Search Results
Leonard Peltier- Plea for support at a Vigil
This is a very brief speech given by Leonard Peltier petitioning for support to a group of people at a vigil. He discusses United States coercion and infiltration in convicting him. He talks about a United States/Canada conspiracy where they were acting in collusion to have him extradited. He calls for the support of all people and an immediate demand of freedom. This brief interview is immediately followed by native rhythms and sounds.
Reports on the murder of Luis “Jr” Martinez & Ricardo Falcon of the Crusade for Justice
Date: 8/31/1972Call Number: CD 368Format: CDCollection: Compact discs and videos representing digitized copies of analog tapes
After a party at the Crusade headquarters, 2 police cars were surveying people. The crusade headquarters were under constant police surveillance. The Crusade were surrounded by 10 police units. The police blocked off the road around the crusade building- Luis “jr.” Martinez was killed in an alley behind the headquarters. Three witnesses saw Martinez in police custody prior to his death. They say he ran between the buildings, which contradicts police statements. The Crusade party was happening one unit of the building. The police searched all 10 units, then later came up with a warrant about noon. They didn’t deliver the warrant to any of the tenants. The police were shooting into the crusade building (where they claimed they had been targeted by sniper fire). There was a loud explosion. A bomb. at 9:30 Corky Gonzales brought in a an independent explosives detective to investigate, police charged him with unlawful use of an explosive and aggravated assault on an officer. the independent explosive detective was denied entry along with Corky the police stated they needed a court order for entry into the building to conduct the investigation. Corky and the Crusaders believe that it was a police conspiracy along with the FBI to provoke an incident in order to justify a search of all 10 units of the Crusade’s headquarters. the police and FBI believed the headquarters was being used as a storage place for weapons to be used at the American Indian Movement occupation of Wounded Knee.
Same as CAP 149
Report on Ricardo Falcon murder by police
1. Murder of Ricardo Falcon in Almagordo, NM
2. Background of Raza Unida Party convention
3. Falcon Press conference with Priscilla Falcon (widow) and Francisco “Kiko” Martinez (lawyer)
Same as CAP 195
Incident at Oglala: The Leonard Peltier Story
Michael Apted's documentary is an investigative report on the case of Leonard Peltier, an American Indian Movement activist who was convicted of killing two F.B.I. agents in a 1975 shootout on the Pine Ridge reservation, in South Dakota. Peltier (who has been serving time for the murders since 1977) was railroaded by the F.B.I. The filmmakers concentrate on demonstrating that Leonard didn't get a fair trial. Apted guides us through this tangle of ambiguous evidence and back-and-forth legal maneuvering with patient, unobtrusive skill, and the cool rationality of his manner makes the movie's arguments seem all the more irrefutable. Narrated by Robert Redford (who is also the executive producer).
American Indian Movement rally DC
Various activists speak at a rally and march in Washington DC at the FBI Building on the anniversary of the murder of Fred Hampton, expressing solidarity with the American Indian Movement and all oppressed people around the world. Speakers demand that the Canadian government give asylum to Leonard Peltier and that the U.S. government leave reservation land. They mention various struggles against oppression throughout the world and emphasize the importance of the unity of all struggles in fighting government harassment and oppression. Includes music from Bolivian activists.
Manifesto of the Panther 21
Date: 3/1/1970Call Number: CD 408Format: CDProducers: Committee to Defend Panther 21, Radio Free PeopleProgram: Seize the Time Series IICollection: Panther 21
An open letter to Judge John Murtaugh by Michael Cetewayo Tabor in response to Murtaugh’s request of the Panther 21 to obey his rules and keep complete silence during their trail in his courtroom. This manifesto response, spoken in the courtroom, gives a history of America since colonialism until present day 1970 through the African-American experience. Topics mentioned are: colonialism, slavery, the constitution, Amendments 13,14,15, the Reconstruction Era, Plessy v. Ferguson, Brown v. Board, public segregation, COINTELPRO. Key people mentioned: NYC District Attorney Frank Hogan, Judge Charles Marks, Black Panthers Joan Mury and Lee Barry. Manifesto ends with each Panther 21 stating their name.
Edgar Running Bear: Pine Ridge
Recording from a conference guided by Edgar Running Bear about the problems Native Americans face after the violent altercations at Pine Ridge and FBI harassment. Edgar explains that through history, Indian nations have been getting their traditions and lands destroyed by federal control. He discusses his view of two aspects of contemporary Native American culture: traditionalists and the assimilated. He also discusses Native American relationships with the US government, alcoholism, suicide, and the role of the American Indian Movement (AIM).
Excerpts from Du Zaire Au Congo & Incident at Oglala: The Leonard Peltier Story
Call Number: CD 412Format: CDCollection: Compact discs and videos representing digitized copies of analog tapes
Audio excerpts from two videos: V215 and CD
V215
Part 2 of 2.
Du Zaire Au Congo
This documentary by Christian Mesnil chronicles Congo's struggle for independence from the racist colonial rule of King Leopold's Belgium. Using archival pictures and footage, as well as poetry and music, this documentary covers the colonial occupation of the Congo from 1885 to the declaration of independence in 1960 as well as the subsequent postcolonial struggle. Much emphasis is placed on the political life of Patrice Lumumba (1925-1961) and included are statements and speeches spanning from his organizing work with the Mouvement National Congolais to his inagueration as Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
This film is in French with no subtitles. B&W.
CD 205
Michael Apted's documentary is an investigative report on the case of Leonard Peltier, an American Indian Movement activist who was convicted of killing two F.B.I. agents in a 1975 shootout on the Pine Ridge reservation, in South Dakota. Peltier (who has been serving time for the murders since 1977) was railroaded by the F.B.I. The filmmakers concentrate on demonstrating that Leonard didn't get a fair trial. Apted guides us through this tangle of ambiguous evidence and back-and-forth legal maneuvering with patient, unobtrusive skill, and the cool rationality of his manner makes the movie's arguments seem all the more irrefutable. Narrated by Robert Redford (who is also the executive producer).
The Forest for the Trees: Judi Bari v. the FBI
Date: 1/1/2004Call Number: V 228Format: DVDProducers: Redbird Films - Bernadine MellisCollection: Videos in many formats – both camera originals as well as reference materials
In 1990, Earth First! organizer Judi Bari's car was bombed. Within three hours of the bombing, Bari was accused of transporting the explosives that had nearly killed her. Still in the hospital, she was arrested, and labeled a terrorist in the national media. The Forest for the Trees follows the bombing and arrest of Judi Bari, and her subsequent civil suit against the FBI. At the heart of the film, made by Bari’s lawyer’s daughter, is Bari, a folk hero with an electrifying onscreen presence, and the legal battle against law enforcement that few believed she could win.
The Forest for the Trees: the amazing story of the fight to clear Earth First! activist Judi Bari's name after her car was bombed and she was arrested as a terrorist.
Date: 1/1/2006Call Number: V 229Format: DVDProducers: Bullfrog Films - Bernadine MellisCollection: Videos in many formats – both camera originals as well as reference materials
An intimate look at an unlikely team of young activists and old civil rights workers who come together to battle the U.S. government.
Filmmaker Bernadine Mellis is the daughter of 68-year-old civil rights lawyer Dennis Cunningham. Dennis started out his career representing the Black Panthers and the Weathermen.
Judi Bari was an Earth First! leader who was one of the first to place as much importance on timber workers' lives and families as she did on the legacy and future of the trees. But that strategic relationship was too much of a threat. Her car was bombed in 1990, and three hours later, she was arrested as a terrorist--charges that were later dropped. Convinced it was a ploy by the FBI to discredit her and Earth First!, Judi decided to sue.
Cunningham took on Judi's case and after 12 years, Judi Bari v. the FBI finally gets a court date. Knowing this is one of her father's most important cases, Mellis is there at strategy meetings, at breakfast, driving to and from the court, documenting her morally driven, very tired dad. Not your typical "Take your daughter to work day," THE FOREST FOR THE TREES offers access into a unique father-daughter relationship, the painfully short yet extraordinary life of Judi Bari, and a piece of U.S. history that everyday grows increasingly resonant as once again the lines between dissent and terrorism are being intentionally blurred.
Note: This is a completely reworked version of the award-winning 2004 film of the same name. See the filmmaker's note below.
"I completed a version of THE FOREST FOR THE TREES as my master's thesis from Temple University in 2004. While that film was the same length as the final cut, and essentially followed the same story, it was quite a different film. It was my first documentary, and I was producer, director, shooter and editor, learning everything about the process as I did it. I submitted the film to festivals, and it showed at several (as listed here). Soon after finishing it, in early 2005, I went to the Working Films/MASS MoCA Documentary Residency, designed to help filmmakers develop outreach strategies for social justice films. There, I was encouraged to re-open the film by Judith Helfand (BLUE VINYL), who later became one of the Executive Producers of THE FOREST, along with Julia Parker Benello. Judith felt that if I brought in an editor, I could bring the film to a new level.
Then, in the summer of 2005, Chicken & Egg Pictures was founded by Judith Helfand, Julia Parker Benello, and Wendy Ettinger in order to support emerging and veteran women filmmakers. Chicken & Egg provided the support to hire an editor, Susan Korda. Working closely with Judith, Susan and I spent several months re-editing the film. The old cut was divided into two parts: The first half was about Judi Bari, her organizing work in the Redwoods, the bombing of her car, and the FBI and Oakland Police's arrest of her and Darryl Cherney. The second half followed Judi's civil case against the FBI, and the legal team who fought that battle, which included my father, Dennis Cunningham, as lead attorney. What Judith Helfand pushed me to do was to integrate those two stories, and to foreground my father's role a bit more, teasing out some of the richness of the father-daughter element of the film.
Making the first cut was a personal victory for me (there were times I was not at all convinced I would be able to finish it), and it was a hugely important step in the process. Ultimately, the new film, enabled by the awesome support of the women of Chicken & Egg, feels like the true realization of my initial vision, the vision that drove me to begin shooting in the first place." Bernadine Mellis
Interview with Herman Bell
Date: 9/16/1974Call Number: CD 540Format: Cass A & BProducers: Claude MarksCollection: Compact discs and videos representing digitized copies of analog tapes
Interviews with Herman Bell by Claude Marks. The first conducted on September 16, 1974, the day of his conviction of a San Francisco bank robbery and the second September 25, 1974. “just came from the courtroom..if I had had my hopes up high for justice or fair play, I would have been disappointed. No great surprise. The whole charade. I was very relaxed and prepared for it. My position and always will be...look for nothing from these people...”
Herman Bell speaks to the issue of prison and how he will continue to struggle ‘I dare to struggle and I dare to win.”
