50 Years After Sacheen Littlefeather’s Oscars Protest, “Prejudice & Racism” Persist in Film Industry

On this Indigenous Peoples’ Day, we are remembering Sacheen Littlefeather, who recently died on October 2 at the age of 75. In 1973, she took the stage at the Oscars on behalf of Marlon Brando, who boycotted the ceremony to protest Hollywood’s portrayal of Native Americans. Some members of the audience booed and mocked Littlefeather as she addressed the awards ceremony wearing traditional Apache clothing. In August, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences finally apologized to her. “The suppression and the domination, the prejudice and the racism in our industry is still happening today,” says her friend and colleague Joanelle Romero, an actress and filmmaker and the first Native American woman of the Academy. Her film, “American Holocaust: When It’s All Over I’ll Still Be Indian,” was short-listed for an Academy Award. She is Apache-Diné and the founder and president of Red Nation Television Network and Red Nation International Film Festival. “It is very important for … our youth to be able to see themselves on media, and primetime television, and in feature films,” says Romero.

This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! Audio and was authored by Democracy Now!.