Everything You Wanted to Know about Indians but Were Afraid to Ask
By: Anton Treuer / Narrated By: Kaipo Schwab
Length: 5 hrs and 1 min
It’s a Start… so PHEW…
First off: I’ve never truly understood why it’s sooo bad, wrong, AWFul to say, “I have Indian, this that the other, friends.” Not that I’ve ever done that, knowing it’s an offensive eye-roller, but I feel that prejudice comes from ignorance, and how the heck are we ever to get to know about other people than THROUGH Other People?
EsPECially, in my own experience, knowing no Indians (Authors Anton Treur and Joseph M. Marshall’s choice of word), my introduction to “learning” about Indigenous Populations was at summer camp at Memorial Park where rich sorority girls volunteered to “teach” us via making headbands with feathers, bracelets with plastic pony beads, and dubbing our own selves with our very own “Indian Names” (My own? Running Deer, even tho I was about as sedentary a youth as possible)…
So when Big Sis offered Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians but Were Afraid to Ask as our Thanksgiving Native American Heritage Month choice, dude! I was soooo THERE! Knowing I’d been wallowing in m’ own ignorance, experiencing only Sherman Alexie’s ever-constant Seething Rage, and having just come from an Author’s Note at the end of Healer of the Water Monster wherein author Brian Young gives a curt and somewhat indignant “DON’T!!!” to ANYone seeking to write about what’s unknown to them (I understand, but dude! the outrage!)? Well, to say I cautiously tiptoed into the audiobook is an understatement.
And was gloriously set at ease because Treuer offers EVERYthing from the perspective of one who’s been egregiously wronged, yet offers information with only educative purposes in mind. At no point does he attempt to speak for ALL Indians, affirming such varieties of cultures amongst groups, but instead enlightens based on his own Ojibwe roots (And further enlightens that American culture persists in calling them Chippewa based upon our stubborn embrace of old-fashioned ignorance).
These are over 120 questions that could conceivably be asked with honest answers, and he continues to this day to travel to make presentations on the subject matter. This was a 3-day Listen for me given the format as it’s something that offers such profound information that I had to take it in nuggets to mull over. Plus, full disclosure: The format, not being a cohesive narrative but rather bits and pieces on various subjects, and given narrator Kaipo Schwab’s warm and sometimes avuncular tones did indeed have me dozing off on and off (Anyone who knows me is aware of m’ penchant for falling dead asleep if I’ve indulged in Trail Mix whilst Listening—oh the carbs!). That said, upon stirring, I knew that I did NOT wish to miss ANYthing. This entire audiobook is that important.
The cons: Treuer did the occasional comparison of grievances between other groups who’ve found gross and tortuous mistreatment and continued racism (Think: Blacks and the history of slavery which, excuse me was: HORRIFIC!)—weighing woes and deciding who won the suffering contest. Plus, I didn’t enTIREly buy his treatises on the exclusion of women “having their Moons” as women in such cycles were: Too powerful to be around. That they have to use a separate bowl and spoon during such times lest they TOUCH anything, their power running amok or something. But, p’raps that’s just the crotchety woman in me who’s seen continued mistreatment of women in the current Boys Will Be Boys and Women Are Property society.
But that’s about it for the cons as the vast majority of this book, the information offered in an amiable manner, is so important, especially to the kid in me who couldn’t wait to hop into the car to tell my mom to call me Running Deer, never realizing just how gross it all was. That said, however: Treuer offers that there’s really no place for White Guilt, no place for Indian Anger (Tho’ completely understandable) as, Where Does That Get Us? Nowhere.
This book? It’s a start… so Thank You!
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