鈥楰illers of the Flower Moon鈥� Is a Missed Opportunity on MMIW

Nov 10, 2023

Acclaimed filmmaker Martin Scorsese鈥檚 newest movie, Killers of the Flower Moon, has racked up at the box office and countless accolades. The film tells the story of white exploitation of members of the Osage Nation, fueled by greed for oil money.

Starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, as well as Indigenous actress Lily Gladstone, the film has faced for glorifying the murders of Osage Indians and telling the story through a white lens. According to Indigenous journalist Frank Hopper鈥檚 latest piece for YES!, Scorsese also overlooked the critical issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women. Hopper, whose work has appeared on Last Real Indians, Indian Country Today, and in The Stranger, reviewed the film with YES! Racial Justice Editor Sonali Kolhatkar on YES! Presents: Rising Up With Sonali.

Sonali Kolhatkar joined YES! in summer 2021, building on a long and decorated career in broadcast and print journalism. She is an award-winning multimedia journalist, and host and creator of聽YES! Presents: Rising Up with Sonali, a nationally syndicated television and radio program airing on Free Speech TV and dozens of independent and community radio stations. She is also Senior Correspondent with the Independent 麻豆社事件 Institute鈥檚 Economy for All project where she writes a weekly column. She is the author of聽Rising Up: The Power of Narrative in Pursuing Racial Justice聽(2023) and聽Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords, and the Propaganda of Silence聽(2005). Her forthcoming book is called聽Talking About Abolition聽(Seven Stories Press, 2025). Sonali is co-director of the nonprofit group, Afghan Women鈥檚 Mission which she helped to co-found in 2000. She has a Master鈥檚 in Astronomy from the University of Hawai鈥檌, and two undergraduate degrees in Physics and Astronomy from the University of Texas at Austin. Sonali reflects on 鈥淢y Journey From Astrophysicist to Radio Host鈥� in her 2014聽聽of the same name.