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M artin L uther K ing J r .
2016 special edition
January 13, 2016
‘The Revenant’
C ontinued froM P age 37
won for “Birdman” helps to af-
ford this Mexican director the
heft it takes to produce a motion
picture with this breadth of vi-
sion, even if most of Hollywood’s
dominant culture hasn’t cultivat-
ed the perception to appreciate
the intelligence and depth he of-
fers us. I can’t help but imagine
that Iñárritu’s own origins from
outside that dominant culture are
part of what equip him with the
interest, curiosity, and will to hire
First Nations actors to play First
Nations people, to include them
in the heart of this story, to en-
gage experts who could help him
get the First Nations languages
and cultures right, and to ground
this film in the real experiences of
those who were engaged during
this period of history in a losing
battle to save their ancient way
of life. The result is a rich and
violent-yet-poetic rendering of a
whole array of high stakes battles
-- including an ambush in which
arrows whip from all sides, bru-
tal scenes depicting starvation
and cold as manifest killers, and
the journey of a canny and deter-
mined Arikara chief searching for
his kidnapped daughter among
French trappers who have proven
to be faithless business partners.
Iñárritu has used this celebrat-
ed fictionalized story of a heroic
white frontiersman to broaden
our conception of the truth as
only great filmmakers do.
Darleen Ortega is a judge on
the Oregon Court of Appeals and
the first woman of color to serve
in that capacity. Her movie review
column Opinionated Judge ap-
pears regularly in The Portland
Observer. Find her movie blog at
opinionatedjudge.blogspot.com.
America is Literally
Violently Ill
C ontinued froM P age 38
toward a “person-oriented” soci-
ety rather than being “thing-ori-
ented.” The radical truth-telling
coming from Ferguson offers a
remedy for the rest of this nation.
Transparency, accountability and
confronting the powers that be
(and our own neighbors as well
when needed) is, as Intercultural
Communications scholar Imani
Scott suggests, our only real hope
for peaceful survival.
We must ask ourselves at this
moment in history, what kind of
nation are we to become? Will
we continue to choose money and
profit instead of the lives of many
of its citizens? When we are told
that it is ‘reasonable’ to shoot and
kill a 12-year-old children like
Tamir Rice holding a toy gun in
a park, when we face a consistent
string of non-indictments of po-
lice officers engaged in racially
motivated violence, when Con-
gress refuses to end the ban on re-
search of mass shootings, it seems
that a resounding “yes” is our sad
answer.
If we cannot and do not speak
the truth telling about today’s
crimes against humanity, then the
U.S. will not head towards a long
and much-needed march towards
recovery, healing, and true democ-
racy. May 2016 open our hearts to
the best of who we are and can be
together.
David Ragland is an Afri-
can-American peace scholar who
founded a truth and reconciliation
project in the aftermath of the up-
rising in Ferguson, Mo. Natalie
Jeffers and Matt Meyer are also
educators and activists. Distribut-
ed by PeaceVoice.