Tuesday, March 19, 2013

2012 Native American Heritage Month

Yes, I started late, but I also had a harder time with the reading this year. Some books are more dry and academic, and slower reads, which I expect, but then being ill really slowed me down. Because of that, I am actually not finished with one of the books, and yet this still seems like the time to write about it. Some of that may be issues with that particular book, which I will get into.

The People Are Dancing Again: The History of the Siletz Tribe of Western Oregon, by Charles Wilkinson

This may have ended up being the book that resonated the most, due to it being local. I have been some of these places, the author taught at U of O, and a lot of it is just close to the heart. That being said, it may not be the best written, with the tone varying widely. In the beginning when they are covering the tribal life before the arrival of white explorers and settlers, it is really dry and slow-moving. It picks up in interest as we get more to the initial period of conflict and removal, and then as we get to the fight for reinstatement and modern day, the text really comes alive but starts jumping around a lot.

That being said, in addition to value for Oregonians, there are some really important inclusions here. The Siletz tribe were terminated and then reinstated, and the book does an excellent job with covering the costs of termination, as well as providing hope that it does not have to be permanent. There is a lot of good news in the book about what can be accomplished, as well as the obstacles. And even if it at times does make the tone uneven, there are real benefits to having an author who is passionate about the subject.

One thing that was a little disappointing, though not a flaw of the book, is that it mentions a short film that was made by the Siletz in 1977 as they were working on reinstatement, and I was not able to find it anywhere. I would like to see that.

Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History, by S. C. Gwynne

This is probably the best written. My only complaint is that at times the author seems a little condescending, and that’s towards everyone – not just the people he is writing about, but also the reader. That does not go through the whole book, and the book covers an amazing scope. You do learn about the Comanche, but also other tribes, and how the area was settled, and the rise of the Texas Rangers. There is a stunning amount of research, and a lot of interesting information to be found.

The Mototcycle Diaries: A Journey Around South America, by Ernesto “Che” Guevara

This was my Latin American entry, and it sort of falls short for history, because it is really more of a travelogue. At times it hints at the history and the resulting present situation, but it is ultimately pretty light. However, if you want to know more about Che Guevara, I think it is an essential starting point, and the descriptive language is often beautiful. My translation was by Ann Wright, and I thought she did a great job.

Reclaiming Their Voice: The Native American Vote in New Mexico & Beyond, by Dorothy Fadiman

This is my video contribution, a short (about 40 minutes) documentary of efforts to increase voter participation among the Laguna people of New Mexico. In light of recent attempts at voter suppression, this seems particularly important. The first round got several people interested, but registrations had not been processed and there was a shortage of provisional ballots, so many people could not vote. That could have been a permanent setback, but they came back, found ways of resolving issues, and increased voter interest by focusing on a local issue. I still think every state should move to vote by mail, but working within the existing system is important, and some people really made a difference here.

Where White Men Fear to Tread: The Autobiograph of Russell Means, by Russell Means and Marvin J. Wolf

Okay, here’s the one I haven’t finished yet. I am on the last section, and I should have it done this week.

My first year in college I was taking a communications/media class that I skipped a lot, which may have been part of why I read the entire book, not just the assigned chapters. (I did that in other classes too, where I did attend, so it may just be a nerd thing.) One of the extra things I read was an essay by Russell Means. It was fascinating, but also bitter, and I was not sure if I could trust what he was saying, especially his criticism of other AIM members. So later, when he started an acting career, I thought maybe he had mellowed. Maybe not.

That’s still how I find him. Some things he writes could be true, but there are things that are at least exaggerations, if not completely false, and so I find him an unreliable narrator. If I liked him better, it might help, but while I care about him, I don’t like him. He is so quick to label others as sellouts, phonies, liars, crooks, and thugs, and he seems to do it with no sense of irony when he is by his own account doing many of the same things.

This is important, because many of the actions he takes are things that would normally be wrong.  There are extenuating circumstances where you can see doing something extreme, but to make that allowance I want to have more faith in his judgment, and I can’t. He complains about things that are awful the same way he complains about things that are really petty.

Contrasting it with Vine Deloria, whom Means considers a friend, Deloria says a lot of harsh things about white people, but because he seems pretty meticulous in his research, and to be taking it all less personally, that helps me to not take it personally and focus on what he is saying.

Reading Means is more like reading The Autobiography of Malcolm X, except that with Malcolm there was a sense that he was cut off if the midst of change, and we don’t get to see how he would have turned out. With Means, he had a lot of time and opportunity, and he had some real gifts of intellect and charisma, and so there is this frustration that he could have been so much more. And he was a lot, I’m not denying that, but I still feel some loss. And yes, there is plenty to be bitter about, but it just doesn’t help.

In some ways I feel like the reason I am summing up my reading without finishing it is that I have demoted him to just regular reading, and not history reading. I think it’s really more that this just feels like the time to write about it, and that in the blog I need to move on, but my feelings are all roiled here.

So, what are the key lessons from this round of reading? Actually, a lot of that has gone into yesterday’s post and will go into tomorrow’s post, on a more general level. Specifically, I have been thinking about the isolation.

If we were going to look specifically for colorblind solutions to racial problems, my vote would be for working against poverty. Many of the more insidious results of racism come down to economic inequality, which also functions brilliantly to perpetuate those results and to perpetuate the racism, and that focus on poverty would include strengthening education.

However, if we were addressing poverty, we would probably focus on urban first, and it would be easy to completely forget about what is happening on the reservations. We have done too good a job of hiding the Indians, making it really easy to ignore their problems, including things like this:


Having read this article before watching Reclaiming their Voice just made it resonate that much more. Who courts the Native American vote? Okay, there are weird things happening there on the Republican side now, with more of a focus on keeping minorities from voting than gaining their votes, but still, how many Democrat campaigns pay attention? And this isn’t just about the presidential election. Governors, senators, and house members, on the state and federal level, all matter, but they need to believe that votes can be gained or lost to care. The Siletz did a lot of work on getting their reinstatement and the new land and the casino, but they needed the cooperation of elected leaders to make it work.

So, voter registration and engagement is something that Indians need to do, and really all people need to do. For non-Indians, I guess my first thought is just to be more aware. Don’t let them be out of sight, out of mind. Read. Talk to people. Reach out.

Linking to the last two summaries for suggestions of reading and viewing material.


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