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NATIVE OPINIONS OF BROCKET 99
POSITIVE WORDS FROM NATIVE'S ABOUT BROCKET 99
I like the humour alot, I first heard it in the 80's I believe. My Mother is 70 years old and again she also loves the recordings, especially "BINGO" and "I'm Too Sexy". I am 3/4 Cree and my mother is a full blooded Cree Indian! If we can't laugh at ourselves, who can we laugh at! We as Indian people have always found humour in one another! Keep it coming! Lyndon Lerat Lyndon's Aboriginal Cuisine
Editors note: Thanks for the great compliments about our favorite parody. I just want to point out that songs like BINGO and I'm too sexy are not part of the original Brocket 99 show and were not created by the same people. We are on a qwest to find the creators of these paroies as well but have been unsuccessful to date. - If you have any info on the creation of these parody songs, please write us. - M
tansi! I am a 'full-blooded' cree from sask. I have heard your stuff and well, I think the majority of it is pretty funny. There was some shady content in some material, but, I thought maybe it was more degrading to women than anything else, and I am sure you got their feedback. But, hey, you got us talking eh? take care...
A PLEA FOR HELP
I'm a young mother of two girls, and I'm trying to find my family tree. My father died when I was 14years old and lost touch with his side of the family. I know I have native in me and I want to learn more! people have suggested that their is help out their for me and my children if register for The Metis Nation of Ontario application, but don't have enough information to fill it out. I know that my father's father's father married a indian princess from her tribe and he was a french man. She left her tribe and shortly after she had an accident and died. I was told of the family ring that exsist but never saw it it's in the family among girls passed on through generations.I believe it was the tribe with the red feather. but I'm not completely sure. If anyone can help me or put me in the right direction I would be grateful. Sincerely Crystal Revette - Write us here at Brocket 99 and we'll post the info and email Crystal. Thanks much. - M
The greatest of the Spunkupthebum's,
NEGATIVE AND POSITIVE COMMENTS ABOUT US.
From Bryce L. Wren
You said "I, myself am part Native. I may be Cherokee or Chickacoan as far as
I'm able to gather. My family is not actually sure and my grandmother was made to feel
ashamed of her Native Blood."
My response: I am metis. My great grandmother was 100% Sioux. She too was made to feel
ashamed of her Native heritage, as was my mother and the rest of their family. They were
made to feel that way by the attitudes, and disrespect that people like you perpetuate
with crap like this. You think it's okay to trash on a people, simply because you may have
a little of their ancestory in your blood, but you don't have the right. You can make your
tapes (they are about the equvillant of the old "Stephin Fetchit" character
drawings of blacks from the early 1900's) all you like, but when the day ends, you are
simply a bad person. I don't give a fuck if you think it's okay, to provoke stereo types,
and to make a nation of people feel bad about themselves, is about as low as a human can
get.
You seriously should be ashamed, but truthfully, you lack the cognetive capabilities to
understand simple human feelings.
You may think it's funny that a lot of racist white people are now laughing at Native's
and making fun of them, and that by you claiming to be "part Native" you have
given them an "okay" to use the same language, but it's not funny. You clearly
have no idea that you should be embarassed for yourself, so I will be embarassed for you.
You are a disgrace to any race.
Sincerely,
A much better example of man
Bryce L. Wren
Bryce,
I appreciate your letter. I understand where you are coming from and respect your opinion. Brocket 99 does not represent, in any way an opinion of all Natives. It represents comedy and parody and a stereotype that is true of some in the Native community and in fact, some in every community.
The problem is that you believe that your opinion is the right one. Other full blooded Natives from the actual Brocket Alberta community love Brocket 99 and take it as comedy. Many people agree. Others do not. As long as we are individuals, we will always differ. That is the beauty of being different.
Perhaps you are a better example of man... but again I disagree.
Sincerely,
Michael Anthony
More from Bryce,
Thank you for your prompt response to my email,
I'd like to add this to my original comments:I first found out about "Brocket 99" from a friend of
mine from work. He's a white guy. I never thought of
him as being a racist. I knew he had some redneck type
friends that liked to make ethnic jokes, but I had
never seen him personally do it. He knew that I used
compupters a lot and he asked me if I could look up a
file called "Brocket 99" on the net. He said he had
listened to it when he was younger, that it was a
"hillarious comedy tape" that would make me laugh my
head off. He knows I'm part Native. He told me that it
was a "bunch of Natives that made a tape back in the
early 80's" and that they "played a bunch of good
heavy metal" on it and that they made some good "injun
jokes". I told him I'd look it up and see if it was
still around. I found several "boot leg" copies of
your "work" on Kazaa. I did not listen to the entire
recording. It came on two large files. I listened to a
few minutes of it, and I realized that it wasn't a
bunch of Natives naively mocking themselves, but a
bunch of racists making fun of anotehr ethnicity. I
don't consider some dude that got "nicked by an
arrow", that has no concept of what his heritage is,
as a real Native persons, and I think it's
intellectually dishonest to claim to be one when you
are not. So I decided to look up "Brocket 99" on the
internet. That's where I found your website. There
were many more websites devouted to your racist
recording, most of them were from white individuals
that think making fun of Natives is hillarious.
Apparently the majority of your "fans" that love your
work are not Native at all, but I'm sure you already
knew that. The couple of Natives that you did find
that said they thought it was hillarious, really does
not even things out. You could find Jews that
volunteered to throw carcasus of dead friends and
relatives to win favor with the Nazi's too, but I sure
wouldn't say they were speaking on behalf of Jewish
people, nor would I call them moral men. You could
find the odd black guy that will make "black jokes" in
front of his friends in order to find some acceptance.
So lets say you found 50 Indians that thought your
recording was funny, or "ok". Does that somehow
justify the way you have perpetuated stereotypes about
an entire race? Does that make it "fine" that you have
mocked an entire species of mankind and made them
sound like they are all a bunch of drunken solvent
sniffing losers? My mother was 1/4 Sioux, and she is
one of the smartest people I know. She's not an
alchohohlic, and she has used her photographic memory
to become one of the most succesful business people in
her trade across my entire country. She's the kind of
example that should be used to help Native's get out
of the rut they find themselves in, not by making fun
of the few that have it so bloody bad that they
actually would consider sniffing a solvent.
You don't know what it's like to be born to the
parents of solvent sniffers. To have no self esteem
because people look at you and see a stereotype, and
not a living, breathing person. My mother, who at the
height of her career made aprox. $450,000.00 annually,
yet when she travelled to Mexico one time, another
travellor saw her darker skin color and walked up to
her and shoved her bags at my mother and said "Here,
here's a dollar, carry my bags". All of this because
of her skin color.
I don't think you realize it, but by spreading this
kind of hurtful material, you are just as bad as the
KKK people that used to spread black explotation
cartoons. It's not right, because it's never right to
hurt thousands of people for the pleasure of a couple
of bigots.
Anyway, back to where I was with my "friend" from
work. I told him I downloaded the files for him, but I
also told him that I found the material quite
offensive. He apologized, and said he could barely
remember what was on it, but that he thought it was
funny when he was 12 years old. That I can understand,
because 12 year olds think that fart jokes are
hillarious. Grown-ups should know better.
I just feel that someone that has some comedic talent,
as some people seem to feel you have, could use it to
make people laugh without humiliating an entire race.
I'm not saying you should go get a head dress and
start doing rain dances. I'm just saying that there is
no need for you to continue to distribute something
that causes hurt.
When I drive downtown in my city, and I see the state
that some of the Natives live in, it makes me sad,
because I know the solvent users and the under age
prostitutes have no self esteem. When I hear some
white person look out the window and say "dirty
Indians" or something, it really upsets me, because
there was a time when Aboriginal people's were strong,
intelligent, fruitful people. It's hard to get out of
a rut so huge as the one they currently find
themselves in. You can't possibly have any idea what
it is like to live on a reserve. To live in a
community where self esteem is so low. To be a child
in a community filled with dependancy and addiction. I
know that I'm glad I wasn't raised on a reserve, but I
know enough to feel bad for the less fortunate
children than me. Not to mock them. I could have been
one of those kids, and so could you have. Maybe you'd
feel different if you were a little kid who had a
solvent abuser for a mother and a drunken gambler for
a father, neither caring what time you came home at or
if you came home at night. Well, those kids are the
ones that grow up so disfunctional that they have no
idea how to function productively. I know you didn't
cause the problem, but when you contribute to the
humiliation of those people, you are part of the
problem, not the solution. Nobody said you need to be
part of the solution, it's not your burden. It's
neither your right to be part of the problem.
You seem to think that we simply have a difference of
opinion, I see it as a complete difference of moral
integrity.
Yours truly,
Bryce L. Wren
Michael is it? (though I'm fighting every urge to call you something else less respectful! ...though lowering myself to the putrid depths you occupy would likely do me little good). I am compelled to write simply because I am so incredibly disgusted and angered by the so-called 'parody,' you offer on your website, products, cd's, radio, etc. You think claiming a minimal percentage of indigenous ancestry gives you the liberty to perpetuate stereotype and further demean indigenous people who have been battling such injustices for longer than you've been alive?! What a disrespect and utter crime!!! Making light of the various afflictions that affect our people is not providing tangible cure. You are enabling the most basic of racist diatribe. If you were even an iota of the 'native' man you claim to be, you would know better and cease to do ‘the man’s’ bidding. How many white guys are paying you to do this anyway?? I suspect that the amounts of angry emails you receive far ! outnumber the few praises you have posted on your website…yet you persist. Have you no shame, conscience or sense of obligation to your ancestry? (if that is in fact a truth…though I have my doubts there is any portion of our proud, strong ancestry running through your cowardly veins). I do have the sense of obligation I speak of, and it’s why I cannot adequately express in written word how much I dislike you and the type of ‘humour’ you advocate. Now please…can you cut and paste this on your website?!
In truth and convinction,
Deanna Marie Therriault, Nishnawbe Aski Nation
Andre
I'm 1/4 Native and originally from "Nordern Ontario eh Brudder" And I have to say that Brockett 99 is some pretty hilarious stuff! I've been joking around about natives forever (I figure if you can't laugh at yourself you have no sense of humour) The stereotypes are funny as hell, the content rocks, and it really does remind me of growing up in small town Northern Ontario. Obviously the stuff is exaggerated for comedic effect, but it definitely works.
hi my names adam im half native. When i listened to brocket 99 i thought it was funny as hell and there some truth in it. But not all natives are like that
I first heard Brocket when I lived in British Columbia. I am half indian and think it is funny and does contain some truth. -Bert
You guys are nothing but Nazi racist's. You guys have no clue to want is going on -Tim
You don't know anything about Native Life. Brocket is a disgrace to our tribe. -Anon
FULL BLOODED NATIVE FROM BROCKET RESERVE SAYS BROCKET 99 "IT'S COOL"!
I had a very pleasant conversation with a young man from the Brocket reserve tonight who said "well never really got to get much into it,but i thinks its cool" He was of course speaking of Brocket 99. He went on to say that he thought some of it was stupid (too).
We talked for a good half hour and this polite intuitive guy told me that life on the Brocket reserve is cool and sucks sometimes too. He thinks he'll move into the city about an hour away after he graduates. He's not sure what the rest of his family will do. He said the pow wows are good when I asked what was cool in Brocket. 'It gets way too cold especially at night' and he likes the Brocket summer much better. He is a full blooded Piikani (Blackfoot for Brocket he tells me) born and raised on the Brocket reserve. It was great talking with this very intelligent young man. He shows fantastic promise and is a credit to his people and all people. I thank him for contacting and talking with me! - Michael
NATIVE COMEDIAN DON BURNSTICK COMMENTS ABOUT BROCKET 99
Sent to Michael Anthony. Owner of Brocket99.net "when I 1 st started doing comedy alot of people asked me if I was the one who did brocket 99..........of cousre I said no. plus the damage it has done over the yrs to the stereo typing of our people.......it was one of the things that inspired me to become a comedian....to show what I believe is true Indian humour...that is why I don't swear in my shows. or cds.... lets get one thing out of the way....my stance on brocket 99 is one of disgust.....the humour on it was not funny and very very crude. and total dishonored the Blackfoot nation.......when I 1st heard it all I could think was" how the people in brocket....Pegan Nation felt. still not sure the origin of that particular recording but I think it first serviced in the late 80s.......it was there I wanted to show what I felt was true indian humour..........that is why I made my recordings..... that is it. hope you quote me on this." |
Hello my is Cowboy Smith and I am partly from the Peigan Nation where Brocket is located. I live in Calgary, AB, and attend school @ Mount Royal College. I have been a fan of the parody "Brocket 99" since the damn thing showed it's fucken' face. My grandfather is from Brocket and was a band councilor when the tape was first heard throughout the Blackfoot confederacy. He thinks it's pretty fucken' funny too.
| Wendy from Baltimore, Maryland writes: |
| I'm 1/4 Native and I do not find it (Brocket 99) offensive at all. It's the delivery that makes Ernie Scar so funny, I think; it isn't the stereotypical topics (getting ripped with Lysol, and foot odor in the moccasins.) |
We'd like your opinion,
I'm looking for Native opinions concerning Brocket
99. These thoughts will be published on the Brocket 99 Web Site www.brocket99.net. Please
also let us know who you are and whether you might be interested in an interview by
telephone concerning this subject. All comments both positive and negative are welcome.
Your opinion will be taken seriously as we are committed to an equal forum on this
subject. Send your thoughts via email.
I, myself am part Native. I may be Cherokee or Chickacoan as far as I'm able to
gather. My family is not actually sure and my grandmother was made to feel ashamed of her
Native Blood. She denied that she was related to any tribe at all although her physical
features told a much different story. I am actively looking for any information on my
Native background and would appreciate any help in this matter as well.
Thank you for your time.
Michael Anthony
Owner
http://www.brocket99.net