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March 30, 1973

That Unfinished 1973 Oscar Speech

By MARLON BRANDO

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. -- For 200 years we have said to the Indian people
who are fighting for their land, their life, their families and their
right to be free: ''Lay down your arms, my friends, and then we will
remain together. Only if you lay down your arms, my friends, can we then
talk of peace and come to an agreement which will be good for you.''

When they laid down their arms, we murdered them. We lied to them. We
cheated them out of their lands. We starved them into signing fraudulent
agreements that we called treaties which we never kept. We turned them
into beggars on a continent that gave life for as long as life can
remember. And by any interpretation of history, however twisted, we did
not do right. We were not lawful nor were we just in what we did. For
them, we do not have to restore these people, we do not have to live up
to some agreements, because it is given to us by virtue of our power to
attack the rights of others, to take their property, to take their lives
when they are trying to defend their land and liberty, and to make their
virtues a crime and our own vices virtues.

But there is one thing which is beyond the reach of this perversity and
that is the tremendous verdict of history. And history will surely judge
us. But do we care? What kind of moral schizophrenia is it that allows
us to shout at the top of our national voice for all the world to hear
that we live up to our commitment when every page of history and when
all the thirsty, starving, humiliating days and nights of the last 100
years in the lives of the American Indian contradict that voice?

It would seem that the respect for principle and the love of one's
neighbor have become dysfunctional in this country of ours, and that all
we have done, all that we have succeeded in accomplishing with our power
is simply annihilating the hopes of the newborn countries in this world,
as well as friends and enemies alike, that we're not humane, and that we
do not live up to our agreements.

Perhaps at this moment you are saying to yourself what the hell has all
this got to do with the Academy Awards? Why is this woman standing up
here, ruining our evening, invading our lives with things that don't
concern us, and that we don't care about? Wasting our time and money and
intruding in our homes.

I think the answer to those unspoken questions is that 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 watch television, and they watch films, and
when they see their race depicted as they are in films, their minds
become injured in ways we can never know.

Recently there have been a few faltering steps to correct this
situation, but too faltering and too few, so I, as a member in this
profession, do not feel that I can as a citizen of the United States
accept an award here tonight. I think awards in this country at this
time are inappropriate to be received or given until the condition of
the American Indian is drastically altered. If we are not our brother's
keeper, at least let us not be his executioner.

I would have been here tonight to speak to you directly, but I felt that
perhaps I could be of better use if I went to Wounded Knee to help
forestall in whatever way I can the establishment of a peace which would
be dishonorable as long as the rivers shall run and the grass shall
grow.

I would hope that those who are listening would not look upon this as a
rude intrusion, but as an earnest effort to focus attention on an issue
that might very well determine whether or not this country has the right
to say from this point forward we believe in the inalienable rights of
all people to remain free and independent on lands that have supported
their life beyond living memory.

Thank you for your kindness and your courtesy to Miss Littlefeather.
Thank you and good night.

This statement was written by Marlon Brando for delivery at the Academy
Awards ceremony where Mr. Brando refused an Oscar. The speaker, who read
only a part of it, was Shasheen Littlefeather.

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