THE SERIES ALSO INTRODUCES THE BROADER PUBLIC TO THE RAMAPOUGH LENAPE. IN THE SERIES THE TRIBE IS IDENTIFIED AS THE LENAPE MOUNTAIN
INDIANS, BUT IT IS BASED ON “REAL” PEOPLE, A TRIBE RECOGNIZED BY BOTH NEW JERSEY AND NEW YORK STATE WHOSE MEMBERS MAINLY LIVE IN THE RAMAPO MOUNTAINS, ACROSS THE HUDSON RIVER FROM NEW YORK CITY.
Ramapo Lake from Castle Point.
a mountain and woods, but also acknowledges the need sometimes to live an urban lifestyle to survive financially, in this case in New York City. And since the main white character is a police officer, the series
depicts the continuing mistreatment of Indians by law enforcement if the victim is white and neglect by law enforcement if the victim is Na- tive. However, events and characters in The Red Road are nuanced and complex, not strictly black and white, or should I say red and white? The series is a welcome contrast to the stereotyping evident in a
recent film, Out of the Furnace, that is partly based on the Ramapough tribe and depicts them in an unfavorable light. The filmmakers were sued for $50 million by 17 members of the Ramapough Lenape Nation, whose family names were used in the movie. The movie starred Christian Bale, Casey Affleck and Woody Har-
relson and was produced by Leonardo DiCaprio. Harrelson’s character, the turquoise- jewelry-wearing criminal leader Harlan De Groat, be- longs to an ethnic group identified in the movie as the Jackson Whites and labeled inbreds. Although the production company, Relativity Media, claimed the
film was entirely fictional, eight of the plaintiffs in the suit have the last name De Groat and two have the last name, Van Dunk, that are used for gang members in the movie. Plaintiffs charged that both last names are common in their tribe and that the name Jackson Whites has his- torically been used in a negative way to refer to the Ramapough Lenape as Dutch and Indian inbreds. In May 2014, a federal judge dismissed the suit on the grounds that the plaintiffs could not show that they had been specifically referenced by the movie. In contrast with the DiCaprio movie, executives associated with the production of The Red Road met with Ramapough Lenape Chief
Dwaine Perry and tribal member Scott prior to filming. Scott was hired to serve as a Native consultant for the series. Screenwriter and executive producer Aaron Guzikowski felt that even though the series is fictional it was important to have tribal input because of elements in the series that were inspired by real events related to the tribe. Scott read the scripts and offered suggestions regarding possibly offensive language and accurate portrayals of native life on Ramapo Mountain. She told American Indian magazine, “The Native characters who
are represented as members of the Tribe are those whom I need to ensure are culturally accurate. Even within fiction there are those things we simply would not say or do, and in as much as early public- ity connected us to this film, we needed to assure it would not add to the heartache of a people.” The main character Kopus, she said, was an exception. “He is cer-
tainly a lost soul, but in no regard is he representational of our Ra- mapough men!” (In preparing to portray the violent but tormented ex-con, actor Momoa met with Ramapough Lenape tribal members. In an interview with American Indian magazine writer Anya Montiel, he recounted that he told them, “you are not going to like my charac- ter. However, he is a complex person, a lone wolf, whose past explains his behavior.” (Montiel’s article, “Jason Momoa’s Road to Paloma,” starts on page 40.) At the insistence of tribal advisers, the series also touches on two
major issues facing the New Jersey tribes; recognition and pollution. During the first term of New Jersey Republican Governor Chris Chris- tie, he considered revoking state recognition for the Powhatan-Renape Nation in Mt. Holly, N.J., and the Lenni-Lenape Nation in Bridgeton, N.J., both located in southern New Jersey, as well as the Ramapough- SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 37
PHOTO BY PAUL J. NEARY
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