NSA TORTURE TECHNOLOGY, NEWS and RESEARCH
2015-02-24 08:42:09 UTC
http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/movies/bestpictures/godfather-ar3.html
March 30, 1973
'THE GODFATHER'
That Unfinished Oscar Speech
By MARLON BRANDO
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. -- For 200 years we have said to the Indian
people who are fighting for their land, their life, their families and
their right to be free: ''Lay down your arms, my friends, and then we
will remain together. Only if you lay down your arms, my friends, can
we then talk of peace and come to an agreement which will be good for
you.''
When they laid down their arms, we murdered them. We lied to them. We
cheated them out of their lands. We starved them into signing
fraudulent agreements that we called treaties which we never kept. We
turned them into beggars on a continent that gave life for as long as
life can remember. And by any interpretation of history, however
twisted, we did not do right. We were not lawful nor were we just in
what we did. For them, we do not have to restore these people, we do
not have to live up to some agreements, because it is given to us by
virtue of our power to attack the rights of others, to take their
property, to take their lives when they are trying to defend their
land and liberty, and to make their virtues a crime and our own vices
virtues.
But there is one thing which is beyond the reach of this perversity
and that is the tremendous verdict of history. And history will surely
judge us. But do we care? What kind of moral schizophrenia is it that
allows us to shout at the top of our national voice for all the world
to hear that we live up to our commitment when every page of history
and when all the thirsty, starving, humiliating days and nights of the
last 100 years in the lives of the American Indian contradict that
voice?
It would seem that the respect for principle and the love of one's
neighbor have become dysfunctional in this country of ours, and that
all we have done, all that we have succeeded in accomplishing with our
power is simply annihilating the hopes of the newborn countries in
this world, as well as friends and enemies alike, that we're not
humane, and that we do not live up to our agreements.
Perhaps at this moment you are saying to yourself what the hell has
all this got to do with the Academy Awards? Why is this woman standing
up here, ruining our evening, invading our lives with things that
don't concern us, and that we don't care about? Wasting our time and
money and intruding in our homes.
I think the answer to those unspoken questions is that the motion
picture community has been as responsible as any for degrading the
Indian and making a mockery of his character, describing his as
savage, hostile and evil. It's hard enough for children to grow up in
this world. When Indian children watch television, and they watch
films, and when they see their race depicted as they are in films,
their minds become injured in ways we can never know.
Recently there have been a few faltering steps to correct this
situation, but too faltering and too few, so I, as a member in this
profession, do not feel that I can as a citizen of the United States
accept an award here tonight. I think awards in this country at this
time are inappropriate to be received or given until the condition of
the American Indian is drastically altered. If we are not our
brother's keeper, at least let us not be his executioner.
I would have been here tonight to speak to you directly, but I felt
that perhaps I could be of better use if I went to Wounded Knee to
help forestall in whatever way I can the establishment of a peace
which would be dishonorable as long as the rivers shall run and the
grass shall grow.
I would hope that those who are listening would not look upon this as
a rude intrusion, but as an earnest effort to focus attention on an
issue that might very well determine whether or not this country has
the right to say from this point forward we believe in the inalienable
rights of all people to remain free and independent on lands that have
supported their life beyond living memory.
Thank you for your kindness and your courtesy to Miss Littlefeather.
Thank you and good night.
This statement was written by Marlon Brando for delivery at the
Academy Awards ceremony where Mr. Brando refused an Oscar. The
speaker, who read only a part of it, was Shasheen Littlefeather.
March 30, 1973
'THE GODFATHER'
That Unfinished Oscar Speech
By MARLON BRANDO
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. -- For 200 years we have said to the Indian
people who are fighting for their land, their life, their families and
their right to be free: ''Lay down your arms, my friends, and then we
will remain together. Only if you lay down your arms, my friends, can
we then talk of peace and come to an agreement which will be good for
you.''
When they laid down their arms, we murdered them. We lied to them. We
cheated them out of their lands. We starved them into signing
fraudulent agreements that we called treaties which we never kept. We
turned them into beggars on a continent that gave life for as long as
life can remember. And by any interpretation of history, however
twisted, we did not do right. We were not lawful nor were we just in
what we did. For them, we do not have to restore these people, we do
not have to live up to some agreements, because it is given to us by
virtue of our power to attack the rights of others, to take their
property, to take their lives when they are trying to defend their
land and liberty, and to make their virtues a crime and our own vices
virtues.
But there is one thing which is beyond the reach of this perversity
and that is the tremendous verdict of history. And history will surely
judge us. But do we care? What kind of moral schizophrenia is it that
allows us to shout at the top of our national voice for all the world
to hear that we live up to our commitment when every page of history
and when all the thirsty, starving, humiliating days and nights of the
last 100 years in the lives of the American Indian contradict that
voice?
It would seem that the respect for principle and the love of one's
neighbor have become dysfunctional in this country of ours, and that
all we have done, all that we have succeeded in accomplishing with our
power is simply annihilating the hopes of the newborn countries in
this world, as well as friends and enemies alike, that we're not
humane, and that we do not live up to our agreements.
Perhaps at this moment you are saying to yourself what the hell has
all this got to do with the Academy Awards? Why is this woman standing
up here, ruining our evening, invading our lives with things that
don't concern us, and that we don't care about? Wasting our time and
money and intruding in our homes.
I think the answer to those unspoken questions is that the motion
picture community has been as responsible as any for degrading the
Indian and making a mockery of his character, describing his as
savage, hostile and evil. It's hard enough for children to grow up in
this world. When Indian children watch television, and they watch
films, and when they see their race depicted as they are in films,
their minds become injured in ways we can never know.
Recently there have been a few faltering steps to correct this
situation, but too faltering and too few, so I, as a member in this
profession, do not feel that I can as a citizen of the United States
accept an award here tonight. I think awards in this country at this
time are inappropriate to be received or given until the condition of
the American Indian is drastically altered. If we are not our
brother's keeper, at least let us not be his executioner.
I would have been here tonight to speak to you directly, but I felt
that perhaps I could be of better use if I went to Wounded Knee to
help forestall in whatever way I can the establishment of a peace
which would be dishonorable as long as the rivers shall run and the
grass shall grow.
I would hope that those who are listening would not look upon this as
a rude intrusion, but as an earnest effort to focus attention on an
issue that might very well determine whether or not this country has
the right to say from this point forward we believe in the inalienable
rights of all people to remain free and independent on lands that have
supported their life beyond living memory.
Thank you for your kindness and your courtesy to Miss Littlefeather.
Thank you and good night.
This statement was written by Marlon Brando for delivery at the
Academy Awards ceremony where Mr. Brando refused an Oscar. The
speaker, who read only a part of it, was Shasheen Littlefeather.