John Trudell
John Trudell
John Trudellwas a Native American author, poet, actor, musician, and political activist. He was the spokesperson for the United Indians of All Tribes' takeover of Alcatraz beginning in 1969, broadcasting as Radio Free Alcatraz. During most of the 1970s, he served as the chairman of the American Indian Movement, based in Minneapolis, Minnesota...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionAuthor
Date of Birth15 February 1946
CountryUnited States of America
art creates form identities mimic mixing musical native point remains third using
The whole point is to take from our native culture and from contemporary culture without using one art form to mimic the other, so that our native identity remains the native identity, the contemporary identity remains the contemporary identity, and the mixing of these two musical identities creates a third musical identity.
interest native people realities younger
I have a real interest in working with younger Native artists. I think it's a very important way for Native people to communicate the realities of our culture and remember our ancestors.
arts early eighties further influence left music natives politics
When I left politics in the early Eighties and started writing and recording, my idea was that I could have an influence further down into other generations. That Natives could come into the culture through arts and music.
native-american years savages
Historically speaking, we went from being Indians to pagans to savages to hostiles to militants to activists to Native Americans. Its five hundred years later and they still cant see us. We are still invisible.
native-american people humans
We’re not Indians and we’re not Native Americans. We’re older than both concepts. We’re the people, we’re the human beings.
everybody poetry pull
Everybody interprets things differently with their own perception, and I want poetry to pull out of them their own feelings.
emotional extension music musical song starts written
Every song I've ever written always starts with the words because I want the music to be the musical extension of the feelings of the words, and not the words being the emotional extension of the feeling of the music.
freedoms males owned people
You go back and you read your Constitution. You read your Declaration of Independence. And you will see that the only people who could decide these freedoms were white males who owned property, and all the rest of us were excluded.
along cameras hard interested time
I wasn't interested in having to live with a camera - I have a hard enough time getting along with myself. I don't need cameras around and all that action.
expected position
I was going mad. One day, I just started writing, and it was like therapy because I was in a position where I couldn't rage. I never expected to be a writer; it's a different world than I ever expected to be in.
people
White people don't seem to have many Elders. They do have a lot of oldsters.
activist happened interest liked musical result spoke whatever work
From activist stage, I just spoke and said whatever I had to say. When the writing started, I would just read it. Then I had the interest into going into musical aspects. When that happened in '86, I liked the result of work we did in the studio.
human trying understanding
I am just a human being trying to make it in a world that is rapidly losing its understanding of being human.
attack begin camp left lifetime within women
I have experienced within my own lifetime the attack of my winter camp and the killing of the women and children. It left me even angrier than I was - and I was never too calm to begin with.