NEED FOR THE PROJECT (Lo siento por no traducción.)

Today many Indigenous peoples are still excluded from mainstream society, often deprived of their rights as equal citizens of a state and depicted throughout popular media in an offensive stereotypical manner. Nevertheless they are determined to preserve and develop their ancestral territories and ethnic identities. Through this series young Natives will be informed of the many opportunities and career paths already available to them throughout the metropolitan area while non-Natives will be presented with imagery of Indigenous men and women outside of negative stereotypes.

Urban Indians will be the first web series focusing on Indigenous peoples and issues faced by the urban Native American community. New York City is currently home to over 80,000 Indigenous peoples from around the world. The web series will be free to the public and available via two video sharing websites, primarily www.vimeo.com and secondarily www.youtube.com allowing us to reach a wider and international audience. The program will target all audiences and age groups while also focusing on the interests of Native youth.

In 1984 DCTV produced a short documentary called “Urban Indians.” 1984’s “Urban Indians” told the story of a Native homeless man, Joe Killsright, as he battles addiction in New York City until finally returning home to his reservation in South Dakota. While thought provoking, Jon Alpert’s subject matter could have been found within many of the ethnic communities during the 1980s in New York City. The fact that he used the name “Urban Indians” to define one man’s struggle with addiction paints a very negative image around the identity of all Natives choosing to live in urban environments. Alpert’s film also provokes the “drunk injun” stereotype to the documentary’s viewers. Not until the last three minutes of the film is Alpert questioned as to why he is only filming the negative aspects of the reservation and not how the tribal government is improving conditions.

People don't think of New York City as a Native place. Manhattan and all of America was once only a Native place.  In essence Native Americas were the first New Yorkers. People have preconceived notions of what Indians are and tend to imagine plains Indians when in fact Native Americans are men and women taking meetings with you, teaching you, cooking your food, and doing your taxes. Living lives like every other American while keeping with the traditions and cultural values passed on to them. Just like you.

URBAN INDIANS

Urban Indians is a documentary web series presenting a glimpse into the lives of Indigenous men and women residing in urban environments. Through interviews and footage following each subject's  daily life you will be introduced to what it means to be a modern day American Indian. The subjects of the project represent a fraction of the diverse tribes found throughout the Americas which include Crow, Navajo, Creek, Shinnecock, Apache, Seneca, Maya and many others. Each subject will also represent a different livelihood within the city including, accountants, public figures, entertainers, students, homemakers and educators. Urban Indians will challenge many of the stereotypes Native Americans face in society.

INDÍGENAS URBANOS

Indígenas Urbanos es una serie web documental que presenta una visión de la vida de hombres y mujeres indígenas que viven en entornos urbanos. A través de entrevistasy filmacionessiguientesvida cotidianade cada sujetose le presentóa loque significa serun modernoindio americanoque vive enla ciudad de NuevaYork. Los temasdel proyectorepresentanuna fracción de lasdiversas tribusse encuentran en todoel continente americano, que incluyeCrow, Navajo, Creek,Shinnecock, Apache, Seneca, Maya y muchos otros. Cada sujeto también representará un medio de vida diferente en la ciudad, incluyendo, contadores, personalidades, artistas, estudiantes, amas de casa y los educadores. Indígenas Urbanos pondrá a prueba muchos de los estereotipos se enfrentan los indígenas americanos en la sociedad.

Hi, I’m Robert Cangiano.

I have been working in Indigenous media for over seven years.  I have worked on diverse list of projects as a director of photography capturing panels, interviews and live events for the National Museum of The American Indian, New York’s Scandinavian House, and most recently the American Indian Community House. Projects I have worked on have screened at ImagineNative and other Indigenous festivals. I am also a Third World Newsreel Production alumni.

I am Maya and I was born in Honduras. When I was 8 months old I was adopted by an Italian-American family and raised in Brooklyn, New York. Growing up my mother made sure I was aware of my Indigenous background and has encouraged me to learn more about my culture. As an adult I have asked myself many times what does it mean to be Native, and how am I Native when every tradition I know is Italian-American Catholic. The one thing I am sure of is that before I identify with any culture I am a New Yorker and I’m from Brooklyn.

Hola, soy Roberto Cangiano.

He estado trabajandoen los mediosindígenasdemás de siete años He trabajado en diversos proyectos como director de fotografía captura de paneles, entrevistas y actuaciones en directo para el Museo Nacional del Indígena Americano, Casa de Scandinavia de Nueva York, y más recientemente la Indígena Americano Casa de Comunidad. Los proyectos que he trabajado han proyectado en festivales indígenas ImagineNATIVE y otros. Yo también soy un ex-alumnos Producción noticiarios del Tercer Mundo.

Soy Maya de Honduras. Cuando tenía 8 meses de edad que fue adoptado por una familia italo-americana y criado en Brooklyn, Nueva York. Al crecer mi madre se aseguró de que era consciente de mis antecedentes indígenas y ha animado a aprender más acerca de mi cultura. Como adulto me he preguntado muchas veces, ¿qué significa ser indígena, y cómo estoy indígena cuando todas las tradiciones que sé es católica ítalo-estadounidense? Lo único que estoy seguro es de que antes de que me identifico con cualquier cultura que soy un Nueva Yorker y soy de Brooklyn.

Contributions

The money you are contributing will go towards equipment rentals, media storage, editing, web-hosting and most importantly, translations and subtitling. This project has to be bilingual. When most people think of a Native American they forget that we live on the American continents and forget to include Natives from Mexico, Central and South America.

Contribuciones

El dinero que usted está contribuyendo irá al alquiler de equipos, medios de almacenamiento, edición, web-hosting y lo más importante, traducción y subtitulación. Este proyecto tiene que ser bilingüe. Cuando la mayoría de la gente piensa de un Indígena Americano se olvidan de que vivimos en el continente americano y se olvide de incluir los Indígenas de México, Centroamérica y América del Sur.

Please pass this along to anyone you know would be interested in seeing this project made. 

If you are Native and living in New York City and would like to be interviewed feel free to send me a message.