Native Americans Ready To Battle Hollywood

By Paul Young (cyoung@drivercorp.com)

HOLLYWOOD, CA - March 14, 2010
What do Gone With The Wind’s producer David O’Selznick, media mogul Steven Spielberg, Godfather’s Marlon Brando, producer Zelan Bonn, and millions of Native Americans have in common? The answer is they have all spoken out against endemic Hollywood racism. 

Today, a powerful fight is brewing against the entertainment industry for its past and present racism and discrimination against Native Americans. The group leading the charge, Kon Ticci International (KTI), is operated by nonprofit volunteers working inside the entertainment industry who have experienced racism firsthand.  KTI calls its operation the Ticci Man Project (TMP), named after a major film project featuring an Indian hero halted by racism.

TMP reports that it shut down last year after both the city and industry of Hollywood rejected Native America and their proposed world televised street fair and red carpet event, Celebrity Festival For Native America in Hollywood, Calif.  The long anticipated, positively charged, social transformation project was designed to help build issue awareness and promote cultural and talent respect and equality for Native Americans in Hollywood and around the world. Over 300 major celebrities, many who walked the red carpet on Oscar night, refused the minority’s call for social and humanitarian assistance along with nearly every major player in the entertainment industry, from networks to studios and more. 

Activists have called the rebuff the single greatest racial affront by an entire industry since the Civil Rights movement began.

“For every excuse somebody forwards in the entertainment industry as to why this NA or that NA was not cast or hired, or this NA project or content was not funded, list ad nausea, there are dozens of inconvenient facts in opposition—facts nobody wants to hear,” said Bonn who heads both KTI and Imajilan Pictures. “Let’s begin with the hard reality that Hollywood put out over 4,000 films derogatory to an entire race of people—but they’re Native Americans so it’s okay? Yet make 4,000 films against Jews, Whites, Blacks, Latinos, Asians, Gays, Pet Lovers or Women, and this entire industry shuts down overnight and loses billions of dollars because of angry protesting mobs and boycotters—the very same duplicitous protestors who condone racism against Native Americans with their silence,” said Bonn. “Do we not realize a racist is a racist is a racist—that racial equality and respect is for us all? Do we not realize Hollywood owes a massive social, if not economic debt, to our Native American citizens?”

After KTI’s closure, Native Americans voiced their outrage and pushed for the project’s renewal, feeling the industry had not progressed out of its racist roots and needed to be held accountable. It has asked Hollywood leaders and celebrities to change their mind and lend needed supports, offering a May 30th deadline for responses in order to give everyone plenty of time to come forward voluntarily.

Last year, TMP asked hundreds of celebrities to volunteer about two hours signing autographs and taking photographs with fans. They were also asked to sign an historical Native American art piece as a symbolic gesture of the industry extending the “olive branch” to Native America—all toward ending 100 years of derogatory film and television abuses and discrimination practices. 

Over $10 million in estimated local revenues expected from the festival project were rejected by the Los Angles Mayor’s Office and the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce--both refused to help organize local businesses in preparation for an estimated 1 million visitors expected to attend the week long family event.

Meanwhile, the group is expecting yet another status quo denial from the industry. However, this time around, TMP is working hard on its back-up plan, which includes launching a series of high profile lawsuits targeting major networks, studios, distributors, funders, and even those who fraudulently misrepresent themselves or their clients as Native Americans.

The group is vowing to expose and civilly prosecute fraudsters claiming Native American status when they are not legally recognized as such on the grounds they are perpetrating a Civil Rights fraud that effectively denies a federally protected minority from such employment opportunities. Directors, producers, talent agents and agencies, casting directors and others will be targeted on related issues as well. 

KTI does not deny filmmakers the right to use creative license, but argues that only about 0.1% of all Screen Actors Guild contracts are currently going to legally recognized Native Americans, and that producers, directors, agencies and others deliberately misleading the public, casting or hiring nonNative American talent and mislabeling them as Native American in order to appeal to ticket buyers. The film Twilight with the alledged nonNative American actor Taylor Lautner are said to be among Hollywood's most egregious in recent abuses.

Such racist practices, if legally proven to be existing in the industry, have been labeled institutionalized discrimination by past court rulings and can include both civil as well as criminal penalities. 

“If we are forced to go the legal route, it will be just like the David and Goliath Tobacco industry wars,” said Mike Tierney, communication director for TMP. “And we all know what eventually happened to that industry. A lot of people, companies, and profits suffered—but then justice demands its toll, does it not.” 

KTI is currently gathering up its war-chest across wealthy pockets of the oil, gas, and gaming industries in the Native American community in preparation for a decade-long legal fight. KTI will seek billions of dollars in reparations and punitive damages to be paid to all legally recognized Native Americans who have been harmed by the industry’s outputs and actions for the last 100 years--should the festival be snubbed again.

The negative world-wide publicity outcroppings could lead to billions of dollars in losses for the entertainment industry, and especially celebrities who depend on them, as major legal actions, protests and boycotts eventually take hold, says KTI spokespersons.

“Let me get this straight,” said Bonn. “This industry’s executives would rather fight and risk losing billions to Native Americans instead of helping them host a profitable, socially responsible, world televised family and  humanitarian event to promote and celebrate Native American talent, culture, respect and equality—and we do not have a problem with racism in this industry—right!”

While the group prepares for the so called “nuclear legal option”, it is working twice as hard to avoid it attempting to bring in key humanitarian celebrities and industry leaders such as Oprah Winfrey, Sean Penn, Sandra Bullock, George Clooney, Richard Gere, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, John Travolta and others who are known for their great humanitarian leadership efforts. KTI hopes to bring such celebrities to the forefront of the struggle who can lead their own industry toward righting their own house and supporting the Celebrity Festival For Native America. The group believes the vast majority of people in the industry are more than willing to stand up for Native America and help heal their own industry but also believe strong news and media network censorship has been a major stumbling block--that many in the industry and community are simply unaware of what's going on or the need to lend their support.

“When a legally recognized Native American wins an Oscar and when we have not one, but several modern set films and television programs featuring actual Native Americans—some as leads and heroes—then that day will mark significant progress in this issue—but we are a very long way from that level of parody for Native Americans,” said Bonn. “We cannot, as an industry of people of good conscious, sit back and allow an entire race of people to be marginalized,” he said. “We owe this not only to our Native American citizens, but to ourselves as an industry—we are much better than this and now it’s time we all step forward and prove it!” 

For more information on the Celebrity Festival For Native America, visit the Ticci Man Website (www.ticciman.com). For discrimmination and racism details, checkout their FACT SHEET http://www.ticciman.com/factsheet.htm.