Amerikanuak

Directed by Nacho Reig
Producer Zigor Etxebarria
Edited by Gorka Bilbao
Also in the credits: Lorea Uresberueta & Zigor Etxebarria
It was premiered at Donostia Zinemaldia and got nominated to 8 Goya Awards.
Source for poster image: IMPAWARDS

Amerikanuak is a 2010 documentary about Basque immigrants who went to USA looking for work as shepherds and looking for a better future. It takes place in Elko, Nevada. In this little western town we will see how their everyday life is, how they relate with each other and with the rest of the community. They tell us what difficulties they had when they arrived to a this country. Basically, Amerikanuak talks about feeling homesick, about struggling in a different country to make a decent living and about being part of a community.

IMDB
“How many people saw their life slip away while chasing those dirty sheep?
And some other ones, they lost their mind.”

Basque Americans (Basque: euskal estatubatuarrak, French: Basco-Américains, Spanish: vasco estadounidenses) are Americans of Basque descent. According to the 2000 US census, there are 57,793 Americans of full or partial Basque descent, but the real number of Basque Americans could easily reach 100,000 people. Of them, 41,811 people claimed be simply Basque American, 9,296 claimed be originating from Spanish Basque Country, and the other 6,686 claimed be originating from the French Basque Country.

Basque Americans – Wikipedia
Population of Basques by State

My good friend Kyle shared this video with me:

Skip to 9:10

The three most important things for basques are:

1. Who are the basques?
2. Where the do they come from?
3. Where are we going for dinner?

Euskal jaiak is Basque for “Basque Festival” celebrating Basque culture
Jaialdi 2015. Boise, Idaho.

They are singing Txantxibiri in the video above 🙂

Txantxibiri, txantxibiri gabiltzanian
Elorrioko kalian,
hamalau atso tronpeta jotzen
zazpi astoren gainian.

Astoak ziren txiki-txikiak,
atsoak, berriz, kristonak!
Nola demontre konpontzen ziran
zazpi astoren gainian (bis).

Saltzen, saltzen,
txakur txiki baten karameluak,
Está muy bien!
esaten du konfiteroak (bis).

Cuando vamos a Otxandiano
karnabal egunian,
me cagüen la mar,
comeremos chocolate
sonbreruaren gainian.

Oglala, South Dakota. Wounded Knee 1890-1973

https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/ipb5q4/oc_poverty_rate_in_the_united_states_2018/
What is that black spot in south-south Dakota?

The county’s per-capita income makes it the poorest county in the 50 states and District of Columbia. (28 county-equivalents in the U.S. territories are poorer). Oglala Lakota County is the only dry county in South Dakota.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oglala_Lakota_County%2C_South_Dakota

The Wounded Knee Massacre, also known as the Battle of Wounded Knee, was a domestic massacre of nearly three hundred Lakota people, by soldiers of the United States Army. It occurred on December 29, 1890

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wounded_Knee_Massacre

The Wounded Knee Occupation began on February 27, 1973, when approximately 200 Oglala Lakota and followers of the American Indian Movement (AIM) seized and occupied the town of Wounded Knee, South Dakota, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Paul Manhart S.J. and ten other residents of the area were apprehended at gunpoint and taken hostage. The protest followed the failure of an effort of the Oglala Sioux Civil Rights Organization (OSCRO) to impeach tribal president Richard Wilson, whom they accused of corruption and abuse of opponents. Additionally, protesters criticized the United States government’s failure to fulfill treaties with Native American people and demanded the reopening of treaty negotiations to hopefully arrive at fair and equitable treatment of Native Americans.

Oglala and AIM activists controlled the town for 71 days while the United States Marshals Service, FBI agents, and other law enforcement agencies cordoned off the area.

Afterward AIM leaders Dennis Banks and Russell Means were indicted on charges related to the events, but their 1974 case was dismissed by the federal court for prosecutorial misconduct, a decision upheld on appeal

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wounded_Knee_incident