Almost 50 yrs later, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will be formally apologizing in order to Littlefeather for the mistreatment she experienced during her speech and the years to follow along with.
“The abuse you endured because of this declaration was unwarranted plus unjustified, ” Academy President David Rubin wrote in a letter to Littlefeather. “The emotional burden you might have lived through as well as the cost to your own career in our sector are irreparable. Regarding too long the bravery you showed continues to be unacknowledged. For this, we provide both our greatest apologies and our sincere admiration. ”
Littlefeather will appear at the School Museum of Motion Pictures the following month to discuss her history-making Oscars appearance as well as the future of Native representation onscreen , the particular Academy said.
In a statement, Littlefeather called the upcoming occasion, during which she’ll get the apology in person, “a dream come true. ”
“Regarding the Academy’s apology to me, we Indians are very patient people — it’s just been 50 years! ” she said. “We need to maintain our sense of humor about this at all times. It’s the method of survival. inch
Many Indigenous artists can perform during the event for Littlefeather, which includes Bird Runningwater, co-chair of the Academy’s Indigenous Alliance, and Virginia Carmelo, a descendent of the Tongva people that will lead a land acknowledgment.
“It is profoundly heartening to see how much is promoting since I did not take the Academy Award 50 years ago, inch Littlefeather said.
Her speech earned boos and applause
When Brando earned best actor just for his starring part in “The Godfather, ” he has been absent. In his stead, he asked Littlefeather, then an celebrity and activist, to go to the ceremony — and to refuse the particular award on his part.
Taking the stage quietly and calmly in a buckskin dress, Littlefeather solemnly introduced their self as an Apache female and president of the National Native American Affirmative Image Panel.
“(Brando) very regretfully cannot accept this very generous prize, and the reasons for this being are the remedying of American Indians today by the film industry, ” she said to a mix of boos and applause, pausing and showing up visibly upset. “I beg at this time which i have not intruded upon this evening, and that we will, in the future, our hearts and our understandings will meet with enjoy and generosity. inch
Brando furthermore refused to accept the particular award due to the government response to Wounded Knee , when members of the American Indian Movement occupied the Southern Dakota town yet were met by resistance from federal law enforcement. Littlefeather mentioned she promised Brando that she wouldn’t touch the Oscar statuette, she mentioned.
“I focused in for the mouths and the teeth that were dropping open up in the audience, and there were quite a few, inch she told the official Academy weblog, A. Frame. “But it was like considering a sea of Clorox, you know, there were not many people of colour in the audience. ”
She also said that Mark Wayne, the conservative Western star who also once said “Indians were selfishly trying to keep (the US) for them selves, ” charged from her to “take (her) off the phase, ” though this individual was restrained by security guards.
After the ceremony, Littlefeather stated she was “silenced” and struggled to find work in the film industry. She devoted much of her profession post-Oscars to activism and founding performing arts organizations designed for Indigenous actors.
Despite the condemnation she received from some within Hollywood who disagreed with her defense of Native Americans, Littlefeather said she received praise and assistance from leaders like Coretta Scott California king and Cesar Chavez.
“I knew I had carried out the right thing, ” she told The. Frame.