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

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)

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

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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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)

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)

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.

Rosebud Sioux Nation: Keystone XL Pipeline Vote is ‘Act of War’

nycnokxlLast week’s vote to approve the controversial Keystone XL pipeline by the Republican-controlled United States House of Representatives constitutes an “act of war” and a “death warrant,” according to the South Dakota Rosebud Sioux (Lakota) Nation, Lakota Voice Rez News reported Friday.

Tribal President Cyril L. Scott rebuked the House, according to Rez News:

The House has now signed our death warrants and the death warrants of our children and grandchildren. The Rosebud Sioux Tribe will not allow this pipeline through our lands. We are outraged at the lack of intergovernmental cooperation. We are a sovereign nation and we are not being treated as such. We will close our reservation borders to Keystone XL. Authorizing Keystone XL is an act of war against our people.

Mas…Rosebud Sioux Nation: Keystone XL Pipeline Vote is ‘Act of War’

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


“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.

Our heritage and culture are not your Halloween costume

ddlmfaceA school in our neighborhood recently held a “Dress as Your Heritage Day.”

For one Friday, students were encouraged to wear items representing their backgrounds, and some did. Students walked around campus in a combination of family heirlooms and seemingly exaggerated symbols to reflect their racial/ethnic groups.

The rationale underlying this day was cultural celebration, and families and students were representing their own heritages in ways that they wanted. On the face of it, this seemed like good ole’ fashion fun where dressing up breaks the routine of school and students show-off their family backgrounds.

Mas…Our heritage and culture are not your Halloween costume

New Mexico petroglyphs: Headlines from the past (photos)

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)


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)

Columbus-ing: Gringos discovering ‘new’ things that aren’t new (video)


QUESTION: What do you call it when white hipsters “discover” new things that aren’t new?
ANSWER: Columbus-ing.

Wait.

What do you call it when College Humor dot com, who just released this ^^^^ video, discovers a June 6 La Cucaracha toon by POCHO Jefe-in-Chief Lalo Alcaraz?

cucacolumbus

PREVIOUSLY ON DISCOVERIES:

Mas…Columbus-ing: Gringos discovering ‘new’ things that aren’t new (video)

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

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?’