Why tonto matters

Mike concentrates his practice in copyright, trademark, First Amendment and media law, including libel and privacy rights. He is a widely recognized trial lawyer in the area of general commercial litigation, and regularly advises clients on a range of intellectual property matters. The content on this post does not constitute legal advice, may be geographically or time sensitive, and is for informational purposes only.

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You should not act upon the information presented herein without seeking the advice of legal counsel. The choice of a lawyer is an important decision and should not be based solely upon advertisements. Past results afford no guarantee of future results. Every case is different and must be judged on its own merits. Louis International Film Festival. On October 27th, Sara G.

On Thursday, October 21, , Douglas S. These arguments are relevant to most stereotyping issues. Take Indian mascots , for instance.

If they comprised only one or two of every Native images in the media, no one would pay them much attention. They'd be like the Fighting Irish or the leprechauns on St. Patrick's Day: almost irrelevant compared to the politicians, executives, actors, and other famous people who are Irish. But mascots and similar images comprise the vast majority of what Americans see when they see Indians.

These stereotypical images control and determine what Americans believe about Indians. It's a form of brainwashing--and I suspect movies and television are the most effective brainwashing tools ever invented.

The same applies to "jokes" about Indians, hipsters dressed like Indians, New Agers and wannabes pretending to be Indians, etc. All these things generate false impressions in people's minds. We think Indians are primitive people of the past because our culture and media tell us so. The problem is simple and so is the solution. The beliefs won't change until the images that create the beliefs change. That's why Tonto and Indian mascots and hipster headdresses matter.

Newer Post Older Post Home. According to accounts from other outlets, more than journalists were slated to cover the event, but none were Native American. This seeming exclusion of Native reporters in New Mexico alone led to the Native American Journalists Association issuing a statement :. With "The Lone Ranger" featuring a prominent actor portraying a Native American, in a film largely shot on Native land, we are left with two answers to why tribal media has not been involved in coverage: Disney forgot to reach out to Native reporters, or Disney purposefully ignored Native reporters.

Both possibilities raise additional, troubling questions. The film's producers may have barred Native reporters from covering aspects of the film initially, but apparently did mount an "aggressive campaign of outreach and ass-covering" to insulate themselves from charges or racial insensitivity.

That's according to an article in Mother Jones on how Disney dealt with racism accusations. These individuals did not respond to Mother Jones' requests for comment. The dominant culture therefore continues to marginalize our peoples, to ignore and erase our existence.

My deepest apologies to the LGBTQ community for using an insensitive image, it was definitely not my intention to marginalize anyone. Let us consider that Depp for all he knows could be more NDN than he ever realizes. There is a definite whiff of racism to saying that an actors blood quantum not their talent should decide who can portray and NDN.

There are all kinds of mixtures out there. They look all kinds of ways. If the African American community accepts someone as Black, that person does not then have a vote in a nation they would have otherwise had no vote in. That acceptance has no impact beyond personal interactions. I can go on. If they look to white, and too often even a little black at all.

This is true if it appears in hollywood or even on an eastern Rez. This tendency to get all bothered when someone with remote ancestry claims it is not a good look and undermines what we all want. Faithful representations of our cultures. I replied that sometimes being black does give someone a vote. Who was Martin Luther King? Who is Barrack Obama? Your response demonstrated the attitude that I and others of African and American Indian descent have seen from Indian country.

Let me try to rephrase this:. There are people who are queer who have positions of leadership and who are looked up to. There are queer oriented organizations a person can join and vote within, but those organizations are not themselves nations. GLAAD has no problems with having straight allies join. The LCO Tribe is a political entity that has to protect itself in certain ways. I absolutely agree that many Nations put too much of an emphasis on blood quantum.

However, because this is often related to membership within Nations and having political control within it—and a Nation is a different thing from an organization—changing things is complicated.

Should things be changed? Ok I see what you are saying. The internet is a bad medium for communication. Text is so hard and unforgiving …. I think we both got off on the wrong foot. What I was trying to point out by using snoop dogg was just how Indians can be as bad on race as anyone else. We get the black and NDN stereotypes.

He is the one that has bamboozled white America this time. The one drop rule and a common history of slavery and all it entailed are things that make African Americans a community. Make no mistake about that. And if I tried to play a straight up black guy in a movie? Aw hell no.

Oh yes… you would be accepted as black if you claimed it. What they mind is when people deny it which is more often. On the cultural front… suppose someone black made a video using articles of Amerindian culture like this one? The black community has the odd flip side to your problem. Ever seen a very dark person told they were acting white or talking white because they were educated? And what the Hell message is that sending? I have to be uneducated to be a real NDN?

Is that what we want our future generations to aspire to? And all of the things on the list were about having a steady, well paying job, having an education, and being articulate. Why are those bad things? Have you heard why you can keep crabs in a barrel with no lid?