Native Angelenos: Filmmaker Pamela J. Peters Deconstructs Stereotypes

Pamela J. Peters at Indian Alley. | Photo: Kevin Michael Campbell.

In partnership with Cornerstone Theater Company : Cornerstone Theater Company makes new plays with and about communities.

This article is part of an exclusive series about Cornerstone Theater Company 's upcoming Hunger Cycle play, Urban Rez, a community -engaged production created in collaboration with members of the Native American community in Los Angeles. Urban Rez, written by Larissa FastHorse, an award -winning playwright and choreographer from the Sicangu Lakota Nation, reflects a contemporary story of urban Indians in Los Angeles through performances that examine the hunger that persists when culture, language, land and identity are denied.

Playwright Larissa FastHorse has worked to develop Urban Rez in response to her communitys specific challenges. Her desire is to provide an experience that blurs the lines between theater, culture, and education and to present the play at outdoor venues, connecting audiences with the lands of the Native people of the Los Angeles Basin. The artistic process began by interacting with indigenous peoples of Southern California and learning about their culture, issues, needs, and aspirations. The end result will be an immersive theater experience that unfolds as part of an interactive cultural fair, held outdoors this spring at the Los Angeles State Historic Park and Kuruvungna Springs.

This series explores the play's development process from the perspective of community members and artists involved in the project. In this article, multimedia documentarian Pamela J. Peters talks about relocation and the camaraderie of local Indians.

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In 2008, I saw Kent Mackenzie's film, The Exiles (1961), a neorealist film that showcased a true depiction of Indians living in Los Angeles during a time when Hollywood cinema was generating stereotypes of Indians in Western films. I loved The Exiles because it gave a realistic portrayal of American Indians going through the U.S. Relocation Program. My parents, like many Indian families, migrated to various cities through the program, yet today many people don't know about it. The film inspired me to do something -- to bring to light that we (as Indian people) have a history in Los Angeles.

Clearly, people from many cultures have come to Los Angeles and their stories have been told and acknowledged by the city. Plaques have been displayed showing their communities. However, American Indian migration to cities has not been discussed on a large scale. As a Navajo living in the city, I want our history to be remembered and I also want to pay homage to that first generation of relocated Indians of the 1950s and 1960s. I initially conceptualized Legacy of Exiled NDNZ as a photography project, but the idea to make it a film came about as I viewed the behind-the-scenes video and listened to the interviews of my seven young participants, each from various tribes (Lakota, Barona Bands of Mission Indians, Cherokee, Seminole and Navajo). The project grew into a short film which continues to be seen in the film festival circuit and educational outlets. Now, it has expanded into a feature-length documentary, entitled Exiled NDNZ, currently in progress. I want to bring awareness of our presence and cultural contribution to Los Angeles; we, too, have a story woven into the history of Southern California.

Image comparison of Kent Mackenzies The Exiles (bottom) and Pamela J. Peterss Exiled NDNZ (top).

In Los Angeles, several communities are named in tribute to their cultures: Little Tokyo, Korea Town, Little Ethiopia, to name a few. Yet, even though there are approximately 175,000 American Indians living in L.A., there is no formal acknowledgment of our presence. What makes this even more upsetting is that American Indians didn't just decide to move to the city. It was part of a U.S. program to remove Indians from their tribal lands for the purpose of capital and community expansion, which is why I used exiled in my title project. With respect to aforementioned communities, Bunker Hill is finally being acknowledged as the place marking Indian Relocation in films and articles, and this I believe is in large part due to Kent Mackenzie's film. However, today our existence as tribal people is not known, so through my projects I want to share our history and I want Southern California to acknowledge that we are a part of Los Angeles history.

In keeping with this mission, I am working on another project entitled Indian Alley, which features the original site of the United American Indian Involvement center that helped Indians in the 1970s. Much of the American Indian migration to Los Angeles was due to the Indian Relocation Act of 1956. Authorized by this act, the federal government offered American Indians the opportunity to work and live in major cities. For some this meant assimilation, for others, a better life than on their tribal reservations. The Native population grew from roughly 12,000 in the 1960s to more than 25,000 in the 1970s. Today, over 175,000 tribal members live in Los Angeles (the highest populated urban Indian community in the United States), many of whom migrated from Montana, South Dakota, New Mexico, and Oklahoma, and other communities. Many came in hopes of finding a better life, yet unfortunately wound up addicted to drugs or alcohol, and homeless. This is not uncommon when people struggle with poverty and depression in urban environments.

Photo: Pamela J. Peters.

It is important to understand that most of the first generation of relocated Indians were in their late teens and early 20s, fresh out of Indian boarding schools where they were forced to erase their Indian identities and sever ties with their communities. Today it is different, but then, most Indian boarding schools were vocational schools gro

LINK:	https://www.kcet.org/shows/artbound/indian-alley-skid-row-pamela-j-pet...
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