Despite a largely untold history of erasure and violence against their community, Native Americans are leading and contributing to our society everyday. The community is also growing. In the last decade, The American Indian and Alaska Native population increased from 5.2 million in 2010 to 9.7 million in 2020. Native people now make up almost 3% of the U.S. population. Yet, representation on television for Natives is still less than 1%, as of our most recent reporting.
While we continue to see gains in representation from Capitol Hill to Hollywood, expanding the narrative for Native Americans in media has a long way to go. In celebration of Women’s History Month, we spoke to Crystal Echo Hawk, founder and Executive Director of IllumiNative, and a citizen of the Pawnee Nation. She has been a powerful advocate for Native Americans, focused on amplifying the voices, stories and issues of her community in media content.
在 Echo Hawk 与尼尔森 Diverse Insights and Initiatives 副总裁 Charlene Polite Corley 的对话中，她分享了像 IllumiNative 这样的组织提高媒体行业意识的必要性。他们还讨论了《保留地之狗》（Reservation Dogs）和《卢瑟福瀑布》（Rutherford Falls）等近期节目中当代美国原住民形象对观众对原住民的看法和理解的影响。
然而，内容只是代表性的一个方面。Echo Hawk 还谈到了她的工作，即教育品牌和企业停止对品牌图标或体育吉祥物的文化挪用。
This is just a glimpse into the broader conversation at SXSW on March 12: Forget Mascots: The Native Representation TV Needs.
