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Filmmaker to Attend UNO Documentary Screening on Alcohol Crisis

Image is courtesy of the Sober Indian | Dangerous Indian Facebook page

Image is courtesy of the Sober Indian | Dangerous Indian Facebook page

OMAHA – The public is invited to the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) campus for a screening of “Sober Indian/Dangerous Indian,” a documentary which looks at the impact of Nebraska alcohol sales on South Dakota’s dry Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Filmmaker John Maisch and Native American activist Frank LaMere will be in attendance, and participate in a discussion after the screening.

The free screening is set for Wednesday, Oct. 7 at 7 p.m., showing in two large meeting spaces at UNO’s Barbara Weitz Community Engagement Center (rooms 201/205/209 and 230/231).

The documentary follows the journey of four alcoholics living on the streets of Whiteclay, Nebraska, less than 300 yards from their homes in Pine Ridge, South Dakota. According to a recent Los Angeles Times report, roughly 60 percent of Pine Ridge residents are alcoholics; one in four of the community’s babies is born with fetal alcohol syndrome.

The movie takes its title from a phrase used in the film by a Native American activist who says that residents must become sober to take back control of their lives and their community.

UNO Grace Abbott School of Social Work Professor Patricia Carlson and three students organized the showing. The Civic Participation Project and Service Learning Academy provided funding.

Organizers hope to draw attention to the plight of Oglala Sioux Sioux in Whiteclay, Nebraska and discuss how Nebraskans can take action to create change.

Free parking will be available in lots E and D, the two lots directly north of the Community Engagement Center.

For questions or media requests, please contact:

Sam Petto, UNO Media Relations Coordinator
unonews@unomaha.edu
402.554.2704

or

Charley Reed, UNO Associate Director of Media Relations
unonews@unomaha.edu
402.554.2129

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About the University of Nebraska at Omaha


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