by Laura Zangarini
On September 17, he attended an event in his support organized after the official letter of apology from former Academy President David Rubin
Little Feather, the Native American activist who turned down the Oscar on behalf of Marlon Brando for The Godfather at the 1973 ceremony, died yesterday, Sunday October 2, at the age of 75. She had suffered from breast cancer. In June, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences apologized to her for her treatment on the night of the awards ceremony: she had only 60 seconds to read her speech on Native American rights. Then the then 26-year-old activist was escorted off the stage to boos and racist insults from the audience. On September 17, Little Feather attended a special event in her support at the Academy Museum, where she was presented with a (belated) Hollywood apology.
It is with great regret that Brando cannot accept this very generous award – he had said to the audience on Oscar night -. And the reasons for that are the treatment of American Indians by the film industry today… and on TV in movie reruns and also in the recent events at Wounded Knee. She was allowed to read her speech in full at a subsequent press conference, which was later reprinted in the New York Times. Raquel Welch, Clint Eastwood and Oscar night co-host Michael Caine were among those who criticized them on camera for disrupting the ceremony.
Born Marie Louise Cruz in Salinas, California, Little Feather first became interested in Native American affairs in college, then took part in the occupation of Alcatraz Island in 1970, at which time she took her own name. After college, she joined the Screen Actors Guild Awards, where she reportedly met Brando, who became interested in Native American affairs through director Francis Ford Coppola, who, like Little Feather, lived in San Francisco. In a recent interview, the activist told Variety what it was like attending the Oscars on Brando’s behalf.
It was my first time at the Academy Awards. I got over my first hurdle by promising Marlon Brando that I wouldn’t get that Oscar. But when I got out of that box, I did it with courage, honor, grace, dignity and sincerity. I did it the way my ancestors and indigenous women did. Again, I walked straight ahead with a couple of armed guards at my side, and I held my head high and proud to be the first Indigenous woman in Oscars history to make that political statement.
At that time, in 1973, there was a media blackout on Wounded Knee and the American Indian Movement that occupied it. Marlon had called them earlier and asked them to attend the Oscars, which they did. When they saw me on stage rejecting that Oscar for film industry clichés and mentioning Wounded Knee in South Dakota, they knew the media boycott was going to end.
Little Feather recently shared some thoughts on death with Variety: When we die, we know our ancestors are coming for us. We know that we will go to the spirit world from which we came. We accept ourselves as warriors, with pride and not with a sense of defeat, we can’t wait to join our ancestors who will be with us at our last breath, welcoming us to this world on the other side and have fun will have party for us.
October 3, 2022 (update October 3, 2022 | 07:58)
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