………..In 1973, Sacheen Littlefeather took the stage to reject an Oscar on behalf of Marlon Brando……she was given 60 seconds on stage to provide the following speech:
“Hello. My name is Sacheen Littlefeather. I’m Apache and I am president of the National Native American Affirmative Image Committee. I’m representing Marlon Brando this evening and he has asked me to tell you in a very long speech, which I cannot share with you presently because of time but I will be glad to share with the press afterwards, that he very regretfully cannot accept this very generous award. And the reasons for this being are the treatment of American Indians today by the film industry – excuse me – and on television in movie reruns, and also with recent happenings at Wounded Knee. I beg at this time that I have not intruded upon this evening and that we will in the future, our hearts and our understandings will meet with love and generosity. Thank you on behalf of Marlon Brando”
She kept her full composure despite the boos and jeers coming from the audience……John Wayne had to be restrained by security because he wanted to physically assault her as she left the stage……..Clint Eastwood mocked her by saying that he was presenting the award on behalf of “all the cowboys shot in all the John Ford Westerns.”…….subsequently, Littlefeather was blacklisted by Hollywood and never worked again………nearly half a century later………Littlefeather will return to the Academy as a guest of honor on September 17, 2022.
ONE OF MY SISTER’S FOUND THIS……..
IT WAS WOMEN – “It was not witches who burned.
It was women.
Women who were seen as
Too beautiful
Too outspoken
Had too much water in the well (yes, seriously)
Who had a birthmark
Women who were too skilled with herbal medicine
Too loud
Too quiet
Too much red in her hair
Women who had a strong nature connection
Women who danced
Women who sung
or anything else, really.
ANY WOMAN WAS AT RISK BURNING IN THE SIXTEEN HUNDREDS
Sisters testified and turned on each other when their babies were held under ice.
Children were tortured to confess their experiences with “witches” by being fake executed in ovens.
Women were held under water and if they float, they were guilty and executed.
If they sunk and drowned, they were innocent.
Women were thrown off cliffs.
Women were put in deep holes in the ground.
The start of this madness was years of famine, war between religions and lots of fear. The churches said that witches, demons and the devil did exist, and women were nothing but trouble. As we see even today, there is often a scapegoat created, and the chaos escalated in Sweden when the Bible became law and everything that did not line up with what the church said became lethal. The Bible fanaticism killed thousands of women.
Everything connected to a women became feared, especially her sexuality. It became labeled as dark and dangerous and was the core of the witch trials through out the world.
Why do I write this?
Because I think the usage of words are important, especially when we are doing the work to pull these murky, repressed and forgotten about stories to the surface. Because knowing our history is important when we are building the new world. When we are doing the healing work of our lineages and as women. To give the women who were slaughtered a voice, to give them redress and a chance of peace.
It was not witches who burned.
It was women.”~
~Fia Forsström
HERE’S A LITTLE HISTORY……..for individuals that are fans of the movies Top Gun and Top Gun: Maverick…….the first Top Gun competition was held in 1949……the white pilots competed with the latest state of art aircraft while the African-American pilots were forced to compete with older obsolete planes…….after 3 days of competition The Tuskegee Airmen team of : Captain Alva Temple, 1st Lieutenant Harry Stewart, 1st Lieutenant James Harvey, and 1st Lieutenant Halbert Alexander (alternate) were announced the winners…….there was dead silence in the room.…not one of their colleagues applauded this accomplishment……the victory was swept under the rug and the trophy was not seen by the public for 55 years.
YOU GO GIRL…… When Allyson Felix became pregnant, Nike was prepared to cut the terms of Felix’s endorsement by as much as 70% due to the pregnancy,…….and told her to “know your place and just run.”…….amid all of this, she was forced to have an emergency c-section seven months into her pregnancy because of a potentially life-threatening condition and her baby had to live for more than a month in the NICU…….but two years later she’s qualified for her fifth Olympics with her daughter watching……..Felix dropped Nike and created her own brand of running shoes, the Saysh One……she is currently running in the Olympics in Japan wearing them under the banner “I Know My Place”……with 11 medals now, she passed Carl Lewis this summer for the most track and field medals by an American in history!……..”I used my voice and built this company for you. So that you never have to train at 4:30am while you’re 5 months pregnant to hide your pregnancy from your sponsor.”