S.E. RUCKMAN: Indian culture remains free enterprise to anyone in grease paint

It was less than perfect. The publicity still of a new Tonto character by Johnny Depp was destined to polarize views on the depiction of American Indians. I read that some folks loved it and some hated it. I think I may fall into the stunned category.

Having been a longtime Depp fan, I have tried to see virtually all of his movies because what he does is done so well. I even loved his depiction of the novelist, Hunter S. Thompson, as a kind of LSD Lone Ranger in “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.”

But I am getting a dose of fear and loathing at this moment as I consider the open season it continues to be on Indian stereotypes. We are a country in which only a very small majority of people admit to having prejudice of some type. Most of us like to think of ourselves as very in tune and hip to the idea of race as a reality in America: We are all one big happy melting pot.

I read recently an essay in which a writer offered that we should be grateful that it was Depp who portrayed the icon Tonto. Furthermore, it was intimated that we had bigger fish to fry in Indian Country (I assume this meant social ills) than to whine about how Tonto was portrayed.

Years ago, one of the actors who portrayed Tonto (Mohawk actor, Jay Silverheels) was named “Indian of the Year,” at a local Indian fair. As befitting an Indian pioneer in media culture, he was fawned over by all.  I remember him smiling from one side at my mom’s Kodak Instamatic because by then he was recovering from a stroke.

It’s safe to say that Silverheels’ era in Hollywood has long evolved. Even in this semi-enlightened state, we view a round robin of Indian characters regularly played by a handful of actors. The portrayal of American Indians in popular culture is the stuff of doctoral theses.

But chiding the Indian populace that life is bad enough and that we should embrace a modern Tonto interpretation is just short of incredulous. This is a hot topic and one way to keep it relevant is to keep talking about it.

It might serve to remember that the propagation of stereotypes is not only limited to Native peoples. It crosses every racial barrier in full effect. It has been suggested that profiling was a factor in the recent shooting of an African American teenager in Florida by a neighborhood watch leader.  This is not to say that the new Tonto portrayal will lead to bloodshed but it does point to the sustained powerful effects of stereotypes in our society.

To insinuate that a tepid portrayal of Indians for public viewing rings blameless is lame. Stereotypes can reduce people to an emblematic decal rather than represent acceptance.  Besides, I would venture that most of Indian Country’s social ills like suicide, domestic violence; alcoholism and unemployment have a root somewhere in the negative perception by the dominant culture. Surface appraisals are rarely harmless.

Fixing those problems is a high priority and I know people whose whole lives are dedicated to this very cause. But as I have learned, problem solving is only momentary if no room for growth exists to those in the inferior position. Ignoring negative stereotypes of native people stunts the potential for growth because the perception remains in others’ hands. Going along for the sake of getting along is appeasement by a different name. History has proven that approach never works.

Problems exist in Indian Country, no doubt. Life on the reservations or predominantly Indian towns continues to be difficult thanks in part to the enduring nature of negative stereotypes.  I could list a few reservation border towns to illustrate this point but I don’t want to be guilty of negative connotations myself.

Yet as the new and improved version of Tonto makes clear, Indian culture remains free enterprise to anyone who can sew a stuffed crow to a head band and wear grease paint.