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This quietly moving and forthright documentary introduces us to the extended White Plume family of the sovereign Lakota Sioux Nation.
When the two young women who made this film arrived at Alex White Plume's small home, he informed them that only 10 minutes earlier, the Drug Enforcement Administration had served him with a summons detailing eight federal charges against him – for growing industrial hemp, a relative of the marijuana plant, but with a THC count of 0 percent.
Hemp, the “standing silent nation” as the Lakotas call it, has tens of thousands of uses, from superior textiles and cosmetics to biodegradable plastics. It is environmentally friendly, requiring no pesticides, little water and fertilizer and no herbicides. It controls erosion, produces huge amounts of biomass and oxygen, and replaces trees in making not just paper products, but building materials. That wild-eyed revolutionary Henry Ford actually built a CAR out of hemp! Yet growing industrial hemp remains illegal in the US.
Two local speakers/presenters will be present at this screening. Ron Kiczenski is a Lake County resident who was crucially involved in the events that led up to the making of this film. He is also a globally respected advocate for industrial hemp, and he will share his knowledge of hemp and the film (which didn't turn out as he had hoped).
Lori Patozka is a Lake County vegan cook and teacher. She will present some of the many hemp food products that are increasingly available in this country. She will have enough of at least some to share with the audience.
The White Plumes, a hard-working family, hoped to lift themselves and their fellows out of the grinding poverty of their windswept, hardscrabble reservation land – much of it unsuited to either farming or livestock.
Unemployment in the Pine Ridge Reservation where the White Plumes live is 85 percent. Clearly, hemp production could create desperately needed and creative alternatives to poverty and despair, now that the buffalo are gone.
The words of an angry reviewer from The New York Times say it very well: “The story of a dirt-poor but enterprising family thwarted by shocking, stupid acts by jerks armed with red tape and guns produces a single effect: umbrage. It's good umbrage, mostly, that surging, almost euphoric response to a crusading documentary that frees you from the duty to be even-handed or hear out the other side.”
Deborah White Plume says: “As hemp is a multi-BILLION dollar a year industry, it very well can take our people – as a Nation – out of poverty and dependence. Perhaps THAT is why the US does not want us to grow hemp. If we have resources as a Nation, we won’t need welfare AND we might fight for our land, water, treaty.”
Second Sunday Cinema exists to bring important information to the people of Lake County.
Information is empowering. It allows us to make decisions that benefit us, rather than the rich and powerful.
Our films are always free, and the atmosphere is warm and supportive. Our doors open at 5:30 p.m. for snacks and socializing. The film/presenters will begin at 6 p.m.
Our venue is the Clearlake United Methodist Church at 14521 Pearl Ave. in Clearlake.
For more information call 707-279-2957.
