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NOWA CUMIG: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF DENNIS BANKS
He was once called one of the most dangerous men in America; today he's called upon by politicians, industrialists and artists from around the globe. The same government that once vowed to hunt him down now routinely seeks him out for advice. Has Dennis Banks, cofounder of the American Indian Movement, changed -- or has the rest of the world simply caught up to him?
Banks was born on the Leech Lake reservation in northern Minnesota 68 years ago. At age five Nowa Cumig (Banks' Ojibwe name) was removed to a boarding school, where he was beaten and humiliated whenever he was caught speaking the language or practicing the religious customs of his people. He eventually drifted to Minneapolis, where drink, despair and crime landed him in the state prison system. While there he met other native people who'd undergone similar trials, and from these meetings the American Indian Movement (AIM) was born.
The program will trace how the movement evolved from an effort to stem police brutality in the Twin Cities to a national campaign to raise America's consciousness about the broken treaties, lost rights and appalling neglect that plagued native people on and off the reservations. Subject of media hype, public hysteria in some quarters and admiration in others, and the unremitting hatred of the law enforcement community, AIM propelled itself into the national spotlight in the late 1960s and early 70s through such actions as the occupation of Alcatraz, the takeover of the Bureau of Indian Affairs building in Washington, D.C., and, most memorably, the 71-day siege at Wounded Knee. Larger-than-life figures such as Dennis Banks, Russell Means and the Bellecourt brothers, Clyde and Vernon, saw to it that the plight of Native Americans remained a front-page issue that refused to fade.
NOWA CUMIG: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF DENNIS BANKS will also give us an unprecedented personal portrait of this intensely private man. We will visit some of the people and locales that have special meaning for him. We will learn how he sustained himself through protracted legal difficulties, financial setbacks, and political infighting, only to re-emerge as a successful businessman, youth counselor, advocate of racial reconciliation and elder statesman living on the same reservation where he was born. Banks has never before agreed to tell his life story to a mass audience. His turbulent and triumphant life will make for an unforgettable viewing experience.
