Carol Berry
Jimi Simmons, of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community/Muckleshoot Tribe, the subject of a documentary, “Making the River,” that opened Denver’s 5th International Indigenous Film & Arts Festival.
A prison documentary describes a journey from despair to reconciliation
By
Carol Berry, Today correspondent
Story Published:
Nov 26, 2008
Story Updated:
Nov 21, 2008
DENVER — The story of Jimi Simmons is a story of justice both denied and upheld. As a baby, the government dissolved his tribe and the state took him from his parents, but as an adult an all-white jury freed him from a murder charge and a possible death sentence.
The ordeal lived by Simmons, 56, of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community/Muckleshoot Tribe, was told in “Making the River,” a documentary that opened Denver’s 5th Annual Indigenous Film & Arts Festival Oct. 7-13.
“I wanted to show people that anybody could change their life,” he said of the making of the film. “Now I want our communities to work toward being a positive asset for people when they get out of prison.”
Simmons’ saga began at 17 months, when the government withdrew recognition from his tribe, his family dissolved, and he was placed in a Catholic Church-run home. Later, a foster parent told him, “You’re going to end up in the reformatory,” and he did — from the age of 10 or so he was in and out of youth corrections for various property crimes. At 27, he went to Oregon State Prison and “I thought that was my life,” he said.
He didn’t see his parents again “until they were in their coffins,” he said, and at his father’s funeral he first met his brother, George, with whom he did a robbery in Tacoma, Wash. that led to their being sentenced to the Washington State Penitentiary at Walla Walla.
A prison guard was killed in the aftermath of the murder of an Indian inmate, he said, and “the prison didn’t do anything about it even though they knew who did it — and never did charge the person who did it.” In the aftermath, however, the brothers were charged with first-degree murder “with special circumstances — when they try to hang us.” Although Simmons was later found not guilty, his brother was convicted of second-degree murder and killed himself because “he was a man who liked his freedom.”
He spent years in solitary confinement and, unlike the situation in youth detention, there was no hope of “making the river.” The film’s title reflects the youths’ belief that if they could reach a river near the detention facility, they had made a successful escape.
For someone who had only had an identity involving abandonment and criminal behavior, however, Simmons had the opportunity to reclaim an Indian selfhood in prison, he said.
As far back as youth detention, Simmons said he felt an affinity with other Indians “because we were the warriors — after all, it wasn’t that long ago they killed all our people.” Later, he was aided in his defense against the murder charge by the Society of the People Struggling to be Free, a splinter group of the American Indian Movement, he said.
“They were the first people who told me I didn’t have to use alcohol and drugs,” he said.
He learned from another group, the Brotherhood of American Indians, that “by joining with other inmates, I could get things done I couldn’t do by myself. The prison officials don’t like it when you get together.”
In Walla Walla he also spent his days at a prison sweat lodge and traditional elders visited the inmates.
“The guards gave certain groups favors, but they never gave the Indians favors,” he said. “But we prayed for everybody.”
“They thought they gave us this sacred lodge, but the Creator gave it to us. And they thought they brought medicine people in, but the Creator gave them to us. Even when we were locked down, some medicine men would come in and they would say, ‘I don’t know how I got here, but I did.’”
He said he wanted to “tell the brothers and sisters in the iron houses that people care about them and always remember them in the ceremonies.”
Simmons, who said he has been “clean and sober for 22 years,” works with grassroots groups in California, particularly with those aiming for a society that one day will have no prisons because today “we have the prison/industrial complex — they have slave labor.”
“Making the River,” by Sarah Del Seronde, was presented at the University of Denver by the Institute for Indigenous Resource Management in partnership with the Native Student Alliance and Native American Law Students organization.
Tuesday, Jul 7 at 5:57 PM tina Louie-Lussier wrote ...
I heard about making the river about two years ago and I would like to see the movie/video. I would say Jimi is an inspiration to many young people to believe there is another way of living instead of alcohol/drugs believing that despair, hopelessness, powerlessness and helplessness is a way of life. We have choices to make and Jimi made his choice which forever changed his life. He could have been 50 years old blaming society of his injustice instead changed his way of thinking to the Creator.
25568902 Inappropriate? Alert Us!Tuesday, May 26 at 4:02 AM VANESSA SIMMONS wrote ...
I WAS JUST A GIRL GOING TO SEE MY SIMMONS FAMILY IN WALLA WALLA WITH MY AUNTY KAREN. I AM GRATEFUL SHE KEPT ME CLOSE TO MY FAMILY WHEN THERE WAS CONCRETE KEEPING ME FROM MY DAD AND UNCLES. I AM GRATEFUL FOR THE MOVIE TO SHOW THAT OUR LIVES CAN CHANGE AS LONG AS WE BELIVE IN THE CREEATOR. LIVING HERE IN MUCKLESHOOT... AND LOVING IT.
22617284 Inappropriate? Alert Us!Tuesday, Dec 16 at 11:35 AM Uncle wrote ...
I am a spititual leader at a youth correctional facility. I deal with this every day,young men not knowng who they are where they come from. All they know is what they learn from foster homes, street life, then prison life. I try hard to instill that there is a better way of living, the way of the creator. For some it's easy adapting, for others they struggle with their inner being, like Simmons and end up in the adult prisons.I would like to see this and pass it on to the youth where it begins.
13685794 Inappropriate? Alert Us!Thursday, Dec 11 at 6:34 PM anothernative wrote ...
Thank you for the documentary. Hope to see it sometime in the future. It is so like that when you pray you pray for everything and not just yourself and your little world, no. You are so true!
13486818 Inappropriate? Alert Us!Monday, Dec 8 at 8:55 AM Daisy wrote ...
My husband's brother was placed in foster care after his mother tried to kill him. He was very young. He was placed with a white family and was told Indian people were bad. My mother-in-law adopted him since he was alredy a relative. She was able to teach him the ways of the tribe and instill in him a pride for his people. Sadly, he has turned a different direction as an adult. I know there is hope and this offers encouragement.
13292789 Inappropriate? Alert Us!Wednesday, Dec 3 at 6:08 PM Kansas city wrote ...
Its to bad that our Native people have to live a terrible life first and then get noticed by media or film makers.
13114749 Inappropriate? Alert Us!Tuesday, Dec 2 at 4:31 PM Salish wrote ...
I was at the sweat lodge dedication ceremony in WSP. I remember not only the Simmons brothers but all the other Indian brothers that were there in the late 70's and early 80's. Drinking and using will continue to take everything and anything we as Indian people have left. Two of the other men that were at WSP during that time continued this path, suffering severe life altering and deadly things.It is amazing to see how Jimi changed his life and is now helping others.
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