Race, Identity & Culture

Cardinal appeared in the film "Black Robe" and played Black Shawl, wife of the spirtual leader, in "Dances With Wolves." She has earned very positive reviews for her performance in the new independent film "Where the Rivers Flow North." Cardinal will soon be seen in "Legends of the Fall," with Anthony Hopkins and Brad Pitt. This interview was recorded in front of an audience at the Flynn Theater on October 27, in a benefit for Vermont Public Radio.

English professor and author Greg Sarris is part American Indian, Filipino, and Jewish, and was raised in both Indian and white families. He has just written two books related to his experiences growing up. "Grand Avenue" is a collection of short stories about whites and Native Americans tied by a common ancestor; "Mabel McKay: Weaving the Dream" is a biography of Sarris' aunt, a world-renowned basket weaver. Sarris teaches at UCLA.

British-Asian film-maker Gurinder Chadha is making her feature-film debut with the new comedy-drama, "Bhaji on the Beach," a movie in the British social realist tradition, about three Asian women on a day trip to a working class resort in England. Chadha is of Indian descent; she was born in Kenya, but has lived in Britain most of her life. She formed her own independent production company, Umbi Films, in 1990 which produced three documentaries for television. "Bhaji on the Beach," has recently made the round of film festivals

Author Michael Dorris. His work is wide-ranging in topic and emotional impact. In his earlier book "The Broken Cord" he wrote of his struggle to understand the severe health and behavior problems of an adopted son, Abel, who had Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Abel, a Native American, died in an accident after a difficult life. Dorris himself is part Modoc Indian. He founded the Native American Studies Program at Dartmouth College where he now teaches Anthropology.

Poet Lloyd Van Brunt. He grew up poor and white in Oklahoma. He writes, in the The New York Times magazine section, "To be poor in a country that places a premium on wealth is in itself shameful. To be white and poor is unforgivable." (March 27, 1994). Van Brunt says poor whites have no defenders ("white trash" they are called) and they are made to feel ashamed of themselves because of the assumption that they "should" be able to make a success of themselves. Van Brunt's father abandoned the family, his mother died when he was 8.

Writer Michael Ignatieff, who has investigated six of the world's trouble spots for a BBC television series, and a companion book: "Blood & Belonging: Journeys into the New Nationalism" (Farrar, Straus & Giroux). A Canadian of Russian ancestry who lives in England, Ignatieff's book raises the question of why nationalism, which once unified countries like Germany and Italy, today pulls countries apart.

Excerpt from an interview with Desmond Tutu. (Rebroadcast of 05/15/1984).

Floyd Cochran used to be a recruiter and public relations man for the racist, anti-Semitic Aryan Nations, based in Idaho. But about two years ago Cochran left the group and denounced it and it's racist views. Now he travels the country speaking out against the Aryan Nations.

Author and museum director James Cameron. Sixty four years ago, an organized mob of more than 10,000 white men and women dragged Cameron and two other black teenage men from a jail cell in Marion, Indiana. The mob mercilessly beat the three young men. They lynched two. Cameron was spared. In 1984, he recounted this experience in his memoir "A Time of Terror" (Available now from Black Classic Press). Then in 1988, Cameron founded the Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee.

Lebanese-born author and journalist Hanan Al-Shaykh. Her novel "The Story of Zahra" (Anchor Books) has just been published in the United States. Several Arab countries have banned the book since its original publication 14 years ago. The Story of Zahra tells of a contemporary Lebanese woman struggling with life in her family and her war-ravaged native city of Beirut. Al-Shaykh's novel "Women of Sand and Myrrh" was published in the United States last year.