A family of New Mexico Indians is suing the producers of the Steven Spielberg television series "Into The West" claiming a stylist on the set violated tribal customs by cutting a girl's hair to make her look like a boy.
The lawsuit, filed last week with the US District Court in Albuquerque, alleges that the hair of Christina Ponce, then 8, was shorn without permission while the girl was an extra last March in the TNT miniseries "Into the West."
Mescalero Apache tradition forbids the cutting of hair before a girl's Coming of Age ceremony, normally held after a child reaches puberty. The lawsuit charges that the girl and her family suffered emotional distress from the "intentional, outrageous and reckless conduct" of the unnamed set stylist.
"They did this to a little girl right on the cusp of her Indian maiden ceremony," attorney J. Robert Beauvais told the Albuquerque Tribune. "Some people may think this is a tempest in a teapot, but they do not realize this is like an Indian bar mitzvah."
