Friday, February 20, 2004

OutKast Offends Original Landlords FEATURED ARTICLES - OutKast Remains Silent While CBS Apologizes, by: Wilhelm Murg , Indian Country Today, - Protests Don't Stop Approval of Cowlitz Tribe Deal, Indianz.com, - Looking Cloud - Guilty or Victim - Justice in South Dakota, by: David Melmer / Indian Country Today, - "Open Letter to Michael Powell, Andre 3000 and Big Boi" by: Suzan Shown Harjo, Indian Country Today QUOTE OF THE DAY   (From today's Rhino's Bottom Line) Andre 3000, you gave the best acceptance speech of this year's Grammy show ("Thank you") and one of the funniest ("Stank you, stank you, stank you very much."). Andre 3000 and Big Boi, I think you are enormously talented. But, until you rid yourself of stereotypes you probably picked up from your home team in Atlanta, I have to say, "Stank you." - - Suzan Shown Harjo, (Cheyenne / Hodulgee Muscogee) KNOW YOUR HISTORY - FEBRUARY 20th 1725 -- North America: 10 sleeping Indians scalped by Capt. Lovewell & troops at Wakefield (in what will be New Hampshire) for scalp bounty. First recorded instance of scalping. 1863 -- US President Lincoln makes proclamation offering lands of the Cowlitz Indian Nation (near Longview, WA) for sale, even through the tribe had never signed a treaty relinquishing them. 1984 -- US: Supreme Court upholds ruling that 12 acres taken by Port of Tacoma, in Washington state, worth $112 million, belong to the Puyallup Indians. RHINO HERE: OutKast, the current top of the hip-hop heap won some Grammy's last week & closed the show with a rendition of their song, "Hey Ya!" The production featured an Indian theme that rivaled a Washington Redskins event for its idiotic pomp. The response from the American Indian community has been what Rhino deems a sagaciously measured primal scream. Today's RHINO'S BOTTOM LINE by veteran Indian activist, Suzan Shown Harjo, intelligently sums up the problem, comparing the shock of America's children upon seeing Janet Jackson's breast for 2 seconds, with the decades long degradation of Indian people by the vulgarisms about Native Americans on primetime sports TV. Known for her no holds barred wit, Harjo, is Cheyenne & Hodulgee Muscogee, is president of the Morning Star Institute in Washington, D.C., & is a columnist for Indian Country Today.    "Whoever dreamed up the production was going for an Indian effect, but it more closely approximated the Jolly Green Giant and dancing vegetables on crack. I felt like I'd been mugged in my own home." - - Suzan Shown Harjo RELATED LINKS: Editorial Cartoon On OutKast, Indian Country Today, 2/13/04 http://www.indiancountry.com/?1076685210 OutKast Remains Silent While CBS Apologizes by: Wilhelm Murg , Indian Country Today, 2/19/04 http://www.indiancountry.com/?1077212514 If you'd like to see some real Indian dance, and you're in New York City this weekend, CHECK THIS OUT: Thunder Bird dancers' Annual Concert by: Jim Adams , Indian Country Today, 2/19/04 NEW YORK - Dancing from five Native cultural groups will once again come to the heart of lower Manhattan over the weekend of Feb. 20, as the Thunderbird American Indian dancers present their 41st annual Dance Concert and pow wow at the Theater for the New City at 115 First Avenue... Box office & info at (212) 254-1109. MORE: http://www.indiancountry.com/?1077211672 Following up on today's "Know Your History" item dated 1863, here the tribe that Prexy Abe Lincoln ripped off  140 years ago, has a chance at starting up a casino. This in spite of protests by certain locals who, having lived on the spoils of Honest Abe's foils, didn't want to give up any soil. Protests Don't Stop Approval of Cowlitz Tribe Deal Indianz.com, 2/19/04 The Cowlitz Tribe of Washington won approval of a land-use agreement with Clark County on Tuesday. Residents protested the agreement and tried to stop the county board from voting. A reported 150 people attended to show their opposition. The agreement would govern how the tribe uses 152 acres of land it seeks to place into trust. The tribe is thinking about putting a casino there and is offering to pay the county for law enforcement. The tribe would cede criminal and civil jurisdiction until a tribal court is established. The tribe gained final federal recognition in 2000 during the Clinton administration and is currently without land. Get The Story: http://www.indianz.com/News/archive/000065.asp Relevant Link: Cowlitz Tribe - http://www.cowlitz.org Following up last weeks article on the 28 year old killing of Anna Mae Pictou-Aquash & the recent trial of Arlo Looking Cloud, here's an update on the verdict which only begins to shed light on both The American Indian Movement & the state of justice in the State of South Dakota. Looking Cloud - Guilty or Victim - Justice in South Dakota by: David Melmer / Indian Country Today, 2/13/04 RAPID CITY, S.D. - It took 28 years to bring one person to justice for the killing of Anna Mae Pictou-Aquash, Micmac from Nova Scotia and an activist with the American Indian Movement. Her body was found in February 1976 in the Badlands on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Time of death was estimated to be Dec. 12, 1975. She was tagged as an informant for the FBI within AIM. During Arlo Looking Cloud's trial that information was used to show cause for her death. That rumor was corroborated by witnesses during the trial. Looking Cloud, a man who had never met Pictou-Aquash before Dec. 10, 1975 was found guilty of Pictou-Aquash's assassination by a seven woman, five man federal jury. ... ...Was Looking Cloud another victim of injustice in South Dakota? Many people said yes. Following the verdict after a four-day trial, the majority of spectators remained in the court house halls, expressing disbelief and anger over the outcome. The most-used words were - there is no justice in South Dakota. Sam Gardipe, Oglala Lakota and activist for justice and change, brought up the fact that potential juror Richard Iron Cloud of Porcupine on the Pine Ridge Reservation said it first. He was dismissed from the jury pool because he told Judge Piersol he was curious to see if an American Indian could receive fair treatment in a South Dakota court. After questions, Iron Cloud said he didn't think it was possible... ...In the larger sense, the extradition hearing for John Graham is upcoming and throughout Looking Cloud's trial it was brought out that Graham was the trigger man who killed Pictou-Aquash. Of those people who attended the trial, it was clear that this trial was only the beginning, and it was easy for the government to start with a vulnerable person like Looking Cloud in order to work their way to the top of the AIM leadership to find out who, if anyone, ordered the killing of Anna Mae Pictou-Aquash. MORE AT: http://www.indiancountry.com/?1076685586 7:33:12 AM    comment

RHINO'S BOTTOM LINE - Open Letter to Michael Powell, Andre 3000 and Big Boi Harjo: Open Letter to Michael Powell, Andre 3000 and Big Boi by: Suzan Shown Harjo , Indian Country Today, 2/13/04 Dear Gentlemen: I usually watch at least part of the Grammy Awards. It's always an interesting show and an easy way to catch acts I've heard but not seen, or never heard of at all, and to check in on old favs. The 46th annual Grammy show had me from the beginning, with Prince and Beyonce performing the 20-year-old (gasp!) "Purple Rain," and held my attention through the lovely tribute to Warren Zevon. Then, as I was about to turn in, I heard a Native song, saw a tipi and thought the show was about to feature an Indian act (perhaps even this year's Best Native American Music winner, Black Eagle from Jemez Pueblo, which was awarded, but excluded from the telecast). I could not have been more mistaken. A fog machine worked overtime and greenish impressions of primordial ooze began to appear through the haze,  All of a sudden, OutKast's "Hey Ya!" exploded and the stage filled with black and white performers in Indian drag... ...Here's the thing. Non-Native Americans are so used to the appropriation of Native symbols and the stereotyping of Native people that they seldom notice it's happening and rarely snap to the fact that it's wrong. The most common complaint about the Super Bowl incident or accident (depending on your take on who did what and who knew about it when) is that innocent children and other unsuspecting people were taken by surprise by the crotch-grabbing and breast-baring halftime show.  That's the way a lot of Native people feel, not only about theatrical performances, but about the mascoting of Native America generally. Our children are confronted with unsavory, injurious images and actions, and oftentimes we adults don't see the offenses headed in our direction until it's too late to avoid their impact.  Janet Jackson's right breast was exposed for three-quarters of a second and both the House and Senate convened hearings immediately.  Vulgarisms about Native Americans are primetime fare during an endless sports season and no one does anything... ...Commissioner Powell, as you are looking into indecency on television and what the Federal Communications Commission will do about it, please go to the tape of the Grammys and to any game of any sports team with Native references and think about the emotional violence they visit upon our families and communities... READ IT ALL AT: http://www.indiancountry.com/?1076687333 "RHINO'S BLOG" is the responsibility of Gary Rhine. (rhino@kifaru.com) Feedback, and requests to be added or deleted from the list are encouraged. SEARCH BLOG ARCHIVES / SURF RHINO'S LINKS, AT: http://www.rhinosblog.info RHINO'S OTHER WEB SITES: http://www.dreamcatchers.org (INDIGENOUS ASSISTANCE & INTERCULTURAL DIALOG) http://www.kifaru.com (NATIVE AMERICAN RELATIONS VIDEO DOCUMENTARIES) Articles are reprinted under Fair Use Doctrine of international copyright law. http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html All copyrights belong to original publisher. Tell a friend about Rhino's Blog 6:15:19 AM    comment

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