FIGHTING INDIANS
Thursday, January 23 at
7:30 PM
Guest speaker: Native
Advocate/WBAI Radio Host John Kane
$16 Public | $10 Members
Across the United States, nearly 2,000 school sports teams
play under Native American “themed” mascots. In 2019, Maine became the first
state in the country to pass legislation banning their use in public Schools.
For local Tribal Nations, this landmark legislation marked an end to a
decades-long struggle to educate the public on the harms of “Indian” mascots
and to end their use. Fighting Indians chronicles the last and most contentious
holdout in the state, as a small predominantly white community, known for
decades as “The Home of the Indians,” is forced to reckon with its identity,
its sordid history, and future relationship with its indigenous neighbors. From
corporate boardrooms to local school boards, the debate over Native “themed”
sports mascots rages throughout the country. Fighting Indians
offers a rare and inspiring portrait of Native activism that exposes
centuries-old abuses while showing that reconciliation is possible. (USA,
2021, 117 min., color)
John
Kane is a Kanienkehaka
(Mohawk), who currently lives on the Cattaraugus Territory of the Seneca
Nation. John has been involved for most of his adult life in contemporary
issues affecting Native people and has battled local, state and federal
governments and raised awareness on issues ranging from the use of Native
mascots to taxation, gaming, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, land use,
land claims and environmentally destructive infrastructure projects like the
KXL Pipeline, the Dakota Access Pipeline and Line 3. He hosts a popular radio
show “Resistance Radio with John Kane” on WBAI 99.5 FM, in New York City, and
WPFW 89.3 FM, in Washington, DC, and the podcast “Let’s Talk Native with John
Kane.” John has spoken at the United Nations,
the Carnegie Endowment for World Peace as well as colleges and universities
across the country.
John played a significant role in the fight that led to the New York State
Education Department’s statewide ban on the use of Native mascots in public
schools. He was asked to sit on NYSED’s Indigenous Mascot Advisory Council and
worked with NYSED to define the guidelines for implementing the ban. On
November 21, 2024, John was asked by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the
American Indian in New York City to be the Native voice on a panel discussion
on New York’s Native mascot ban. The NY Giants Community Outreach Department
asked for the event and the Giants’ Ethan Medley participated in the
discussion. The discussion was moderated by Chris Turner, NMAI curator from Washington
DC. The event brought in student athletes and the Athletic Directors from the
Nyack and Wappinger Falls School Districts.
Program curated by Cindy Campbell
