• IninewCrow@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    165
    arrow-down
    3
    ·
    edit-2
    4 days ago

    Ken Hotate!

    They killed Ken Hotate … the fuck is going on with the US

    This is so freaking sad … I’m Indigenous in Canada and I loved seeing his character in Parks and Recreation.

    I just browsed through this Facebook page and just this past February he proudly announced and showed pictures of marrying his gay partner.

    Jonathan Joss was Two Spirited and he was just starting to project that in public … it’s so sad because now it makes me wonder what role all that identity played in his killing.

    Fuck America … you can be so beautiful and great while being so terrible and ugly at the same time.

    • TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      63
      ·
      4 days ago

      I used to provide rural healthcare to the tribal nations here in Oklahoma. I was always blown away to hear just how many of my patients had lost loved ones to violence, and how many of the murders went unsolved.

      I had a patient whose son was a tribal advocate who was protesting a case in Colorado and went missing. Their other son went up to get the police to do their jobs and ended up being murdered, both cases unsolved.

      The endemic violence towards the native people of America has not stopped and has continued since before the founding of this country.

      • IninewCrow@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        16
        ·
        4 days ago

        Years ago, it was the same here in Canada. 30/40 years ago it was all just listed as ‘drunk indian was killed’ and the excuse was often just a brawl, accident, unfortunate event caused by alcohol abuse. These days it’s not so prevalent or obvious … fewer people being killed … but more being beaten, abused or taken advantage of. Hotels/Motels in northern towns often have ‘Indian sections’ in them where native people are booked to keep them relegated and controlled, even if you are a clean cut Native person with a family and children.

        • TranscendentalEmpire@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          4
          ·
          4 days ago

          drunk indian was killed’ and the excuse was often just a brawl, accident, unfortunate event caused by alcohol abuse.

          That’s still a big thing down here.

          Indian sections’ in them where native people are booked to keep them relegated and controlled, even if you are a clean cut Native person with a family and children.

          Ahh Canada, everyone’s friendly neighbor until you get talking about indigenous people.

      • IninewCrow@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        22
        ·
        4 days ago

        Fuck … this makes me laugh and cry at the same time … I really, really, really wish they had done more with his character or even built an entire series with him. So much lost talent it’s frustrating.

    • samus12345@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      11
      ·
      4 days ago

      you can be so beautiful and great while being so terrible and ugly at the same time.

      I find this applies to humanity in general as well.

    • ddash@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      9
      ·
      4 days ago

      Wtf, I saw the thumbnail and thought “that guy looks just like Ken Hotate”, and here is your comment right there.

      Damn that’s a blow, lost a real character in the world…

    • Lovable Sidekick@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      6
      arrow-down
      4
      ·
      edit-2
      4 days ago

      I wouldn’t judge a country by who gets killed in it. Look up Tina Fontaine. I mean,every place in the world can be beautiful and ugly at the same time if you judge by what individual people in it do.

      • SereneSadie@lemmy.myserv.one
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        8
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        4 days ago

        America has allowed this kind of shit to happen for centuries.

        It’s openly endorsed it in the past, and is now doing so again.

        Yeah, I will fucking judge the country by these actions. They come from the top.

      • misterdoctor@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        9
        arrow-down
        7
        ·
        4 days ago

        If you can’t find any beauty in what America has accomplished in 250 years, you’re being willfully ignorant. This country is in a desperately fucked up state right now, and it’s been even worse throughout history, but to pretend that the only version of America that exists is when we are at our very worst is just intellectually dishonest.

        • reactionality@lemmy.sdf.org
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          6
          arrow-down
          4
          ·
          4 days ago

          Advance fascism across the globe? Make multiple trillionnaires and deepen the class divide into a chasm? Kill children through willing propagation of weapons? Spread opium everywhere? Develop a militaristic ethno state that sells weapons to genocidal maniacs, and uses them for genocide themselves?

          • thebestaquaman@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            edit-2
            4 days ago

            I’m all for pointing out everything currently and historically wrong with any country, but you’re doing the “intellectually dishonest” thing. The question wasn’t whether you could point out a shitload of bad stuff, but whether you could see any good.

            The British empire did a shitload of terrible stuff, that doesn’t mean leading the way in global industrialisation and bringing hundreds of millions out of starvation was one of them.

            Germany has done terrible shit, but starting the predecessor to the EU and thereby heavily contributing to the most peaceful and prosperous eighty years western Europe has ever seen is usually seen as a good thing.

            The US has done terrible shit, as you point out. Being a catalyst and inspiration for the global spread of democracy is usually seen as a positive. Being a core actor in the formation of the UN, helping build a post-WWII rule-based world order is usually also seen as a positive. US aid contributing hundreds of millions of people getting access to education, vaccines, medicine, and catastrophe-release is normally seen in a positive light.

            • reactionality@lemmy.sdf.org
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              4 days ago

              Willful ignorance. Unless you seriously believe the US was not doing most of the terrible things I mentioned while doing the positives you brought up.

        • TheReturnOfPEB@reddthat.com
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          8
          arrow-down
          9
          ·
          edit-2
          4 days ago

          Thank you for showing up at a post about the death of an artist so you could brag about how hot shit the USA is.

          Just awesome. Keep the hits coming.

          • Cethin@lemmy.zip
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            10
            arrow-down
            2
            ·
            edit-2
            4 days ago

            No, the other person showed up at a post about the death of an artist just to turn it into an anti-America post instead of being about the artist.

            Yes, the US has issues, and maybe the bad outweighs the good, but as the other comment says there is some good there too. I don’t see why the comment above decided to move the comments in this direction, but it’s not the comment you’re responding to’s fault.

            • Seleni@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              4
              arrow-down
              1
              ·
              4 days ago

              It was a hate crime murder. Seems the US is a shit place for gay people to live to me.