Independent Work Week #7: Part A: Mashkawi-Manidoo Bimaadiziwin Spirit to Soar (English Version) Spirit to Soar, Mashkawi-manidoo bimaadiziwin is a documentary inspired by TanyaTalaga’s book, Seven Fallen Feathers. The film looks at how the book came to Talaga, when she travelled to Thunder Bay as a newspaper journalist on a federal election assignment, but discovered instead the story of seven First Nations high school students who had either died or gone missing from 2000 to 2011. This documentary examines the hard truths around the deaths of the seven students, truths the northern city of Thunder Bay and the country of Canada, have long ignored: Racism kills, especially when it presents itself as indifference. Spirit to Soar is a closer look at what has happened in the wake of the inquest into the student’s deaths, of how families and communities have struggled to carry on while pursuing justice for their loved ones and equity for First Nations People, and, it looks at Talaga’s own journey of trying to make sense of her role here. At its heart, this film is a story of the strength and bravery First Nations youth face every single day, when they walk out the front door and head to high school in a country that has tried to erase them. We are still here and thriving. 1. The documentary mentions the Sixties Scoop. Please research this term and provide a couple of sentences to explain what this term refers to. This was a period in which the Canadian government would remove indigenous children from their home and place them into white households. It took place between the late 50s to 80s. The point of the practice was to assimilate indigenous children, to “kill the Indian in the child.” 2. According to the documentary, why do so many Indigenous youth travel to cities like Thunder Bay for school? The kids travel to other cities because there are not many quality schools in many regions, forcing them to emigrate. 3. The documentary highlights different kinds of “casual racism” that Indigenous peoples experience in Thunder Bay. Articulate one example. one of the forms of casual racism, was the mistreatment of guests at a hotel for example, as indigenous guests were sometimes given rooms that have not yet been cleaned, which is completely absurd when comparing it to the service experienced by white Canadians. 4. What message does the video convey about the how the deaths of Indigenous students are treated in Thunder Bay/Canada? Most of the deaths of indigenous students are dismissed as accidents, or are unable to be investigated further. 5. What message does the documentary convey about police response to the deaths of Indigenous students in Thunder Bay? The police response is portrayed to be lazy, ignorant, and fundamentally racist. The proper evidence was not procured, the crime scenes were not treated properly. 6. As the documentary highlights, the Thunder Bay police were investigated by the Independent police watch. What were the results of this investigation? It was discovered that systemic racism runs through all ranks of the police, and that they did not conduct adequate investigations of the deaths of the students, and that they were not at all treated like nonindigenous students. 7. What message does the documentary convey about they importance of Indigenous youth reconnecting to the land? Reconnecting with the land is extremely important, it almost serves as medicine for the indigenous community. People find it very healing and restorative. 8. What message doe the documentary convey about the importance of stories? Stories are very important because it's a way of communicating the past to future generations. They are important because they help share experiences and life lessons to those that come after us. 9. Provide a critical reflection (thoughts/feelings) on the documentary. Please note that your reflection should be at least 8 well-articulated sentences. As with every week, I'm deeply ashamed of the experiences that indigenous people have in this country. It feels completely unfair and unjust that due to my skin colour, I am treated better than the original inhabitants of the land. I wish I could say I was surprised about the police handling of the cases regarding missing and murdered indigenous youth, but I'm not. It's well known that people of colour in general are not treated with the same respect in North America, but it almost feels like salt added to the wound when the person being discriminated against is the one who rightfully inhabits the land. In the documentary, a great point was made about how if international students were murdered en masse, there would be a huge international outcry, but when the group of people that are murdered come from a marginalized group, it is largely ignored. When watching documentaries like this, it's difficult to try and put myself into the shoes of indigenous people because I frankly cannot relate to their continued mistreatment. I am privileged enough to have an ethnic background that is not a cause of my suffering, and the fact that that is a cause of anyone suffering is abhorrent. I can only hope the situation will improve, but I know it will be very slow if at all. Part B: In the Making: Rebecca Belmore: Click on Season 2: Episode 8 https://gem.cbc.ca/media/in-the-making/season-2/episode-8/38e815a-011b28ef7b4 Click on Season 2: Episode 8 9. Who is Rebecca Belmore? What is the objective of her artwork? Rebecca Belmore is an indigenous artist who’s art is about trauma, injustice, resistance, and beauty. 10. What does Rebecca Belmore say about her experience of racism? She has experienced racism in school, she had to leave university due to her feeling like indigenous people did not have a place at the school. 11. How did Rebecca respond artistically to the Oka Crisis? What was the objective of this artistic response? Be specific. She initially wanted to organize a protest, but she instead built a huge sculpture of a megaphone, to talk to the local indigenous people, and any indigenous person wanted to speak into it, they were free to. It was intended to bring the community together during a time of great division, asking people to speak to the land directly. 12. What are starlight tours? The starlight tours was a time of period when saskatoon police arrested indigenous men, drove out to the wilderness, and left them to freeze to death. 13. Who is Neil Stonechild? How did Rebecca Belmore honor his life? What happened to this artwork? He was an indigenous teenager, taken at 17, dropped off at a power plant, and left to freeze to death. 14. What question does Rebecca Belmore paint on the cement at the end of the film. Why do you think she writes this? She writes “Why don’t you just get over it!” She might have written this more several reasons, such as: highlighting the incredible disrespect contained in that statement, and also making it a statement, because people don’t actually want to learn, they just don’t want to be confronted by the facts. Part C: Reading: 15. In your own words, summarize three main points of this week’s assigned reading. The first point of the reading was that anti-indigenous discrimination is still very pervasive in the media, and it rears its head in journalism too frequently. Another point is that many Canadians believe old, racist stereotypes, and do not care to rethink them, and educate themselves properly. The final point is that the media still actively perpetuates indigenous stereotypes, and very poorly represents indigenous life. Week # 8 Please choose one of the following 3 movies to view on your own. Please note that, while it might be tempting to skip the movie and just read synopsis/reviews on line (ie., to cheat), it is EXTREMELY important that you actually watch your chosen movie. Questions on your chosen movie will appear on the next test and there may even be a pop quiz on your chosen movie. I may also ask you to meet with me one on one to discuss the movie. Blood Quantum was a very enjoyable watch; however it definitely had its ups and downs. The strong points of the film were the cinematography, set design, makeup, sound design, and direction. A significant weak point was the screenplay, and the plot seemed somewhat bizarre. I genuinely did begin this movie with an open mind, and I really did love the cinematography especially, however I feel as if the screenplay it was somewhat lacking. One could interpret that the behavior of the indigenous people in the film, served to comment on racial stereotypes of settlers, by playing them up and exaggerating them, however this could be very easily lost on an audience. Some of the scenes that really stood out to me were the scene where the gutted fish start thrashing, the scenes in which the characters were animated, and the scene in which the bite marks on the main character's back were visible. . The scene in which the fish thrash was very striking to me because it made me think of how indigenous people continued to fight for their rights despite being killed and persecuted constantly throughout history. The animated scenes were interesting to me because I interpreted them as indigenous spirituality, where the soul of the character would be represented by an animated inner spirit. For example, when Lysol completed his transition to evil, we see this reflected in the change of colour palette during the animated portion of the film, and when the grandfather has died, his spirit fights on and overcomes the odds. The scene in which the main character’s bite marks are visible was striking to me because they were quite literally scars that he had survived, a very clear metaphor to all the pain endured by indigenous people who managed then managed to overcome it. I wouldn't say I learned anything new from, however I would say that I did rethink some aspects of indigenous representation Another interesting idea conveyed by the filmmaker was that in life, the settlers drove indigenous people from their land, and killed them, and now in death, the townies drive the indigenous people from their home, and kill them too. To me, it says that indigenous people are never really given a good ending, and that they must always work twice as hard to get half as far. Another idea that I find interesting is that the indigenous people were immune to the zombie virus. This could be interpreted as them being “closer” to mother earth, as potentially evidenced by the animated scene where the indigenous woman has a trail connecting her to the centre of the earth directly, while the settlers are very quickly ravaged by said virus. Overall, this movie was a good watch, but I think context about what exactly blood quantum laws were, and the treatment of indigenous people is integral to the viewing. 20 points Required Reading : 1. In your own words, summarize 3 of the main messages of this week’s required reading. Three main points of this week's reading could be summarized into 3 main points. Stereotypes in the media portray indigenous people to be all alcoholics and substance abusers, the fact that there is a lot of misinformation regarding the culture of indigenous people, especially in regard to alcohol, and that there is some inherent biological difference between the way that indigenous people metabolize alcohol compared to non indigenous people. These are clearly very problematic, as while substance abuse is pervasive, there is a very clear societal role in its prevalence. Alcohol was introduced to indigenous people by the settlers, and if anything this should be reflected more in media.
