American-Indian performer Litefoot said he is disappointed rapper Andre 3000 and the Rev. Jesse Jackson did not attend this year's Gathering of Nations powwow at The Pit.
Litefoot, a rapper and Hollywood actor, said Jackson agreed to make a guest appearance at the gathering. After OutKast's Grammy performance last February, Litefoot put the word out that Andre 3000 of the two-man group OutKast ought to attend the gathering to apologize for offending American Indians. Litefoot said he hoped Jackson would facilitate the apology.
Andre 3000's performance of "Hey Ya," a song from OutKast's Speakerboxx/The Love Below album, included female dancers, dressed in fake, traditional American-Indian garb, including headdresses, feathers and short green skirts. They danced with a university marching band in front of a teepee backdrop. The performance opened with a brief excerpt of a Navajo ceremonial song.
"(Jackson) was all about it at first, and then I don't know who he was getting pressure from, but he slowly backed out of it," said Litefoot's publicist Ryan Noreikas. "We tried to set it up for them in a friendly way."
The California-based Native American Cultural Center condemned the Grammy performance and called for a boycott of CBS, the Recording Academy, which sponsors the Grammys, OutKast and its recording label, Arista Records.
Litefoot said Tex Hall, president of the National Congress of American Indians, and Ernie Stevens, Jr., chairman of the National Indian Gaming Association, endorsed the request for Andre 3000's apology Friday.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
"Those are the two most powerful American-Indian leaders in this country that were there to lend their support to our cause," Litefoot said. "What would've happened if I got up there and did one of my songs with an Afro wig on, a watermelon, and a spear? I would've been killed there that night."
Noreikas said OutKast issued an apology on their Web site, and CBS apologized in a Reuters news article. But, Noreikas said they were not as forthcoming as he and Litefoot had hoped.
"We were trying to get (OutKast) to do it in a more sincere and formal-like way, which is what the gathering was all about" he said. "It would have been a good step toward respect toward Native Americans."
Litefoot said he participated in the event to return the consistent good will and support the gathering has shown him.
Litefoot, whose eight films include "The Indian in the Cupboard," and "Adaptation," said stereotypes of American Indians pervade the film industry.
"I'd be lying if I said they didn't treat us differently. We're still where the African- American community was in the Al Jolson days," he said, referring to early-20th century blackface minstrels.
"Native actors that truly do have talent, and truly are out there trying to pursue their dreams, get overlooked by, possibly, somebody that just fits a look or a stereotype," Litefoot said. "I don't get a chance to play a husband or a doctor. According to Hollywood, Indians aren't doctors. Indians aren't anything but what John Ford would have us relegated to in western movies."
