In 4REAL Pawnee, Sol Guy takes Casey Affleck to the Pawnee Nation reservation in Oklahoma to meet Native leader Crystal Echo Hawk and her NVision crew. NVision is a collective of Native men and women who use hip hop, popular culture, film and visual and performing arts to create a dialogue with Native youth about ways to realize their vision for success, leadership and well being.
Crystal, a member of the Kitkehaki Band of the Pawnee Nation, works hard to give Native youth hope and opportunity. The Pawnee Nation alone has a 40% unemployment rate and roughly 40% of the population lives below the poverty line. “You have to show the kids that just because they grew up on a reservation or grew up poor doesn’t mean they cannot pursue their own passions,” Crystal says. “We have to make this investment in our youth now or we will lose who we are.”
Sol and Casey check out the launch of the NVision tour before it travels to Native reservations and cities with urban Native populations. The tour includes workshops, concerts and promoting the message of the importance of leadership, empowerment and cultural pride.
Sol and Casey also witness the challenges of reservation life that are often invisible to mainstream society. They are inspired not only by NVision’s passionate effort to combat despair but by the overall pride and resilience of the Pawnee community. "The moment I was most moved was when they did that ceremony to welcome me and Sol,” Casey says. “I was just floored. It wasn’t like anything I had expected or had ever experienced before.”
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4REAL connects individuals with people, projects and tools to make change real. Aspects include a global online community, online tools for change, 4REAL Productions, and educational materials.
The lead 4REAL production is a TV series called 4REAL that takes celebrity guests on adventures around the world to connect with young leaders who, under extreme circumstances, are effecting real change on some of the most pressing issues of our time. Celebrity guests for Season One are Cameron Diaz, Mos Def, Joaquin Phoenix, Eva Mendes, Casey Affleck, K'NAAN, M.I.A., and Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Beyond the exposure that 4REAL provides, the young leaders featured are partners in the show, with 50 percent of the proceeds going directly to their initiatives. 4REAL has aired globally on National Geographic Channels International in 165 countries and 34 languages, as well as on The CW channel in the U.S. and on CTV and MTV in Canada.
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