And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
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Date: Mon, 12 Apr 1999 09:09:01 EDT
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Subject: Re: Pilgrims
Yesterday in the Flint Journal a small item appeared about a new comedy
program
for Fall 1999 entitled "Thanks" about a group of Pilgrims struggling to
survive
in their new lands. The program is a comedy.
I am sending the following letter.
Catherine
***************************************
Mel Karmazin, President
CBS Television Network
51 West 52nd Street
New York, New York 10019
FAX: 1-212-975-5361
Dear Mr. Karmazin:
Last fall the UPN Network pulled "The Secret Diaries of Desmond Pfeiffer" from
its evening schedule after the program had aired only three or four episodes.
The premise of "Pfeiffer": a Civil War-era comedy about a black slave in
Lincoln's White House. African-American people protested the program because
it was offensive and full of historical crapola. Critics, who evidently
didn't
find a problem with a show mocking black Americans, were glad to see the
program pulled because the writing and acting "stunk worse than a 19th century
outhouse" (McFarland, Seattle Times, 1-8-99). I watched the program
once and I agree with both arguments although I think the more significant
argument is based on the happy slave working for "da masta." The program
incorporated an idiotic language style first found in minstrelsey programs
which are responsible for a great many of the stereotypes about black
Americans
that exist today.
Now...trying hard for something different and funny, CBS has ordered a pilot
episode for "Thanks," about a Pilgrim family in 1621 adapting to its new
home.
This program is scheduled to begin its premiere in the Fall of 1999 and
although most programs never make it past the pilot episode this program is
generating a lot of interest. It is difficult for me to imagine any
reasonable
intelligent person participating in a comedy program about the Pilgrims
when we
have so much information that shows them to be barbaric people. A program
like
this is a means to rewrite history and give support to the genocide committed
against the American Indian people. The idea of this program is appalling.
There was absolutely nothing funny about the Pilgrims. Their brutal
history on
these lands is still being felt today. American Indian traditions, culture,
spirituality, well-being, and our very lives were disasterously affected by
these British people who came here to spread disease and destruction. The
Mayflower Compact is one of the most chilling documents in history, and it was
soon followed by a genocidal tract entitled Manifest Destiny.
A program entitled "Thanks" about Pilgrims...what a disgusting idea. The title
of the program panders to the patriotic notion that Thanksgiving (the holiday)
was invented by the Pilgrims when in fact the holiday did not exist until
Lincoln declared it a legal holiday during the Civil War (as a ploy to create
nationalistic support for the war). The Pilgrims were barbaric people who
desecrated the burial sites of the east coast American Indians, stole their
food supplies, and committed inhumane acts against the American Indian people
who had saved their sorry lives. What's so funny about any of that?
The program sounds like an "east coast version of F Troop" where the Indians
were all monosyllabic idiots portrayed by painted-up white guys. There was
nothing funny about "F Troop" and the fact that it can be seen in reruns is
patently offensive to American Indian people throughout these lands because it
supports so many negative stereotypes.
I urge CBS to put "Thanks" into permanent exile.
Copies of this letter are being sent, via e-mail programs, to American Indians
and their friends through out the nation.
Thank you,
Catherine Davids, Michigan Representative
National Coalition on Racism in Sports & Media
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Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit)
Unenh onhwa' Awayaton
http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/
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