Giving ordinary people a voice in society
Groundswell is teaming up with Northwestern University Chemistry Department and the Bluhm Legal Clinic to help DePue residents get a comprehensive clean up of industrial waste in their small town of 1,800.
See below for photographs of Northwestern interns organizing vast amounts of data provided by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.
The Oxford Journal of Environmental History ran a cover story on uranium mining in the Navajo Nation, using The Return of Navajo Boy as a major source. Marsha Weisiger of New Mexico State University writes in her article:
The camera pans across the vermillion mesas and buttes of Monument Valley that John Ford and John Wayne made mythic. Here, near the border between Utah and Arizona, lives the most famous family you have never heard of, the family of Happy Cly, pictured again and again in Arizona Highways, the portfolios of photographers Josef Muench and Ray Manley, and postcards sold at Goulding’s tourist lodge. Dissolve. The next scenes introduce Cly’s great-grandson, Lorenzo Begay. He leafs through old black-and-white pictures of his family, stills from a movie he has never seen: a smiling girl in a velvet- een blouse studded with silver conchos, a grinning boy with a bandana tied across his forehead. “I never thought that pictures would change anyone’s life,” Begay narrates. “But that was before the return of the Navajo boy.”
To read the full article, visit the Oxford Journals website.
The LaSalle News Tribune published an article about Groundswell’s upcoming collaboration with Northwestern University and the town of DePue, Illinois. DePue has been a Superfund site since 1995 and remains contaminated by what is left of a shuttered zinc smelting plant and the remains of a diammonium phosphate fertilizer plant. Stay tuned for more updates on our new project soon.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Navajo Boy Film and Media Campaign Guides EPA to Environmental Justice
Navajo Activist and Filmmaker Present their Story Today at EPA Headquarters
WASHINGTON DC — A documentary film and decade long media campaign by Groundswell Educational Films and a Navajo family opened eyes in Congress and paved the way this summer for the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) first ever cleanup of a Cold War uranium mine on Native American land.
A Sundance Film Festival and PBS selection The Return of Navajo Boy film, and the Navajo family in it, triggered a federal investigation of uranium houses. After ten years of activism — screenings, public events, media coverage and online advocacy — the innovative media campaign and strong Navajo community voices led to the EPA’s $7.5 million cleanup of the abandoned uranium mine adjacent to the homesite of the family in The Return of Navajo Boy film in Monument Valley UT. Skyline Mine is one of more than 500 abandoned uranium mines listed in the EPA’s 5 year plan to cleanup Cold War uranium contamination in the Navajo Nation. In 2007 Congressman Henry Waxman (D-California) introduced a congressional investigation by describing the situation as “a forty year history of bipartisan failure and a modern American tragedy”.
To commemorate Native American Heritage Month the EPA is sponsoring a presentation today by Groundswell co-founder, Jeff Spitz, director of the film and Navajo environmental activist Mary Begay, whose family is featured in the film. Spitz, an Associate Professor of documentary film at Columbia College Chicago and Begay, an elementary school teacher in the Navajo Nation, will present film clips, websites, webisodes, science curriculum and social media that chronicle their campaign and the unfolding federal response. The presentation begins at 11:00AM, Nov. 16 in Rachel L. Carson Great Hall, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW.
”Our work with Groundswell points to the urgent need for more education in impacted Navajo communities where radioactive waste contaminates houses, water, soil and livestock,” said Mary Begay.
”While the media flocked to Japan’s radiation crisis, the Navajo Nation struggles to secure a federal clean up of Cold War uranium contamination,” says director Jeff Spitz. “Stories and film are powerful tools to create empathy and communicate across cultures. Groundswell uses new media tools to give voice, public engagement strategies to advocate for environmental justice, and mainstream media to amplify stories.”
Groundswell Educational Films, based in Chicago, has been actively booking screenings and presentations for 10 years, leveraging media coverage for the issue and creating a platform for the Navajo community to advocate for EPA cleanup. “Transferring media skills to community members continues to be a key to the success of this project,” said Spitz. Accomplishments include triggering the investigation of uranium houses; gaining compensation for ailing former uranium miners and helping the Navajo Nation to move Congress to authorize the five agencies–Nuclear Regulatory Agency, Dept of Energy, Indian Health Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs and EPA to work together to cleanup the contamination.
About Groundswell Educational Films: Groundswell is a non-profit organization with a mission to collaborate cross-culturally in all facets of documentary filmmaking, transfer media skills into disadvantaged communities, and partner with stakeholders to stimulate local actions that address social justice issues raised in our films. Groundswell engages audiences through film, live performances and multi-arts programming and amplifies marginalized voices through new and traditional media.
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Dear Friends of Navajo Boy,
Groundswell is celebrating a few milestones with its Return of Navajo Boy project. EPA has completed the long awaited $7.5 million uranium cleanup in the community of Elsie Mae Begay, the matriarch in our film, The Return of Navajo Boy. Groundswell Makes Headlines |
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Our media outreach team prompted dozens of recent news stories about the uranium problems in Navajo lands, including two national feature stories published by the Associated Press: Navajo Woman Helps Prompt Uranium Mine Cleanup and EPA Wraps Up Uranium Mine Cleanup on Navajo Nation. Groundswell Keynotes EPA Event in DC The EPA has invited Groundswell and Navajo webisode correspondent Mary Begay, to present our model for documentary film, news making and advocacy in Washington DC on November 16th for Native American Heritage Month. Our presentation will be broadcast on EPA-TV. New DVD Edition |
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Groundswell is proud to announce the release of our new 15th Anniversary edition of The Return of Navajo Boy DVD. This edition includes features such as: webisodes, slideshow about Groundswell’s methods, behind-the-scenes photo gallery, 2011 epilogue and the original 1950s film Navaho Boy: The Monument Valley Story. Next up: We are raising funds to develop curricula and an education program with our Navajo partners. The project, led by Mary Begay, will empower other communities on the reservation with knowledge, tools, and skills to advocate for clean up of uranium contamination. We welcome all donations to this effort. |
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Groundswell turns unheard-of stories into social change. What’s your story? – Jeff & Jennifer |
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Below is an article published by the Farmington Daily Times:
Below is an article from the Farmington Daily Times, published on October 20, 2011:
The Associated Press reported on the clean up of Skyline Mine, which sits near Elsie Mae Begay’s residence in Monument Valley:
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — For decades, Elsie Begay and her family tied sickness and death to the contaminated uranium waste that sat at the foot of a mesa on the Arizona-Utah border and was scattered throughout an arroyo near their homes.
Now it’s gone, along with the threat of continued radiation exposure for the handful of families living on the valley floor. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency wrapped up the $7.5 million cleanup project at Oljato Mesa this week, marking the first significant remediation of a mine site on the Navajo Nation.
“Our big concern was people going right up to the piles and being exposed to gamma radiation, and we’ve mitigated that threat,” said Jason Musante, who oversaw the cleanup of Skyline Mine for the EPA.
The SLT reports on a new health study to measure the impacts of cold war uranium contamination on the Navajo Nation:
Just as crews complete the cleanup of the Skyline Mine, a group of health scientists is preparing to launch a sweeping study of how the uranium legacy continues to affect the health of the youngest Navajos.
Toxicologist Johnnye Lewis said no other health study of its kind has taken place on the Navajo Reservation.
“It probably would have been nice to do this 10 years ago,” the University of New Mexico researcher said.
But it was only in 2008 that Congress held a hearing about the lingering problems of uranium on the reservation and adopted plans to deal with them.
Salt Lake Tribune reporter Judy Fahys delivers a new update about the work in Monument Valley to clean up the Skyline Mine near Elsie Mae Begay’s home:
In some people’s minds, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency cleanup this summer signaled the federal government has at long last started owning up to its obligations to the Navajos. Next week dump trucks and dozers will be done stuffing the evil back into the redrock.
And the unseen demons will be vanquished from the mythic landscape.
Mary Holiday is happy the uranium has been returned to Oljato Mesa, out of sight from the cluster of family homes below Skyline.
“It’s better,” she said, her daughter Daisy translating from Navajo, “that it’s been taken back where it came from instead of putting it back in another place where it is a danger.”
Read the full article.
The Salt Lake Tribune published a front page article on October 10, 2011 about the clean up in Monument Valley. Read it below:
The Oregon Daily Emerald, the student newspaper at the University of Oregon, published a wrap-up of their recent campus screening:
The award-winning expose “The Return of Navajo Boy,” a documentary on uranium contamination of the Navajo Nation, was presented at the EMU Thursday night as part of a state-wide tour to broaden public discussion of indigenous rights.
“It made me more aware,” said Joanne Gasca, a University senior studying psychology. “I didn’t know this was going on, the uranium stuff. I had no idea. We have to do something about this.”
The film, produced by Groundswell Educational Films, was an official selection at the Sundance Film Festival and was widely promoted by PBS. Filmmaker Jeff Spitz and tribal elder and film subject Elsie Mae Begay have traveled nationwide promoting the film’s message, including a visit to Capitol Hill.
As the EPA’s clean up of uranium contamination in Monument Valley continues, Groundswell presents a new webisode documenting Navajo reactions. Groundswell correspondent Mary Helen Begay talks with neighbors and EPA site-coordinator Jason Musante about moving 17,000 cubic yards of radioactive soil. Where is the EPA moving it? Now you can see for yourself. And you can watch more than a dozen webisodes to follow this ongoing groundswell for environmental justice. The webisodes start in 2000 when Groundswell first exposed the existence of a house made out of uranium.
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Groundswell’s media outreach team continues to amplify Navajo voices in this new Associated Press article which has appeared in over 150 news outlets nationwide. This month Navajo activist and grandmother Elsie Mae Begay, Navajo nuclear scientist Perry Charley, and Groundswell Co-founder, Jeff Spitz, travel to Oregon for a tour of three universities sponsored by the Tokyo Foundation. For more information about our upcoming events or to book a screening/discussion in your community visit us at www.navajoboy.com. Thank you for your continued support. – Jeff & Jennifer |
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An official selection of the Sundance Film Festival and PBS, The Return of Navajo Boy exposed widespread uranium contamination in Navajo Nation – including whole houses made out of uranium slabs – and reunited a Navajo family torn apart by missionaries. Since then, Spitz and Navajo activists Mary and Elsie Begay have triggered an investigation into uranium contamination in Navajo Nation and worked with attorney John Hueston, a former lead prosecutor in the Enron trial, to win a multi-million dollar EPA cleanup.
When: The film will be shown at the 5th Annual Monument Valley Film, Blues and Arts Festival on Saturday and Sunday, September 10 & 11 at 4:30PM each day.
Where: Monument Valley High School, North US Highway 163, Mustang Boulevard, Kayenta AZ, 86033 in the Student Activity Center.
The Monument Valley Film, Blues and Arts Festival is the first and only Native American festival of its kind to be held on the Navajo Nation. The goal of the film festival is to bring Native made films to the people of the Navajo Nation who otherwise would not have the opportunity or means to see these films. It is also an opportunity for emerging and seasoned film makers to present their work to a primarily all Native audience.
The Monument Valley Film, Blues and Arts Festival is a free event held every year in Kayenta, Arizona, the heart of the Navajo Nation. The event began as a simple small film festival financed and organized by local film makers Shonie and Andee De La Rosa of Sheephead Films.
More information at: http://sheepheadfilms.com/mvff/
The Associated Press recently reported on Elsie’s work to ensure that the abandoned uranium mine near her home is cleaned up:
MONUMENT VALLEY, Utah (AP) — The stretch of high desert on the Arizona-Utah border gives way to towering rock formations that resemble huge mittens, chimney spires and castles. But to the west of Monument Valley lies a reminder of what has been blamed for much heartache and tragedy in Elsie Mae Begay’s family: A mesa stained with a gray streak where uranium was mined decades ago.
Read the full article on the Houston Chronicle’s website.
Dear Friends of Navajo Boy,
Three recent articles help Groundswell leverage more pressure to clean up radioactive uranium hazards on Navajo lands. “Let’s call attention to all the other Navajo communities that don’t have a film and a media campaign,” says Groundswell’s Navajo Community educator Mary Begay. Today, a multi-million dollar EPA cleanup is happening at Skyline mine, in the family compound of Elsie Mae Begay, featured in the film The Return of Navajo Boy. Groundswell is making plans to educate, train and organize other Navajo families to advocate too. Thank you for your support and contributions.
– Jeff & Jennifer
Groundswell Co-Founders
| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
Contact: Jennifer Amdur Spitz (773) 771-7696 jennifer@groundswellfilms.org |
Filmmaker and Navajo activist invited to teach tribal environmental leaders how to build new groundswells for action
GREEN BAY, WISCONSIN — An internationally acclaimed documentary film, The Return of Navajo Boy tells a Navajo family history involving Hollywood, houses made out of uranium, and a long lost boy. The film and public engagement campaign are credited with triggering a federal investigation into uranium poisoning, pressuring changes in federal legislation, and after a decade of persistence, inspiring the EPA to clean up uranium contamination at Elsie Begay’s home. Now, the Navajo activists and filmmakers are bringing their media justice experience to other tribal environmental activists at the Tribal Lands and Environment Forum in Green Bay, WI.
“While everyone is talking about Japan’s radiation crisis, the Navajo Nation is struggling to secure a federal clean up of Cold War uranium contamination,” says Spitz. “Navajos are dying of cancer at high rates, and we’re working with new media tools to fight for environmental justice.”
Since the film’s premier at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival, filmmaker Jeff Spitz and Navajo grandmother and activist Elsie May Begay have criss-crossed the nation showing the film and telling the story. Spitz raises awareness through the media, websites, and live events by working through Groundswell Educational Films, the Chicago-based nonprofit he co-founded. Groundswell enables Navajo activists to film the clean up with video cameras and travel around the reservation educating peers on health issues surrounding uranium.
Sparked by the success of this advocacy effort, tribal leaders invited Groundswell Films and Navajo activist Mary Begay to present the keynote at the 2011 Tribal Lands and Environment Forum on August 23rd in Green Bay, Wisconsin. This special presentation of The Return of Navajo Boy, an official selection of the Sundance Film Festival and PBS will include a ‘webisode’ about the clean up taking place at this time in Monument Valley.
Navajo activist Mary Begay will introduce the film, its recent epilogue and new webisodes which she filmed. Groundswell co-founder Jennifer Amdur Spitz will share Groundswell’s methodology for media and social change. In addition, Groundswell is bringing attorney John Hueston, formerly the lead prosecutor in the Enron trials to discuss “Potentially Responsible Party” lawsuits involving major corporations and their environmental legacies. On behalf of the Navajo Nation Hueston successfully negotiated with GE and then pursued Kerr-McGee resulting in more than $20 million in new funds targeted for cleaning up Cold War-era uranium contamination in the Navajo Nation. Over 500 more abandoned uranium mines remain on the Navajo Reservation.
“Members of our tribal steering committee had seen this documentary at other venues and believed showing it at our forum would make a wonderful addition to breakout sessions and trainings,” said Todd Barnell, Program Coordinator at the Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals. “They believed that showing a local issue that highlights community-level involvement would be exciting and thought-provoking for our attendees.” The Tribal Lands and Environment Forum brings together tribal and federal employees working in solid waste, brownfields, Superfund sites, underground storage tanks, and emergency response. The Forum convenes at the Oneida Tribe’s Radisson Hotel and Conference Center in Green Bay, from August 23rd – 25th.
BACKGROUND
The 27,000 square miles of the Navajo Nation contain the largest uranium deposits in the US and more than 500 abandoned Cold War era uranium mines according to the US EPA, which continue to contaminate land, water and homes and impact the health of residents.
About Groundswell: Groundswell Educational Films is a Chicago-based nonprofit organization with a mission to collaborate across cultures in the art of documentary filmmaking, transfer media skills into disadvantaged communities and partner with stakeholders to engage audiences in social justice stories.
About 2011 Tribal Lands Forum: Tribal Lands and Environment: A National Forum on Solid Waste, Emergency Response, Contaminated Sites, and USTS is hosted by The Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals, National Tribal Waste and Response Assistance Program (TWRAP) Steering Committee and USEPA’s Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response (OSWER).
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Check out our latest Navajo video dispatch from Monument Valley. It shows the US EPA’s cleanup in full swing. Groundswell correspondent Mary Begay follows US EPA project manager Jason Musante behind the scenes.
“This example and this project show that someone in Congress learned of the problem here and said go do that,” Musante says. “Now what’s been a really good way to bring that message forward is the documentary Navajo Boy.”
Groundswell continues to publicize the story through:
In August, Mary Begay, who shot this webisode, and Jeff Spitz, producer of The Return of Navajo Boy will keynote The Tribal Lands Forum, a national conference for tribal environmental professionals. Their keynote will focus on cross-cultural media, advocacy and environmental justice. Check our website for a listing of other presentations or to book a screening of your own.
On May 17, 2011 Kathy Helms of the Gallup Independent delves into details about the US EPA’s clean up of Elsie Mae Begay’s backyard and the former Skyline Mine in Oljato Messa, as seen in The Return of Navajo Boy.
Kathy Helms of the Gallup Independent reported on May 16, 2011 about the US Environmental Protection Agency’s ongoing clean up in Monument Valley. Read the full article below.
Brazil’s Uranium Film Festival sent out this press release highlighting The Return of Navajo Boy’s screening in Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, and all across Brazil on a traveling tour this summer.
Urânio em Movi(e)mento – The 1st International Festival of Films on Nuclear Energy, Rio de Janeiro May 16th to 28th, 2011
The Movie “The Return of Navajo Boy” USA, 2008, 57 min, by Director Jeff Spitz is one of eight best films of the 1st International Festival of Films on Nuclear Energy in Rio de Janeiro.
The entire world knows John Ford and John Wayne and their legendary films of the Wild West. The documentary of Jeff Spitz connects these important stars of Hollywood with the suffer of the indigenes people of the southwest of USA, the Navajo (Diné), who suffers until today because of uranium mining, which took place in their territory and used miss-informed Navajo people as cheap uranium miners to create the first atomic bombs!
A jury composed of scientists, journalists, producers and film experts has selected “The Return of Navajo Boy” together with seven other documentaries and movies among 34 for the official screenings selected films to compete in the awards for the best short and the best feature film of the festival.
The other selected films are:
Into Eternity, Denmark, 2009, 75 min. by Director Michael Madsen. The film questions whether a safe deposit of radioactive waste from nuclear plants is possible or not? Who will protect the extremely radioactive waste for at least a hundred thousand years?
Beating the Bomb, United Kingdom, 2010, 71 min, by Director Wolfgang Matt and Meera Patel. It is an intelligent, very good produced film about the peace movement in Britain against the atomic bomb.
Chernobyl, une histoire naturelle? (Chernobyl, a natural history?), France, 2010, 90 min, by Director Luc Riolon. The film shows the nuclear accident of April 26, 1986 in the Ukraine and what happened with nature until today. Zoologists and radioecologists are making surprising discoveries.
Om bergen faller sönder (Under the surface), Sweden, 2010, 35 min, by Director Klara Sager. It is a simple, but clear film about a local community and indigenous population in northern Sweden and an international mining company prospecting for Uranium. The local people are afraid and against uranium prospecting and against uranium mining, because they depend on the local natural resources like the Reindeers.
Climate of Hope, Australia, 2007, 30 min, by Directors’ Scott Ludlam and Jose Garcia. This film shows the whole nuclear energy cycle, from mining uranium to the nuclear plant and its relation to the greenhouse effect. It is a very interesting film perfect for schools and universities. It says: Nuclear energy is producing a lot of CO2 and for that will not save the world against global warming!
A film, which became even more important during the last 4 weeks is a documentary made by the Costa Rican filmmaker Pablo Ortega. Uranium 238: La Bomba del Pentagon Sucia (The Dirty Bomb the Pentagon), 2009, 28 min. The film talks about a nuclear issue that is little known in the world: rockets and bombs with depleted uranium that are radioactive and used by the USA in international wars like Iraq and very likely during the current war in Libya. The consequences of the use of these bombs are terrible for the local population and the soldiers themselves who make use of them. Worth mentioning that last April, the government of Costa Rica became the second government of the world to ban this type of ammunition. Uranium 238 is a Brazilian premiere.
A short documentary made 2003 in Brazil by Director Luiz Eduardo Jorge is the last finalist: Césio 137 – O brilho da morte (Cesium – The brightness of death): “It is a striking film”, says Professor João Luiz Leocádio. This film about the Chernobyl of Brazil, a nuclear accident that happened 1987 in the city of Goiânia, questions the competence of the national Brazilian authorities on nuclear safety. “The film reveals that beyond the question of nuclear power plants like Angra 1 and 2, Brazil and the world must also discuss the question of the nuclear waste from hospitals and radiology centres. Everybody could be affected!” says environmental journalist Norbert G. Suchanek and General Director of the Uranium Film Festival.
The judges are: John Louis Leocádio, Professor of Film & Video, University Federal Fluminense (Rio de Janeiro), Dawid Bartelt, Director of the Heinrich Boell Foundation, Brazil Office; Angelo Antonio Duarte, journalist and professor of Film and Audio of the Technical School Adolpho Bloch – FAETEC, Marco Fadiga, Producer of Caju Filmes and Technical Director of the 1st Uranium Film Festival, Norbert G. Suchanek, environmental and human rights Journalist, Filmmaker and General Director 1st Uranium Film Festival.
After thirteen years of film screenings, events, conferences, and relentless advocacy, clean up of Skyline Mine begins in Monument Valley Utah. The family living below the mine is the subject of Return of Navajo Boy, the streak on the mesa behind their family home piqued filmmaker Jeff Spitz’s interest to find out more about the old abandoned uranium mine overhead.
Click through to read yesterday’s front page article in the Salt Lake Tribune.
“The Return of Navajo Boy” was screened at the 2011 American Society for Environmental History conference in April. With support from Sylff, Linda Richards of Oregon State University and Shangrila Wynn from the University of Oregon presented the film. Filmmaker Jeff Spitz and Navajo participant Elsie Mae Begay were in attendance, along with Perry Charley, a Navajo nuclear scientist from Diné College.
From left to right: Perry Charley, Elsie Mae Begay, Jeff Spitz and Linda Richards.
Conference attendees enjoy lunch after discussing the situation on the Navajo Nation.
Kathy Helms of the Gallup Independent reported on Groundswell’s screening at the Department of Energy’s State of Environmental Justice Conference today. Read her article below:
‘Navajo Boy’ to be shown at environmental justice conference
April 28, 2011
By Kathy Helms
Dine Bureau
Gallup IndependentWINDOW ROCK – The award-winning film, “The Return of Navajo Boy” will be shown Thursday afternoon at the fifth annual State of Environmental Justice in America Conference in Washington.
Directed by Jeff Spitz of Chicago, the internationally acclaimed documentary that reunited a Navajo family and triggered a federal investigation into uranium contamination is a reminder of the legacy of Cold War uranium mining on the Navajo Nation.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency began cleanup March 30 of the Skyline Mine on Oljato Mesa in Monument Valley and radioactive waste in Elsie Begay’s back yard. Begay, who lost two children to radiation-related cancers, is featured in the Groundswell film which introduces audiences to Native American culture, environmental racism and one Navajo grandmother’s struggle for justice.
“Groundswell along with Elsie and other Navajo family members have worked tirelessly over the last 11 years for this outcome,” Spitz said. “The U.S. Department of Energy under the present administration is proud of this environmental justice story.”
DOE invited Groundswell to come to Washington to present the film and epilogue. Friday morning, on the second day of the conference, Spitz and Navajo participants will discuss how they use media, live events, advocacy and persistence to leverage change in public policy.
But while they celebrate the victory for Begay’s family, Spitz said, many other Navajo families are dealing with radioactive contamination and grief that simply cannot be contained.
One of the premier authorities on uranium issues in Navajo Indian Country, Perry Charley of Dine College’s Environmental Institute and a panelist on environmental health issues in Indian Country at the 2010 conference, had hoped to attend this year’s event. However, Spitz said, “His doctors will not allow the travel. He has cancer.”
Instead, Charley wrote a statement about the “real state of environmental justice in Navajo lands” for Spitz to share with the audience. “Sorry I can’t be there, but tell the crowd I wish them well. And the federal government has waited too long to fund many remedial projects, education and research studies,” he said.
Among the points Charley highlights is the Navajo Abandoned Mine Land Reclamation Department – which has so diligently monitored and performed remediation of abandoned uranium mines and mill sites on the Navajo Nation – is proposed to have its funding cut completely by the Obama administration, he said. “The program is desperately needed to perform continued surveillance and maintain reclaimed uranium mines and mills, some of which show signs of deterioration and exposing radioactive waste to nearby communities.”
Charley also expects a hard battle in Congress over passage of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act Amendments of 2011, sponsored by U.S. Sen. Tom Udall of New Mexico and a bipartisan group of senators. “Many of our Navajo miners and families face challenges in getting compensation due to the heavy documentation requirement of the process. The federal government still does not understand the implications of traditional and cultural sensitivity,” he said.
And while there is now a five-year plan for cleanup of legacy waste, there is “no funding to perform many of the issues we face” from past Manhattan Engineer District and Atomic Energy Commission activities.
Charley said he personally has been sampling and conducting studies of the impacts to Navajo water sources. “We have a well with uranium concentration of 760 parts per billion,” many times above the 30 parts per billion Maximum Contaminant Level allowable under U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s drinking water standards, “and another a few miles away with 200 parts per billion,” he said. “These communities have no alternate water source and the Navajo continue to use contaminated sources for their domestic needs.”
Companies who once mined Navajo lands for uranium need to be made to come back and clean up their mess, according to Charley. “We have tons of radioactive materials scattered throughout Navajo lands. Our water is contaminated and our air is contaminated. Homes are built with radioactive materials.
“We need studies to determine the impact to our children and their future. There has never been a true epidemiological study done on Navajo lands to determine the true extent of exposure. Small-scale studies and research point to contamination of every segment of our lives and society.”
Navajo also needs educational funds for programs such as the Uranium Education Program which he once directed and had to cease due to lack of funding. “We need to educate our people and our young ones to be part of this process, to be self-sustaining and to dictate our own future and destiny. We literally have dozens of mining companies at our reservation doors waiting for the moratorium on uranium mining and processing to be lifted on Navajo lands. The companies and federal entities that continue to disregard our tribal sovereignty laws and rights need to recognize these.”
Education and research studies need to continue, Charley said. “Even for some of us who have been involved in being part of these activities to try to correct the wrongs of the past, we are affected as well. I don’t know what my future holds, but I am fighting for my very survival,” he told Spitz. “Feel free to tell them this, especially the feds.”
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WASHINGTON, D.C. — As Japan struggles to contain radioactive contamination, Groundswell is reminding Americans that over a thousand abandoned Cold War-era uranium mines still contaminate the American Southwest. The US Department of Energy will feature The Return of Navajo Boy project as a case study in film, media, public engagement and measurable impacts at its State of Environmental Justice Conference on April 28th and 29th in Washington, DC. This month, the US Environmental Protection Agency began clean up at Skyline Mine, the site featured in the documentary.
Since 2000, when the film’s cautionary tale stunned Sundance Film Festival audiences, Groundswell Educational Films has brought it and Navajo activists across the country to advocate for a clean up of radioactive waste in the Navajo Nation. The filmmaker, Jeff Spitz, and Navajo participants triggered a federal investigation into uranium houses. Many Navajos, including the grandmother in the film, Elsie Mae Begay, built their homes with uranium rocks from the abandoned mines. The US government failed to warn Navajos about the dangers of radioactive waste.
Decades after ceasing operations, the radiation from more than 1,000 abandoned uranium mines continues to impact homes, livestock, land, and water across the 27,000 square mile reservation. The Navajo Nation is home to approximately 200,000 people. It holds the largest uranium deposits in the United States and suffers from the highest cancer rates in the Southwest region.
Partially as a response to the Groundswell advocacy campaign, the US Environmental Protection Agency has now begun to clean up the area around the abandoned Skyline Mine, including Elsie Mae Begay’s yard spotlighted in the documentary. This month tractors and heavy equipment rolled into Elsie’s yard eleven years after the film’s debut.
“Americans have been rightfully horrified by the unfolding nuclear disaster in Japan. But we forget that there is highly dangerous radioactive waste poisoning communities right here in America,” said Groundswell co-founder Jeff Spitz, who directed the film. “This clean up of the Skyline Mine and Elsie Begay’s yard offers a ray of hope to other families living in remote areas hoping for the same attention. We show how to get it.”
Groundswell’s unique model of film and public awareness campaign empowers Navajos to get attention by equipping them with Flip video cameras, multi-media tools, and opportunities to speak at film events, conferences, on campuses, and in the media nationwide. Navajos upload footage and Groundswell edits short videos that allow thousands of followers to stay engaged in the story unfolding online at navajoboy.com/webisodes.
“Using our own video cameras to document what we are struggling with every day gives us hope that the world has not forgotten about us. It gives us a voice,” said Mary Helen Begay, Elsie’s daughter in law and creator of two recent webisodes. “Our hearts go out to the people of Japan. We hope that they won’t have to live with radioactive waste as we have for more than 50 years now.”
About Groundswell: Groundswell Educational Films is a nonprofit organization with a mission to collaborate cross-culturally in all facets of documentary filmmaking, transfer media skills into disadvantaged communities, and partner with stakeholders to leverage changes that address the social justice issues raised in our films.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WASHINGTON, D.C. — As Japan struggles to contain radioactive contamination, Groundswell is reminding Americans that over a thousand abandoned Cold War-era uranium mines still contaminate the American Southwest. The US Department of Energy will feature The Return of Navajo Boy project as a case study in film, media, public engagement and measurable impacts at its State of Environmental Justice Conference on April 28th and 29th in Washington, DC. This month, the US Environmental Protection Agency began clean up at Skyline Mine, the site featured in the documentary.
Since 2000, when the film’s cautionary tale stunned Sundance Film Festival audiences, Groundswell Educational Films has brought it and Navajo activists across the country to advocate for a clean up of radioactive waste in the Navajo Nation. The filmmaker, Jeff Spitz, and Navajo participants triggered a federal investigation into uranium houses. Many Navajos, including the grandmother in the film, Elsie Mae Begay, built their homes with uranium rocks from the abandoned mines. The US government failed to warn Navajos about the dangers of radioactive waste.
Decades after ceasing operations, the radiation from more than 1,000 abandoned uranium mines continues to impact homes, livestock, land, and water across the 27,000 square mile reservation. The Navajo Nation is home to approximately 200,000 people. It holds the largest uranium deposits in the United States and suffers from the highest cancer rates in the Southwest region.
Partially as a response to the Groundswell advocacy campaign, the US Environmental Protection Agency has now begun to clean up the area around the abandoned Skyline Mine, including Elsie Mae Begay’s yard spotlighted in the documentary. This month tractors and heavy equipment rolled into Elsie’s yard eleven years after the film’s debut.
“Americans have been rightfully horrified by the unfolding nuclear disaster in Japan. But we forget that there is highly dangerous radioactive waste poisoning communities right here in America,” said Groundswell co-founder Jeff Spitz, who directed the film. “This clean up of the Skyline Mine and Elsie Begay’s yard offers a ray of hope to other families living in remote areas hoping for the same attention. We show how to get it.”
Groundswell’s unique model of film and public awareness campaign empowers Navajos to get attention by equipping them with Flip video cameras, multi-media tools, and opportunities to speak at film events, conferences, on campuses, and in the media nationwide. Navajos upload footage and Groundswell edits short videos that allow thousands of followers to stay engaged in the story unfolding online at navajoboy.com/webisodes.
“Using our own video cameras to document what we are struggling with every day gives us hope that the world has not forgotten about us. It gives us a voice,” said Mary Helen Begay, Elsie’s daughter in law and creator of two recent webisodes. “Our hearts go out to the people of Japan. We hope that they won’t have to live with radioactive waste as we have for more than 50 years now.”
About Groundswell: Groundswell Educational Films is a nonprofit organization with a mission to collaborate cross-culturally in all facets of documentary filmmaking, transfer media skills into disadvantaged communities, and partner with stakeholders to leverage changes that address the social justice issues raised in our films.
Dear Friends of Groundswell,
As Japan struggles to contain a radioactive catastrophe, Groundswell’s Return of Navajo Boy project reminds us of the legacy of radioactive contamination from the nuclear industry at home. Amid the tragic legacy, there is finally some good news.
Above: Jeff and Elsie meet for the very first time in May, 1997. Elsie holds a photo of herself as a child that Jeff brought back to Monument Valley.
Above: Elsie greets attendees after a screening of “The Return of Navajo Boy” at University of Idaho’s Sapatq’ayn Cinema Film Festival, March 26, 2011.
This week, after four decades of neglect, the US EPA quietly began a multi-million dollar clean up of the radioactive waste in Elsie Begay’s backyard. Elsie is the Navajo matriarch in The Return of Navajo Boy film who lost two children to radiation related cancers.
The job of removing many tons of highly radioactive waste from one Navajo family’s backyard will take at least 4 months and cost approximately $5 million they say. The waste cannot be “cleaned up.” EPA will put it into a very large container, cover it and surround it with a fence. Groundswell along with Elsie and other Navajo family members have worked tirelessly over the last eleven years for this outcome.
The US Dept of Energy under the present administration is proud of this environmental justice story. They have invited Groundswell to come to Washington DC to present the film, epilogue and whole Navajo Boy story of media, advocacy and social change at the State of Environmental Justice Conference on April 28th and 29th. They are also sponsoring travel for the Navajo speakers.
While we celebrate the victory for Elsie’s family in Monument Valley, UT, there are more than 1,000 abandoned uranium mines in the Navajo Nation. Many Navajo families are dealing with radioactive contamination and grief that simply cannot be contained.
Our method–telling the story from a Navajo point of view, amplifying voices through media and moving audiences to action—now moves mountains. Our success would not be possible without a network of supporters who book Groundswell programs to raise awareness and help fund our outreach efforts.
Thank you, Bill Kennedy, for inspiring an uncertain journey to give your dad’s movie back to the Navajos in 1997 and for bringing all of us together again for an unforgettable premier at the Sundance Film Festival. Thank you, Native American Public Telecommunications for broadcasting the film nationally on PBS. Thank you, Bradshaw-Knight Foundation, for supporting the production of an Epilogue in 2008 as well as the Groundswell advocacy campaign that brought the film, Elsie, and Navajo tribal officials into the halls of congress. Thank you, Ira Ziering, the Ziering Family Foundation, and several individual donors for supporting our ongoing outreach and webisodes. Thank you, Dan Amdur, for providing Groundswell with a great place to work.
Thanks to you all for helping us build a Groundswell for environmental justice.
– Jeff Spitz & Jennifer Amdur Spitz
Groundswell Co-Founders
Three of the 19 Wisconsin Republican State Senators annually applied for and received direct farm subsidies from the federal government. These are the same people who want government spending limited, apparently except when it comes to their own welfare checks.
The three Republican Senators applied for, and received taxpayer funded subsidies in the categories below:
It is important to note, not all Wisconsin farmers look to the government for handouts. According to the USDA, 40% of eligible Wisconsin farmers did not collect farm subsidy checks. For more detailed definitions of the subsidies, visit http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/agriculture/subsidies.
While our nation struggles to right itself from the economic decline, we need to take a good hard look at our representatives in state and federal government, and hold them accountable for the government spending policies that they support. It is no secret that the farm subsidy system in this country is hideously broken, that the food system is endangering our health and that the agriculture lobby is formidable. While corporations are citizens in the eyes of the Supreme Court, they do not have the right to vote (yet). Instead of focusing on gutting worker’s rights and cutting teacher pay, how about restructuring the farm bill. It will free up billions for health care and education, and lead to a food system where wholesome foods are cost competitive with the processed crap we subsidize.
To look up representatives in your area, check out this database http://farm.ewg.org/, the last item on the menu on the left side allows you to search by name.
For further information and definitions about farm subsidies, visit http://farm.ewg.org/subsidyprimer.php
Update: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that Senator Michael Ellis was among the Wisconsin State Senators who received farm subsidies.
The Activist Writer published an item about the success of The Return of Navajo Boy:
A film about the Begay family, The Return of Navajo Boy, went on to become an award-winning documentary as well as a successful outreach tool for environmental justice.
They’ve met with success and hope for more: late last year, the EPA has finally earmarked funds to clean up the contaminated area near the Begay home.
The film recently celebrated its tenth anniversary, but the filmmakers and community continue working to building awareness today. You can see the results of their work in specially-produced web series: watch the latest webisodes at the official site, and visit the action center to learn more about how to help affected Navajo families.
The story didn’t end after Groundswell released its film The Return of Navajo Boy in 2000. Groundswell’s series of webisodes documenting the struggle for cleanup of uranium contamination on Navajo lands carry the story forward.
Now Navajos are documenting the US Environmental Protection Agency cleanup with their own flip cameras. And the web video series has started generating attention of its own.
IndieWire’s film distribution guru Sydney Levine called the webisode series and Groundswell’s outreach efforts “a good case study” for mobilizing around an important issue.
NuclearFreePlanet.org writes:
“This is a good example of successful activist media. As the uranium mining debate heats up again, this film becomes even more pertinent. Watch the webisodes to get an idea of what this Navajo family, and the Navajo Nation, is dealing with. This film got a lot of people involved in this issue and shows that independent media and community members together can make a difference.”
You can donate to support production of more webisodes filmed by Navajos themselves.
Image source: Wikipedia
Groundswell recently got word from Brazil that The Return of Navajo Boy is the first film selected for the inaugural Uranium Film Festival called Uranio Em Moviemento.
The director of the festival also invited Groundswell’s Jeff Spitz (director of The Return of Navajo Boy) and a Navajo representative to attend the festival in May and take part in panel discussions about the impacts of uranium mining on indigenous peoples.
The festival, which features films from around the world, will take place from May 21st to 28th in Rio De Janeiro and June 2nd through 9th in Sao Paulo. Films featured in the festival will also be donated to a new program called The Yellow Archives, which will subtitle them in Portuguese and provide them to schools in Portuguese-speaking countries.
For more information, visit the Uranium Film Festival website.
Uranium Film Festival website. View the invitation they extended to Groundswell below:
Groundswell created this video featuring the American Indian Film Gallery and its creator Fred MacDonald. MacDonald combines a lifetime of collecting rare archival films and a passion for preserving history to create a website where visitors can watch hundreds of historic films about Native Americans.
Dr MacDonald worked countless hours to digitize these fading films of the past and to curate the gallery so visitors can learn not only about Native American traditions, but also about media representations of indigenous peoples from days past.
To explore the archive, visit the American Indian Film Gallery’s website.
When The Return of Navajo Boy was screened at the Amiens Film Festival last year in France, festival organizers had it subtitled specially for the event. After the festival ended, the FILA 13 Subtitulacio S.L. of Spain made a special donation of the subtitles to Groundswell to help advance the film and outreach campaign in francophone countries.
“This is our contribution to your project,” said Isabel Rancaño of FILA 13.
Both the film itself and the epilogue have been subtitled in French. Groundswell will distribute special French-language DVDs for screenings starting in France where Groundswell board member Alan Slavik is based in Paris. If you have any referrals for French language events, please let us know.
It’s been six months since Groundswell produced this video about how a new program allows food stamp recipients to buy fresh food at farmer’s markets in Chicago. The video has now been viewed over 500 times and is being embedded by blogs like OrganicNation.tv and Good Food For All. It was sent out by the USDA to their mailing list.
Here is what Experimental Station, the organization that started the LINK to the Market pilot program has to say about how Groundswell’s video has given them a boost:
“We were extremely fortunate to have Groundswell Films produce the video clip about SNAP/EBT/LINK at City of Chicago Farmers Markets. Through Groundswell’s efforts we quickly spread the word about the availability to use LINK benefits at the markets. This clip has also become a tool for us as we consult with other farmers markets on developing EBT programs. So not only did it help attract new shoppers, it is now helping to open doors for new markets. This has had a positive impact on our efforts to establish LINK services at farmers markets across Illinois.”
Corey Chatman
EBT/SNAP Consultant
Experimental Station
Groundswell hosted a panel for the Greentown conference here in Chicago focusing on the rise of the fresh food movement, the subject of our new documentary in progress.
Groundswell organizes and hosts conference panels in a fresh new way, using video clips as discussion triggers, engaging audience in two-way discussions. We shared video clips from Groundswell’s fresh food film in progress.
Our panelists include Robert Pierce of Growing Power (featured in the film), Karen Lehman of Fresh Taste, Chicago, Ken Dunn of City Farm (featured in film), and Rochelle Davis of the Healthy Schools Campaign.
To book a panel like this at your conference, either on this subject or another subject, please contact us.
Here’s a photo from our archives. Elsie Mae Begay, left, stands next to then-Congressman Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) outside her radioactive hogan. A short time later the hogan was demolished by the EPA at Elsie’s request. Watch a video of the hogan being demolished below:
Watch more Navajo webisodes.
The Salt Lake Tribune reported on January 1st, 2011:
The sickness in Elsie Mae Begay’s family troubled her for a long time. So she turned to a Navajo medicine man.
The healer took measure of the family settlement here and told her the poison was in the dust kicked up by the wind that sometimes rips through the desert. In years to come, environmental scientists for the tribe and the U.S. government would confirm that diagnosis in their own way, saying the family was at risk from radiation left over from uranium at the Skyline Mine on the mesa above the homes.
[...]
About $5.9 million is being spent on the tainted piles in Begay’s backyard. The contaminated dirt — as much as 30,000 cubic yards of it — is just beyond a cluster of dwellings built on land that her aunt, Mary Holiday, settled around the time the mine was idled in 1962. Begay moved her six children there in 1978 after her divorce.
Read the full article, A legacy of uranium, a prayer for healing by reporter Judy Fahys.
Groundswell and Northwestern University’s Chemistry Department are building a website to offer water quality information to Navajo residents. The EPA has identified many contaminated water sources, but government data comes in scientific language that is not accessible to most residents.
With support from the National Science Foundation, Northwestern Chemistry professor Franz Geiger contracted Groundswell to develop an interactive, user friendly website with educational extensions into Navajo communities concerned about water quality. There are more than 1,000 abandoned uranium mines on the Navajo reservation. Impacts to groundwater, livestock and family health concern many communities. The EPA and Navajo water researchers have investigated hundreds of wells scattered across the 25,000 square mile reservation. The new water website will enable Navajos to share their findings, educate residents and lobby for assistance. Navajo educators want more than signs with public health warnings.
Help us produce webisodes that empower Navajos to report about their own communities and share information. Click to select a level for your donation.
The Bradshaw-Knight Foundation in Madison, Wisconsin approved Groundswell’s proposal for a grant to support action research for a documentary and public engagement campaign focusing on the rise of the fresh food movement.
Urban agriculture visionaries such as Will Allen of Growing Power in Milwaukee and Ken Dunn of City Farm in Chicago are just two of the participants in this project. Groundswell is organizing public conversations about the hidden cost and health impacts of industrial agriculture. This new project presents the untold stories of ordinary people who are struggling to grow real food in vacant city lots, public school yards, ethnic communities and leading universities.
Do you know a great food story that reveals a hidden cost of the industrial food system? Share your stories with us (email jeff@groundswellfilms.org).
Groundswell’s action research explores the rise of the fresh food movement and involves making short videos about untold stories from the field.
Did you know that the City of Chicago’s farmers markets began to accept food stamps (a.k.a. the LINK card) only this summer? We were shocked that it has taken so long and that only a few markets can participate in this pilot program. Help us spread the word just by sending this video link to others. Lights! Camera! ACTION RESEARCH!
“The video is a smash hit!”, said Connie Spreen of Experimental Station. Spreen’s group developed the pilot program and uses this new video to raise awareness.
USDA director of public affairs Alan Shannon emails the video to raise awareness about the program. “I have been sending it everywhere since seeing it for the first time at our Good Greens meeting. Wonderful work! I’m just preparing a message with a link to it which will go to our entire Good Greens mailing list.”
Above: Box of 200 Robben Island Singers CDs that Groundswell sent to South Africa.
Groundswell recently sent two hundred Robben Island Singers CDs to our community arts partner in Kwa Mashu, the largest township in South Africa. Ekhaya Multi-Arts Centre, located near Durban, nurtures the talents of local youth in performing arts and media. Ekhaya also sells Robben Island Singers CDs and promotes the Robben Island Singers through its local radio station. Muntu Nxumalo, musical director of the Robben Island Singers, has begun developing a new radio show at Ekhaya. His goal is to teach the youth to perform as a chorus for the Robben Island Singers.
Edmund Mhlongo, founder of Ekhaya Multi-Arts Centre, came to Chicago recently. Visiting schools with Groundswell co-founder, Jeff Spitz, Edmund introduced Prosser high school students to music, media and the challenges faced by contemporary South African teenagers (see a video clip from Prosser High School).
You can download Robben Island Singers songs from South Africa’s freedom struggle.
This Fall The Return of Navajo Boy screened with Navajo guest speakers at sponsored public events in the Navajo Nation, Salt Lake City, Chicago; Portland, and France!
In the Navajo Nation, Indian Health Service collaborates with Groundswell to engage audiences in remote communities impacted by uranium mining. Participants from the film, Elsie Begay, her son Lorenzo, and daughter-in-law Mary Begay travel across the reservation to lead discussions.
In the Midwest, the University of Chicago Law School hosted a screening and panel discussion with filmmaker Jeff Spitz, Navajo activist Mary Begay, and author Judy Pasternak. Pasternak’s new book: Yellow Dirt: An American Story of a Poisoned Land and a People Betrayed features the Navajo family in our film. Pasternak appears in our film’s 2008 Epilogue which is now available on DVD.
Bennie Klain, Co-producer, traveled to France for the Premier of The Return of Navajo Boy at the Amiens International Film Festival. (See photos on Groundswell’s Flickr page.) Groundswell Board member, Alan Slavik, a Paris-based marketing consultant, attended the Amiens premier and is planning future screenings in Paris.
South African playwright Edmund Mhlongo visits Prosser Career Academy on Chicago’s West Side. This cross-cultural school visit was coordinated by Groundswell Educational Films as part of our Robben Island Singers educational program.
Lena produced this video for the GreenTown 2010 Panel Discussion moderated by Groundswell co-founder Jeff Spitz, focusing on Urban Farming and the rise of the Fresh Food Movement.
We are in the beginning stages for our new Groundswell documentary film & public engagement campaign focusing on the rise of urban agriculture and the growing fresh food movement. We want to share our discoveries with you.
Click this link to follow us in Chicago.
Now you can help folks get fresh food just by sending this LINK to others. Did you know that several of the city’s farmer’s markets now accept food stamps (aka the LINK card)? It’s a first, a pilot program that deserves support. Pass it on.
Groundswell co-founder Jeff Spitz recently screened a rough cut of Robben Island Singers at Prosser Career Academy High School on Chicago’s West Side. Thirty-five students watched the film and then were able to ask questions to singers Muntu Nxumalo and Thembinkosi Sithole in South Africa via Skype.
Students said they liked going back and forth from South Africa to the US and having a live conversation with the ex-political prisoners. They liked the “real lives” theme of the film.
“Both sides liked the way that stereotypes in both countries are broken down by music, film, and international exchange,” Spitz said.
Students said they appreciated the chance to see a film work-in-progress.
“Kids did not want a shorter version, because they want to experience the whole journey of the singers,” Spitz added. “They understand the message about forgiveness and they discussed the fact that the Singers did not choose to become fighters, rather that conditions led them to fight for a higher cause. For freedom and equality.”
Northwestern University chemistry professor Franz Geiger and a small group of interns will collaborate with Groundswell and stakeholders on Navajo Nation to create a rich new website with information about the quality of water on Navajo Nation.
This new, interactive website will incorporate a large US EPA dataset with photos and video and will be useful to Navajo residents looking for information about their local water supplies.
The US EPA made extensive measurements of water sources in the late 1990s (many of which were contaminated by nearby Cold War-era uranium mining), but the wealth of data they produced has not been available in an easily-understandable web format for residents of Navajo Nation. This project will solve that problem and help fill a void of reliable information about water quality in Navajo communities.
In addition to the design and programming of the new website and all the data inputting that this entails, this project will also include collaboration and outreach with Navajos to ensure the usefulness of this groundbreaking new website. For participating Northwestern chemistry student interns, this project will serve as a prime example of chemistry making a tangible impact in people’s lives.
The website will be publicly accessible in September 2010.
I became interested in science from seeing the abandoned uranium mines in Oljato, Utah. My cousin and I used to go into these abandoned uranium mines to explore. We would go to the end of the mines if we can, that was our main objective. Why we did that was because we were both curious. There was no sign or fence to warn the public about the dangers of the abandoned uranium mines. In addition, there was no one warning the public about the health risk associated with the abandoned uranium mines. This was way back in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
I decided to become involved with the clean-up and the research side of the exposure to abandoned uranium mines because my grandfather died of cancer. He was a former uranium mine worker. I will never forgot that morning when I received the message that my grandfather had three hours to live. I was going to school at Northern Arizona University and my grandfather was in Monticello, Utah. There was no chance that I could make it in three hours but I tried anyways. I cried a bit on my way back to Utah. I almost dropped out of school when my grandfather passed away. I remembered one of his teachings, which inspired me to keep moving forward. From all the experience that I had with research and outreach efforts, I know now that they are many people that experienced or experiencing the same situation that I went through.
So now, I am contributing to the clean-up effort being done on Navajo Nation by the tribe, other federal agencies, and universities, along with Dine’ College. They are still many more work that needs to be done when it comes to uranium contamination on the Navajo Nation.
Tommy Rock is a PhD candidate at the University of New Mexico’s American Studies program. His focus is on health policy related to uranium contamination.
The Center for Resilient Cities and Growing Power Inc, two Wisconsin-based nonprofit organizations invited Groundswell to film the start of an urban farm research center in Madison, Wisconsin.
Will Allen, Growing Power Inc’s CEO who made the list of Time Magazine’s most influential people for 2010, is a leader in the urban farming and food justice movements. See how he gets people involved in building community.
US Courts last month ruled in favor of Chevron’s request to view 600 hours of outtakes from the award-winning film Crude: The Real Price of Oil. The film chronicles the struggle of Ecuadorians against Chevron’s oil contamination of their land.
In this highly unusual case, Judge Lewis Kaplan, of the district court in Manhattan, awarded Chevron access to footage that could ultimately add to the company’s defense in a $27 billion case that spans more than seventeen years.
Judge Kaplan ruled that transparency and justice would be served by allowing the company access to the outtakes including interviews with environmental activists including Sting.
The decision brings into question the freedom of documentary filmmaking and journalist’s privilege. Filmmaker Michael Moore has said that the decision could have a “chilling effect.”
In a recent interview, Crude director Joseph Berlinger commented on the ruling. “It’s just a complete disregard for any belief in the first amendment. I am a journalist. I am covered by a journalist’s privilege,” said Berlinger. “We are shocked by the judge’s decision, at the broadness of the request.”
Berlinger plans to appeal the verdict, and is seeking donations to cover his legal fees.
A new documentary is shining a light on undocumented youth who were born outside the U.S. but raised in America– and the struggles they face.
“Papers the Movie” is the story of five undocumented high school students who risk deportation. 475 screenings of the film have taken place nationwide, according to the Papers The Movie website, which has a goal of reaching 1,000 screenings. One such screening was held on Capitol Hill as recently as May 18th.
According to the filmmakers, approximately 2 million undocumented children live in the United States. “65,000 undocumented students graduate every year from high school without ‘papers’ and find the door to the future slammed shut,” the producers say, noting that it is illegal for them to work or drive. “For most there is no path to citizenship.”
The producers of the film hope that Congress will approve the DREAM Act, which could provide that path to citizenship if youth attend an American college or join the military.
If the spectacle of World Cup Soccer in South Africa inspires you, a new film by ESPN, titled Outside The Lines, will make your day. Outside the Lines is a remarkable short film that reveals a little known chapter in the history of South Africa.
Did you know that political prisoners at Robben Island Maximum Security Prison created their own league including hand-sewn uniforms, hand-made trophies and original cheers? Two of the Robben Island Singers, Munt and Grant, played in this league. Their team was called Jaws. The loudest cheerleaders on the sidelines were known as howlers. The film weaves interviews with gritty reenactments and gorgeous location cinematography. Watch it to see how political prisoners from Robben Island can inspire the world.
Visit our project website for more about our own documentary, Robben Island Singers.
After a decade of investigations, the EPA has finally put up a fence to warn people about the hazardous waste in Elsie Mae Begay’s backyard. The area around the abandoned Skyline uranium mine is one of only a few sites on Navajo Nation which has received this attention, despite there being as many as 1,000 former mines on the reservation.
This latest development occurred almost ten years after EPA consultant Andrew Sowder acknowledged to Groundswell in an interview that putting up fencing “is the least they could do” after demolishing Elsie’s uranium-contaminated house.
Last week EPA contractor Brian Milton told Mary Helen Begay, Elsie’s daughter in law, that the steps officials were taking were only temporary, but intended to protect the area until a more comprehensive cleanup could be done. Groundswell trained and equipped Mary Helen to use the flip video camera that the above video was shot with.
Contractors sprayed a special coating on radioactive cables, debris and waste piles to prevent contaminated topsoil from being blown away in the wind, as it has since 1944 when the mine was abandoned. “It basically takes the top inch or so of the soil and puts a crust on it, kind of like a pie crust,” Milton told Begay. He said it normally only lasts a year or so before it becomes ineffective. “It’s just really a temporary measure to fix the top of the soil and prevent erosion and stuff.”
Still a question is where the EPA will relocate the waste to permanently. The cheaper alternative which has been suggested by some officials would be to store it in a repository on-site. Many Navajos however are staunchly opposed to on-site storage due to the health impacts and environmental legacy that uranium mining has caused over the last six decades.
Elsie and Groundswell went to Washington DC in fall 2008 to screen “The Return of Navajo Boy” on Capitol Hill. Ironically, the EPA’s five-year cleanup plan does not include the radioactive waste in her backyard. As a result of Elsie’s determination, and Groundswell’s engagement with policy makers, Elsie and her backyard are now included in the 5 year plan to clean up cold war uranium contamination in Navajo Lands. But questions remain: where will EPA put the radioactive waste?
The Indian Health Service recently launched its “Community Uranium Exposure: Journey to Healing” program with free health screenings and a showing of “The Return of Navajo Boy” in Cove, Arizona. The program, which includes screening Groundswell’s documentary “The Return of Navajo Boy” is based out of an 18-wheel truck known as the Wellness on Wheels van.
The first stop was the Navajo Chapter House in Cove on April 29th, featuring an appearance by Elsie Mae Begay, who has acted as a uranium contamination awareness ambassador after her appearance in the documentary. Elsie, accompanied by her son Lorenzo and daughter in law Mary Helen, took advantage of the opportunity and accepted a health screening herself.
Groundswell’s film, shown at the event, “has proven its ability to give Navajos a voice in the larger society” according to Lisa Allee, the director of the Community Uranium Exposure: Journey to Healing program. Groundswell co-founder Jeff Spitz was also able to attend the screening and answer questions, thanks to generous support for community outreach provided by the Ira Ziering Foundation.
Ira Ziering (left) and Groundswell’s Executive Director Jeff Spitz (right) at the recent Cove, AZ health screening event.
Presentations were also made about the health impacts of uranium the abandoned uranium mines in the area, and the effects they have on local water sources. The Indian Health Service looks forward to using the film at future events as a way to show the dangers of uranium contamination and the importance of health screenings.
The event made the front page of the Gallup Independent on May 1st:
Groundswell recently received good news from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs: we were awarded a Program I grant for 2010!
The grant “encourages the attainment of artistic excellence and financial stability through general operating support for arts organizations,” according to the Department of Cultural Affairs.
Applicants were judged based on artistic and social merit, organizational development, fiscal accountability and application quality. Organizations awarded grants are eligible to receive future grants for two consecutive years before the application process opens up again.
Above: Groundswell co-founder Jeff Spitz, seen standing with ELPC Executive Director Howard Learner, answers questions after the screening
As the world witnesses what is quickly becoming the worst oil spill in US history, Groundswell co-founders Jeff and Jennifer Spitz led discussions surrounding The Return of Navajo Boy and the impact that unchecked corporate activity can have on the environment of local communities.
Following a screening of the film, Jeff and Jennifer brought the audience up to date on recent actions towards cleanup that the EPA has made in Monument Valley, including the installation of a fence to ward people away from hazardous waste.
“The audience members were particularly interested in the story from the point of view of how it bodes for the current environmental crisis in the Gulf Coast region with the giant and ongoing oil spill there,” said Spitz.
“They seemed to draw connections between environmental contamination like these and the need for responsible parties to clean them up. Hopefully the current oil spill will be easier in terms of responsibility, since British Petroleum (BP) has said they’ll pay all cleanup costs. Sadly, the same can’t be said for the uranium contamination on Navajo Nation.”
From the tilled soil of an urban farm to the polished marble of City Hall, this engaging documentary follows the plight of local farmers in East Los Angeles as they speak out in defense of their land.
Many issues are raised as the film questions why the land was sold to a wealthy developer for millions less than fair-market value and why the transaction took place in a closed-door session of the LA City Council without the public’s knowledge.
All the powers-that-be have the same response: “The garden is wonderful, but there is nothing more we can do.” For more information about this 2009 Academy Award-nominated documentary, or to watch a trailer for the film, visit www.thegardenmovie.com
Above: Jerry Blumenthal of Kartemquin Films and Jeff Spitz, Executive Director of Groundswell sit on a panel discussion about documentary and social change.
Groundswell co-founder Jeff Spitz presented a rough cut screening of our upcoming documentary “Robben Island Singers” at the Amnesty International Human Rights Art Festival on April 24th. It was the first time a rough cut has been publicly screened and was met with a very positive reaction from the audience.
The rough cut, now 97 minutes long, spurred a lively conversation afterward as Spitz sat on a panel to discuss it. “I took 3 pages of notes,” Spitz said. “This is the kind of conversation I hoped for, it was very helpful.”
Afterward, the audience was eager to discuss the over-arching themes presented in the film: apartheid, violence, forgiveness and self-actualization in two very different worlds: South Africa and America. The film tracks the journeys of three South African ex-political prisoners once imprisoned with Nelson Mandela after fighting Apartheid.
The singers have brought their message and the music that sustained them while in prison to American schools in a revolutionary cultural exchange program. More information can be found at the project’s website, www.RobbenIslandSingers.com, which also offers their music for purchase or download.
The Indian Health Service will on Thursday April 29th present a special screening of “The Return of Navajo Boy” at the Cove Chapter House in Cove, Arizona. The film will be screened at the uranium exposure awareness-building event which starts at 10AM. The film screens at 1:30.
IHS’ Lisa Allee helped organize the event, and both documentary filmmaker Jeff Spitz and documentary participant Elsie Mae Begay will be present to take questions. Health screenings and presentations about water quality and contaminated buildings will also take place. Recently the film also screened at the Rough Rock Trading Post.
Groundswell’s partnership with the IHS also extends to agency playing the film in waiting rooms at the Northern Navajo Medical Center in Shiprock, Arizona. The Indian Health Service’s flyer is re-printed below along with a letter inviting Groundswell to the event from Lisa Allee.
Update: Read a report form the first Community Uranium Exposure: Journey to Healing event.
The Navajo Chapter House in Oljato New Mexico voted 28 to 0 to direct the US Environmental Protection Agency to clean up hazardous waste at the Skyline mine on Sunday, April 11th.
The abandoned mine, once home to more than 100,000 pounds of uranium ore, sits on Navajo land and has long been known as a danger to local residents. Tests have shown that the level of radiation exposure surrounding the area is ten times the limit considered safe by the EPA.
In 2001, the EPA demolished the nearby home of Elsie Mae Begay, which had been partially constructed of uranium rocks which were left free for the taking after the mine closed in 1944. Begay’s son died of brain cancer at the age of 24.
Officials visited the area recently to discuss plans for cleanup of the area. Some local Navajo residents have long urged the EPA to at the very least build a fence that would restrict access to the mine tailings and debris from children and livestock.
Nine years ago, Groundswell Educational Films interviewed EPA uranium expert Andrew Sowder to ask what the next steps would be after Begay’s old home was removed. “The next, and the most important issue for a situation like this would actually be restricting access to some of the soil and ore that’s been left behind.”
“If it can’t be cleaned up at least right away, probably the least that should be done is some fencing placed as well as some kind of signs indicating the hazards present. So that’s really the very least, and probably isn’t that costly to do and it’s certainly the responsible thing to do.” (Watch his interview below.) The fencing and signs were never placed however.
But the recent vote by the tribal council could change that, assuming the authorities stick to their word.
The US Department of Justice recently posted an internship description on their website asking for students to help identify residents of Navajo Nation who have been impacted by the presence of abandoned uranium mines.
The effort is part of a comprehensive five year plan that the US federal government embarked upon at the urging of Congressman Henry Waxman, Chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform in 2006. The plan calls for Navajo lands to be cleaned up and for Navajos whose health has been impacted by the old cold-war era uranium mines to be fairly compensated.
According to the new internship description, the Justice Department is “looking for creative and dynamic college students to serve as [Radiation Exposure Compensation Act] Program Outreach Interns. The RECA Program will cover travel costs, room and board, and pay a small stipend to cover Outreach Interns’ incidental expenses.”
The task is particularly difficult because victims must provide onerous documentation of their eligibility and fill out a more than 20 page form. Navajo residents often don’t have the medical records that officials require, which makes proving health impacts even harder.
The Department of Justice says that the responsibilities of the new interns will include spreading awareness about the compensation program, helping applicants find or obtain paperwork, and helping arrange medical testing for those affected by atomic programs. Training for the student interns will occur in June, July, and early August, and their employment is expected to be 20 hours a week for at least six months. Those interested should apply on the Department of Justice’s website.
The RECA act originally passed Congress in 1990, but has seen a renewed interest due to Congressman Waxman’s hearings four years ago. It permits up to $100,000 in compensation to those affected by uranium mining and atomic bomb testing during the cold war.
The Northern Navajo Medical Center has begun showing “The Return of Navajo Boy” in its waiting rooms, which serve residents in the Shiprock, New Mexico area.
Groundswell Educational Films recently forged a partnership with the Center, which is the largest hospital on the reservation, that is now resulting in regular screenings of the film in the hospital, intended to increase awareness of the health impacts of uranium contamination in the area.
“Your film has proven it ability to give Navajos a voice in the larger society,” Lisa Allee the Program Director of the Journey to Healing uranium program at the Medical Center said in a letter to Groundswell. “We recognize your organization’s continued success in amplifying those voices in schools, colleges and mainstream media.”
Navajo Nation is home to more than 1,000 cold-war era abandoned uranium mines and many of these sites still contain hazardous materials which threaten the lives of nearby Navajo residents. “The Return of Navajo Boy” features one Navajo family who has suffered from the legacy of the mining. Elsie Mae Begay, a Navajo grandmother in the film, lived in a hogan (traditional Navajo house) partially constructed of uranium debris for example. Her son died at age 24 due to brain cancer.
“This is an unprecedented step for the Indian Health Service,” Navajo Boy director Jeff Spitz said in reaction. “It stems from Henry Waxman who opened up the Sunday LA Times in November, 2006 and read about Elsie Mae Begay’s uranium house and a litany of uranium mining legacies plaguing Navajo families. A real groundswell of concern evolved out of Elsie’s cry for help.”
Officials believe that the film is a potent tool to spread awareness about the old mines and the dangers they pose. At the end of April, the Indian Health Service kick off a mobile health initiative designed to reach remote Navajo communities which do not live near traditional hospitals.
The Northern Navajo Medical Center is located at the “four corners”– an area where New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado meet. According to officials, the Center teats about 40 residents per day at its in-patient facilities, and about 400 out-patient.
Update: The Indian Health Service is now using “The Return of Navajo Boy” as part of a “Wellness on Wheels” initiative all around Navajo Nation to raise awareness. Read about the first Community Uranium Exposure: Journey to Healing screening.
“The Return of Navajo Boy” will screen at the Environmental Law & Policy Center on May 3rd, in Chicago, Illinois.
Director Jeff Spitz will be on hand to discuss the film and take questions about the environmental and health threats posed by uranium waste on indigenous lands.
The screening will occur from 11:45AM to 1:45PM on Monday, May 3rd, 2010. Lunch will be provided. Admission is free, RSVP by April 29th to Anne Fell (AFell@elpc.org). The ELPC is located at 35 E. Wacker Drive, Suite 1300, Chicago IL, 60601.
Update: A recap of the screening and discussion is now available.
Groundswell’s award-winning documentary The Return of Navajo Boy will screen at Amnesty International’s Human Rights Film Festival on Saturday, April 24th 2010 in Silver Spring Maryland.
Filmmaker Jeff Spitz, Groundswell’s co-founder, will also be on hand to also present a work in progress screening of his upcoming project, Robben Island Singers.
For more information, see the festival’s official website.
Update: Read a report from the Amnesty International Human Rights Festival.
Groundswell is pleased to announce that The Return of Navajo Boy is now available to the general public for home DVD purchase at NavajoBoy.com and direct streaming rentals at Amazon.com.
For the first time, customers can now order a DVD of this award-winning documentary for personal use, or stream the film online through the world’s largest web retailer. Says director Jeff Spitz, “From a dusty 1950s film reel to a new documentary film and from a Sundance Film Festival premier to screenings on Capitol Hill, this story keeps opening eyes. Lots more eyes will see it now.”
Visit Amazon.com or NavajoBoy.com to order or download the film. The trailer for the film is embedded below.
The Rough Rock Chapter House in Arizona recently invited Groundswell and Perry Charley to screen and discuss the film with residents.
The screening took place in the old trading post and the film was projected onto a bedsheet. Perry H. Charley, Navajo Nuclear scientist and uranium education expert appears in the new epilogue for the film. He frequently shows it to students at the tribal college, Dine College.
Above: Perry H. Charley, Director, Dine College Environmental Institute leads Q&A after The Return of Navajo Boy at Rough Rock Trading Post.
Perry uses the film to introduce audiences to the Navajo perspective on colonization, manifest destiny, and media. He leads discussions about the Navajo conceptions of healing, family history, native knowledge, research, teamwork and environmental science. Perry is a master teacher whose previous work experience includes heading the Navajo office responsible for the abandoned mines and uranium mills. Every agency that is responsible for the legacies of Uranium mining consults with Mr. Perry H. Charley. We are proud to work with Perry and his remarkable students at Dine College.
Above: Groundswell co-founder, Jeff Spitz, with the media team staff at Northern Navajo Medical Center, Shiprock, NM.
Above: Watch a slideshow of photos taken by Groundswell intern Mitch Wenkus on the recent trip to Navajo Nation.
Groundswell is pleased to join forces with South African Partners (SA Partners), a Boston-based organization dedicated to the development of long-term partnership opportunities between the United States and South Africa.
Program areas at SA Partners bring together people here and in South Africa to support the work of redressing apartheid’s legacy and building the new South Africa. The central focus of activities is to establish mutually beneficial, long-term partnerships between South Africa and the United States. After six years, SA Partners has begun to formulate a better understanding of two-way partnerships as an important development tool.
SA Partners will be supporting Groundswell and The Robben Island Singers project in upcoming events and will also promote the trio’s CDs for sale on-site at events and online.
About South Africa Partners
South Africa Partners, Inc. (SA Partners) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the development of long-term partnership opportunities between the United States and South Africa. Building on the efforts of tens of thousands of individuals across the United States who supported the international movement for democracy in South Africa, SA Partners seeks to support those efforts which promote South Africa’s equitable and sustainable development, while building bridges between the two countries.
For the past eight years, the Paris International Film Festival on Human Rights (FIFDH) has focused on raising awareness and film education for schools and students regarding the complexities of human rights breaches involving economic, social, cultural, civil, and political rights.
This year’s Prix Spécial du Jury was awarded to Buenos Días, Seguimos en Guerra (Hello, Our War Continues) by Anita Blumer (watch a trailer here). The film focuses on Guatemala and the war-like conditions that prevail in the wake of a civil war as the state remains undercut by organized crime. Guatemala has one of the highest murder rates on the American continent and violence claims more than ten lives a day. The film documents urban crime and the people who struggle against it.
The Human Rights Films Network (HRFN)
Since 2004, this film festival network has aimed to promote the protection of human rights on a global level. The network now brings together more than twenty festivals in the world, some of which are backed by major international human rights protection organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
The network strives for better distribution of human rights films and intends to endorse the emergence of new film festivals on human rights, especially in developing countries. Every year, the HRFN attracts a combined audience of more than 200,000 viewers worldwide.
More information can be found at their website, www.festival-droitsdelhomme.org.
Director and Groundswell co-founder Jeff Spitz will be in the Washington DC area on April 24th to present and discuss both The Return of Navajo Boy and a preview screening of Robben Island Singers.
The first ever Amnesty International Human Rights Art Festival will be held in Silver Spring, MD (just outside of Washington D.C.) from April 23-25, 2010. This multi-venue, multi-media event will bring together artists, local businesses and politicians to use socially transformative art to raise awareness of human rights and justice issues, as well as the important work of Amnesty International.
Says Groundswell co-founder Jeff Spitz, “The wide range of artists, art forms and creative human rights campaigns is inspiring. I will be on a panel with fellow filmmakers Sunday, April 25th 2:30 – 4:30 to be followed by work in progress screening for Robben Island Singers.”
More information can be found at HumanRightsArtFestival.com.
Update: Read a report from the Amnesty International Human Rights Arts Festival.
Can music change the world? Judging by the reach and impact of the Playing for Change movement, the answer to the question is a resounding “yes!”
Many of you may remember the viral Stand by Me video that made the rounds a few years ago. With tens of millions of views on Youtube alone, this “little experiment” has become an international sensation creating a veritable global Groundswell. The song transformed Playing For Change from a small group of individuals to a global movement for peace and understanding.
More on Playing for Change
Playing for Change is a multimedia movement created to inspire, connect, and bring peace to the world through music. The idea for this project arose from a common belief that music has the power to break down boundaries and overcome distances between people. No matter whether people come from different geographic, political, economic, spiritual or ideological backgrounds, music has the universal power to transcend and unite us as one human race.
Now, musicians from all over the world are brought together to perform benefit concerts that build music and art schools in communities that are in need of inspiration and hope. In addition to benefit concerts, the Playing for Change band also performs shows around the world. When audiences see and hear musicians who have traveled thousands of miles from their homes, united in purpose and chorus on one stage, everyone is touched by music’s unifying power.
For further information, visit the Playing For Change website.
After watching Navajo Boy Webisodes, Paul Robinson of the Southwest Uranium Research and Information Center relates Elsie’s story to the rest of Navajo Nation. Paul is from the Southwest Research and Information Center and focuses on Uranium mining contamination in the Church Rock and Window Rock area among other issues.
Watch more Return of Navajo Boy webisodes.
Since 1997, the non-profit Chicago Football Classic has been promoting scholarships for African American students looking to attend college. Many historical black colleges and universities (HBCUs) attend the annual event and showcase their educational programs.
A battle of high school marching bands and a football game draw crowds to Soldier Field in Chicago, Illinois each fall. Over 5,000 Chicagoans attend the event each year for the musical performances and other attractions.
Groundswell created this short promotional video report for them in 2009.
For more information and tickets, visit the Chicago Football Classic website.
Groundswell is excited to announce that the music of The Robben Island Singers is now available for purchase or download at Amazon.com and iTunes.
Groundswell created two complete albums from the Robben Island Singers documentary film journey – Songs from South Africa’s Freedom Struggle and Stories from South Africa’s Freedom Struggle. The Songs version includes the Singers’ songs from of their struggle against Apartheid while imprisoned with Nelson Mandela on South Africa’s most notorious apartheid prison island. The Stories version also includes their stories from the struggle.
Listeners from around the world can now share an experience that Chicagoans still talk about – the world debut of three ex-political prisoners who never imagined they would live to tell their personal stories, or sing the folk songs that fed their spirits in prison. Ironically, their journey continues as inner city high schools and colleges sponsor cultural exchanges between students and Robben Island Singers.
To purchase or preview the albums, click one of the following links:
Songs from South Africa’s Freedom Struggle (Amazon.com) (iTunes)
Stories from South Africa’s Freedom Struggle (Amazon.com) (iTunes)
Physical versions of the albums can also be bought at the Chicago theater company Remy Bumppo’s production of The Island, which runs until March 7th.
The Robben Island Singers movie trailer has been selected to kick off the Jubilee Film Festival in Selma, Alabama on March 6th.
The Festival Co-Directors, Erica Henry, (representing the Voting Rights Museum in Selma) will screen the trailer to introduce the theme of this year’s festival: struggle in the American South and South Africa.
Winnie Mandela will be the keynote speaker in this festival which culminates with a celebratory crossing of the Edmund Pettis Bridge, commemorating the 45th anniversary of the famous civil rights march.
Visit selmajubilee.com for more information about the festival, and robbenislandsingers.com for more information about Groundswell’s film and concert project featuring Robben Island Singers.
Groundswell intern Mitch Wenkus (Columbia College Chicago, ’10) is this year’s recipient of the Studs Terkel Scholarship Award presented by The Community Media Workshop and Columbia College Chicago. The award has been given annually in honor of the late Pulitzer-Prize winning oral historian.
The winner of the $2,000 prize, selected by a board of judges from the Community Media Workshop, is given to a student with the best grassroots class project. Mitch’s short documentary film won because it best illustrates Studs Terkel’s perspective of our city—one that recognizes and celebrates the extraordinary accomplishments or visions of ordinary people. Thom Clark, Executive Director of Community Media Workshop commended Mitch and said that it was a very competitive selection because there were so many high quality nominations across all media, print, audio and video.
As a Groundswell intern, Mitch has been assisting with the production of our “What Changed” webisode series which raises questions about President Obama’s anti-war stance.
Groundswell co-founder Jeff Spitz writes:
Mitch is the kind of student that Studs Terkel would adore. He’s a real listener, a creative artist and a community builder. Mitch is a documentary artist who has learned how to give voice to others. In the case of his short doc film, Joey and Jamal: A Chicago Public School Story, the voices come from a modest African American family that is speaking truth to power. Mitch focuses on two brothers and their mom as they figure out the ways that they learn best and keep out of harms way in a school system saturated with violence. The film raises profound questions about the hopes, dreams and tactics of Chicago school kids and their parents.
Read more about the film and Mitch’s award at the Community Media Workshop.
Lorenzo Begay (the narrator of “The Return of Navajo Boy“) and his wife, Mary, have a gift shop in Monument Valley. In this video, Mary can be seen selling DVDs to tourists.
For the first time, Groundswell is collaborating with a theater company, Remy Bumppo, to cross-promote The Robben Island Singers and the Chicago Theater Company’s new production of the famous South African play, The Island by Athol Fugard. The play runs through March 7th, 2010.
Groundswell now has created a special exhibit in the theater’s lobby featuring The Robben Island Singers recorded music, video, newspaper articles and large photographs featuring the Robben Island Singers in Chicago’s schools. This new portable exhibition of the Robben Island Singers is now available for museums, conferences, consulate offices and other installations.
The Robben Island Singers music is also available for purchase in the theater lobby.
In true Groundswell fashion, Haitian-born professor Cécile Accilienn is leading a lecture-film series entitled, “Haiti in our Backyard” at Columbus State University in Georgia.
The series, which started January 26th, creates a forum for students and activists interested in contributing to the relief efforts following the recent earthquake in Haiti. Likewise, Accilienn aims to go beyond the present crisis and break down commonplace Haitian stereotypes.
Accilien said rebuilding Haiti will take decades. “It’s important to not forget Haiti after the media leave.” In addition to educating local residents, the “Haiti in our Backyard” series will cover the many opportunities to join with others around the world to contribute to the rebuilding process in whatever capacity in they can, Accilien said. For more information, see this report.
A simple film project from USC has evolved into a powerful force for improving the lives of children in Northern Uganda.
In 2003, three young filmmakers went to Africa in search of a story. They found a horrible situation that disgusted and inspired them. Their response, a modest documentary called Invisible Children: Rough Cut triggered a movement that has mobilized hundreds of thousands of people to raise awareness and protect innocent children who are at risk of being abducted every night by militias – militias that threaten to murder them unless they agree to become child soldiers.
The filmmakers focused on creating change through the power of story, film, and peer to peer organizing but they didn’t stop there. Additional programs now include teacher exchanges, education programs, scholarships (690 for secondary students and 180 full ride scholarships to university), and other development initiatives all aimed at making a difference in the lives of children surrounded by Africa’s longest-running war.
A screening/discussion event is scheduled for April 14th in Chicago at Loyola’s Water Tower campus. For more information, visit Invisible Children’s official website.
At noon on October 2nd, 2002 I was busy teaching a course called Documentary and Social Change at Columbia College Chicago. My wife, Jennifer Amdur Spitz and many of our friends were involved at that same hour in an old fashioned anti-war rally in Federal Plaza in the heart of downtown Chicago. It would be the first gathering to protest the Bush Administration’s move toward a pre-emptive war against Iraq.
I asked my students if they wanted to leave our classroom and walk to a real anti-war rally. Try to remember how you felt in your gut when President Bush rallied Americans to move fast into a pre-emptive war to prevent America from being attacked with “nuclear,” “biological” and “chemical” weapons – weapons that could be provided to our enemies by Iraq? At the demonstration one of my students, Nahlyee Van Brunt, filmed some of the action with his video camera. Well, documentary and social change do go together whether we realize it or not. Please post your comments about what you think changed. This is a new kind of film experience – a webumentary.
The Return of Navajo Boy has unlocked an investigative LA Times series about the affects of uranium mining on Navajos.
Fifty years ago, cancer rates on the reservation were so low that a medical journal published an article titled “Cancer immunity in the Navajo.”
Back then, the contamination of the tribal homeland was just beginning. Mining companies were digging into one of the world’s richest uranium deposits, in a reservation spanning parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.
From 1944 to 1986, 3.9 million tons of uranium ore were chiseled and blasted from the mountains and plains. The mines provided uranium for the Manhattan Project, the top-secret effort to develop an atomic bomb, and for the weapons stockpile built up during the arms race with the Soviet Union.
[...]
Today, there is no talk of cancer immunity in the Navajos.The cancer death rate on the reservation — historically much lower than that of the general U.S. population — doubled from the early 1970s to the late 1990s, according to Indian Health Service data. The overall U.S. cancer death rate declined slightly over the same period.
The New York Times has published an article about Navajos living on uranium contaminated lands, and the growing awareness about this problem:
Many miners died from radiation-related illnesses; some, unaware of harmful health effects, hauled contaminated rocks and tailings from local mines and mills to build homes for their families.
Now, those homes are being demolished and rebuilt under a new government program that seeks to identify what are very likely dozens of uranium-contaminated structures still standing on Navajo land and to temporarily relocate people living in them until the homes can be torn down and rebuilt.
Stephen B. Etsitty, executive director of the Navajo Nation Environmental Protection Agency, and other tribal officials have been grappling for years with the environmental fallout from uranium mining.
“There were a lot of things people weren’t told about the plight of Navajos and uranium mining,” Mr. Etsitty said. “These legacy issues are impacting generations. At some point people are saying, ‘It’s got to end.’ ”
Check out the full article here.
The Robben Island Singers school program was recently featured on ABC 7 News in Chicago. They reported on how the Singers, in conjunction with Groundswell Educational Films, are visiting Chicago Public Schools to teach important life lessons about conflict resolution through art and forgiveness.
If you look closely, you can see our documentary film crew in the background of this news segment.
Indigenous uranium activists from all over the United States will gather from October 22nd through the 24th at The Southwest Indigenous Uranium Forum in Acoma Pueblo, New Mexico.
Activists plan to use Groundswell Educational Films’ documentary, “The Return of Navajo Boy” with its new 15 minute epilogue as a tool to advance the campaign for toxic waste cleanup (DVD available for sale, individual discount available). Elsie Mae Begay, the Navajo grandmother who tells her family’s story in The Return of Navajo Boy, will present the film and participate in audience discussion. The screening is scheduled for Friday, October 23rd starting at 7PM.
Among the other attendees will be about a dozen Navajo grandmothers who recently demonstrated on the steps of Capitol Hill calling for compensation for the families of uranium-mining victims.
The forum, organized by Anna Rondon, is the 7th annual event bringing together Native American uranium activists working towards environmental justice. Conference organizers can be reached by calling (505) 726-9392 or by visiting www.siuf.net.
Groundswell Co-Founders and The Robben Island Singers have incorporated a new company in South Africa called Groundswell Cultural Activists CC.
The new company will book Robben Island Singers concerts, film screenings and education programs in South Africa and manage school exchanges between South African and American youth. Our initial focus is to promote the Robben Island Singers as part of the cultural and heritage programming during World Cup soccer tournament in South Africa 2010.
Members include Muntu Nxumalo, Grant Shezi, Thembinkosi Sithole, Jeff Spitz and Jennifer Amdur Spitz.
Navajo uranium activist Gillbert Badoni, Navajo Nation Council Member Phil Harrison and a delegation of Navajo grandmothers demonstrated at the Capitol today to demand compensation for families poisoned by cold-war uranium mining on Navajo Nation.
“We screened our film, The Return of Navajo Boy for legislators, government staff and the public,” said Navajo grandmother Elsie May Cly Begay, “so they can understand the deep impact of uranium poisoning in our community.” For more on this action, visit the UMCGBCS website.
Chicago-area teachers and administrators love the Robben Island Singers school program.
Phillips High School principal Euel Bunton had this to say after Robben Island Singer Grant Shezi visited his school:
“You promised that this would be a memorable experience, and it truly was. Grant Shezi’s personal testimony was compelling and credible to our students. He struck a cord with students when he identified self control as the character trait that enabled him to overcome the desire for revenge and violence. Many, many more of our youth desperately need to hear this man and his message. I wholeheartedly endorse efforts to bring Robben Island Singers to the Chicago Public Schools on an expanded basis.”
CPS Director of Policy and Program Development Diane Fager says:
“Looking at the lessons learned in South Africa, the Robben Island Singers offer students a third dimension to reflect, and a new light to examine their own experience. Students are invited to express their revelations through the arts, and the Robben Island Singers help students learn to facilitate a new dialog in their own communities. Sure their curriculum lines up with state learning standards in many subject areas, but the Robben Island Singers are much more than that. They teach students to think critically about what they have learned; to communicate their ideas to one another across cultures using visual, performing or media arts; and that they have the power to organize and mobilize their communities towards a better future.”
Check out what students have to say about The Robben Island Singers school program.
Charles, from Kenwood Academy High School enjoyed The Robben Island Singers visit to his school:
“I’m not from a prestigious neighborhood. I’m from what you would maybe call a bad neighborhood. So these singers were a real inspiration. Their songs signify hope.”
Jasmine from Michelle Clark High School has this to say about The Robben Island Singers when they visited her school:
“This whole experience, I am just overwhelmed by it. I love the entire notion of history and heritage and getting to know it and actually playing a part in it. I believe we are kind of making history right now.”
Here are some questions that students have asked The Robben Island Singers when they do Q&A sessions in classrooms:
• Is there ever a time you regret standing up for your beliefs because of the consequences that followed?
• How old were you when you went to prison?
• You all have become an inspiration to many young people today. Who inspires/inspired you to fight against injustice?
• At what point in your struggle did you feel that your anger and pain should have been replaced by action and a revolution through song?
• Do you feel that it frees you to forgive someone who has wronged you?
• Did you find it difficult to re-adjust to freedom when you got out?
• Did a lot of ex-prisoners have trouble getting jobs after they were freed because they had to leave High School?
• How much racism is still left in South America even after apartheid?
• Do you think that your message is ignored by people who don’t acknowledge the past?
• Will you guys be back next year?
Check out what teachers have to say about The Robben Island Singers school program.
In September 2008, Groundswell brought Elsie Mae Begay and the The Return of Navajo Boy (with its new epilogue) to Capitol Hill for a screening and discussion about hazardous waste cleanup with EPA officials and congressional staffers.
Watch more Return of Navajo Boy webisodes.
Groundswell Educational Films issued the following press release:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 24, 2008
Documentary about Navajo Family Exposes the Human Cost of Nuclear Waste Contamination, Triggers Investigation and Warnings about Nuclear Dangers
WASHINGTON D.C. — While the nation is abuzz with talk of energy independence and nuclear reactors, the legacy of cold war uranium mining remains an open wound that literally continues to poison residents of the Navajo Nation.
A Navajo grandmother, who is a main character in the documentary The Return of Navajo Boy, came to Capitol Hill today, to share her story with congressional leaders in a screening hosted by Tom Udall (D-NM), Rick Renzi (R-AZ), Jim Matheson (D-UT) and Navajo Nation’s Washington Office. “I was an extra in Hollywood western movies and a nameless Navajo Girl in postcards. There are thousands of pictures of my family and me. But we never got a chance to say anything. Until now,” said Navajo grandmother, Elsie Mae Begay. “I want people to know how uranium has affected us. That’s why I travel with the film.”
The film will be screened with a new epilogue that documents Ms. Begay’s courageous journey with the film. The screening and discussion will be held Sept. 24, 3-5 PM, Cannon House Office Building, Room 122. The event is free and open to the public. A second free public screening is scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 25, 6-8 PM at Georgetown Law, Gewirz Student Center, 12th floor, 120 F Street, NW (between 1st and 2nd Streets). Several lawmakers and high-ranking officials from the EPA, Department of Energy and other government offices are expected to attend the screening.
The Return of Navajo Boy was produced and directed by Jeff Spitz of Groundswell Educational Films. Groundswell’s outreach campaign triggered a federal investigation of uranium houses. Ms. Begay’s story, picked up by Los Angeles Times, motivated Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) to bring the issue to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform which mandated a clean-up plan by the five federal agencies that are responsible for uranium contamination. “This has been a bi-partisan failure for 40 years,” said Congressman Waxman at the opening of the hearings.
Ironically, the Comprehensive Five-Year Plan, issued jointly last month by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Energy, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Indian Health Service and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, does not include Ms. Begay’s homestead.
“Ms. Begay tells her story through this film, which creates a pathway for people outside her culture to connect with her,” explained Groundswell co-founder, Jeff Spitz. “We book the film and Ms. Begay in public screenings to open doors for face-to-face contact with reporters, academics, funders, policymakers and others who can help make a difference in addressing radiation clean up on Navajo lands.”
“We need people in Washington to realize the enormity of the problem,” said Dave Taylor, an attorney for the Navajo Department of Justice. “We are grateful for the attention Congressman Waxman has brought to this issue, however follow up on the ground has been minimal. We need a permanent solution, not band-aids. The waste needs to be dug up and put into safe repositories.”
“Groundswell’s approach to advocacy shows how one story can ripple into another and keep moving on to cause change,” said Judy Pasternak, the LA Times reporter who wrote the four-part series about uranium poisoning on the reservation. Ms. Pasternak met Elsie Begay at a Groundswell screening. Ms. Begay’s story of raising her family in a house made from uranium became the framework for the opening piece of Pasternak’s investigative series about uranium.
The Return of Navajo Boy is one example of Groundswell Educational Film’s non- profit mission. Groundswell gives voice to those often overlooked by mainstream media; uses film to initiate cross-cultural dialogue; creates public engagement campaigns; and build alliances with stakeholders to achieve social change. “ We will continue to film this journey until Ms. Begay’s uranium situation is resolved,” Spitz added. To learn more about Groundswell’s work on this and other projects, visit www.groundswellfilms.org.
For more than four decades, Navajo Nation soils were dug and blasted to produce millions of tons of uranium for America’s nuclear arsenal. Residents today still breathe radioactive dust, drink contaminated water and live in homes contaminated by radiation. There are nearly 1000 abandoned uranium mines on the Navajo reservation.
Additional screening co-hosts include National Resource Defense Council, Georgetown Environmental Law Society, Georgetown Law, Georgetown American Constitution Society and the Raben Group. The Bradshaw-Knight Foundation sponsored the events and epilogue.
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Update: Watch a video from The Return of Navajo Boy Capitol Hill screening event.
About a year after their initial radioactivity investigation, the US Environmental Protection Agency demolished Elsie Mae Begay’s highly-contaminated hogan. EPA consultant Andrew Sowder is seen at the end of this clip suggesting that the agency should construct fencing or a sign around the area to protect local residents from further contamination.
Watch more Return of Navajo Boy webisodes.
The story of Elsie Mae Begay is featured prominently in our documentary The Return of Navajo Boy; her home was partially constructed out of uranium rocks from an abandoned mine nearby. Around the same time our film was making its premiere, the EPA investigated her home to see how dangerous it might be. The above video is from an official EPA videotape of the investigation, obtained by Groundswell through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
Watch more Return of Navajo Boy webisodes.
