"When you think about the land and you think about the community, you have to come to the politics, also, and look at those issues. And it's very difficult; it's not rosy. Native-American politics is very difficult often."
Telling Many Magpies, Telling Black Wolf, Telling Hachivi
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"This is a print called Telling Many Magpies, Telling Black Wolf, Telling Hachivi and it's also here in the collection at the Walker Art Center. It's a five-foot screenprint, but it deals with the issue of racism in America and a common trait of taking Native names and putting them on team mascots, cars, whatnot. And I think it's time to change all that. It's time to really respect Native people for their own selves, not for their uses in commerce. Also, the imagery around the words deals with Many Magpies, the first chief with the name of Heap of Birds or Many Magpies. And his son was Black Wolf and his great-grandson, Hachivi, which is me. And my father carries the same name as the chief way back from the 1870s. And the magpie birds are the black shapes."
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