Nora Mabie
Missoulian
When 7-year-old Kahlia White saw an ad for the Oscars Sunday morning, she told her parents, “We have to watch Lily!”
She was of course talking about Lily Gladstone, who grew up on the Blackfeet Reservation and who made history becoming the first Indigenous person to ever be nominated for best actress.
On Sunday evening, Kahlia’s mother, Kayla White, snapped a photo of her daughter watching the award show.
In the photo, Kahlia — whose Blackfeet name is miisumsissttsain’kyaakii and translates to Long Time Singing Bird Woman — stands in the middle of her living room on the Blackfeet Reservation, gazing up at Gladstone on her screen.
The 7-year-old wears white pajamas dotted with purple, green and orange ghosts, and her long dark hair falls to her waist.
Though Gladstone ultimately did not win an Oscar for her performance in “Killers of the Flower Moon,” the photo of Kahlia quickly went viral — gaining hundreds of shares on Facebook and Twitter. For many, it symbolizes the power and importance of Native representation.
“(Gladstone) is showing our kids that no matter where you come from, you can achieve anything,” Kayla said.
Theda New Breast, Blackfeet matriarch who also shared the photo on Facebook, said she had hundreds of nieces, nephews and grandchildren watching Gladstone at the Oscars.
“The photo (of Kahlia is) symbolic of all of our love,” New Breast said. “But it’s also much more than that. We’re finally being seen. Lily will get more roles because of this. She will be seen. And that means that every little Indian girl can have the same dream. It opens a door that wasn’t open before.”
Kayla said her daughter’s first-grade Blackfeet immersion teacher, Marci Burd, “gets a lot of credit for Kahlia’s huge interest in Lily.”
Burd, who teaches at Bullshoe Elementary, said she will never forget the looks on her students’ faces when they watched Gladstone speak Blackfoot in her Golden Globes acceptance speech.
“They were so shocked, but so proud,” Burd said through joyful tears. “They were beaming with pride.”
Since then, Burd said her students have embraced Gladstone.
“They write about her,” she said. “They draw her. They’re always talking about seeing her on TikTok. They look up to her. They see her talk about following her dreams, and it’s made them reflect on following their own dreams.”
When her students came to class on Monday and told Burd they were disappointed Gladstone didn’t win an Oscar, Burd told them, “We all won.”
The Blackfeet Nation on March 26 will host “Lily Gladstone Day” to honor and celebrate the actress. Celebrations begin at 10 a.m. at the new multi-purpose arbor in Browning and will include a grand entry, opening prayer, honor song, headdress transfer, gifts for Gladstone and a meal.
Burd’s students will present a prayer to Gladstone and sing a self-affirmation song at the event.
