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 WWW.BROOKLYNPDAPILEYR.C.COOMM   1 METROTECH CENTER NORTH • 10TH FLOOR • BROOKLYN, NY 11201  
 Horse power: The entrance to the new Native American art exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum features Charles Cary Rumsey’s “The Dying Indian” statue in front of a modern mural that reads, “I’m gonna  
 run with every minute I can borrow.”   Photo by Rose Adams 
 Native speaker 
 Exhibit contrasts art by, and art about , indigenous Americans 
 HBy Rose Adams e’s  giving  us  a  fresh  look  at  old  
 A  Native  American  artist  
 is  using  centuries-old  sculptures  and  
 artifacts  from  the  Brooklyn  Museum’s  
 collection  to  weave  a  new  story  about  
 indigenous people. “When Fire is Applied  
 to a Stone it Cracks,” on display at the  
 Brooklyn Museum until 2021, juxtaposes  
 stereotypical  portrayals  of  American  
 Indians  with  colorful  new  art  by  artist  
 Jeffrey  Gibson  to  show  that  Native  
 Americans are a vital, living community,  
 the show’s curator said. 
 “He’s  looking  at  history  and  the  
 way  history  has  been  told  and  telling  a  
 counter-narrative,” said Eugenia Tsai. 
 The show opens with a well-known  
 piece  from  the  Museum’s  collection:  
 Charles  Cary  Rumsey’s  1904  sculpture  
 “Dying Indian,” which features a slumped  
 figure  on  an  emaciated  horse.  Gibson  
 created a pair of moccasins and slipped  
 them onto the bronze figure, which gives  
 the morbid piece a lively pop, and placed  
 it in front of a vibrant mural of modern  
 song lyrics.  
 Throughout  the  show,  Gibson’s  
 brightly-colored sculptures, weaving, and  
 stained glass  contrast with  the European  
 art’s focus on death and decline.  
 “There  was  this  whole  trope  of  the  
 ‘dying Indian’ and this image perpetuated  
 by Europeans and Americans that Indians  
 were a dying race,” said Tsai. “One of the  
 things  Jeff  is  doing  is  working  against  
 that.” 
 The  exhibit  also  highlights  pottery  
 and  photographs  by  Native  Americans,  
 demonstrating  the  wide  variety  of  
 indigenous art, Tsai explained.  
 “People  seem  to  have  an  idea  of  how  
 Native  American  art  should  be,  and  
 Gibson really wants to show its variety  
 and  that  it’s  always  been  hybrid,  it’s  
 always been contemporary ,” she said. 
 Gibson,  who  has  Choctaw  and  
 Cherokee  heritage,  took  the  show’s  
 name,  “When  Fire  is  Applied  to  a  
 Stone it Cracks,” from an Irish proverb.  
 The  fire  represents  Native  American  
 innovation, while the stone is the static  
 stereotypes  created  by  Europeans,  
 Gibson explained. 
 “I read ‘fire’ in this quote to describe  
 the  innovative making,  use  of materials,  
 transformative  techniques,  and  the  
 survivalist ethic of Indigenous people,”  
 he wrote.   
 The  show  critiques  traditional  
 portrayals  of  Native  Americans,  but  it  
 does  not  seek  to  shame  or  chastise  the  
 non-Native works, Tsai clarified. Instead,  
 it showcases the power and life within  
 Native American art and communities,  
 Tsai said. 
 “Images of joy, images of happiness,  
 images of community and family where  
 subjects weren’t posing for the camera  
 but  maybe  were  caught  in  their  daily  
 lives — that can be a powerful form of  
 resistance,” she said. 
 “When  Fire  is  Applied  to  a  Stone  it  
 Cracks”  at  the  Brooklyn  Museum  200  
 Eastern Pkwy. at Washington Avenue in  
 Prospect  Heights,  (718)  638–5000,  www. 
 brooklynmuseum.org.  On  display   Wed– 
 Sun; 11 am–6 pm through January, 2021.  
 $16 suggested admission. 
 Your entertainment 
 guide Page 41 
 art.  
 Police Blotter ..........................8 
 Opinion ................................... 26 
 Letters .................................... 27 
 Standing O ............................28 
 Camp Guide ..........................29 
 Health ..................................... 35 
 HOW TO REACH US 
 COURIER L 4     IFE, FEBRUARY 21-27, 2020 
 BY ROSE ADAMS 
 The family of a man who  
 was shot in the face by immigration  
 agents  in  Gravesend  
 last week is called for a federal  
 investigation  of  the  incident  
 just  days  before  fi ling  
 a civil suit against the allegedly  
 trigger  happy  federal  
 agent, advocates say. 
 Erick  Diaz  Cruz,  represented  
 by  Katie  Rosenfeld  
 and Scout Katovich of Emery  
 Celli  Brinckerhoff  &  Abady  
 LLP,  filed  the  lawsuit  in  
 the  Eastern  District  of  New  
 York  to  seek  damages  for  
 the  shooting,  which  lodged  
 a  bullet  in  Diaz-Cruz’s  neck  
 for  life  and  caused  vision  
 loss  in his  left  eye,  the complaint  
 said. 
 Immigration and Customs  
 Enforcement offi cers were trying  
 to arrest an allegedly undocumented  
 Gravesend  man  
 at his W. 12th Street house on  
 Feb. 6, when Diaz-Cruz intervened. 
  An ICE offi cer shot  at  
 the  26-year-old,  and  the  bullet  
 ricocheted off Diaz-Cruz’s  
 hand and hit his cheek, according  
 to witnesses.  
 First  responders  rushed  
 Diaz-Cruz to the Maimonides  
 Medical Center in stable condition. 
  He underwent  several  
 surgeries  two days  later,  and  
 was  released  from  the  hospital  
 on Wednesday night, his  
 family said. 
 “Erick came out of surgery  
 around 1:30 pm; surgery that  
 lasted  several  hours  where  
 the bullet he had since Thursday  
 was  taken  out,”  a  family  
 An ICE agent shot a man in Gravesend.   Photo by Todd Maisel 
 member wrote in a Facebook  
 post  on  Feb.  8.  “Surgeons  at  
 Maimonides  hospital  did  an  
 excellent job, right now he is  
 in recovery. 
 Diaz-Cruz has legal immigration  
 papers, the Consulate  
 General of Mexico in New  
 York told reporters, while the  
 suspect  of  the  ICE  investigation  
 is undocumented. In a  
 statement,  ICE  claimed  that  
 the  suspect  is  “a  twice-removed  
 illegal alien from Mexico  
 with a 2011 assault conviction  
 in  New  York  City”  who  
 they  arrested  on  Feb.  6  because  
 of a recent traffi c stop.  
 ICE offi cials are holding  
 Avendano-Hernandez  in  a  
 New Jersey facility, advocates  
 say. 
 Diaz-Cruz’s  family,  meanwhile, 
   is  calling  on  federal  
 authorities and the Attorney  
 General  to  investigate  the  
 shooting,  according  to  several  
 activists.  
 On Feb. 16, local activist  
 groups held a candlelight  
 vigil  near  the  family’s  Gravesend  
 house  to  stand  in  solidarity  
 with Diaz-Cruz and  
 Avendano-Hernandez,  drawing  
 dozens of supporters, who  
 expressed their support for  
 the family.  
 The family’s neighbor,  
 Fabiola  Mendieta,  has  also  
 started  a  fundraiser  to  cover  
 the family’s medical expense,  
 which had raised more than  
 $6,500 as of Feb. 18. 
 ICE  representatives  did  
 not  respond  to  a  request  for  
 comment. 
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 The COLD NYPD took the lead on the investigation following the shooting. 
 CASE ICE shooting victim in Gravesend fi les civil lawsuit against federal agent 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
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