Decent Men (1977)

Decent Men created over a period of almost forty years is a video collage built around Ramos powerful extended monologue on his eighteen months in federal prison for resisting the draft during the Vietnam War As Ramos a compelling raconteur tells the story of his interactions with prisoners and guards as a 23yearold draft resister his charged performance narrative is interrupted with vintage cartoons that feature grotesque racial stereotypes Ramos stories of prison life are overlaid with footage from the artists early performances and his 1977 video About Media which addressed the medias coverage of President Carters amnesty for draft resisters The result is an extraordinary firsthand narrative of Ramos prison experiences within the cultural racial and political climate of America in the late 1960s