Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Chief Joseph's Grave
OK... Hmmm...
I am attempting to read a new novel written by Barbara M. Lantz about Chief Joseph's body being returne to Wallowa. I have only read the first three chapters...and...well...It seems the main character, a white mother of three, makes friends with Chief Joseph's ghost...
OK...Hmmm...
Then, in 1997, Kathy Bradley (the heroine) gets Joseph's body returned (according to the promo materials) to be buried by his father.
OK...
But...the book says it's based on a true story. I can't figure out what true story. Young Chief Joseph is still buried on the Colville Indian Reservation and remains there to the best of my knowledge.
Old Joseph (Cheif Joseph's father), however, was exhumed in the late 1800's during the phrenology (sp?) movement and his head removed in order for white scientists to prove how inferior and stupid Indians were compared to whites. They did this to many races. I heard, but don't know the specifics, that Old Joseph's head was eventually returned, fairly recently.
So, I'm not sure what the true story is that this particular story is based on.
The first three chapters that I have read seem to tell the story of a white mother filled with white liberal guilt about what happened to us Indians and attempts to change the truthful story of our history to make herself feel better. Hmmm....
I hate books like this. The content at best is questionable. I'm an Indian. I read serious non-fiction books about Indian history and current events. I read about people who are suffering similar situations that Indians have suffered under historically. This has a new agey feel. "The Return of Cheif Joseph" is a fictional novel and I'm not sure what "true story" it is based on. These types of novels minimize the Indian experience and solve a much larger on going problem with a simple solution. In real Indian life, it just doesn't happen that way.
Maybe I'm not good at reading fiction. Maybe I should pass this on to someone who might be able to read it, pick it apart, and demonstrate the intricacies of why such pieces of work make me angry.
There are non-Indians that do write respectfully about Indians. For example: The book, "Travels in a Stone Canoe" by Harvey Arden and Steve Wall, which is the story behind their creating the book "Wisdom of the Elders." I went in with a completely closed mind about non-Indians again telling the Indian story, but it wasn't so. They were telling their story about their expereince with these wonderful people. Some of it wasn't so pleasant, like when Harvey got removed at shotgun point from the Crow Reservation.
This book, from what I've read thus far, can be filed in with the likes of "Education of Little Tree," put out as an autobiography of a Cherokee man named Forrest Carter. Yet, it turned out Forrest's real name was Asa Carter, a speech writer for George Mcgovern and responsible for the "Segration now..." speech. Asa didn't have any Indian ancestry. In fact, Asa was so KKK that he particpated in the castration of a black man in 1956 or 7.
Although I'm sure Barbara's intentions are good, to an extent, and she is NOT attempting to put herself off as an Indian, I still find it difficult to read about White Saviors who have come to save the Indians from ourselves. Moving a body is a token (at best) effort to solve a problem much bigger and rarely looked at, the American Indian Genocide.
Well, time to work on an e-mail to send to Barbara herself.
I am attempting to read a new novel written by Barbara M. Lantz about Chief Joseph's body being returne to Wallowa. I have only read the first three chapters...and...well...It seems the main character, a white mother of three, makes friends with Chief Joseph's ghost...
OK...Hmmm...
Then, in 1997, Kathy Bradley (the heroine) gets Joseph's body returned (according to the promo materials) to be buried by his father.
OK...
But...the book says it's based on a true story. I can't figure out what true story. Young Chief Joseph is still buried on the Colville Indian Reservation and remains there to the best of my knowledge.
Old Joseph (Cheif Joseph's father), however, was exhumed in the late 1800's during the phrenology (sp?) movement and his head removed in order for white scientists to prove how inferior and stupid Indians were compared to whites. They did this to many races. I heard, but don't know the specifics, that Old Joseph's head was eventually returned, fairly recently.
So, I'm not sure what the true story is that this particular story is based on.
The first three chapters that I have read seem to tell the story of a white mother filled with white liberal guilt about what happened to us Indians and attempts to change the truthful story of our history to make herself feel better. Hmmm....
I hate books like this. The content at best is questionable. I'm an Indian. I read serious non-fiction books about Indian history and current events. I read about people who are suffering similar situations that Indians have suffered under historically. This has a new agey feel. "The Return of Cheif Joseph" is a fictional novel and I'm not sure what "true story" it is based on. These types of novels minimize the Indian experience and solve a much larger on going problem with a simple solution. In real Indian life, it just doesn't happen that way.
Maybe I'm not good at reading fiction. Maybe I should pass this on to someone who might be able to read it, pick it apart, and demonstrate the intricacies of why such pieces of work make me angry.
There are non-Indians that do write respectfully about Indians. For example: The book, "Travels in a Stone Canoe" by Harvey Arden and Steve Wall, which is the story behind their creating the book "Wisdom of the Elders." I went in with a completely closed mind about non-Indians again telling the Indian story, but it wasn't so. They were telling their story about their expereince with these wonderful people. Some of it wasn't so pleasant, like when Harvey got removed at shotgun point from the Crow Reservation.
This book, from what I've read thus far, can be filed in with the likes of "Education of Little Tree," put out as an autobiography of a Cherokee man named Forrest Carter. Yet, it turned out Forrest's real name was Asa Carter, a speech writer for George Mcgovern and responsible for the "Segration now..." speech. Asa didn't have any Indian ancestry. In fact, Asa was so KKK that he particpated in the castration of a black man in 1956 or 7.
Although I'm sure Barbara's intentions are good, to an extent, and she is NOT attempting to put herself off as an Indian, I still find it difficult to read about White Saviors who have come to save the Indians from ourselves. Moving a body is a token (at best) effort to solve a problem much bigger and rarely looked at, the American Indian Genocide.
Well, time to work on an e-mail to send to Barbara herself.
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