An iconic quote from an iconic film character as portrayed by Peter Finch in the film Network from 1976.
The fact that it was timely then and now speaks volumes, and should be cause for alarm…..time to do like Howard said and get up out of our chairs.
Time to take back our lives and be counted as individuals, not merely a demographic or a “problem”. Time to refuse to fulfill stereotypical expectations and become WHO WE WERE.
Time for all indigenous persons, and the world to say “I’m a HUMAN BEING, God damn it! My life has VALUE!
Howard Beale: I don’t have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It’s a depression. Everybody’s out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel’s worth, banks are going bust, shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter. Punks are running wild in the street and there’s nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there’s no end to it. We know the air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat, and we sit watching our TV’s while some local newscaster tells us that today we had fifteen homicides and sixty-three violent crimes, as if that’s the way it’s supposed to be. We know things are bad – worse than bad. They’re crazy. It’s like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don’t go out anymore. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we are living in is getting smaller, and all we say is, ‘Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials and I won’t say anything. Just leave us alone.’ Well, I’m not gonna leave you alone. I want you to get mad! I don’t want you to protest. I don’t want you to riot – I don’t want you to write to your congressman because I wouldn’t know what to tell you to write. I don’t know what to do about the depression and the inflation and the Russians and the crime in the street. All I know is that first you’ve got to get mad. You’ve got to say, ‘I’m a HUMAN BEING, God damn it! My life has VALUE!’ So I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window. Open it, and stick your head out, and yell, ‘I’M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!’ I want you to get up right now, sit up, go to your windows, open them and stick your head out and yell – ‘I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore!’ Things have got to change. But first, you’ve gotta get mad!… You’ve got to say, ‘I’m as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take this anymore!’ Then we’ll figure out what to do about the depression and the inflation and the oil crisis. But first get up out of your chairs, open the window, stick your head out, and yell, and say it: “I’M AS MAD AS HELL, AND I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE!”
Apathy, lack of self-esteem, and refusal to see the light at the end of the tunnel certainly inhibits some of our people from reaching the point where we can finally find our own way out of a paper bag. “Yes, I’m a hater of injustice. I am a human being, and my life has value.” Our women were never afraid to speak out. We ousted Chiefs, if they didn’t hold true to their word. Some Native women today, but not all, forget the strength we always had, to speak out, to right the wrongs of our Leaders, Chiefs, Clans and tribes, and I’m sure there were times when we were not very polite about it. Am I as mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore? Absolutely….now what?
Howard Beale, let me introduce you to our Clan Mothers and Elders….
Anakis:
Despite all the made for media talk about matriarchy or loving all women
as some have said, the actual process of re instating women and elders
to their former positions seems to be mostly lip service.
Following on the heels of a minimum of four decades plus in the efforts to
marginalize them it shouldn’t be surprising-I think there are a majority of
indigenous women who are fearful to raise their voice lest it lead to another
smack down.
It is the same fear that precludes them from speaking up when having been
sexually or physically assaulted-the knowledge that they will be threatened,
intimidated, and blamed.
While it is a good thing to walk and talk about health related issues, this to
me along with a few other conditions I could cite are the greatest problems
related to the “health” of the nations-and yet none author a walk to raise
awareness.
To do so would drag the dirty laundry out into the light of day where it belongs
and raise too many questions, both personal and generic. If the time comes
when the monetary rewards outweigh the risks maybe the walkers, talkers,
and liberators will decide it’s worth it.
Until such time I expect little more from them than books, interviews, and
videos-all telling us how great they are and their unflagging service.