Jesse Phelps, media coordinator for the Lakota Peoples Law Project, part of the Romero Institute, has found his work more important than ever during the Covid19 outbreak. The Lakota and Oglala peoples in South Dakota have formed mutual aid efforts to screen people coming into and their reservations for the virus. Given their poverty and lack of access to quality medical care, it is imperative  for them to prevent the virus from getting to them in the first place. However SD Governor Kristi Noem disagrees and is trying to shut down their health-screening checkpoints.

This media strategy — petitions, phone calls, social media posts — are being crafted and implemented right here in Ojai. Phelps, a veteran writer and journalist, has been busier than ever at his home in Ojai. Working with Native American leaders Madonna Thunderhawk (one of the greatest names ever) and Chase Iron Eyes, he is helping these beleaguered peoples stand their ground as threats — pipelines across their sacred sites, diseases of poverty, and now, a pandemic — become existential. Phelps has been working for half a decade with the LPLP and Romero Institute. The effort started when Lakota grandmothers sought out famous Iran-Contra scandal investigative attorney Daniel Sheehan to help with the cultural genocide that was taking place when native American youth were being taken from their families to be raised by Christian white families until very recently.

We talk about growing up in Ojai with hippie parents and friends, with a freedom unimaginable to many of today's helicopter-parented children, the hangouts and the mischief that was the daily routine. Jesse also talks about Michael Jackson's visit to the Ojai library during the height of his fame, and Jesse's efforts to get Jacko to do a public service announcement for the National Library Association, based in his "Read It" libretto, written to the beat of "Beat It." Didn't happen, but Phelps did get a sweet and thoughtful letter in reply. And a wonderful story for the Ojai Quarterly. 

Phelps talks about the incredible opportunity presented by the current crisis to make a societal shift toward sustainable energy, as well as the energy of today's youth and their ability to transcend the "politics as usual" that plagues the present day. 

We do not talk about "The Last Dance," about Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, Jesse's love of film and of John Paul Jones' naval victories for both the American Revolution and the Russian empire.