John Barbours World
John Barbour "the godfather of reality TV" created, co-hosted, co-produced, and wrote 'Real People' - the first reality show, which was number one on NBC for three years during the early 1980's.
Barbour moved to the United States in the early sixties. His comedy act, particularly his 1965 album, It's Tough to Be White, dealt in part with civil rights and black-white relations.
Barbour hosted the pilot for The Gong Show in the mid '70s, and was a regular panelist on the 1988 Canadian (US syndicated) version of Liar's Club.
Barbour portrayed game show host Harry Monte in a 1975 episode of Sanford and Son.
John Produced, Wrote, and Hosted 'Ernie Kovacs: TV's Original Genius,'for Showtime that aired later on PBS. At the time it was reviewed as 'the best documentary about a performer!'
He also directed and wrote the 1992 documentary The JFK Assassination: The Jim Garrison Tapes. This film covers the investigation of District Attorney Jim Garrison, who, after the 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy, decided to further investigate the official report given by the Warren Commission. The documentary hypothesizes connections between the assassination and the FBI, the CIA, the Mafia, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Vietnam War, and other organizations and foreign affairs issues. The film won an award in 1993 at the San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain.
Guest, Daniel Sheehan
Daniel Sheehan, Esq.
A Harvard-trained attorney, Daniel has participated in some of the most important public interest cases of the last 40 years. His lawsuits have involved the Watergate and Iran-Contra Scandals, the Pentagon Papers, and the killing of Karen Silkwood. In 1973-74, he served as amicus counsel to the American Civil Liberties Union in regards to the occupation of Wounded Knee. In 1980, he co-founded the Christic Institute, a nonprofit public interest law center that—among many others cases—prosecuted members of the Ku Klux Klan in Greensboro, North Carolina, and represented victims of the Three Mile Island disaster in Pennsylvania. In his work with LPLP, Daniel has been a principal attorney in drafting the legal strategy for the federal Justice Department’s lawsuit against the State of South Dakota for its violations of the Indian Child Welfare Act . Having been present at the Standing Rock resistance camps, he is familiar with principal parties in the opposition to the Dakota Access pipeline and has asked to be defense counsel for several water protectors facing severe charges—including Chase Iron Eyes and Holy Elk. He is one of the small number of attorneys to be invited to join the Mni Wiconi Legal Defense and Offense Committee, along with Bruce Ellison.
LAKOTA PEOPLE'S LAW PROJECT
In 2004, a group of grandmothers in Lakota country—an area comprised of nine Indian reservations in North and South Dakota—asked us to investigate and help them prevent South Dakota's Department of Social Services from removing their grandchildren from their families. The investigation uncovered that drugging and routine patterns of physical and mental abuse of Native children in foster care were leading to high levels of youth suicide. These atrocities are in direct violation of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), a federal law put into place in 1978. In response, we formed The Lakota People’s Law Project (LPLP) to help put a stop to the cycles of injustice leading to the slow genocide of the Lakota.
Our first program, the ongoing Lakota Child Rescue Project, launched in 2005 to address the actions we discovered, and to assist in the return of Lakota children to their families, tribes, and communities. This mission has expanded to include the creation of a tribal foster care program funded with direct Title IV-E funds from the federal government, bypassing the state of South Dakota.
It was natural for us to expand our mission when the Dakota Access pipeline (DAPL) threatened the Lakota’s sacred lands and water. The injustices perpetrated against the Lakota during the peaceful and prayerful resistance to DAPL further demonstrate the government’s blatant pattern of contempt and disregard for the Lakota and their sovereignty.
LPLP engages in ongoing efforts to reclaim ancestral lands, and to stop all threats to Lakota land and resources. We believe that Native peoples possess inherent sovereignty and the right to autonomous rule and self-determination. The Lakota flourished for centuries before Europeans arrived on these lands, and their tradition of living in relation to all things is more important today than ever before. We are committed to working with the Lakota toward the revitalization of their people and culture. Learn more about our campaigns and discover how you can get involved!
