Myron Charles Dewey (16 July 1972 – 26 September 2021) was a filmmaker and journalist from the Walker River Paiute Tribe. Dewey was noted for reporting on issues at the

Standing Rock Sioux Reservation The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe of North & South Dakota controls the Standing Rock Reservation (), which straddles the border between North and South Dakota in the United States, and is inhabited by ethnic " Hunkpapa and Sihasapa bands of Lak ...

especially for co-directing the 2017 documentary '' Awake: A Dream From Standing Rock''.

Early life

Dewey was born on 16 July 1972, to parents Herbert Dini Jr. of

Schurz, Nevada Schurz is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Mineral County, Nevada, United States, named after Secretary of the Interior Carl Schurz. The population was 656 at the 2020 census. It is located on the Walker River I ...

and Cynthia Dewey of

Bishop, California Bishop (formerly Bishop Creek) is the only incorporated city in Inyo County, California, United States. It is located near the northern end of the Owens Valley within the Mojave Desert, at an elevation of . The city was named after Bishop Creek ...

. A member of the Walker River Paiute Tribe, his Indigenous name was Ahu-auh-bud-shoe-knaw-me. He attended Gabbs K-12 School and studied computer systems and business information at

Haskell Indian Nations University Haskell Indian Nations University (Haskell or HINU) is a public tribal land-grant university in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Founded in 1884 as a residential boarding school for Native American children, the school has developed into a univ ...

, graduating with a degrees in each in 2002 and 2003. He later attended the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States. Two branch campuses are in the Kansas City metropolitan area on the Kansas side: the university's medical school and hospital ...

and graduated with a master's degree in Indigenous nation studies in 2007.

Career

Dewey was employed by the Bureau of Indian Affairs' as a firefighter working for their Western Nevada One team in

Carson City Carson City, officially the Carson City Consolidated Municipality, is an independent city and the capital of the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2020 census, the population was 58,639, making it the 6th most populous city in the state. The m ...

before joining their Black Mountain Hotshot Crew working in the

Western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Western States, the Far West, the Western territories, and the West) is List of regions of the United States, census regions United States Census Bureau. As American settlement i ...

. He founded Digital Smoke Signals online news service. Later, he worked as an academic, teaching film-making at Duke University's Center for Documentary Studies and at

Northwest Indian College Northwest Indian College (Xwlemi Elh>Tal>Nexw Squl) is a Public college, public Tribal colleges and universities, tribal Land-grant university, land-grant community college in Bellingham, Washington, United States. It was established by the Lum ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

state. In 2016, Dewey filmed the

protests A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration, or remonstrance) is a public act of objection, disapproval or dissent against political advantage. Protests can be thought of as acts of cooperation in which numerous people cooperate ...

at the

Dakota Access Pipeline The Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) or Bakken pipeline is a underground pipeline in the United States that has the ability to transport up to 750,000 barrels of light sweet crude oil per day. It begins in the shale oil fields of the Bakken For ...

and was a co-director of the documentary ''Awake: A Dream From Standing Rock'' working with

Josh Fox Josh Fox is an American film Film director, director, playwright, hippy, and environmental activist, best known for his Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, Oscar-nominated, Emmy-winning 2010 documentary, ''Gasland''. He is the founder a ...

and James Spione. While gathering footage, his use of drone filming attracted accusations of criminality form authorities, later dismissed. In 2017 he won an award at the New York City Drone Film Festival in the category of News/Documentary for his work filming police at the protest site. In 2018, he won an Award of Merit from the

Department of Film & Media Studies.

Personal life and death

Dewey lived in

, in the Walker River Paiute Reservation. He lived with his wife Deborah Parker, their five children, and his one nephew. Dewey died near Yomba,

Nye County Nye County is a county in the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2020 census, the population was 51,591. Its county seat is Tonopah. At , Nye is Nevada's largest county by area and the third-largest county in the contiguous United States, beh ...

two to three hours after a car crash on 26 September 2021, aged 49. Dewey had been returning from broadcasting at the Fallon bombing range in Nevada when he died. On June 6, 2023, John Walsh of

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

was sentenced to 30 days in jail after pleading guilty to vehicular manslaughter.

References

External links

Digital Smoke Signals
- Official website (2017 archive)
Myron Dewey
-

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dewey, Myron 1972 births 2021 deaths People from Mineral County, Nevada Native American filmmakers 20th-century American firefighters Haskell Indian Nations University alumni University of Kansas alumni Duke University faculty Road incident deaths in Nevada Paiute people American manslaughter victims