Standing Silent Nation: The D.E.A.’s War Against Native Americans.
Standing Silent Nation, shot over four years, is an eye-opening account of reservation life that belies popular images of casino mini-states. It is the story of one Lakota family’s struggle to retain tribal identity and sovereignty against the odds of history and current government policy.
“Our purpose in visiting the Pine Ridge Reservation was to meet Alex White Plume, the first known person to grow industrial hemp within the boundaries of the United States in over 40 years, and to document his harvest celebration,” says director Suree Towfighnia. “When the crew arrived on August 10, 2002, and we first met Alex, he apologized for being in a bad mood on such a beautiful morning. Ten minutes before, federal agents had served him with a summons that detailed eight federal civil charges filed against him by the U.S. District Attorney. I asked if we could put a microphone on him. He agreed and we started filming.”
“The film originally dealt with the American farm community’s right to grow industrial hemp,” says producer Courtney Hermann. “As Alex’s story unfolded, our focus shifted. We now see hemp as a vehicle through which a larger and arguably more important issue is playing out — the sovereignty of the Lakota Nation.” via: pbs pov
Standing Silent Nation is a 2007 documentary film about Alex White Plume, an industrious resident of South Dakota’s Pine Ridge Reservation. After a great deal of research, Alex and his family planted industrial hemp, under the incorrect assumption that tribal sovereignty laws would allow the production of this non-psychoactive relative of marijuana, and the film details the consequences of his actions.
What does a family have to endure to create a future for itself?
When the Oglala Sioux Tribe passed an ordinance separating industrial hemp from its illegal cousin, marijuana, Alex White Plume and his family glimpsed a brighter future.
Having researched hemp as a sustainable crop that would grow in the inhospitable soil of the South Dakota Badlands, the White Plumes envisioned a new economy that would impact the 85% unemployment rate on the Pine Ridge Reservation.
They never dreamed they would find themselves swept up in a struggle over tribal sovereignty, economic rights, and common sense.
From the hemp fields of Pine Ridge to the US Federal Court of Appeals, the one-hour documentary Standing Silent Nation tracks one family’s effort to create economic independence for themselves, their reservation, and their future generations.
The hemp plant is like a new buffalo for the Lakota: a resource whose many uses from food to fuel to fiber, could enrich their sovereign nation. For three years, Alex White Plume and his family planted industrial hemp. But each year, their harvest was disrupted by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), which claims that hemp is marijuana despite the absence of marijuana’s psychoactive properties.
Standing Silent Nation challenges contemporary notions of Native America, while providing a compelling and engaging story rarely covered in mainstream media.
Standing Silent Nation is made possible with the support of Native American Public Telecommunications, the Paul Robeson Fund for Independent Media, the Playboy Foundation, our fiscal sponsor Documentary Educational Resources (DER), and many others who have donated to the project over the years.
via: standingsilentnation
National Cannagraphic Tagged: drugs, economy, hemp, indian, lakota nation, native american, reservation, sovereignty
Standing Silent Nation
Released: 2006
Alex White Plume, Ramona White Plume, Deborah White Plume
Information © IMDb.com
April 23, 2010 at 12:48 pm
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