BIPOC, we don’t have to be in competition
It’s OK to applaud one group while wanting more exposure for your own group
While I’m always on the lookout for good independent films that are created by black, indigenous and (other) people of color, there will be ones that will slip through the cracks. “Canvas,” an animated short film, is one of those moments. I smiled through the grandfather’s story and how beautifully told it was. It also made me think of memories of my own grandparents.
While I appreciated @8wariorlittle for bringing it to Twitter users’ attention, I couldn’t help but notice a tweet underneath, “I’m still waiting on Native shows and animation. The last fucking thing we had was Pocahontas in the fucking 90’s since then we’ve had ZERO representation. And we still only got 1 shared day out of the year while everyone else gots a fucking month.”
What. The. Fawk?
ADVERTISEMENT ~ Amazon
As an Amazon affiliate, I earn a percentage from purchases with my referral links. I know some consumers are choosing to boycott Amazon for its DEI removal. However, after thinking about this thoroughly, I choose to continue promoting intriguing products from small businesses, women-owned businesses and (specifically) Black-owned businesses who still feature their items on Amazon. All five of my Substack publications now include a MINIMUM of one product sold by a Black-owned business. (I have visited the seller’s official site, not just the Amazon Black-owned logo, to verify this.) If you still choose to boycott, I 100% respect that decision.
There’s this habit that I find within BIPOC groups that needs to stop — pronto — and I’m not just talking about Gina Rodriguez’s unnecessary “what about me” stunt with Yara Shahidi or Eva Longoria’s rambling regarding black leaders and the 2020 Election. Too many of us have a habit of seeing one group get some shine in business, technology, education and entertainment industries and immediately ruining it with a, “But what about me?” Contrary to (uncomfortably) popular belief, it is indeed possible to applaud someone for progress within their group while using your same platform to encourage more diversity. It does not have to be one or the other.
Recommended Read: “When a black inventor disguised himself as Native American ~ That other reason black folks say they have ‘Indian in my family’”
Another gripe I have with this tweet is that it was just flat-out untrue. “Pocahontas” released in 1995. Meanwhile I watched both 2014–2015 seasons of “The Red Road” starring Jason Momoa at least three times. Even the absolute laziest search of Native films and animation could introduce web users to these streaming projects to watch in 2020:
Basketball or Nothing
Merata: How Mum Decolonized the Screen
Indian Horse
N. Scott Momaday: Words from a Bear
See
It also doesn’t take into account Native anime like these shows:
Pachamama (Netflix)
Victor and Valentino (The Cartoon Network)
Molly of Denali (PBS)
And considering I celebrated National Native American Heritage Month at a couple jobs (along with a Black History Month party), you’d have to be comfortably sleeping under a rock to not know about this November homage since 1990. That’s not even touching on the fact that if it wasn’t for Carter G. Woodson’s work in the 1970s, Black History Month would probably still just be Negro History Week.
But my bigger issue with this tweet is the saltiness of it all, and the hunch that if this same tweet was about a non-black anime short, this wouldn’t have been sent.