Friends Committee on National Legislation presents:

Who Wants to Hear Our Story?

Communications and Contemporary Native Americans - A Media Symposium
March 2-3, 2006 in Washington, DC

“Non-Indian people have very little accurate information about Native American anything, and Native Americans suffer from being misperceived all of our lives because of this lack of information. Our history is still fictionalized then exploited, and our contemporary realities are mostly absent from schools and the public eye. It is no wonder Indian people have a hole where our self esteem ought to be.”

~ Buffy Sainte-Marie, Native American Educator and Academy Award-winning song writer

The absence of U.S. media coverage about Native American communities means that Indian Country today is a mystery to most people. While there are rampant stereotypes, realities and cultural strengths remain hidden.

Come participate in a conversation about Indian Country with the goal of engaging more people with issues affecting indigenous peoples in the United States.

Event Details

Who: Native American leaders, members of Congress, journalists, academics, religious organizations, and other opinion leaders. All are welcome to participate.

Where: Wyndham Washington Hotel, 1400 M St. NW, Washington DC

When: Thursday March 2 (8:30 am-5 pm)-Friday March 3, 2006 (9am-1pm)

Cost: The $50 symposium fee pays for two breakfasts, lunch on Thursday, a reception on Thursday night, and all symposium materials. Participants will need to make their own housing arrangements.

Housing: A limited number of rooms are available at the Wyndham Washington Hotel

You will need to make your own room reservation by calling the hotel at 202-429-1700 and asking for a room in the Friends Committee on National Legislation bloc. The cost will be $185 per night for either a single or a double room.

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Read the press release on this event.

In the increasingly organized anti-Indian climate, a focus on media attitudes and content is crucial. We are glad to join FCNL in seeking both clear strategy and substantial engagement of media by Native Nations and a better and deeper education for mainstream journalists on the nature of tribal rights.

~Jose Barreiro, senior advisor, American Indian Policy and Media Initiative

"There is the strongest case to be made that a more empowered and more concentrated effort is necessary by a circle of American Indian opinion-makers, national organizations and tribal nations to organize serious and far-reaching campaigns that generate in the American public - and particularly for professionals in American media - a more comprehensive understanding of how to report on Indian country."

~ Editors Report, Indian Country Today, Jan. 9, 2006

Read more about what Indian Country Today says about FCNL's Native American Media Symposium.

Cosponsors

Friends Committee on National Legislation (conference coordinator)

American Indian Policy and Media Initiative
Americans for Indian Opportunity
American Friends Service Committee
Call to Renewal
First Nations Development Institute
Honor Our Neighbors’ Origins and Rights (HONOR)
Institute for Tribal Government
The Interfaith Alliance
National American Indian Housing Council
National Congress of American Indians
National Council of Churches
National Indian Child Welfare Association
National Indian Council on Aging
National Indian Education Association
National Indian Health Board
National Native American Families Together
National Urban Indian Family Coalition
Native American Journalists Association
Native American Rights Fund
Navajo Nation Washington Office
The Union for Reform Judaism

This symposium will feature the lived experience of Native Americans today. Because race has played a pivotal position in American history, I am interested in how we cohere as a people. One way is by sharing our individual and collective narratives and bringing them to public attention through the media.

~ Ken Burns, producer, PBS documentary "The West"

We have criminally little to do with Indian Country… Our coverage is wildly inadequate.

~Steve Coll, The Washington Post

More About the Native American Program

FCNL
245 Second Street NE, Washington, DC 20002
202-547-6000
Toll-free: 800-630-1330

Thanks to Firefly for the lead.

Contents

February 2006 Reports

Last updated on February 13, 2006