In 1988 a 17 year old Native American boy’s first offense, all but ended his future. One juror away from the death penalty. He has been serving life without parole for 35 years.

A wise spiritual leader visiting the prison asked him “who do you want to be when you grow up?” The kid asked…what do you mean, I am in here for life. The spiritual leader repeated…”who do you want to be?” In that moment he realized taking responsibility for his crime wasn’t enough. He wanted to simply do things because, it was the right thing to do.

Chief has since created programs with the help of Native supporters to help people in the communities outside of the prison as well as motivating other “brothers” in his circle to be better. More that 25 men from his circle have been released and have not returned to the iron house. His motivation and support has inspired several “brothers” leaving the prison to give back. Some have started support programs for at risk youth.

Our Native people have been fighting to hang onto our culture even in the face of programs forced to "Westernize". "Westernization" has tried to lead people away from the Red Road to the determent of the people and the culture. If you don't know who you are, it makes it incredibly difficult to thrive.

Chief is a prime example. Once Francis showed Chief what the culture is about and why it is important, he embraced it and has become an even better man that I knew he could be."I treat people the way I treat people because of who I am, not because of who they are" Francis Cullooyah

This Documentary has been 35 years in the making in my head....Chief and I started out together in 1st grade. I saw the challenges all of the Native kids faced. I also watched my family drift away from our culture, due to the abuse family members had endured with racism and the forced boarding schools. Chief and I truly feel that this documentary has become something that will help so many more of our people than we had imagined when we started on this journey.