For Release: March 20th, 2000
In March 1995, James Gray Goodman, a 42-year-old farmer from Warren County, wrote his family a brief note telling them he would "be over in the field with cows." Goodman then drove his pick-up truck to the backside of their farm and bit down on the working end of the shotgun that had been given to him as a Christmas present.
Goodman's suicide shocked the community where he had been an elected farm leader, Baptist deacon and award-winning "young farmer." But his demise was far from unique. Studies of farmer suicides in Kentucky and five Midwestern states reveal that farmers are three to four times more likely to kill themselves than the average American.
In Green Blood Red Tears, filmmaker and native Kentuckian Joe Terrence Gray probes the causes underlying the high rate of farmer suicides in this country and abroad. The documentary film airs Tuesday, April 4 at 8/7 p.m. CT on KET and Saturday, April 15 at 7/6 p.m. CT on KET2.
The film begins with an intimate portrait of James Gray Goodman, the filmmaker's nephew, as told through interviews with relatives, friends and James' widow. Through interviews with these and other farm families across the nation that have experienced the pain of suicide, the film presents many of the psychological and socioeconomic factors that may affect the high rate of farmer suicides. The film also investigates the possibility of a physiological explanation for the suicide rate, namely the effect that certain agricultural chemicals may have on brain functions. Among those interviewed are suicide scholar Ronald Maris, agriculture historian David Danbom and economic historian John Kenneth Galbraith.
Green Blood Red Tears, produced by Joe Terrence Gray with funding from the Kentucky Arts Council, the Kentucky Humanities Council and the KET Fund for Independent Production, is closed-captioned for the deaf and hard-of-hearing. Viewers can find out more about programming on KET by visiting the KET Web site at http://www.ket.org, a Kentucky.com affiliate.
Contact: Todd Piccirilli
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James Gray Goodman, whose story serves as the starting point for Green Blood Red Tears, committed suicide at the age of 42.
Kathy, the widow of James Gray Goodman, is featured in Green Blood Red Tears.
Kathy, the widow of James Gray Goodman, is featured in Green Blood Red Tears.
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