"What it takes for aboriginal people to make the news" - Duncan McCue

King discussed Curtis' photography in The Truth About Stories as work that happened to create a misrepresentative narrative of the Indigenous culture that is and was harmful to their identity this is still occurring in media many years later. Duncan McCue of CBC News released an article "What it takes for aboriginal people to make the news" which discussed the "four D's" of Indigenous people making it into the news. The "four D's" are as follows "drumming, dancing, drunk or dead" (1). Both drumming and dancing are two of the characteristics that Curtis wanted to portray in his work. Although Curtis often would manipulate different aspects of the Indigenous culture in the pictures in an effort to try and have the Indigenous culture that he was photographing appear to be in his opinion a better representation of what an Indigenous person should look like or do. This misrepresentation created by an outside eye often disrespects the culture at hand, disrespecting the traditions and customs that have existed for many years. There is a lot of irony in this as McCue states that Indigenous people have to be actively participating in one of the above-listed actions to make it to the news. However, often when the "four D's" are portrayed in the media there is often some sort of a misrepresentation that is behind the media's intent. It almost appears that regardless of the intent of Indigenous cultures that there will always be another narrative presented in the media that is deemed as superior to the Indigenous perspective that should be the group that is narrating their own story.

We need to abolish the idea of a superior narrative removing the superiority complex that exists which would allow for the misrepresentation of Indigenous cultures to disappear. Indigenous cultures need to be recognized as more than the "four D's", as the "four D's" allows Indigenous cultures to be seen as entertainment in the media by those who do not understand the harm that misrepresentation creates (1). The media needs to allow all of society to acknowledge the beauty and harmony that is present within Indigenous cultures. In doing so we are opening up the ability to remove stereotypes and misrepresentation by directly listening and viewing the Indigenous culture through the Indigenous perspective and not the perspective of the media.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/what-it-takes-for-aboriginal-people-to-make-the-news-1.2514466

This post really caught my attention and even challenged me to think of when I had last seen Indigenous news in mainstream media. Sadly, it was when unmarked graves were being found of residential school victims. It was heartbreaking. The 4 D's explained above seems unfortunately accurate and might seem to some people a reality when anything Indigenous is broadcasted on headlines within the community. I agree with Madison in what she believes King is saying about an entire people being misrepresented. It appears indigenous content is being placed in this box where societies expectations dictate what is noteworthy and what is not. One could consider this a stigmatism that is being imposed on the Indigenous community. This stigmatism has become a part of many Canadians narrative when they hear the word "Indian" or "aboriginal". To represent the Indigenous culture, media has merely limited the scope in which society sees them. Assumption that has been trained by media and communities to marginalize an entire culture. Only now I feel that Canadians are beginning to shift their perspective away from this stigmatism and detox from a lifetime of propaganda.

In search of indigenous content that did not contain the 4 D's, I came across CBC News and found they have an entire Indigenous section with all sorts of different noteworthy events happening across Canada. Many article even seem to be written by Indigenous people themself. Slowly but surely, I believe people need to detox from their old ways of thinking and assuming and come to a place of acceptance of an entire culture. By presenting Indigenous as an exotic product to flaunt around to attract viewers, we are limiting the scope in which they are seen in their role in our communities. We should be walking with steps of respect and appreciation, together as a whole community. Through this perspective of wholeness, we truly have our beautiful mosaic of culture here in Canada, rather than the melting pot.

Check this out!
https://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous