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Imagining the Indian
Washington Football Team ends relationship with Daniel Snyder’s charitable foundation for Native Americans

Washington Football Team ends relationship with Daniel Snyder’s charitable foundation for Native Americans

by Jessie Atkin | Nov 19, 2020 | Breaking News

“As a part of our evolution into a franchise of the future, the Washington Football Team’s new leadership is reviewing our philanthropic strategy,” the team said in its statement.  “As part of this review, the Washington Football Team will focus its...
Native American Veterans Memorial

Native American Veterans Memorial

by Jessie Atkin | Nov 12, 2020 | Breaking News

National Native American Veterans Memorial now open in Washington, DC.
Special “Imagining the Indian” Work in Progress Screening, Nov. 15

Special “Imagining the Indian” Work in Progress Screening, Nov. 15

by Jessie Atkin | Nov 12, 2020 | Breaking News

Join us and KVIE PBS on the occasion of Native American Heritage Month for a sneak peek screening of the work in progress of our upcoming documentary, “Imagining the Indian” on November 15. Registration is now open!
Maine high school gets a new mascot after years of wrangling over its Native American name

Maine high school gets a new mascot after years of wrangling over its Native American name

by Jessie Atkin | Oct 12, 2020 | Breaking News

A Maine high school is getting a new mascot to replace the controversial Native American one it retired last year. The Skowhegan Area High School will adopt the Skowhegan RiverHawks mascot after the school board voted 15-5 on Thursday in favor of the new name, MSAD 54...
Mars drops Uncle Ben’s, reveals new name for rice brand

Mars drops Uncle Ben’s, reveals new name for rice brand

by Jessie Atkin | Sep 23, 2020 | Breaking News

The Uncle Ben’s rice brand is getting a new name: Ben’s Original. Parent firm Mars Inc. unveiled the change Wednesday for the 70-year-old brand, the latest company to drop a logo criticized as a racial stereotype. Packaging with the new name will hit stores next year....
Chiefs Fans, Used to Chops and Cheers, React to N.F.L.’s New Climate

Chiefs Fans, Used to Chops and Cheers, React to N.F.L.’s New Climate

by Jessie Atkin | Sep 16, 2020 | Breaking News

The Chiefs have taken steps to address concerns over the use of Native American imagery. They banned Native headdresses and face paint at the stadium and changed the way the cheerleaders lead the chop, doing it with a closed fist instead of an open palm. Chiefs fans...
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  • What Winning Should Really Look Like for the Washington Football Team
  • Dan Snyder promised transparency about his team’s work culture. Why are there still so many secrets?
  • Before sports get credit for doing the right thing, remember how long it took to get there
  • It’s 2020. Indigenous Team Names in Sports Have to Go.
  • Cleveland’s Baseball Team Will Drop Its Indians Team Name

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    Aviva Kempner

    Director  |  Producer

    A Washington, D.C.-based filmmaker, creates successful and critically acclaimed documentaries about under-known Jewish heroes and social justice. In 2019, she premiered her fifth commercially-released film, The Spy Behind Home Plate. Her other films include Rosenwald, a documentary about how Chicago businessman and philanthropist Julius Rosenwald partnered with Booker T. Washington in establishing over 5,000 schools for African Americans in the Jim Crow South, which she dedicated to the Black Lives Matter movement; Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg, about Gertrude Berg, who created the first television sitcom; and the Emmy-nominated and Peabody-awarded The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg, about the Hall of Famer who faced anti-Semitism during the ’30s.  Both Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg, and Hank Greenberg grossed over a million dollars at the box office and are highly ranked, along with Rosenwald, on Rotten Tomatoes.  She also produced the award-winning documentary Partisans of Vilna, about Jews fighting the Nazis.

    Kempner also co-wrote and is co-producing the dramatic script Casuse with fellow Imagining the Indian director and producer Ben West. The film is about the Navajo activist Larry Casuse, who Kempner knew while a VISTA volunteer in New Mexico in the early ’70s. While attending the Antioch School of Law in Washington, D.C., Kempner interned at the Office of the Solicitor at the Department of Interior’s Indian Affairs. Upon graduation, she worked at the National Tribal Chairman’s Association and the National Conference of American Indians.

    Kempner is an activist and advocate for statehood for Washington, D.C.as a board member of DC Vote.

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    Amanda Blackhorse in Phoenix, AZ

    Producer Kevin Blackistone and Director Ben West with Yocha Dehe at California Native American Day in Sacramento, CA

    Arizona to Rally Against Native Mascots in Phoenix, AZ

    Amy West, and Richard West in Los Angeles, CA

    Amanda Blackhorse and Prof. James Riding In in Phoenix, AZ

    Marshall McKay in Los Angeles, CA

    Bronson Koenig, and Director Ben West in Washington, DC

    Directors Ben West and Aviva Kempner at the Inaugural Indigenous Filmmakers Lounge at Sundance Film Festival in Park City, UT

    Director Ben West at RFK Stadium in Washington, DC

    Arizona to Rally Against Native Mascots in Phoenix, AZ

    Prof. James Riding In in Phoenix, AZ

    Kevin Gover and Directors Ben West and Aviva Kempner at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, DC 

    Congresswoman Debra Haaland in Washington, DC

    Duke Harjo with Producer Sam Bardley in Washington, DC

    Mary Kathryn-Nagle with Director Aviva Kempner and Producer Kevin Blackistone in Washington, DC

    Congressman Jamie Raskin with Director Aviva Kempner in Washington, DC