Black Cloud (2004)

While I was watching another movie called Black Cloud (2004), I once more noticed the issue that was also present in the previous movie (Smoke Signals, 1998), namely, a strong dislike for White people that American Indians are likely to have. I cannot say for sure that this attitude is present among Native Americans for real, as I am still in search of some scholarly materials that will shed a light on this matter. However, I would like to show the reason why I am concerned about those relations between American Indians and White people.

Black Cloud is a story about a young Native American boxer, an eponymous Black Cloud, who grew up in domestic violence, but constantly trying to come to terms with his family and his heritage. One day, after boxing match, a young man is being offered an Olympic tryout in Las Vegas by an Olympic Scout named Norm Olsen. That is where the Native Americans' dislike for White people is shown for the first time in the movie.

This is the dialogue between Black Cloud and Olsen after he presented his offer to the boy:

Black Cloud: Aw, forget it. l ain't interested.

Olsen: Well, why's that?

Black Cloud: Because it's lies. It always is.

Olsen: l'm sorry. l'm not following you.

Black Cloud: And why should l fight for your nation... when all you've done is murder and imprison my people, huh?

This scene shows clearly that Black Cloud is reluctant to accept the offer only because of his prejudices towards White people and he is brooding over what they did to Native Americans in the past. In the end, he accepts the offer but raises a point that he will do it only for a Navajo nation.

The issue of unwillingness towards White people is also noticeable in Black Cloud's reaction on finding out that his blood is diluted – in his certificate of an Indian blood, there is written that his great grandfather came from Germany.

When talking with his girlfriend on this matter:

Sammy: Are you gonna be OK?

Black Cloud: I'm gonna be fine.

Sammy: It doesn't matter to me, Black Cloud.

Black Cloud: lt matters to me. (…) lf you don't want to be with me, I'll understand.

He obviously thinks that it is shameful to be of mixed blood.

Next day, when Black Cloud is looking for the keys, he tells his father that he knows about White Wolf (the German great grandfather whose real name was Hans Schroeder) and claims that his family is cursed.

I was alarmed to discover the strong dislike for White People in the movie, that is why I decided to raise this point and search for some materials to find out whether it is true.

Native Americans History and Culture

Lately, I have discovered a very short video on Native American History and Culture. I came to a conclusion that some historical facts are well worth mentioning as far as they would be helpful in portraying American Indians' tradition and culture, which is my primary aim.

In accordance with some scientists' researches, Native Americans are descendants of some hunters from Asia, who once crossed the land bridge between Russia and Alaska. As they arrived, they adapted to living in different parts of American Continent. That was the time, when various unique cultures were created. Here, I must explain the fact, that Native Americans ARE NOT one nation, as one may consider, but they are rather numerous, distinct tribes.

American Indians who settled the area of Great Plains, were known for hunting Buffalo, whereas main activity of tribes like Haida and Quileute ( indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast) was fishing. Their chief preoccupation was cutting cedar trees, a good material for houses, canoes or ceremonial totems. This information helps glimpse that various tribes, had their unique, distinctive cultures and traditions.

Things changed with the arrival of White people. Several diseases brought by them caused immeasurable decrease of Native Americans population. Europeans immediately started to expropriate the land inhabited by Indians. Some tribes, began to fight for their territory, others preferred to work with White people to reach an understanding. The result of both operations was the same. They were soon forced by the US government to leave the land and live on the reservations. However, Native Americans never stood idle and fought for their rights over the centuries.

It is worth noticing that there are more than 550 federally recognized tribes in United States today. They still live on the reservations and their ultimate aim is to improve conditions prevailing there. What is more, Native Americans constantly strive for preserving their languages, religions and cultural identities by organizing some traditional ceremonies, blending some ancient ways into modern life or reviving their traditional art forms.

Health Problems on an Indian Reservations

Drawing on the same article, I would like to present some information about health problems on Indian Reservations.

Indian Health Service is responsible for providing medical and public health services to members of federally recognized Tribes and Alaska Natives. It is the principal federal health care provider and health advocate for Indian people, and its goal is to raise their health status to the highest possible level. The truth is that about 55 % of Indians rely on IHS, however, in accordance with the article, only 60% of their health needs are encountered in the Indian Health Care Improvement Act.

There is a wide gap in adequate and preventative health care on Indian reservations because of the crisis that touched Indian Health Service due to lack of funding. Moreover, the presence of such diseases like diabetes, heart disease, tuberculosis or even cancer are common between Native Americans being a result of switching to the West lifestyle.

Statistics(according to this article):

• Heart disease is the leading cause of death for American Indians (2003, Center for Disease Control).

• Due to the link between heart disease, diabetes, poverty, and quality of nutrition and health care, 36% of Natives with heart disease will die before age 65 compared to 15% of Caucasians (2001, HHS Office of Minority Health).
• American Indians are 177% more likely to die from diabetes (2011, Indian Health Disparities).
• 500% are more likely to die from tuberculosis (2011, Indian Health Disparities).
• 82% are more likely to die from suicide (2011, Indian Health Disparities).
• Cancer rates and disparities related to cancer treatment are higher than for other Americans (2005, Native People for Cancer Control).
• Infant death rates are 60% higher than for Caucasians (2001, HHS Office of Minority Health)

All in all, it seems that health problems are vast on Indian reservations. Additionally, the issue of potential health risk increases because of the lack of utilities, especially in rural and remote areas suffering from the lack of accessible healthcare.

Life on the Reservation

Today I was searching for some information about the current conditions of life on the reservation and I came across a short, but significant article on that.

The author of this article says that on some reservations the conditions of living are very poor, taking into account three out of many factors: employment, housing and health. As it is stated at the begining of the article : Living conditions on the reservations have been cited as "comparable to Third World," (May 5 2004, Gallup Independent) . That's what strikes me much. Today, I will present two of them: employment and housing.

To begin with, the unemployment is very high and as I read, four out of ten adults are unemployed. There are many numerous families or extended families living in the same house and the only money they get are social security, disability or veteran's income. If there are Native Americans who have a job, they usually earn below poverty wages. The percentage of poverty on the reservation is high and it forces heads of the families to seek job out of the reservation, which means that usually grandparents are rasing their children, what in addition, influences family relations.

Second important factor contributing to bad condition on the reservations is housing. As I mentioned before, many houses are overcrowded and less than 50% of them are connected to sewer. Except that, there are many homeless or underhoused families. What is shocking for me, is that when they are waiting for a housing, the wait is often three years or more, and overcrowding is inevitable. What is more, many reservation families live without running water, telephones, and electricity, which is kind of unacceptable in today's world.

These are only some facts about the conditions of life on the reservation, but I will try to improve this subject in the following week.

Native Americans

Today I came across the „Smoke Signals”, a movie directed by Chris Eyre and based on the short story "This Is What It Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona" by Sherman Joseph Alexie. The story takes place in the Coeur D'Alene Indian Reservation in Plummer, Idaho. In 1978, Arnold Joseph saves baby Thomas from fire, but unfortunately he fails to save baby's parents. Arnold soon leaves his wife and son named Victor for 10 years until he dies. When Thomas hears about his death, he offers Victor funding for the trip to get Arnold's remains, but he has one condition - Thomas goes with him. Two boys hit the road.

That is only the outline of the story. What I want to focus on during my analysis, is how traditional beliefs and convictions influence lives of Native Americans.

First of all, Indians have no doubt that they are the only legitimate residents of American Continent and would prefer White people to never live there. This case is demonstrated in the morning radio news when the speaker says:
„Good morning, this is Randy Peone on KREZ Radio(...) Coeur D'Alene People our reservation is beautiful this morning. It's a good day to be INDIGENOUS, it's 45 degrees in the sun, it's 8 am INDIAN time in 1998(...)”

As we all know, there is no such thing as Indian time zone. Words indigenous and Indian are used by the speaker to highlight their pride of being real Natives, and to emphasize that they feel different and independent. In another scene, their attitude towards White people is strongly indicated. Victor remembers the conversation with his father about the Independence Day. Arnold asks his son if he feels independent and after that he says himself:„I'm feelin' independent. I'm feelin' extra magical today like I could make anything disappear. Houdini with braids you know? poof! Wave my hand and poof WHITE PEOPLE ARE GONE, GONE TO WHERE THEY BELONG(...).Wave my hand and THE RESERVATION IS GONE(...)”

Native Americans will always think about Whites as aliens on their soil and blame for placing them in reservations.

Secondly, traditional beliefs are deeply rooted in their culture. Thomas is very fascinated with tradition and enjoys showing it off. Once, he explains to Victor how he learnt about Arnold's death:„I heard it on the wind. I heard it from the birds. I felt it in the sunlight.”

It is essential for him to believe that it is about being in touch with nature and everything around, it is about knowing and understanding the world that surrounds.

The importance of the tradition is also indicated by the way people look – man as well as woman have long hair and usually wear them in braids, some of them wear hats with feather (association with a war bonnet) and colorful jewelery.

To sum up, it seems like history and tradition will always have an impact on people's lives and as every nation, society or tribe, Native Americans still preserve their customs in today's world.

The Power of School System

As I am constantly looking for some inspiration for my BA thesis, today thanks to my Cultural Regions and Ethnic Group classes, I had an occasion to listen to the hip-hop song, about the present-day situation of African Americans in USA on the bases of school system. There is no doubt, that this institution has a vast impact on people and contributes significantly to people’s views, as this song presents. That is why I decided to analyze this case.

Dead Prez is a hip-hop duo coming from Florida but formed in New York City in 1996. Their song called They School (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpipOqP_1C0 ) mainly criticizes school system accusing it of being mendacious and foolish. It begins with a question “why haven’t you learn anything?” which is quite misleading ( one can possibly think that it would be the allegation of being bad student), but then it goes on to the statement that school is a joke. What kind of a joke? That we are able to understand as we pass to the next sentence where the author strongly maintain:

“The same people who control the school system control
The prison system, and the whole social system
Ever since slavery(…)”

And here’s the meaning of the joke – school is not the institution where one can acquire useful knowledge, the true facts and useful skills as generally perceived, but it is an inherent part of the system controlled and manipulated by the same people, where certain values and ideas are imposed on society. Further, the author informs that he tried to enlighten teachers that what they teach during history classes is not true, and accuses them of claiming that black people are only in some degree human beings:

“They seemed to only glorify the Europeans
Claimin' Africans were only three fifth's a human being”

In the chorus the critique of the school is expressed in an emphatic and rude way, but the message is clear – all that people learn in school is a lie.

Moreover, the stereotype about black people being criminals – thieves, drug dealers and members of gangs still exists in people’s minds. Even though Black have equally a chance to be educated, and get a diploma as the hero of this song, people always have those prejudices against them.

To sum up, it seems like the school system has indeed a great power over people’s way of perceiving the reality and following certain ideas, not necessarily the true ones. 

Welcome everyone to my blog devoted to the subject of American media and power, which is also the subject of my seminar classes. That is why I am so excited and at the same time a bit nervous about blogging! Here, I am going to conduct my research and I’d be glad to receive some feedback and rectification from you. I hope you like it!

M.