In a few short years, American Indians in California went from being the poorest people in the state to among the richest - from being virtually invisible, to being the most powerful political lobby in the 6th largest economy in the world. For the Cabazon and Morongo tribes of Southern California, the plaintiffs in the landmark Supreme Court case, the potential wealth from gambling was unimaginable. Years of excruciating poverty have not been lost on three-time chairwoman Mary Ann Andreas of the Morongo tribe, whose reservation is near Palm Springs. She remembers the dirt floor shack of her childhood, and the impossibility of dreaming for the wealth the tribe now holds. For Viejas tribal Chairman Anthony Pico, the abundance of today harks back to the times before contact with Europeans. Today, the State is trying to charge a gaming tax greater than the standard corporate rate, a challenge to the newly found abundance of California tribes. California's "Lost" Tribes is the first documen
How did Los Angeles transform itself from a conservative urban center to one of the most progressive cities in the nation? How has the empowerment of immigrants helped transform this city? In The New Los Angeles, Academy-Award nominated filmmaker Lyn Goldfarb ("With Babies and Banners", "The Roman Empire in the First Century") explores the complexities of inclusion in Los Angeles-the nation's largest majority minority city and the city with the largest divide between rich and poor. This powerful portrait of a city in transition begins in 1973 with the election of Mayor Tom Bradley, the first African American mayor of a major city without a black majority, and concludes with the political empowerment of Latinos and the election of Los Angeles's current Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Los Angeles's first Latino mayor in more than 130 years. The documentary looks beyond the Hollywood dreamscape to a vibrant city grappling with many of the issues now commonplace throughout the nation: immigrat
Chronicles the intersection of food and politics in California over the last 30 years. California is at a crossroads in agriculture, fending off overdevelopment and the loss of farming traditions while simultaneously embracing innovative visions of sustainability. Always a fascinating marriage of opposing extremes, California is the state from which Cesar Chavez brought the plight of migrant farm workers and the hazards of industrial farming to the attention of the world. Yet it is also the state that embraced the biotechnology industry and spurred the fast-food movement. Alongside this movement are the leaders in redefining school lunch programs, the marketing system known as community supported agriculture (CSA) and calls for more sustainable farming that considers the impact on environment, community and workers. With diminishing resources and a growing population, how will the state cope with this dilemma? How can consumers participate in these life-affecting decisi