Indian Comics Irregular #91

In "Mr. Sterling," a mid-season replacement series on NBC, Josh
Brolin stars as Bill Sterling Jr., the most idealistic senator to go
to Washington since Jimmy Stewart's Mr. Smith. For political junkies
who can't get enough of "The West Wing," it's worth watching.

Thunderhawk or Nighthorse?

In the second episode, Sterling meets John "Thunderhawk" Jackson, a
Native American senator played by Graham Greene. A Democrat turned
Republican, Jackson is an obvious takeoff on Sen. Ben Nighthorse
Campbell (R-Colo.). In his power suit, Greene even looks something
like Campbell.

Jackson offers Sterling a puff from a long-stemmed pipe. Sterling
smokes it and soon feels lightheaded. His staff worries the pipe
contained peyote.

Their frantic investigation is a bit over the top. Never mind that
Native people ingest peyote rather than smoke it, and usually only in
religious ceremonies. How likely is it that a senator would take an
illegal drug in his office with a near stranger? Not very.

Jackson eventually reveals they were smoking Indian tobacco and
desert sage, not peyote. Whew. The crisis is averted and Sterling's
reputation saved.

Sovereignty Seldom Seen

Other than that, the episode plays well. Jackson asks Sterling to co-
sponsor a bill forbidding states from controlling access to tribal
lands. "Reservations are not really sovereign," says Jackson. "I've
been trying to restore their sovereignty bit by bit." It sounds
noble enough, so Sterling says yes.

But his staff informs him the bill would affect only one tribe in
California, which wants to operate a nuclear waste site. Although
the tribe's reservation has only a single-lane road, the bill would
let trucks haul waste anywhere without regulation. It's obviously a
bad bill.

Sterling goes to Jackson to learn the truth. Jackson admits the bill
won't pass even if Sterling co-sponsors it. But Indians have signed
371 treaties with the US, he notes, and the government has broken
every one. Jackson says he just wants to represent his people--to
give them a voice in Congress, finally.

The virtuous Sterling decides he won't begin his political career by
breaking his promise to an Indian. Knowing the bill is too flawed to
pass, he co-sponsors it.

Despite the peyote rigmarole, the show affirms the importance of
sovereignty to Indians--an issue almost never addressed on
television. It demonstrates what someone once said: that to be an
Indian is to be political. It shows Native life isn't all about
protesting over the past--whether it's Columbus Day ("The Sopranos,"
ICI #86) or a site's destruction ("Smallville," ICI #90). Indians
can be part of an ancient culture, with its rich traditions and art,
yet function in the 21st century's corridors of power.

Most of all, it shows Indians can blend high-minded civic duty with
Coyote-like manipulation. In other words, it shows they can be
human, and are. Not a bad message for a commercial TV show.

For more on the episode, go to
http://www.bluecorncomics.com/sterling.htm. For more on Native
sovereignty, go to http://www.bluecorncomics.com/sovreign.htm.

Our 1,000th Page

I recently posted the 1,000th page on BlueCornComics.com. Fittingly,
it was a press release naming Time's report on Indian casinos the
Stereotype of the Year loser. Rarely has a major publication
produced such a hatchet job--a one-sided attack full of lies,
misrepresentations, and stereotypes.

You can read the announcement at
http://www.bluecorncomics.com/pr11.htm. The stereotypes themselves
are listed at http://www.bluecorncomics.com/timeresp.htm.

Rob Schmidt
Blue Corn Comics