"I’m working against a few deadlines for my upcoming book, appropriately entitled The Thing About Skins. (Shameless plug—pre-order at CutBankCreekPress.com; this book will amazing, just like the last one. Just ask me.) Additionally, right now work is also crazy like the zombie apocalypse and crazy non-Native people eating other people’s faces, so these next few posts will be suspiciously short, like Hopis, but also powerful and full of deep meaning also like Hopis. Instead of my usual analysis of whatever’s going on, these next few columns will celebrate a few Native folks that are really doing some substantial things and everybody should know about them and support them.

Tatanka Means earned the inaugural fan-spot. I don’t know this young brother well, at all, but the little bit that I do know about him, I love and respect. If we were at the basketball court, I’d say that Tatanka’s got next, because I truly believe that he will be the next Adam Beach or Graham Greene; he will be the next Native to go mainstream and work beside those brothers in Hollyweird. Now, there are many very competent Native actresses and actors in Hollywood, right? I mean, even Johnny “I Have No Clue What Kind of Indian I Am But Whatever Kind He Wears Dead Animals On His Head” Depp is now an official Indian, right?? Well, no. But even if so, the cool thing about Tatanka (and Adam) is their accessibility—there is no “I’m a Star” weirdness to either of them. They’re Native Actors that are still…well, Native."

Get the Story:
Gyasi Ross: Celebrating Modern-Day Indigenous Warriors Series (aka, Native Fanboy Piece #1): Tatanka Means (Indian Country Today 6/4)