Past issues with race and poverty have a deep-seeded role to play in today’s current environmental and cultural inequality. In the movie “Thunderheart,” a young mixed-blood FBI agent is sent to investigate a murder on poverty-stricken Sioux reservation. The officer quickly realizes that it is not the Sioux people that who were causing problems, but, rather, the American government had a secret agenda to steal land from the Sioux people to start mining for uranium and other natural resources. The Native-American people were pushed from their original lands and forced to move West. Not only were the Native-American people forcefully relocated to these “reservations,” but they were also prosecuted heavily on their new lands. David Lotto explains,
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In the past, Native-Americans were forcefully relocated from their lands, or exterminated. Native-Americans were viewed as savages and deemed uncivilized by the white men that invaded their homeland. They were either slaughtered by the thousands, or relocated far West. “Thunderheart” demonstrates that this disconnect between “civilized” and “uncivilized” and the inability to appreciate their culture is still prevalent in today’s society. Frank Coutelle and Ray Levoi, the new agent, have conflicting viewpoints on the Native-American culture. Jack Milton, the tribal president, is the physical representation of racism and ignorance in American society. He is a Native-American who has been brainwashed to believe that the ARM, Aboriginal Rights Movement, is a group of dangerous people and should be dealt with accordingly. He is always seen with a huge gun and with a gang of white-influenced native cronies. This depiction shows he is ready to shoot at any Indian aggressor, or, not, when he does fire upon the small house holding peaceful Native-American activist, Maggie Eaglebear, and her children. By the end, Jack Milton is defending the secret agenda that the American government put in place. The American government is mining for Uranium on the reservation lands. The mining is illegal and ARM is trying to reveal this secret to the public. The …show more content…
This was absolutely not the case, because, in 2013, Obama was the target of more than 30 potential death threats a day, making him the most threatened president in history. In response to the June 17th, 2015 church shooting in Charleston, South Carolina, president of SPLC, Southern Poverty Law Center, a team that tracks right-wing hate groups, calls the shooting “an obvious hate crime by someone who feels threatened by our country’s changing demographics and the increasing prominence of African Americans in public life” (Lotto 157.) The current day “Black Lives Matter” movement and its militant offshoot “No Justice No Peace” are both movements created in response to white on black violence. These movements have garnered a lot of attention and a significant amount of support from the public. All of this racial discrimination does not spring from today’s contemporary issues. “Racism has a long history in this country” (Lotto 156.) President Andrew Johnson was the first prominent politician to veto bills that would “provide educational and economic benefits to poor people, whites as well as the newly emancipated slaves” and claim that they “simply give a handout to lazy blacks, paid for by hard working whites.” This ideology still has not disappeared in today’s right-wing Tea
In the past, Native-Americans were forcefully relocated from their lands, or exterminated. Native-Americans were viewed as savages and deemed uncivilized by the white men that invaded their homeland. They were either slaughtered by the thousands, or relocated far West. “Thunderheart” demonstrates that this disconnect between “civilized” and “uncivilized” and the inability to appreciate their culture is still prevalent in today’s society. Frank Coutelle and Ray Levoi, the new agent, have conflicting viewpoints on the Native-American culture. Jack Milton, the tribal president, is the physical representation of racism and ignorance in American society. He is a Native-American who has been brainwashed to believe that the ARM, Aboriginal Rights Movement, is a group of dangerous people and should be dealt with accordingly. He is always seen with a huge gun and with a gang of white-influenced native cronies. This depiction shows he is ready to shoot at any Indian aggressor, or, not, when he does fire upon the small house holding peaceful Native-American activist, Maggie Eaglebear, and her children. By the end, Jack Milton is defending the secret agenda that the American government put in place. The American government is mining for Uranium on the reservation lands. The mining is illegal and ARM is trying to reveal this secret to the public. The …show more content…
This was absolutely not the case, because, in 2013, Obama was the target of more than 30 potential death threats a day, making him the most threatened president in history. In response to the June 17th, 2015 church shooting in Charleston, South Carolina, president of SPLC, Southern Poverty Law Center, a team that tracks right-wing hate groups, calls the shooting “an obvious hate crime by someone who feels threatened by our country’s changing demographics and the increasing prominence of African Americans in public life” (Lotto 157.) The current day “Black Lives Matter” movement and its militant offshoot “No Justice No Peace” are both movements created in response to white on black violence. These movements have garnered a lot of attention and a significant amount of support from the public. All of this racial discrimination does not spring from today’s contemporary issues. “Racism has a long history in this country” (Lotto 156.) President Andrew Johnson was the first prominent politician to veto bills that would “provide educational and economic benefits to poor people, whites as well as the newly emancipated slaves” and claim that they “simply give a handout to lazy blacks, paid for by hard working whites.” This ideology still has not disappeared in today’s right-wing Tea