Johnny Depp’s Tonto is Based on a White Man’s Painting of an Imaginary Native American

Johnny Depp’s Tonto is Based on a White Man’s Painting of an Imaginary Native American

 

When producer Jerry Bruckheimer released the first official image of Johnny Depp in costume as Tonto for this summer's upcoming blockbuster The Lone Ranger on Twitter a few days ago, people were like, "Oh wuuuut?" He looked pretty much exactly like Captain Jack Sparrow, but with a bird on his head, and a whole lot of Kiss-style face paint. Then Depp revealed to Entertainment Weekly the inspiration behind the character's new look: a painting by an artist named Kirby Sattler, called I Am Crow.

 

Ancient American Skeletons Safe From Reburial, But Only for the Moment

 

A federal court judge in San Francisco granted a temporary restraining order Friday to prevent the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), from handing over 9000-year-old human bones to Native Americans, in the latest twist in an unusual custody battle for two human skeletons that are among the earliest found in the Americas. Three University of California professors filed a lawsuit last week to prevent UCSD from transferring the bones, which have been described as better preserved than those of the Kennewick Man, another ancient skeleton that has been the center of debate and lawsuits.

 

WashPo: Is Elizabeth Warren a Native American?

I shouldn’t write about this. I’m way too insane on this topic, too strident and militant and prone to uncharacteristic flights of outrage. Very few things offend me, but someone passing himself or herself off as Native American when he/she is white by any reasonable definition, and doing so in a way that might accrue personal benefits and perhaps even harm, indirectly, harm the opportunities of those who are genuinely members of an underrepresented racial or ethnic minority, raises the hackles on my dander [copy editor: please revise to comport with Post stylebook].

 

Judge tosses Spirit Lake tribe's suit against NCAA

 

U.S. District Judge Ralph Erickson has granted the NCAA’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the Spirit Lake Sioux Tribe, a major setback to American Indians trying to preserve UND’s Fighting Sioux nickname. Erickson filed his order late Tuesday in Fargo, where lawyers for the two sides had presented oral arguments on April 19. The Spirit Lake Sioux, through its Committee for Understanding and Respect, had asked the court to overturn the NCAA’s 2005 policy discouraging the use of American Indian names and imagery by member schools.