June 18, 2022
Dear Sacheen Littlefeather,
I write to you today a letter that has been a long time coming on behalf of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, with humble acknowledgment of your experience at the 45th Academy Awards.
As you stood on the Oscars stage in 1973 to not accept the Oscar on behalf of Marlon Brando, in recognition of the misrepresentation and mistreatment of Native American people by the film industry, you made a powerful statement that continues to remind us of the necessity of respect and the importance of human dignity.
The abuse you endured because of this statement was unwarranted and unjustified. The emotional burden you have lived through and the cost to your own career in our industry are irreparable. For too long the courage you showed has been unacknowledged. For this, we offer both our deepest apologies and our sincere admiration.
We cannot realize the Academy’s mission to “inspire imagination and connect the world through cinema” without a commitment to facilitating the broadest representation and inclusion reflective of our diverse global population.
Today, nearly 50 years later, and with the guidance of the Academy’s Indigenous Alliance, we are firm in our commitment to ensuring indigenous voices—the original storytellers—are visible, respected contributors to the global film community. We are dedicated to fostering a more inclusive, respectful industry that leverages a balance of art and activism to be a driving force for progress.
We hope you receive this letter in the spirit of reconciliation and as recognition of your essential role in our journey as an organization. You are forever respectfully engrained in our history.
With warmest regards, David Rubin
President, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Hi, Kirk!
ReplyDeleteI remember a time when Oscar night was must see TV, and so was the World Series, the Miss America Pageant hosted by Bert Parks, and other special events that I never even think about or read about in the 21st century. I was watching that night in 1973 when Native American civil rights activist Sacheen Littlefeather, serving as a proxy for actor Marlon Brando, shook up the Academy Awards, and I think I also saw that Brando interview when it first aired on Dick Cavett. Not very much has changed in nearly 50 years. In today's divided American, whenever one side raises concerns with a dose of truth and reality, the other side cries foul and claims that we are trying to rewrite history, spoil their party, rain on their parade and take away their "rats." Fear mongering politicians vowing to resist the winds of change and keep things as they are or, better yet, reinstate unjust laws, policies and practices of the past, gain support and win elections. It was nice to read that letter of reconciliation and recognition offered this year as an olive branch to Sacheen Littlefeather by David Rubin on behalf of the Academy.
And the beat goes on
Drums keep pounding a rhythm to the brain
La de da de de, la de da de da
Enjoy the rest of your week and weekend, good buddy Kirk!
Shady, you and I grew up in that world of only three television networks, educational TV, and UHF. In retrospect, it now seems obvious people were just watching things like the Oscars, World Series, and the Miss America Pageant because there never was anything compelling enough on against them. Strangely, the Super Bowl seems to have bucked this trend towards viewers' disinterest. I live in Cleveland, which is a football town (though the Browns have never made it that far), but how to explain it getting such high ratings in cities that don't even have NFL teams? The only thing I can think of is Super Bowl Sunday now has the trappings of a holiday, what with all the parties and so forth. And, unlike the World Series or NBA Championship (which a Cleveland team did make it to a few years ago) it's just one day rather than a whole week. Were the Super Bowl four out of seven games, I wonder if it would continue to be that popular.
DeleteDavid Rubin and the Acadamy could have just sided with the red state crowd and stayed mute about the whole thing. Maybe the Oscars get better ratings in the blue states!
That apology was a long time coming but better late than never, I guess.
ReplyDeleteDebra, it may be nowhere near as socially significant as the Oscar's mea culpa to Sacheen, but I'm reminded that the Miss America Pageant issued an apology and restored the crown to Vanessa Williams not that long ago. In both cases, a generation or two has passed since the original controversy, different people who were either children or not born at all when these things happened now run these organizations, and simply see things differently.
DeleteI'm glad she's still alive to hear this.
ReplyDeleteMike, she's now 75 and in very poor health, so this apology couldn't have come too soon.
DeleteI had no idea about this event until it hit the news over here and then I read up on it. Yes I was reading she isn't very well.
ReplyDeleteIt happened nearly 50 years ago, Ananka.
DeleteI haven't watched the Oscars in such a long time.
ReplyDeleteJM, it now gets lost in all the other viewing choices. But in 1973, everybody watched the Oscars.
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