SHORT TAKES : Sioux Honoring ‘La Bamba’ Star
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Lou Diamond Phillips’ latest role is causing controversy among Navajos, but South Dakota Sioux are honoring the multiracial actor for his portrayals of American Indians.
The Sioux have given Phillips, 28, star of the 1987 film “La Bamba,” the honorary name Starkeeper, publicist Eddie Michaels said last week.
The tribe will officially confer the name on Phillips at a ceremony later this year in the Black Hills of South Dakota, Michaels said.
The American Indian Registry for the Performing Arts has challenged the casting of Phillips as a Navajo policeman in a film based on author Tony Hillerman’s novel “The Dark Wind.”
Phillips, who played a Mexican-Indian in “Young Guns” and “Young Guns II,” has said he is part Cherokee, Filipino, Scottish-Irish, Hawaiian and Latino.
Bonnie Paradise, director of the American Indian Registry, said last week that Phillips had not provided documentation of his lineage.
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