Native Representation Quotes

I saw The Revenant, and they were calling Native Americans "tree niggers," and that is not cool.

I know who I am and can deal with the use of Indian mascots... But I know it can be demeaning to a group of people. Maybe it would be all right if they were truly honoring the people and are giving due respect to the people they are representing.

Specifically, in Canada, the First Nations are often overlooked in pop culture or in general, and when things are reported about our First Nations, it's often negative things - about the hardships they face and what-not.

The western has always been, for me, the bread and butter. It's the easiest place for an identifiable Native American to be able to work. But I do yearn to be known as an actor rather than a 'Native American actor.'

I'm always for the Indian in the cowboy movie. Always.

American popular culture has long been marked by an absence of empathy for American Indians. Westerns doubled as a campaign against so-called savages in a way that desensitized us to the savages we'd become.

I represent more Native Americans than anyone else in Congress.

I often find myself unsatisfied with books 'about' Indians because they are written from the viewpoint of non-Indians.

America is so accustomed to some depiction of native people that is entirely racist, and there's a perception that that is okay.

On any state elections map, the reservations are blue places. Native people are most often progressives, Democrats, and by no means gun-toting vigilantes.

'Dances with Wolves' really started the movement, using subtitles for Lakota Sioux and showing Indians as interesting, complex people - not just the enemy - and giving a lot of unknown Indian actors work.

In New Mexico, we're very lucky that we have laws in place that really help ensure that Native Americans' right to vote is unencumbered.

I spent my 20s earning minimum wage decorating cakes for a living. But one day, I looked in the mirror and realized I wanted more, for me and my people. I saw too many Native Americans struggling, and I realized we should have a voice in who our elected officials are.

All I try to do is portray Indians as we are, in creative ways. With imagination and poetry. I think a lot of Native American literature is stuck in one idea: sort of spiritual, environmentalist Indians. And I want to portray everyday lives. I think by doing that, by portraying the ordinary lives of Indians, perhaps people learn something new.

At least half the country thinks the mascot issue is insignificant. But I think it's indicative of the ways in which Indians have no cultural power. We're still placed in the past. So we're either in the past or we're only viewed through casinos.

The thesis of the book in your hands is that Native American history merits more than 9 pages.

I had a holding deal with ABC to find me a show, and I was very clear about the kind of show I wanted to do, because Indian people have always been seen as - well, we've been put in a box, about who we should be like.

I think most Native American literature is unreadable by the vast majority of Native Americans. Generally speaking Indians don't read books. It's not a book culture. That's why I'm trying to make movies. Indians go to movies; Indians own video recorders.

As a native actor, you don't get that much chance to work in art, especially television.

In everything I've done, I've always tried to make room for indigenous people, to include them.

These Indians are fierce, they wear feathers and grunt. Most of us dont fit this idealized figure since we grunt only when overeating

Both 'Mabo' and 'The Sapphires' have been significant roles because it's about my people. They are celebratory stories, on top of allowing people to understand our history.

For far too long, the voices of Native Americans have been woefully underrepresented in Congress.

It would be nice if every state were like New Mexico and cared about the Indian vote.

Second, this epic tale allows the audience to actually listen to the Native Americans and receive their wisdom. Spielberg conveys the respect for Native Americans that is normally lacking in Western films.