About
Hello, Everyone,
“Ghosts of Sand Creek”, a two-hour, six episode documentary
film about the descendants and ancestors of the Sand Creek
Massacre, which occurred on November 29, 1864 in the
southeastern Colorado Territory, is in development.
Coming on the heels of the award-winning Sand Creek
Massacre trailer, the award-winning six and one-half minute
documentary and the award-winning 22-minute documentary,
that is being distributed by Films Media Group, “Ghosts of Sand Creek”
is delving more deeply into the Cheyenne and Arapaho
people and how the massacre has stalked them up to the
present time.
In “Ghosts of Sand Creek”, Cheyenne descendants of the
Sand Creek Massacre will tell their oral histories. These
oral histories depict hands on experience their ancestors
experienced during their evolution with the United States
government. These histories will show how peace treaties
from 1825 to 1890 removed the Cheyenne and Arapaho
people from their land. Originally having 51 million acres
that spread from the Platte River in Wyoming to the Arkansas
River in the Colorado Territory east to the Nebraska Plains,
and west to the Rocky Mountains, the United States government
reduced their land to a few hundred acres each of mostly worthless
land for growing crops to sustain native people who had
always followed the buffalo.
Betrayal by the United States government, the
massacre and the aftermath of it, continues to
stalk the Cheyenne and Arapaho people today in their
efforts to be paid monies owed to them by the United
States government, which numbers into the billions of
dollars. Negotiating peace treaties with the Cheyennes
without giving the tribes legal representation, land patents,
securities, animals, goods and provisions to amend for the
outrages against individual Indians of certain bands
camped at Sand Creek during the 1864 massacre,
tools, equipment, livestock, and training as agreed
upon in the treaties and without fulfilling the conditions
of these treaties, the government continues to
exploit the tribes by prolonging the law suits without
being proactive.
The subsequent action of these treaties resulted
in the exploitation of these 51 million acres of the tribes’
lands that continues to result in natural gas, ranching,
oil, agriculture, lumber, mining, etc. royalties that go
to government and private industries. In return, the
tribes have received disease, abject poverty, hunger,
alcohol and drug abuse, high unemployment, lack
of appropriate housing and health assistance, lack of
education, homelessness, and, for many, not enough
resources to even buy toilet paper.
In order to alleviate this betrayal, several law suits
have been filed by the tribes against the United
States government for repayment to help bring
them out of the dire living conditions that plague
many of them and to enhance the future for their
children and grandchildren to bring them up to
speed with all Americans who experience
prosperity and abundance, and to preserve
their heritage.
“Ghosts of Sand Creek”, principally based on
the oral histories of the Cheyenne and Arapaho
people, will tell their story so that others can
learn of the injustices committed by Americans
on America’s native people. In turn, the film
will inform and educate others and create
awareness so that all Americans will have
the opportunity to learn of the present tribes’ dire
situation and to become proactive about
changing it.
The All Roads Seed Money grant offered by
National Geographic that I wrote and
submitted was passed on. I continue to
work on the ITVS grant and other potential
sources of funding. Since the American
economy has been plunged into its darkest
history brought on by self interest and
greed, many funding sources are drying up,
while many others are cutting back on monies
granted and given.
Until money is put in place, I encourage
each one of you to continue to keep your
doors open to helping me make the film,
each based on your particular expertise.
You are included in a group of people
who are some of the most talented and
gifted people in film and Hollywood and
each of you posses the energy and passion to help
me make “Ghosts of Sand Creek” everything
it should be. Supported by 15,000 members
of the Sand Creek Massacre Descendants’
Trust, all of us are part of carving a new
path for these people as well as all
American natives.
I am always open to comments, questions,
and suggestions as to how to enhance the
making of “Ghosts of Sand Creek”, so please
contact me at your convenience with your
suggestions, comments, and/or questions.
Until the next update, may peace and love
be with you.
Best Regards,
Don
Donald L. Vasicek
OLYMPUS FILMS+, LLC
Writing/Filmmaking/Consulting
http://www.donvasicek.com
303-903-2103
“No matter what your problem, the karmic roots of the problem will be
found in past lives.”
-Dick Sutphen
“Documentary to tell Cheyenne and Arapaho story”
by: Brenda Norrell / “Indian Country Today”
DENVER - When the military slaughtered Cheyenne and Arapaho women and children at Sand Creek,
they shattered the lives of future generations, the descendants of the few children that survived the
massacre 140 years ago.
Don Vasicek, board member of the American Indian Genocide Museum, is producing a new
documentary, ”Sand Creek Massacre, A Lesson from American History” (changed to “Ghosts of Sand Creek), that he hopes will allow Cheyenne and Arapaho to dissolve some of the pain.
”They carry their own grieving from Sand Creek. Telling their own stories is their release; they need to talk about it. They need to know that others will hear and learn of their grief.”
The story of the Massacre of Sand Creek is being told from oral history, the descendants of the 5 and
6-year-olds, the little ones who survived.
”This story will be their truth,” Vasicek said.
Today, the racism and oppression that led to the slaughter at Sand Creek is retained in the language of the history books.
”Many white people believe that it was a brilliant military strategy,” Vasicek said of the massacre. ”Then there are the historians and the educators who are always making sure it is accurate.”
The problem, however, remains that 99 percent of the written history of the genocide of American
Indians was recorded by white people and written from their perspective.
Until now.
”The Cheyenne and Arapaho are writing their book, telling their story,” Vasicek said, adding that the
time to record these stories is now.
”Once the descendants die, the stories die with them.” History, too, will die with these descendants if it is not recorded.
”American Indian people are the fabric of American history,” Vasicek said. Preserving that fabric will
determine how much American history the people will know.
Vasicek, graduate of the Hollywood Film Institute and founder of Olympus films, is shooting a 20-minute version of the film for classroom use (Shot and completed May, 2007, being distributed in North America, Canada, and Asia). The Sand Creek Massacre film project includes a book, classroom
materials, interactive media, study guide and lesson plans.
The 20-minute video provides a range of first-hand information never before recorded. It includes the
tracking of a Cheyenne chief’s great grandfather who survived the Sand Creek Massacre, the Battle of
Washita, Palo Duro and confinement in a Florida prison for three years.
With Indian actors such as Wes Studi expressing interest in working on the upcoming full-length
documentary (major motion picture actor and narrator Peter Coyote came on board in 2008), Vasicek said, ”There is going to be as little interference from white people as possible. I
don’t want that interference.”
The American Indian Genocide Museum is now collecting documents, written proof that the grief
Cheyenne and Arapaho experience today, is based on facts.
”These are an indictment of what took place. The museum is a way of bringing these atrocities out,”
Vasicek said. ”It is my way of taking on the system.”
Speaking of this country’s first people, he said, ”We are their people and they are our people, we need to get together.” The challenge, he said, is carrying this message to Indian youths and to white people so the pain can be shared and dissolved.
So far, funding has been an obstacle. The funding has come out of Vasicek’s own pocket. But, he has a six and one-half minute demonstration video, ”The Sand Creek Massacre”, a mini version of the film that he is proud of.
And he has no regrets that the film project has not attracted wealthy investors who might want to control it. Then, he said, the risk would be ”changing the integrity of the story.”
The sponsor of the Sand Creek Massacre film project is one of integrity, the American Indian Genocide Museum, now being created in Houston, chaired by Paiute elder Steve Melendez.
Among the documents that Vasicek and the American Indian Genocide Museum are exposing are the
letters of Captain Silas S. Soule and Lt. Joseph Cramer.
The Massacre of Sand Creek occurred on Nov. 29, 1864, when about 700 Colorado 1st and 3rd
Regiment troops and troops from New Mexico, slaughtered more than 150 men, women and children in southeastern Colorado Territory.
Lt. Captain Silas S. Soule wrote a letter dated Dec. 19, 1864 from Ft. Lyon, to Major Ed Wynkoop, his
commanding officer.
Soule wrote what he witnessed at Sand Creek: ”… hundreds of women and children were coming
towards us and getting on their knees for mercy.”
In a letter dated, Dec. 19, 1863, Fort Lyon, Lt. Joseph Cramer wrote to Major Ed Wynkoop, his
commanding officer, a letter about what he witnessed at Sand Creek.
Cramer wrote: ”… Dear Major, This is the first opportunity I have had of writing you since the great
Indian Massacre, and for a start, I will acknowledge I am ashamed to own I was in it with my Co.
”Col. Chivington came here with the gallant third, known as Chivington Brigade, like a thief in the dark… marched all night up Sand, to the big bend in Sand … and came to Black Kettle’s village of 103
lodges, containing not over 500 all told, 350 of which were women and children … We lost 40 men
wounded, and 10 killed. Not over 250 Indians mostly women and children, and I think not over 200
killed, and not over 75 bucks …”
The letter continued: ”… Black Kettle said when he saw us coming, that he was glad, for it was Major
Wynkoop coming to make peace. Left Hand stood with his hands folded across his breast, until he was shot saying, ‘Soldiers no hurt me - soldiers my friends.”’
The letters surfaced about 130 years after the Sand Creek Massacre, in the 1990s. Florence Blunt was
going through two stored trunks of a family member, a rancher, who was in the habit of taking supplies to Fort Lyon before and after the Sand Creek Massacre. She found Captain Silas S. Soule’s and Lt. Joseph Cramer’s letters. Blunt’s daughter, Linda Rebek of Evergreen retains possession of the letters.
Article Copyrighted by “Indian Country Today”
Film tells Sand Creek story from tribes’ eyes
By Dennis Huspeni
“The Colorado Springs Gazette”
Don Vasicek’s dream is to document a nightmare of many American Indians. The Centennial filmmaker and writer has worked for the past four years, using his money, to create a documentary on the Sand Creek Massacre.All that work has yielded a 61⁄2-minute demo of the documentary, which will be shown Friday in Castle Rock.He’s found support difficult to come by, as Vasicek freely admits the film’s point of view rests squarely with the Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians.“This happened 140 years ago,” Vasicek said. “Nevertheless, they carry the grief with them today.”The grief comes from the event’s particularly brutal history.
On Nov. 29, 1864, soldiers from Colorado’s 1st and 3rd Regiments, under the command of Col. John Chivington, attacked a group of Cheyenne and Arapaho at Sand Creek, about 145 miles east of Colorado Springs and 35 miles north of Lamar.“The attack at Sand Creek resulted in the deaths of over 150 Indians, the vast majority being women, children and infants,” according to the National Park Service’s Web site for the Sand Creek historic site. “For the soldiers, losses were much less, with about nine or 10 killed and three dozen wounded.”
The film portrays tribal elders relating “oral histories of what their descendants experienced at Sand Creek,” Vasicek said. After filming in Oklahoma this summer, Vasicek said he formed an emotional bond with the Indians.“I just saw how significant, vital and important this is to the Cheyenne and Arapaho people,” he said. “It’s vital for someone to do something to record those histories.”
Several companies are interested in seeing Vasicek finish the film, he said, including Rocky Mountain PBS and The National Museum of the American Indian-Smithsonian Institution. Cinema Guild International has urged Vasicek to complete a 20-minute version (completed, Click On: Project on the SandCreekMassacre.net home page) for classroom showings.
“It’s time for the Cheyenne-Arapaho people to tell their truth,” he said. “And hopefully it can be educational for young people to learn something about problem-solving in a nonviolent way,” Vasicek said.
~Don Huspeni, dhuspeni@gazette.com 2004
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Cheyenne Chief Black Kettle |
Colonel John M. Chivington |
John Evans Colorado TerritorialGovenor1862-1865 |
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BEST NATIVE AMERCIAN FILM, GOLDEN DROVER AWARD, ARCHIVED
AT HEARD MUSEUM, PHOENIX, ARIZONA, 22-MINUTE SAND CREEK MASSACRE
DOCUMENTARY FILM AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE AT:
Email: custserv@films.com
OR
Fax: 609-671-0266
OR
Phone: 800-257-5126
OR
Online by typing the item number (37436) or by the title. Here is the link.
http://www.films.com/id/13926/The_Sand_Creek_Massacre_Seven_Hours_that_Changed_American_History.htm
Films Media Group
2572 Brunswick Pike, Lawrenceville, NJ 08648
Phone: 609 671 5726 | Fax: 609 671 5772 | Email: Supriya.sasne@films.com
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