Lily Gladstone cries as she delivers emotional speech to honor activists working to protect Indigenous women of variety Power of Women event presented by Lifetime on Thursday in Hollywood. “Killers of the Flower Moon” Actor – Who is One of the DiversityThis year’s honorees and cover stars offer an account of how Martin Scorsese’s script transformed from a criminal investigation to a story about an Osage woman, Mollie Kyle, and her sisters and husband who murdered members of the tribe. , which tells of ongoing abuse. Today’s indigenous women.
“At one point, Leo was not playing this complex villain. He was playing the essential white savior, Tom White – the first investigator for the newly formed FBI,” Gladstone said, pointing to his co-star Leonardo DiCaprio, who introduced him in his speech. “He had no interest in it. Instead, exposing this complex villain brought Mollie Kyle, her beautiful sisters, and the Osage community to the periphery. “I heard that three scenes with Molly were developed in depth in early drafts.”
The event honored Gladstone for her work as an advocate for indigenous women’s rights. The actor works closely with the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center (NIWRC), a non-profit that aims to end violence against indigenous women. He has taught sculpture garden workshops for the organization. In the past, NIWRC has created a database that allows individuals to search laws regarding missing and murdered Indigenous women across states.
“To understand the scope of the work that these women do and to understand the irony and how it binds this guy on stage playing an FBI agent — if he had done that, the audience would have walked away with this impression. How unfortunate it would have been to know that the FBI is a protector of Native women. We know that’s not true,” Gladstone said. “Tribal governments in this country and treaties with tribal peoples are the entire reason the United States of America exists. You need to make treaties with other countries to get your legitimacy. And yet these treaties are not respected.”
“During colonization, over the last several hundred years, our inherent sovereignty as tribal nations has been stripped away even more – to the extent that if you’re not enrolled in that tribe, on that reservation, and you’re committed A violent crime against a Native person, no one can prosecute you except the FBI. States do not have jurisdiction over tribal land. Tribes do not have jurisdiction. It’s just the federal government,” Gladstone added. “They are the only people who have the right to do anything or anyone. And the only people left to do anything about it are the women here.
The actor had tears in his eyes as he gestured towards the NIWRC women who had joined him at the event. Gladstone details his humble beginnings as an actor and how the organization helped support him in the early stages of his career.
“I always knew that acting was my activism. When I was struggling to pay $300 a month rent in 2011, working several different jobs and doing whatever I could, Lucy Simpson saw that I used art and activism to We worked with her children at a camp to strengthen their voices,” Gladstone said. “She invited me to play a documentary theater piece, ‘Sliver of a Full Moon,’ playing the incredible Deborah Parker, trial chairwoman of the Tulalip Nation and board member of NIWRC and a survivor herself.”
Gladstone also strongly praised DiCaprio’s continued activism: “Your dedication to the rise of Indigenous-led grassroots organizations is mind-blowing… Leo, you understand that grassroots organizations, Indigenous frontline people, they are among the most valuable resources on this earth. And I would also like to add that in our indigenous communities, our most valuable resources are our women, our children.
“Killers of the Flower Moon” focuses on the Reign of Terror, a genocidal attack on members of the Osage Nation who were brutally murdered after coming into oil money. Gladstone plays Mollie, an Osage woman who becomes the wife of money-loving Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio). Due to his “cool” appearance he caught the attention of director Martin Scorsese.
Gladstone explained how the events of the film are still painfully relevant to the extreme mistreatment of Indigenous women today.
“Four out of five women, in our lifetime, will experience violence at the hands of a romantic partner or someone who seeks to do so,” Gladstone shared. “One of the things NIWRC is doing is bringing these stories of survivors in front of legislators, in front of Congress, in front of the people who have the power to make real change, to give our people what they deserve. We need it to protect ourselves. “the minimum.”
Gladstone is now a major awards contender for “Flower Moon”. She would be the first Native American Oscar nominee if chosen by Academy voters, campaigning in the lead actress category. (Previous Indigenous nominees were born outside the United States.)