This Week in Native American News
WGN has DC Comic "Scalped" pilot scheduled for the fall
Scalped Vol. 1 Cover
WGN announced this week that the pilot episode of DC Comic's "Scalped" is scheduled to air this fall, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The story revolves around a man returning to his home on the fictional Praire Rose Indian Reservation, after a 15-year absence, finding it overcome by drugs and organized crime, and vowing to set the place right again.
Word on the street is that casting will be predominantly native, which is refreshing, but it's still up in the air as to how the native community will react to the overwhelmingly violent depiction of natives and reservation life. Indian Country Today contributor didn't have many positive things to say about the comic when it was first released (read his review here), but the 60-episode comic went on to win rave reviews from critics.
We'll be keeping an eye on his this plays out in the fall.
Native American artist, Robert Redbird, leave behind a legacy
Personal picture provided by Redbird's family
Robert Redbird's paintings portrayed his own Kiowa people and become iconic in the world of Native American art. While best known for his work with the airbrush, Redbird, throughout his life, worked as a welder, mechanic, auto body repairman & painter, a Pentecostal minister, a gospel singer, commercial artist, lecturer, and painter. He also served as a cultural consultant on several motion pictures, including the 1990 film, Dances With Wolves. (Read the 2011 interview here.)
J.K. Rowling's Much Anticipated Book Has Natives Angry
Photo by: Ben Pruchnie via Huffington Post
Rowling's most recent trip back to the magical world, History of Magic in North America, was met with an outcry from Natives across the country. Among the complaints: the lack of diversity between native people and instead being lumped together as one group with one religion; referring to native medicine and practices as magic; and her misunderstanding of Navajo skinwalker legends.
A quick #MagicinNorthAmerica search on Twitter shows the overwhelming disappointment and anger.
Recent Study Shows Benefits of Ethnic Studies Courses
Picture from The Atlantic
While Black History Month shines a light on African Americans every February since 1976, a recent Stanford Study shows just how important ethnic studies are to at-risk students.
A similar National Education Association study from 2011, which analyzed data from various middle and high school youth of varying ethnic backgrounds, showed that, "Although students’ grades dropped as they moved from middle school to high school, grades of students with the highest racial-ethnic identity dropped the least..." (Read more about the report here.)
Native American history, for generations, has been relegated to a small piece of Thanksgiving history - you, now, those guys that helped the Pilgrims.
In a country where the American Indian/Alaska Native graduation rate is a measly 67% - the lowest of any ethnic demographic group in the country - now is the time to highlight the amazing natives of our history and to show youth the potential for their future. (Read the full White House Native Youth report here.)
Picture by Tao Zero