Spot on ... . .What really makes the difference between us and American society is that we hold on to our ancestors,” he says. - “We have nothing to feel ashamed of about what they did for us. We wouldn't be here if they didn't do what they did for us. - We wouldn't exist had they not made the treaties.” - It strikes me that what Wes is saying pertains not just to Native culture but to Native filmmaking more specifically. - When he accepted that Oscar, it seemed to be with the knowledge that he was part of a lineage that went back to Jay Silverheels and Will Sampson and stretched forward to some unknown project, not yet greenlighted, that would one day win the Native community another statue.