“Whatever their reasons. Hollywood, or the entertainment industry, is saying something about Indians. I don’t see the rest of the media knocking down any doors to do that. Actually, we wouldn’t even be having these kinds of discussions if Hollywood hadn’t done this. For me, the issue around ‘Thunderheart’ is, hey, these things did happen. This type of warfare and storm-trooper activity took place, and it took place in this country, and it took place against a certain segment of the population because of their political, racial and cultural identities. And I respect the idea that the people involved in this project expressed that.”
“I don’t think of it in terms of optimism and pessimism. I feel confident that culturally and spiritually we will make it through these various hardships. We will continue to exist. But as far as the physical oppression itself, no, I don’t see that changing right away. I don’t see that, in the short term, the material hardship of life is going to change…For us, it’s a matter of just staying alive and getting the best deal we can now. Eventually, this will all straighten out. It may be two generations away or 10 generations away, but time is irrelevant in that sense. As long as we, as a people, stay alive, we will survive. Life is all about the spirit. I look at the citizens of the nation states now, and they exist. They survived. And I know that we’re still alive. But materially, politically, economically, the conditions aren’t going to lighten up for us.” – On the possibility that “Thunderheart” and “Incident at Oglala” could change the state of things back on the reservation. ~
SOURCE: Syracuse Herald Journal