CARRIE LEIGH

PART ONE

John LeKay. Carrie, can you please tell me how you became interested in the Native American culture?

Carrie Leigh: My husband (Gary Frischer) has been involved in Civil Rights for a long time, after the L.A.P.D. (Ramparts Scandal-he was the media machine behind the plaintiffs exposing the corrupt police officers) he received a call from a gentlemen on the Yankton Sioux Reservation regarding Native Rights and abuse claims from the Boarding School Era.

He spent months researching it and then decided to go to Yankton and Rosebud. After his first trip (without me) he came home and told me what he saw - a third world country in America, he told me about the people he met etc.... He also said that the claims were real and that these people needed help and that he was fascinated by their culture. So the next trip I went with him and fell in love with the culture, the people and the fact that they have deep roots in their land.

JL:  When you went to Rosebud reservation, what did you see exactly? What kind of help did they need?

Carrie Leigh: Before I can answer that I have to go back to 2002 and tell you that our first situation was a class action against the Church for abuse in the forced boarding school system which lasted till the 1970's.  Most of these schools had barbed wire to keep the kids in and the parents out.  The Church used the Sioux to raise funds from both the private sector and the Government.  After I started to work on this Issue with my husband, we opened a can of worms.  Everything was wrong everywhere in Indian Country.  First the average Native American lived to 48.  Why, most are diabetic.  Why they get rations and bad food.  Next Indian Health Services (U S Government Treaty Doctors) is responsible for health -Do you think their are a lot of Doctors who actually care?

So to answer your question when I was on these Reservations and working with my husband as he explained individual Civil Rights and we worked with Native American Leaders on how to use these rights - most had no idea.  These are isolated people, where the white people still treat them very bad (be black in the South in 1950) and it became our goal to bring about a change to the people of the plains.

Did it work - I say yes because with a five year period we educated and brought about the Tribal Trust Litigation on behalf of 18 large Reservations and another 40 filed claims on their own after we educated them.

In terms of a single Reservation like Rosebud, we brought about the abuse claims against the Saint Francis Mission, health claims against IHS and Rosebud council hired the legal team my husband's company works with to file historic land claims.  In the process my husband and I feed a lot of people and argued with the doctors on how to treat the people.  We went into areas white people do not go and because of word of mouth we were welcomed.

I can go on for days but a funny story - we were driving from Yankton to Rosebud (maybe on our third or fourth trip) two Native American women were in the back seat, we gave them a ride and they started laughing.  I asked them why and one said I can not believe I am in a car with white people driving from Res to Res but these white people are my friends -then I realized how isolated the U S Government has made these people who own the land we live on. 

When I told our Native American friends that our kids go to school with children of every color and everyone gets along pretty well they could not believe it.  Their children still go to Native American Schools and when they try to attend a White School it still creates a problem - there is so much bigotry on the plains.  These are people trapped in time, pushed aside by our Government, with very little hope of a future, sitting still almost waiting for their extinction.  It almost seems that those who grew up in the Boarding Schools have had their lives stolen away from them.  To their credit many are trying to create a system that will work for the next generation and as my friends on the plains always say WE ARE STILL HERE.
 

JL: Did this tribal trust litigation also help to improve their health system?

Carrie Leigh: No it did not, the health care is still poor in Indian Country however when Gary did an interview with Lakota Journal to point out the diabetic problem, we did get some immediate change. I think you can find most of these articles on his website www.gfomedia.com   - this is the first time I have talked about it because when it came to Gary's work I was just Carrie Frischer I did not want my Playboy past to hinder any of the work we were involved with.

JL: What were the 18 large reservations you filed your claims for?

Carrie Leigh: The Reservations include Pine Ridge, Rosebud, Iowa Tribe of Kansas, Confederated Tribes of the Goshutes, Stillaguamish, Lower Brule, Red Cliff Band, Prairie Band of Potawatomi, Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma, Wyandot Nation of Kansas, Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska, Crow Creek Sioux Tribe.  There are a few more but I would have to look.

 

JL: Besides diabetes, were their any other health issues you noticed like high cases of cancer for example?

 

Carrie Leigh: The cancer rate is very high because of the black mold in homes -sometimes a grandma is taking care of 12 people in a 6 hundred square foot home and there is black mold everywhere and nowhere to move-I have seen it on dozens of Reservations, also the water delivery systems are polluted and no one cares it goes on and on. Also there are heart problems probably due to diabetes and lack of quality food.  Also a lot of lung problems because of black mold it is killing the young.  I have seen children spitting up blood because they are forced to live in homes with black mold - understand these people have nowhere to go it is either the home they are in and like I said a lot of people live in a small place or no home at all.

In the dozens of trips we took we participated in many ceremonies.  The Native Americans have a great sense of humor-they use it to overcome their environment.

We made many lifelong friendships with some amazing people.  During the Pow Wow season we tried to attend as many small intimate Pow Wows as we could.  One summer we took our daughters to Yanton, Rosebud and Pine Ridge.  On Yankton there is a housing area called the North Housing.  This is one of those places White People do not go.  Our daughters ended up playing Basketball in the street with the kids from the area without any problem. This goes to show that the image of the Plains Indian the press puts out is not exactly the truth.  Yes there are problems but the problems can be overcome by simple honest communication.  Another example of this was the Wounded Knee Pow Wow. This is a small intimate gathering and our daughters asked a Chief if they could dance and he graciously said of course you may and asked his wife to teach them, she did and they had a great time participating in the Pow Wow Celebration.

Our son went on another trip with my husband and both of them did a sweat with the descendents of Chief Crazy Horse and Chief One Star.  The spiritual side of the Native American and the balance of the soul with the earth is truly a great experience.

Actually, in our daughters history book it states that there once was a Great Sioux Nation.  We invited a daughter of a Chief to Los Angeles to speak to the kids at the school.   She dressed in traditional clothing and the kids could not believe that an actual Native American was standing in front of them speaking- they were at first speechless then had a million questions as did the teachers.

 

I feel very fortunate that I had the time, the energy, the opportunity and the finances to spend five years of my life with the Native American People and was able to travel to over 50 Reservations and develop life long relationships.  Each time when I came home and turned on the news and saw tabloid land play out I thought why in the World would anyone spend time on this when the reality to so many was so harsh and real.

This experience has enriched my life in many ways and has made me view the world thru different eyes and has given me the depth that allows me to be the person I am and the artist I am becoming.

Continue to Part Two