In the Light of Reverence
Encyclopedia
In the Light of Reverence is a documentary
that was ten years in the making. Produced by Christopher McLeod
and Malinda Maynor (Lumbee
), the documentary was released in 2001, and features three tribal nations, the Hopi
, the Winnemem Wintu
, and the Lakota Sioux, and their struggle to protect three sacred sites that are central to their understanding of the world and their spiritual responsibilities to care for their homelands.
With more than 500 different Native American
cultures in the United States
, the majority of whom are seeking to protect sites sacred to them, the three stories that In the Light of Reverence features are meant to open the door to understanding and dialogue. They were developed with an advisory board composed of Native Americans
and were based on personal relationships nurtured for decades.
The three sacred sites, Devils Tower
, situated in the Lakota Black Hills
, the Four Corners of the Hopi
in Arizona
, and the Winnemem Wintu
's Mount Shasta
, are places of extraordinary beauty as well as impassioned controversy as American Indians and non-Indians struggle to co-exist with very different ideas about how the land should be used. For the Lakota, Hopi
, and Winnemem Wintu
, the land is sacred, and no different in its religious significance than Europe's greatest cathedrals are for western culture
. But for mining companies, New Age
practitioners, and rock climbers, the land is a material resource best used for industry and recreation.
passed the American Indian Religious Freedom Act
(AIRFA) which legalized the public performance of Native ceremonies that had been banned for over a century. While Native Americans
tried to use the American Indian Religious Freedom Act (AIRFA) to protect those sacred places where they pray, in every instance they lost. In 1988, the Supreme Court
delivered the final blow when it overturned two lower court rulings that sided with northern California Indians who were trying to prevent a logging road from going through their sacred "high country." The Siskiyou Mountains
, east of Eureka
, is a place of vision questing and medicine gathering. The Forest Service sought to build a road, or "G-O Road" to gain access to old growth timber. The loss of the GO Road case sparked a crisis in Indian country: sacred sites could not be protected by law, and the claim of religious freedom could not protect sacred land. In the early 1990s, Native Americans
looked back on the AIRFA court battles and concluded that the non-Native public had virtually no understanding of what sacred places meant to Indian communities, why they were important, and how their protection was fundamental to the free exercise of their religions. Clearly, public education was badly needed in the face of such an overt culture clash.
The conflict over climbing at Devils Tower
, Wyoming
, escalated into a legal battle in 1997 when Mountain States Legal Foundation and several commercial climbers sued the National Park Service
for asking climbers and tourists to respect Native American
beliefs about the tower. Christopher McLeod, who had already been filming with the Hopi and Winnemem for five years, decided to add the Devils Tower story "to round out the film geographically, and to include the legal conflict over climbing a sacred site - because ultimately America is a nation of laws, and many value conflicts ultimately are worked out through legal arguments." Moreover, for the producers of the film, "the fundamental irony of the denial of religious freedom to the first Americans is mirrored in the fact that it is a federal crime to climb the faces of Mount Rushmore
."
In the Light of Reverence is narrated by the Bay Area
actor, Peter Coyote
, and Tantoo Cardinal
(Métis
), and was first premiered in San Francisco on Saturday, February 17, 2001 at the Palace of Fine Arts
. The film received the Best Documentary Feature Award at the American Indian Film Festival
in San Francisco, was nationally broadcast on PBS
, as part of the POV series, on Tuesday, August 14, 2001, and was seen by three million people. In 2005, the Council on Foundations awarded the film the prestigious Henry Hampton Award for Excellence in Film and Digital Media, in recognition of the film's impact, its positive reception in Indian Country and its strong distribution history.
In the Light of Reverence features interviews with Vine Deloria, Jr.
(Standing Rock Sioux
), Charles Wilkinson, and Florence Jones (Wintu
).
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
that was ten years in the making. Produced by Christopher McLeod
Christopher McLeod
Christopher McLeod is the project director of Earth Island Institute's Sacred Land Film Project. He produced and directed the award-winning documentary In the Light of Reverence and has made three other award-winning documentary films: The Four Corners: A National Sacrifice Area? ,...
and Malinda Maynor (Lumbee
Lumbee
The Lumbee belong to a state recognized Native American tribe in North Carolina. The Lumbee are concentrated in Robeson County and named for the primary waterway traversing the county...
), the documentary was released in 2001, and features three tribal nations, the Hopi
Hopi
The Hopi are a federally recognized tribe of indigenous Native American people, who primarily live on the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona. The Hopi area according to the 2000 census has a population of 6,946 people. Their Hopi language is one of the 30 of the Uto-Aztecan language...
, the Winnemem Wintu
Winnemem Wintu
The Winnemem Wintu are a band of the Native American Wintu tribe originally located along the lower McCloud River, above Shasta Dam near Redding, California.-History:...
, and the Lakota Sioux, and their struggle to protect three sacred sites that are central to their understanding of the world and their spiritual responsibilities to care for their homelands.
With more than 500 different Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
cultures in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, the majority of whom are seeking to protect sites sacred to them, the three stories that In the Light of Reverence features are meant to open the door to understanding and dialogue. They were developed with an advisory board composed of Native Americans
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
and were based on personal relationships nurtured for decades.
The three sacred sites, Devils Tower
Devils Tower National Monument
Devils Tower is an igneous intrusion or laccolith located in the Black Hills near Hulett and Sundance in Crook County, northeastern Wyoming, above the Belle Fourche River...
, situated in the Lakota Black Hills
Black Hills
The Black Hills are a small, isolated mountain range rising from the Great Plains of North America in western South Dakota and extending into Wyoming, USA. Set off from the main body of the Rocky Mountains, the region is something of a geological anomaly—accurately described as an "island of...
, the Four Corners of the Hopi
Hopi
The Hopi are a federally recognized tribe of indigenous Native American people, who primarily live on the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona. The Hopi area according to the 2000 census has a population of 6,946 people. Their Hopi language is one of the 30 of the Uto-Aztecan language...
in Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
, and the Winnemem Wintu
Winnemem Wintu
The Winnemem Wintu are a band of the Native American Wintu tribe originally located along the lower McCloud River, above Shasta Dam near Redding, California.-History:...
's Mount Shasta
Mount Shasta
Mount Shasta is located at the southern end of the Cascade Range in Siskiyou County, California and at is the second highest peak in the Cascades and the fifth highest in California...
, are places of extraordinary beauty as well as impassioned controversy as American Indians and non-Indians struggle to co-exist with very different ideas about how the land should be used. For the Lakota, Hopi
Hopi
The Hopi are a federally recognized tribe of indigenous Native American people, who primarily live on the Hopi Reservation in northeastern Arizona. The Hopi area according to the 2000 census has a population of 6,946 people. Their Hopi language is one of the 30 of the Uto-Aztecan language...
, and Winnemem Wintu
Winnemem Wintu
The Winnemem Wintu are a band of the Native American Wintu tribe originally located along the lower McCloud River, above Shasta Dam near Redding, California.-History:...
, the land is sacred, and no different in its religious significance than Europe's greatest cathedrals are for western culture
Western culture
Western culture, sometimes equated with Western civilization or European civilization, refers to cultures of European origin and is used very broadly to refer to a heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, religious beliefs, political systems, and specific artifacts and...
. But for mining companies, New Age
New Age
The New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...
practitioners, and rock climbers, the land is a material resource best used for industry and recreation.
The film's inception
In 1978, the United States CongressUnited States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
passed the American Indian Religious Freedom Act
American Indian Religious Freedom Act
The American Indian Religious Freedom Act, Public Law No. 95-341, 92 Stat. 469 , codified at , is a United States federal law and a joint resolution of Congress that was passed in 1978. It was enacted to protect and preserve the traditional religious rights and cultural practices of American...
(AIRFA) which legalized the public performance of Native ceremonies that had been banned for over a century. While Native Americans
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
tried to use the American Indian Religious Freedom Act (AIRFA) to protect those sacred places where they pray, in every instance they lost. In 1988, the Supreme Court
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
delivered the final blow when it overturned two lower court rulings that sided with northern California Indians who were trying to prevent a logging road from going through their sacred "high country." The Siskiyou Mountains
Siskiyou Mountains
The Siskiyou Mountains are a coastal mountain range in the northern Klamath Mountains in northwestern California and southwestern Oregon in the United States. They extend in an arc for approximately from east of Crescent City, California northeast along the north side of the Klamath River into...
, east of Eureka
Eureka, California
Eureka is the principal city and the county seat of Humboldt County, California, United States. Its population was 27,191 at the 2010 census, up from 26,128 at the 2000 census....
, is a place of vision questing and medicine gathering. The Forest Service sought to build a road, or "G-O Road" to gain access to old growth timber. The loss of the GO Road case sparked a crisis in Indian country: sacred sites could not be protected by law, and the claim of religious freedom could not protect sacred land. In the early 1990s, Native Americans
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
looked back on the AIRFA court battles and concluded that the non-Native public had virtually no understanding of what sacred places meant to Indian communities, why they were important, and how their protection was fundamental to the free exercise of their religions. Clearly, public education was badly needed in the face of such an overt culture clash.
The conflict over climbing at Devils Tower
Devils Tower National Monument
Devils Tower is an igneous intrusion or laccolith located in the Black Hills near Hulett and Sundance in Crook County, northeastern Wyoming, above the Belle Fourche River...
, Wyoming
Wyoming
Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...
, escalated into a legal battle in 1997 when Mountain States Legal Foundation and several commercial climbers sued the National Park Service
National Park Service
The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
for asking climbers and tourists to respect Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
beliefs about the tower. Christopher McLeod, who had already been filming with the Hopi and Winnemem for five years, decided to add the Devils Tower story "to round out the film geographically, and to include the legal conflict over climbing a sacred site - because ultimately America is a nation of laws, and many value conflicts ultimately are worked out through legal arguments." Moreover, for the producers of the film, "the fundamental irony of the denial of religious freedom to the first Americans is mirrored in the fact that it is a federal crime to climb the faces of Mount Rushmore
Mount Rushmore
Mount Rushmore National Memorial is a sculpture carved into the granite face of Mount Rushmore near Keystone, South Dakota, in the United States...
."
In the Light of Reverence is narrated by the Bay Area
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...
actor, Peter Coyote
Peter Coyote
Peter Coyote is an American actor, author, director, screenwriter and narrator of films, theatre, television and audio books. His voice work includes narrating the opening ceremony of the 2002 Winter Olympics and Apple's iPad campaign. He has also served as on-camera co-host of the 2000 Oscar...
, and Tantoo Cardinal
Tantoo Cardinal
Rose Marie "Tantoo" Cardinal, CM is a Canadian film and television actress.-Career:Cardinal was born in Anzac, Fort McMurray, Alberta. Her mother, Julia Cardinal, was a Métis of Cree descent...
(Métis
Métis people (Canada)
The Métis are one of the Aboriginal peoples in Canada who trace their descent to mixed First Nations parentage. The term was historically a catch-all describing the offspring of any such union, but within generations the culture syncretised into what is today a distinct aboriginal group, with...
), and was first premiered in San Francisco on Saturday, February 17, 2001 at the Palace of Fine Arts
Palace of Fine Arts
The Palace of Fine Arts in the Marina District of San Francisco, California, is a monumental structure originally constructed for the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition in order to exhibit works of art presented there. One of only a few surviving structures from the Exposition, it is the only one still...
. The film received the Best Documentary Feature Award at the American Indian Film Festival
American Indian Film Festival
The American Indian Film Festival is an annual non-profit film festival in San Francisco. It is the world's oldest venue dedicated to Native American films and prepared the way for the 1979 formation of the American Indian Film Institute....
in San Francisco, was nationally broadcast on PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
, as part of the POV series, on Tuesday, August 14, 2001, and was seen by three million people. In 2005, the Council on Foundations awarded the film the prestigious Henry Hampton Award for Excellence in Film and Digital Media, in recognition of the film's impact, its positive reception in Indian Country and its strong distribution history.
In the Light of Reverence features interviews with Vine Deloria, Jr.
Vine Deloria, Jr.
Vine Deloria, Jr. was an American Indian author, theologian, historian, and activist. He was widely known for his book Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto , which helped generate national attention to Native American issues in the same year as the Alcatraz-Red Power Movement...
(Standing Rock Sioux
Sioux
The Sioux are Native American and First Nations people in North America. The term can refer to any ethnic group within the Great Sioux Nation or any of the nation's many language dialects...
), Charles Wilkinson, and Florence Jones (Wintu
Wintu
The Wintu are Native Americans who live in what is now Northern California. They are part of a loose association of peoples known collectively as the Wintun . Others are the Nomlaki and the Patwin...
).