Majorly Mighty
“It is better to have less thunder in the mouth and more lightning in the hand.” —Apache proverb
The Mightiness of the American Indian is rooted in dignity.
There is respect for silence, an embrace of minimalism and honor in stories told and passed down.
With so many tribes and customs, the history of the Native American is not an easy one to tell. It may be why the best books on the subject are those that don’t try to cover it all.
Two years ago a writer who grew up on an Indian Reservation in Wellpinit, WA., wrote a book for young teenagers partly based on his own life. His name is Sherman Alexie and the book is called “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.”
The story centers on Arnold Spirit, a “goofy-looking dork” who spends his time drawing cartoons and laughing at anything and nothing with his best pal Rowdy.
And really, who among us can’t relate to that?
Luckily, a teacher comes along and begs Arnold to try to succeed so he can someday leave the reservation. Arnold complies, transfers to a rich white school and becomes both an outcast in his own community and a misfit in his new one.
This requires a good deal of sorting out for Arnold, and a lot of interesting plot twists and turns.
“The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” won the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature and was named a Los Angeles Times Favorite Children’s Book and a New York Times Notable Children’s Book.
Now, two years later, the book is back in the news after the parents of students at a suburban Chicago high school protested its inclusion on a summer reading list.
It seems Alexie’s story includes some rough language and some pretty realistic situations and there were some parents who thought their high school-aged kids couldn’t handle it.
Eventually the burned-up parents relented, but not before a committee was formed to review future summer reading choices for their high school offspring.
Boy, could we have a lot to say about all this.
But in light of the very small and quiet summer tribute to the American Indian we’re attempting to fashion here, we’re going to go the route of dignity instead.
But stay very still and you just may hear our Mighty outrage in the silence.
