native american

In the Pacific NW, these are not the droids you’re looking for (toons)

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star-wars-indian-art-8Artist Scott Erickson re-imagines Star Wars iconography in the style of the natives of the Pacific Northwest:

ALLIANCE=REBELLION : ALKI TUM TUM

We each live out our lives, as an amalgam of intertwined narratives, rooted both in chance and intention, influenced heavily by our environment. The Northwest’s distinctive sense of place, stems significantly from the visual gifts of the Indigenous Tribes of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Juxtaposed against a modernizing landscape, their sacred icons are pervasive as rain, depicting narratives as much from long ago, as they are from right here and now.

Mas…In the Pacific NW, these are not the droids you’re looking for (toons)

White Mountain Apache getting more visits from ‘Big Hairy Man’ (video)

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hairymanYou call him Bigfoot. The Arizona White Mountain Apache Nation call him the Big Hairy Man. In this suspiciously-truncated and undated local video news report, eyewitnesses including law officers say the tall humanoid is venturing out of humanoid territory and into human territory lots more lately. The reports seem to date from 2009 with scant news since. Coincidence…or conspiracy?

Mas…White Mountain Apache getting more visits from ‘Big Hairy Man’ (video)

Rep. Sanchez mocks American Indians in talk to Indian Americans

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sanchezwhoopDemocratic Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, from Orange County, put her foot in her mouth on Saturday, and she used her hand to do it.

In a speech to Indian American Democrats, she whooped up an “American Indian war cry.”

She was confused, she told a group of Indian American at a party convention in Anaheim, about an upcoming meeting with an Indian American.

“I am going to his office,” she said, “thinking that I am going to meet with a” — then she put her hand over mouth and made the noise that is the stereotypical imitation of a American Indian war cry. “Right? … because he said Indian American.”

Mas…Rep. Sanchez mocks American Indians in talk to Indian Americans

My report and photos from the set of Adam Sandler’s ‘Ridiculous Six’

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cate2f

I had to post this after reading that the actors who walked off Adam Sandler’s Ridiculous Six set get tagged as heroes and those who stayed, like me, get belittled.

My photograph (above) shows two of the men who walked off and the lady who stayed. They’re discussing the film’s infamous script, just after they talked to one of the assistant directors about the script.

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PREVIOUSLY: Why I didn’t walk off Adam Sandler’s Ridiculous Six set
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Just before he leaves, the man on the right attempts to gather as many of the 100-plus extras into a holding tent like the one pictured (below).

Mas…My report and photos from the set of Adam Sandler’s ‘Ridiculous Six’

Dance along with The 1491s: ‘I’m an Indian, too!’ (music video)

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indiantooIf you’ve got to dance to keep from cryin’ — well then, dance to I’m an Indian, too! by the 1491s.  All the kool kids are doing it!

Careful listeners will note actual Native Americans cracking jokes with stereotypical Indian names like “Running Nose,” the same jokes that offended the sensitive extras on Adam Sandler’s Ridiculous Six movie set.  

Mas…Dance along with The 1491s: ‘I’m an Indian, too!’ (music video)

Ricardo Caté’s ‘Without Reservations’: I can’t breathe (toon)

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ICantBreatheRicardoCateNative cartoonist Ricardo Caté of the Kewa Pueblo is a friend of POCHO and the author of the hilarious non-PC comic strip Without Reservations, which runs in the Santa Fe New Mexican and soon all over Turtle Island, from beak to tail.

Here one of his characters sports an “I Can’t Breathe” tshirt in support of Eric Garner. In case you didn’t already know, the next most disproportionately killed-by-police group behind African-Americans is Native Americans.

Check out Ricardo’s website here.

The Geronimo Hotshots are on the front line of fire (video)

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“That’s what we want them to remember. ‘Those guys are Apaches. And they came in here and put the fire out.'” The Geronimo Hotshots are on the Front Line of Fire combines hot GoPro fire footage with interviews of the forest firefighters from the San Carlos Apache Reservation in southeastern Arizona.

Pre-Hispanic ingredients like bugs make Mexican food special (video)

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bugsLong before the European invasion, the original inhabitants of Mexico were making amazingly complex food and taking complete of advantage of every creature that flew, swam, wriggled or crawled. That’s right. We’re talking edible insects. Correspondent Aissa García reports from Mexico, DF for Conexión Global on Caracas, Venezuela network teleSUR:

Mas…Pre-Hispanic ingredients like bugs make Mexican food special (video)

New Mexico petroglyphs: Headlines from the past (photos)

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croppedpetro6There’s lots to see in Placitas, a small New Mexico community north of Albuquerque between the Sandia and Santa Ana Pueblos. If you take a stroll through the foothills, chances are you’ll spot ancient petroglyphs amid the hoof prints of wild horses.

And that’s what I found on a jog Sunday near my home.

On top of a hill I spotted petroglyphs of animals, insects, and other images lost to history. They were most likely created by the indigenous people of the region hundreds of years ago. Hopi journalist Patty Talahongva says they are headlines from the past.

Next to them, unfortunately, were a few scratches (defacing) likely made by area residents in recent years.

Mas…New Mexico petroglyphs: Headlines from the past (photos)

POCHO History 101: The invasion – how America ‘grew’ (video)

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Via EHistory.org:

Between 1776 and 1887, the United States seized over 1.5 billion acres from America’s indigenous people by treaty and executive order. The Invasion of America shows how by mapping every treaty and executive order during that period. It concludes with a map of present-day Federal Indian reservations.

PREVIOUSLY ON NATIVE AMERICANS:

Mas…POCHO History 101: The invasion – how America ‘grew’ (video)

Cutest historical Native American baby pics evah! (photos)

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navajocroppedPaul and Petra Ratner made a film called Moses on the Mesa, which tells the true story of Solomon Bibo, the Jewish governor of the Native American tribe of Acoma in the days of the Wild West. And along the way (part of their quest for historical accuracy) they assembled a treasure trove of period photos of Indians, which they share on Facebook.

[Editor’s Parenthetical Thing] We are not like THOSE OTHER SITES WHO RUN SHAMEFUL IMAGES SCRAPED FROM INSTAGRAM OF CATS WRAPPED IN BLANKETS. CAN YOU IMAGINE?!   PEOPLE CALL THESE TORTURED, CONFINED KITTIES PURRITOS!!!

[And the two preceding paragraphs have led up to this] Instead, POCHO chooses to run a few specific pictures we found on the Moses page — stunning portraits of Indian babies in Indian baby carriers. Very Indian. Many papooses. Such cuteness. Wow.

[Additional Geeky Editor’s Note] Technically, “papoose” means baby, not the baby board. What you call a papoose IN a baby carrier is another issue altogether. 😉 

Mas…Cutest historical Native American baby pics evah! (photos)

Heidi Klum to Natives: ‘You’re offended? Boy, is my face red!’ (photos)

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redfaceklumWe don’t publish the deets of people who visit POCHO.COM or subscribe to our newsletter but we can assure you that Heidi Klum is neither a visitor nor a subscriber, although she’d be smart to remedy that personal failing ASAP. If she were a regular POCHO-naut, she’d never have consented to the red-face photo shoot for Germany’s Next Top Model.

Klum (photo, above) donned her red-face garb along with the other contestants, and published their photos on her Facebook page:

Mas…Heidi Klum to Natives: ‘You’re offended? Boy, is my face red!’ (photos)

Mexican Football League fans: ‘WTF is the big deal about team names?’

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mfl(PNS reporting from TIJUANA) While the American sports industrial complex is still debating the insensitive and racist Native American mascot of the Washington Redskins, fans and players of the Mexican Football League (MFL) openly question the sensitivity of some in U.S. sports circles.

Tijuana resident and avid MFL fan Nestor Gil de Vaca is puzzled.

“What is the problem with the gringos?” he asked PNS. “Sports team mascots are just that, mascots. It’s not like they are real people. I am a huge fan of the Monterrey Judios, the Sonora Cadaveres and of course my home team, the Tijuana Travestis. No one is offended, we just like to enjoy football.”

Mas…Mexican Football League fans: ‘WTF is the big deal about team names?’

Breaking: ‘Devious Maids’ producer preps ‘Desperate Tontos’

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bigtonto(PNS reporting from HOLLYWOOD) Television producer Marc Cherry is developing a new series called Desperate Tontos, which is about four white actors donning even whiter makeup to play Native Americans. The series is seen as a comeback attempt following Cherry’s floundering Devious Maids series, which was a disastrous attempt to portray Latinas.

Cherry admits Maids took him a little out of his comfort zone as a writer. “I’m a white guy, and I should write what I know,” said Cherry. “And what I know is how to be a white man pimping other people’s cultures.”

Mas…Breaking: ‘Devious Maids’ producer preps ‘Desperate Tontos’

Coming soon to a theater near them: Navajo ‘Star Wars’ (NPR audio)

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If you find yourself in the Navajo Nation (in Arizona) on July 3, you’re in the right place at the right time for a once-in-a-lifetime experience — the premiere of Star Wars, translated into Navajo.

NPR reports:

The 1977 classic has been translated into many languages, and the latest effort is the brainchild of Manuelito Wheeler, director of the Navajo Nation Museum in Window Rock, Ariz.

“We needed a way to preserve our culture,” Wheeler tells NPR’s Robert Siegel. “Language is at the core of a culture. And I felt we needed a more contemporary way to reach not just young people but the population in general. And so, that’s when the idea of translating a major movie into the Navajo language came up.”

Here’s the NPR interview:

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