Hollywood Racism Continues For Native Americans

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) November 15, 2009 -- The Late Marlon Brando, Rev Jesse Jackson, and producer Zelan Bonn are again speaking out on the issue of racism for Native Americans in Hollywood after the industry recently thumbed its nose at the major parody raising Celebrity Festival For Native America (CFNA), say organizers.

The 2010 Hollywood summer event failed to gain the support of local government and business leaders, studios, networks, talent agencies, hundreds of celebrities and other influencers, punctuating the charges of endemic industry racism for American Indians.

The planned world-televised project promised millions in revenues and hundreds of jobs to Hollywood businesses, theater, and television production while advancing Native American parody.

“Nothing in this industry gets done unless it’s forced on [them],” said the late Marlon Brando during a 1973 interview concerning the industry and its endemic racism.

In a March 18, 1996 open letter to the entertainment community, Rev Jesse Jackson lamented,”…Why have there been no [Academy Award] nominations for Latinos, Asian Pacific Americans or Native Americans… The paucity of nominations for people of color is directly related to the lack of films featuring the talents of people of color… We will protest institutional racism that manifests itself in several ways: racial exclusion, cultural distortion, lack of employment opportunities and lack of positions of authority…”

“I don’t think people realize what the motion picture industry has done to the American Indian,” said Marlon Brando during a 1973 Dick Cavett interview. “People don’t realize how deeply these people are injured…. Indian children, seeing Indians represented as savage, ugly, as nasty, as vicious, treacherous, drunken, they grow up with only a negative image of themselves, and it lasts a lifetime.”

Diversity progress for other minorities has past proven praiseworthy, say organizers. Today, Blacks secure about double their population percentage points in terms of Screen Actors Guild (SAG) contracts. Hispanics are also employed by the thousands in order to service an entire national and international network devoted to Spanish programming and more. Women and Asians enjoy plenty of success as well, having already advanced many powerful heroines and heroes in major films and series.

Yet Native Americans have never achieved equality in Hollywood, according to an extensive survey of industry outputs and academic studies on the group’s website.

Making up about 1% of the US population, Native Americans have an almost non-existent share of SAG’s contract market, with an estimated .05% for tribally recognized Indians, a dramatic but clear disparity between them and other minorities.

Organizers say they will keep the project alive until mid December, hoping for a change of heart from the film and television industry. Learn more at www.ticciman.com

celebrity festival     hollywood racism     Marlon Brando     Native American     rev jesse jackson     zelan bonn