Sacheen Littlefeather, the actress who refused Marlon Brando’s Oscar for him, comes to St. Paul to show support for Russell Means and Dennis Banks. She says people don’t remember the times of revolution in 1776 when they were also searching for justice, forgot Bill of Rights and Constitution are for all people. When you equate “Indian” with “savage” it’s like other racial epithets, this has no place in today’s films or on TV. We have to teach children respect for all people. Schoolbooks are antiquated, eliminate contributions of the Indian, need reawakening about minority groups so we can learn about people because world getting smaller. She talks about over 400 unkept treaties, There are many ways to be militant, can be militant with love, kindness, showing humanity, doesn’t have to be with a gun or profanity, can be showing you care. She says she risked her life at the Academy Awards, she was beaten and harrassed and had armed guards for protection, was not a publicity stunt.
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SPEAKER: Sacheen Littlefeather is a White Mountain Apache from Arizona. She is also a Hollywood film actress who appears as an Indian defense lawyer in the soon to be released trial of Billy Jack. She was virtually unknown to the American public last March when she spoke for Marlon Brando, refusing his Academy Award for his movie portrayal as "the godfather."
She has come to St Paul now to show her support for Russell Means and Dennis Banks, AIM leaders on trial for their alleged occupation of Wounded Knee last spring. Yesterday, in front of the federal courthouse here, Ms. Littlefeather discussed her Minnesota visit and what she viewed as the general attitudes of the American public toward the Indian struggle.
SACHEEN LITTLEFEATHER: They don't remember those times of revolution when they were also searching for justice. And then there were all these racial things that came up years later, and they forgot, you know, back in 1776, what happened. They forgot that Bill of Rights in the Constitution. That's for all people. I mean, we weren't made citizens until 1924. But the thing is that justice should prevail for all of us.
I found that basically, you know, when you equate Indian with savage, that's like calling a Black a nigger, a Chinese person a chink, a Japanese a Jap and so on, you know, right down the line. These are racial obscenities. People complain about sexual obscenities in film, two people making love, you know, on the screen. But they don't complain when you call an Indian a savage in a movie. You see, that's 1940. That's 1950. That's 1954.
SPEAKER: That's still being done in the movies.
SACHEEN LITTLEFEATHER: That has no place in today's films. It's being done on your television set. All you have to do is go home and watch it. And if you come across a Paul Newman film or Joanne Woodward film called Rally Around The Flag, Boys, what's that 14-minute sequence in the film where they depict Indians as inhuman. We have to teach our children a new bound respect for all people.
And the reason that the films and the reruns on TV have been so bad is because of the fact that the educational schoolbooks that we use in the United States are so antiquated. I mean, they don't-- Oftentimes, they eliminate altogether the contributions of the Indian. They make us appear selfish and so forth and so on. And there has to be a new reawakening. Instead of mathematics, English, and literature being taught in the schools, we ought to have a combination of Black, Indian, Mexican, Chinese, Japanese, Jewish, right on down the line so we can learn about people. Because the world is getting smaller.
I came to the trial to show my support and to try to encourage other celebrities or other people who are well known to come here financially support it, or support it by their person, by being here, you know? And I think that this is terrifically important. I mean, it's a human question that we're talking about. It's not an Indian question per se. We're talking about the Bill of rights, the constitution, and over 400 treaties that were made with Indian people, which are today unkept.
I mean, if I told you I was going to borrow a nickel, and you lent me that nickel, and then I said, OK, I'm going to pay you back next Tuesday. Next Tuesday came and you said, where's my nickel? I said, Oh, well, listen, here's another piece of paper, an IOU, I'll give it to you next Tuesday. So then I went on and promised you this nickel for over 400 times, you wouldn't believe me anymore, would you?
And I think just by the fact that perhaps, you know, Brando came here and he showed his support, that there are many other people in the movie industry who are very influential, you know? They have their own following. It doesn't have to-- You see, there are many ways to be militant. You can be militant with love. You can be militant with kindness. You can be militant by showing humanity what militancy can be. It doesn't have to be with a gun. It doesn't have to be with profanity or any type of obscenity. It can be just by showing people that you care. That's being a militant.
The Jewish people did not die at the hands of the Nazis for publicity for Jewish people. I risked my life going up there before the Academy Awards. I was beaten physically. People tried to harass me mentally. I had two armed guards that packed guns and everything to protect me after that. I mean, I had to seek some type of hibernation. I tried to do the best I possibly could. Then my younger sister came down as a cancer victim, you know. That was very hard on me, too. And I had a lot of personal things that I had to go through. But I risked my life up on that stage. That was no publicity stunt.