphic Design and New Media from Full Sail University in 2013. He is a multifaceted artist, writer, videographer, and musician and often combines those abilities on his projects. Together, John and Kenn have produced a documentary entitled “More Than a Word”, which analyzes the Washington football team and their use of the derogatory term R-word..(folks can fill in the blank… ) Using interviews from both those in favor of changing the name and those against, More Than A Word presents a deeper analysis of the many issues surrounding the Washington team name. The documentary also examines the history of Native American cultural appropriation. More About the Film: http://morethanawordfilm.com ****Native News Segments:** **ARTICLE 1: ** ** TITLE: NATIVE AMERICANS OPPOSE H.R. 4532, A BILL TO CODIFY THE REPEAL AND REPLACEMENT OF BEARS EARS NATIONAL MONUMENT. Native American Tribes Oppose H.R. 4532, a Bill to Codify the Repeal and Replacement of Bears Ears National Monument Monument Valley, Utah (January 9, 2017) Leaders of the five Tribes that advocated for creation of the Bears Ears National Monument expressed their strong opposition to H.R. 4532, the “Shash Jáa National Monument and Indian Creek National Monument Act,” sponsored by Representative John Curtis (R, Utah), and heard today in the Subcommittee on Federal Lands of the House Committee on Natural Resources. The full testimony of the five Tribes on H.R. 4532 may be downloaded here. Read more: http://bearsearscoalition.org/native-american-tribes-oppose-h-r–4532-a-bill-to-codify-the-repeal-and- replacement-of-bears-ears-national-monument/ ARTICLE 2: TITLE: Mark Trahant: Trump loyalist and Choctaw citizen joins race for Congress By Mark Trahant, of the Trahant Reports Gavin Clarkson is clear: He supports President Donald J. Trump. And he’s running for Congress because “the swamp is deep, the alligators, bite, and the taxpayers are getting ripped off every day.” He wants less regulation and more oil and gas development. And don’t get him started on what he dismisses as “fake news.” More on that, shortly. Clarkson, a Choctaw tribal member, is running in the Republican primary for New Mexico’s second congressional district. The district is now represented by the state’s only Republican in Congress, Steve Pearce, who is a candidate for governor. It’s a crowded field. There are at least four Republican candidates and a half dozen Democrats. (Two of the Republicans have already raised nearly a half million dollars between them.) The filing deadline comes up in March and the primary is in June. READ MORE: https://www.indianz.com/News/2018/01/10/mark-trahant-trump-loyalist-and-choctaw.asp **ARTICLE 3 ** TITLE: Senate sends bill recognizing six Virginia Indian tribes, including Monacans, to President Trump’s desk… The U.S. Senate passed a bill Thursday granting federal recognition to the Amherst County-based Monacan Indian Nation and five other tribes in Virginia, clearing a hurdle that brings chiefs and elected officials closer to a goal decades in the making. “It was a great day. This has been a long, 18-year struggle, and it was great. We never gave up. We kept fighting the battle. We kept going back, and today, we won,” Monacan Chief Dean Branham said as he drove home from Washington, D.C. after Thursday’s vote. “We just had to wait for our time, and this was our time.” READ MORE: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/senate-sends-bill-recognizing-six-virginia-indian-tribes-to-president-trumps-desk/2018/01/11/80c56260-f6f3-11e7-b34a-b85626af34ef_story.html?utm_term=.d99a9a79e9d5 MAIN CONTENT SEGMENTS: **Article 1: ** TITLE: Eastern Cherokees see strong support for Tennessee land-into-trust bill The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is seeing strong support for a bill to restore some of its ancestral lands in Tennessee. H.R.146, Introduced in House (01/03/2017) Eastern Band Cherokee Historic Lands Reacquisition Act This bill takes specified lands and easements in Monroe County, Tennessee, into trust for the benefit of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. These lands include the Sequoyah Museum, the Chota Memorial, the Tanasi Memorial, and land to provide support for these properties and cultural programs. READ MORE: https://www.indianz.com/News/2018/01/10/eastern-cherokees-see-strong-support- for.asp Article 2: TITLE: Ohio youth team kicked out of rec league over offensive jerseys Dan Devine Yahoo Sports, Jan 9, 2018 A boys basketball team has been kicked out of a Cincinnati-area recreational hoops league for wearing uniforms bearing a sexually suggestive team name on the front and racially objectionable names on the back. Four weeks into the Cincinnati Premier Youth Basketball League’s season, parents of players on a team from West Clermont, Ohio, saw that the team from Kings Mills, Ohio, against whom their children were playing was named “The Wet Dream Team.” They also noticed that the names on the backs of the high-school-aged boys’ jerseys included phrases like “Knee Grow” and “Coon.” Tony Rue, a parent of a West Clermont player, highlighted the eyebrow-raising jerseys in a lengthy Facebook post asking how such attire, and such a team name, was deemed appropriate for a league that hosts players from grades two through 12. **READ MORE: ** https://sports.yahoo.com/ohio-youth-team-kicked-rec-league-offensive-jerseys-185930020.html