NATIVE CHILDREN’S SURVIVAL PROJECT PROTECT
Makoce Wakan/Sacred Earth
“Feedback has been more than positive: Congratulations on a very successful show that has generated more viewer calls than any other show to date.”
About
MAKOCE WAKAN/SACRED EARTH explores Native Peoples' connection and relationship with land and life, traditions, and philosophies. This World Alert Special broadcast on VH1 November 25th, 1993, Thanksgiving Day in the U.S., a National Day of Mourning in Indian Country, was produced to cultivate awareness and support for the protection of Native Peoples Religious Freedom and Sacred Sites. Sacred Sites, threatened by recreational, commercial, and industrial development, have been used and protected by Native Peoples for religious and medicinal purposes from time immemorial. Sacred Sites symbolize a productive and positive spiritual unity between human beings and Mother Earth — a relationship Indigenous Peoples have long understood.
The film is directed, scored, and hosted by Robby Romero; co-written with Suzan Shown Harjo, executive produced by Jack Sussman; and produced by Jessica Falcon. MAKOCE WAKAN/SACRED EARTH offers insights about the personal, spiritual, and political importance of protecting Sacred Sites with appearances by: U.S. Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-Colorado), Susan Shown Harjo (Morning Star Institute), Richard Moves Camp (Oglala Lakota Spiritual Leader), Audrey Shenandoah and Betty Jacobs (Onondaga Clan Mothers), Franklin Stanley (Apache Spiritual Leader), Ola Cassadore (Apache Survival Coalition), and Chief Leon Shenandoah (Spiritual and political leader of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy). The VH1 World Alert special features original music by Robby Romero and Buddy Red Bow with traditional dance and live performance shot on location in Lakota, Apache, Pueblo, and Onondaga Territories.
The November 25th, 1993 broadcast of Makoce Wakan garnered MTV Networks more than 160,000 new subscribers from the heart of Indian Country. The Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 became public law No: 103-141. The American Indian Religious Freedom Act Amendments, to provide for the traditional use of peyote as a sacrament in religious ceremonies and to protect the traditional religions and religious purposes of Native Peoples, became Public Law NO: 103-344 in 1994, providing legislative protection for spiritual and religious practices of the Native American Church.
“From the gorgeous aerial of the precipitous Black Hills to the close-up views of wild flowers underscored by Red Thunder’s earnest music this marvelous film is a must see the world views of American Native Peoples.”
On Wednesday, March 9, 2022, the White House Council on Native American Affairs (WHCNAA) held a listening session with Native leaders. The session was a follow-up on U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Deb Haaland's, November 11, 2021, "Interagency Effort to Protect and Increase Access to Indigenous Sacred Sites," and Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed by eight agencies.
“Makoce Wakan is unlike most commercially available releases today. This album consists of 11 delicately crafted mini operas, resulting in an intense spiritual collection. This disc screams out originality and inspiration with thought provoking songs such as “Medicine Woman,” “Heartbeat,” and “Prayer Song.”