On March 5, 1973, Marlon Brando declined the best actor Academy Award for his gut-wrenching performance as Vito Corleone in “The Godfather.” He did so because of the treatment of American Indians by the film industry. Brando sent Sacheen Littlefeather in his place to address the American Indian rights movement, expressed support for the American Indian Movement and referenced the ongoing situation at Wounded Knee, where a team of 200 Oglala Lakota activists had occupied a tiny South Dakota town the previous month and was currently under siege by US military forces.
He wrote: “The motion picture community has been as responsible as any for degrading the Indian and making a mockery of his character, describing his as savage, hostile, and evil. It’s hard enough for children to grow up in this world. When Indian children … see their race depicted as they are in films, their minds become injured in ways we can never know.”