#sealfie vs. #selfie

Ellen DeGeneres, don’t just be the next beautiful, blonde celebrity to crush an aboriginal people & run.

Sealskin coat, caribou fur pants, wolf fur boots, borrowed from Aaju Peter.

Sealskin coat, caribou fur pants, wolf fur boots, borrowed from Aaju Peter.

Today I wrote and sent a letter to Ellen DeGeneres. Please see it in the facebook post at the bottom of this entry. The subject is very relevant to the documentary film I am working on at the moment, called Angry Inuk. It’s called “Angry” to be ironic, because of how Inuit have a tendency to be calm and respectful even when we’re really mad or upset about something.

Ellen recently broke the record for the most retweeted picture of all time with her Oscar Awards ceremony #selfie. The huge company Samsung agreed to donate $1 to a charity of her choice for every retweet she got. She chose to donate to HSUS, which acts against seal hunting, and she shared some very drastic and strong words against seal hunting herself. My heart broke.

I am a fan of Ellen’s, and I had a moment where I thought “Oh no! Not you too! But I want to keep liking you!”. However, Ellen cannot know how she is hurting us if we don’t let her know. We can’t blame her for only having the animal rights groups’ point of view if we don’t reach out to let her know how we’re affected! So if you agree, please write to her to let her know how you feel. If you are not sure how to say it, or don’t have a lot of time, please feel free to cut and paste what I wrote as a basis for your letter. I am trying to have faith in Ellen as a human being, and I will not assume she won’t listen or understand, given the chance.

Another idea that my hilarious friend Laakkuluk Williamson came up with: post a picture of yourself wearing sealskin and send it to her by twitter with the hashtag #sealfie in reference to her famous and heavily retweeted #selfie.

Please take a minute to watch the video in the FB post, and most importantly, take a second to “like” Killaq’s sweet and eloquent video. If we get enough views (they are piling up fast already!), maybe she will manage to get Ellen’s attention.

Best of luck to my fellow Inuit and other seal-loving friends. This is an opportunity for our voice to be heard, let’s not let it slip by without trying.