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The real Brando

15 July 2004, 18:00 PM
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
By Naeem Mohaiemen, Shobak.org
15 July 2004, 18:00 PM
It is interesting to note that the obituaries for Brando (with the exception of Dave Zirin) have neatly side-stepped his political activism. From his youth, Brando broke ranks with comfortable Hollywood liberalism and embraced human rights that were anathema to many Americans. Marlon Brando's political journey began in 1959, when he co-founded the Hollywood chapter of SANE-- an anti-nuclear arms group. In the 1960s, he reduced his acting to focus on the Civil Rights Movement's demands for Black emancipation. In 1963, he marched arm in arm with James Baldwin at the march on Washington. Joining hands with Baldwin, who was at the time one of the very few Black gay men to be out of the closet, was a major drawback to Brando's career. He was one of the "freedom riders" (joined by Paul Newman) who journeyed to the South to desegregate the bus lines. After Martin Luther King's assassination in 1968, a traumatised Brando announced he was resigning from a major film role to focus on the civil rights movement. He gave money to defend the militant Black Panthers, which resulted in Southern theatre chains boycotting his films and the creation of the "Brando Black List", which shut him out of many movie opportunities.

Brando had also worked for the Native American ("Indian") community. In 1964, he was arrested during a protest for their fishing rights. In 1973, the militant Native American group AIM (American Indian Movement) laid siege to the historical site of Wounded Knee, reclaiming it for the Lakota Nation. The 73 day siege ended with deaths in a shootout with Federal authorities, and initiated years of harassment of the community by Federal agents. Infuriated by the incident, Brando refused to accept his Oscar for "Godfather" and sent Native American actress Sacheen Littlefeather in his place to refuse the award. The only other Oscar moment that sent similar political shockwaves was Bert Schneider's (1975 winner for Vietnam documentary "Hearts and Minds") reading of a telegram from the Viet Cong delegation to Peace Talks.

Brando's politicisation also showed up in his film choices, including "Burn" (colonial freedom struggle), "Viva Zapata" (Mexican revolution), "Dry White Season" (South Africa) and "Apocalypse Now" (Vietnam). In his last years, Brando gave financial support to the anti-war movement protesting the war on Iraq. He is best remembered by his statement after King's assassination: "If the vacuum formed by Dr. King's death isn't filled with concern and understanding and a measure of love, then I think we all are really going to be lost."

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