Some thoughts on Chelsea Clinton's SHE PERSISTED

Chelsea Clinton's picture book, She Persisted, was released on May 30, 2017. Parents and teachers will buy it. So will activists. Published by Philomel Books (an imprint of Penguin), it is already marked as a best seller at Amazon.

The title, as many AICL readers will likely know, is based on Mitch McConnell's remark about Elizabeth Warren, who persisted in trying to read Coretta Scott King's words on the Senate floor in February of 2017. Some of you may recall that I've written about Warren before, when she persisted in making a claim to Cherokee identity. That persistence showed a lot of willful ignorance. I don't want to get sidetracked, though, in this post that focuses on one page in Clinton's She Persisted. 

I like the concept: a picture book about women who push back on those who want them to be quiet, to sit down, to go away... that's a great idea. But the execution--with respect to the page about Maria Tallchief--fails to push back on the ways that most people think about Native peoples.

Here's a screen capture of the text about Maria Tallchief. It says:

"After MARIA TALLCHIEF's family moved to California, partly to support Maria's dreams of becoming a dancer, she was teased by students in school for her Native American heritage and later was encouraged to change her last name to something that sounded Russian (since many professional dancers at the time were from Russia). She persisted, ignoring all the taunting and poor advice, to become to first great American prima ballerina."



At first glance, that info about her sounds great, doesn't it? It is based in fact. An Entertainment Weekly interview points to the autobiography Clinton read (Maria Tallchief: America's Prima Ballerina). Here's that part from Tallchief's book. This took place in 1933:

Some of the students made fun of my last name, pretending they didn’t understand if it was Tall or Chief. A few made war whoops whenever they saw me, and asked why I didn’t wear feathers or if my father took scalps.

When you hear "Native American" or "American Indian," what image comes to mind? For a lot of people, it will be a large feathered headdress, some war whoops, a tomahawk, a tipi, and maybe a herd of buffalo. In other words, the same things that Tallchief had to deal with in 1933.

It is way cool that Clinton is showing us a Native person as a ballerina. That image counters the other imagery that comes to mind, but calling her a Native American leaves the generic or monolithic "Native American" term itself, intact.

In other words--I wish Clinton had written in there, somewhere in those 60 words, that Maria Tallchief was Osage. It is a missed opportunity for Osage kids to see the name of their nation, in print, in a picture book that millions of children are going to read.

That bit about her name is interesting, all on its own.

Clinton tells us the ballet company wanted Tallchief to change her last name to something so that it sounded Russian. In her autobiography, Tallchief wrote that they wanted her to add an 'a' to Tallchief and swap that 'f' for a 'v' so it would be "Tallchieva." Sheesh! She didn't want to do that, but did agree to use "Maria" rather than her given name, Betty Marie. 

If I was teaching She Persisted, I'd substitute "Osage" for "Native American." And of course, I'd talk about the Osage Nation. I've not studied how Clinton writes about the other women in the book. If you have, let me know in the comments.

Book cited:
Tallchief, Maria. Maria Tallchief: America's Prima Ballerina. Henry Holt and Co.

THE CASE FOR LOVING by Selina Alko and Sean Qualls, but, what to do with what Jeter said about her identity?

Eds. note: See information about the second printing of the book, which was revised. 

New this year (2015) is The Case for Loving: The Fight for Interracial Marriage by Selina Alko. Illustrations are by Alko and her husband, Sean Qualls.

The author's note tells us that Alko is a "white Jewish woman from Canada" and that Qualls is an "African-American man from New Jersey."

The story of Mildred Jeter and Richard Loving resonated with Alko and Qualls. Their case went before the United States Supreme Court in 1967. Here's the synopsis posted at Scholastic's website:

For most children these days it would come as a great shock to know that before 1967, they could not marry a person of a race different from their own. That was the year that the Supreme Court issued its decision in Loving v. Virginia.

This is the story of one brave family: Mildred Loving, Richard Perry Loving, and their three children. It is the story of how Mildred and Richard fell in love, and got married in Washington, D.C. But when they moved back to their hometown in Virginia, they were arrested (in dramatic fashion) for violating that state's laws against interracial marriage. The Lovings refused to allow their children to get the message that their parents' love was wrong and so they fought the unfair law, taking their case all the way to the Supreme Court — and won!

The Loving case is of interest to me, too. We all ought to embrace its outcome. As the synopsis indicates, the story is about the love Jeter and Loving had for each other, and how, using the court system, laws against their desire to be married were struck down. We need to know that history. It is important. In her review in the New York Times, Katheryn Russell-Brown noted its strengths. She also said something I agree with:

Alko’s calm, fluid writing complements the simplicity of the Lovings’ wish — to be allowed to marry. Some of the wording, though, strikes a sour note. “Richard Loving was a good, caring man; he didn’t see differences,” she writes, suggesting, implausibly, that he did not notice Mildred’s race. After Mildred is identified as part black, part Cherokee, we are told that her race was less evident than her small size — that town folks mostly saw “how thin she was.” This language of colorblindness is at odds with a story about race. In fact, this story presents a wonderful chance to address the fact that noticing race is normal. It is treating people better or worse on the basis of that observation that is a problem.

As Russell-Brown noted, the "language of colorblindedness" doesn't work.  As a grad student in the 90s, I read research that found that the colorblind approach sent the opposite message to young children.

The Case for Loving also provides us with an opportunity to look at identity and claims to Native identity.

When I first learned that Alko and Qualls presented Mildred Jeter as part Cherokee (as shown in the image to the right), I started doing some research on her and the case. In some places I saw her described as Cherokee. In a few others, I saw her described as Cherokee and Rappahannock. That made me more intrigued! In the midst of that research, I also re-read Cynthia Leitich Smith's Rain Is Not My Indian Name and really appreciate--and recommend it--for lots of reasons, including how Smith wrote about Black Indians.

I continued my research on Jeter and found a particularly comprehensive source: That the Blood Stay Pure: African Americans, Native Americans, and the Predicament of Race and Identity in Virginia by Arica L. Coleman. It was published in 2013. Coleman's book has a chapter about Jeter.

Drawing from magazines, newspapers and court documents of that time and more recently, too, Coleman describes the twists and turns that impacted Mildred Jeter's identity. Most crucial to her chapter is information Jeter gave to her.

Jeter did not identify herself as Black. In an interview on July 14, 2004, she told Coleman (p. 153):

"I am not Black. I have no Black ancestry. I am Indian-Rappahannock." 

In The Case of Loving, we read about Mr. and Mrs. Loving going to Washington DC to get married, returning home to Virginia with their marriage license, and, being awoken late one night by the police who asked Richard what he was doing in bed with Jeter.

He pointed to their marriage certificate hanging on the wall.

The marriage certificate--an image of which is in Coleman's book--shows us columns for the male and female applying for the license. Here's the information in the female column:

Name: Mildred Delores Jeter
Color: Indian

She identified as Indian. In Central Point (that's the town they lived in), Coleman writes, there was a (page 161-162):

"racial hierarchy that granted social privileges to Whites, an honorary White privilege to Indians (i.e. access to White hospitals and the White only section of rail and street cars), and no social privilege to Blacks."

Isn't that fascinating? There's more. In 1870, Mildred's parents* the Jeter name was listed on census records as mulatto. By 1930, they* people with that name were identified as Negro. She was born in 1939. But, Coleman writes (p. 164):

The Jeter surname is also listed in the Rappahannock Tribe’s corporate charter (1974) as a tribal affiliate. Many claim, however, that the Jeters are descended from the Cherokee who allegedly began to intermarry with the Rappahannock during the late eighteenth century. According to one anonymous informant, “The situation regarding Indian identity in Caroline County is very complex. There was a time when many in the Rappahannock community believed that they were Cherokee because that was all they knew.” Neither Mildred nor her brother, Lewis Jeter, supported the claim that their father was Cherokee.

A 1997 article in the Free Lance-Star reports that she said she was Indian, with Portuguese and Black ancestry. In 2004 Coleman asked her about the Black ancestry, prefacing her question with a reference to the Rappahannock's historic association with Blacks, Jeter told Coleman that the Rappahannock's never had anything to do with Blacks.

That denial of Black ancestry is striking, particularly since the Supreme Court case was based on her being Black. If I understand Coleman's research, Jeter thought of herself as Indian when she married Loving. When their case went before the Supreme Court, she was regarded as Black. In the last years of her life, she said she was Indian. What was going on?

Her ACLU lawyers, Bernard Cohen and Philip Hirschkop, and Virginia's Assistant Attorney General, Robert McIlwaine--needed her to be Black. Her Indian identity had the potential to derail the arguments they were putting forth.

See, there was an act in Virginia called the "Racial Integrity Act" that was intended to preserve the purity of the White race. In early drafts of that act, white meant a person having only Caucasian blood. But that definition was replaced by the "Pocahontas Exception." The Racial Integrity Act was passed in 1924.

When I read "Pocahontas Exception" --- well, I think it fair to say that my eyebrows shot up and that I leaned towards the screen (reading an e-copy of the book)! What is THAT?!

The Pocahontas Exception allowed Whites to claim to be white, as long as they had no more than 1/16 of the blood of an American Indian.

Chief Justice Earl Warren was presiding over the Loving case. Presumably, he knew about her Indian identity and therefore asked about the Pocahontas Exception. I hope I am correct in my reading of Coleman's research when I say that Warren let it go when he heard McIlwaine's reply to his questions. The law, McIlwaine argued, did not apply to this case because Virginia had two populations of significance to its legislature: a bit over 79% were white and a bit over 20% were colored; therefore, the number of Native people (at less than 1%) was insignificant. Moreover (p. 170):

It is a matter of record, agreed to by all counsel during the course of this litigation and in the brief that one of the appellants here is a white person within the definition of the Virginia law, the other appellant is a colored person within the definition of Virginia law. 

Significant/insignificant are my word choices. McIlwaine didn't use them and neither did Coleman. They are words that resonate with Native people because research studies on race typically have an asterisk rather than data for us, because relative to other demographics, we are deemed too small to count. Indeed, a group of Native scholars have written a book about some of this, titled Beyond the Asterisk: Understanding Native Students in Higher Education. 

With intricate detail, Coleman documents how the news media was hit-or-miss in terms of what reporters said about Jeter's race. One day it was "negro" and the next--in the same paper--it was "half negro, half Indian" and then later on, it was back to "negro." In the final analysis, Coleman writes, writers generally describe her as an "ordinary Black woman" (p. 173).

In The Case for Loving, Alko uses "part African-American, part Cherokee" but I suspect Jeter's family would object to what Alko said. As the 2004 interview indicates, Mildred Jeter Loving considered herself to be Rappahannock. Her family identifies as Rappahannock and denies any Black heritage. This, Coleman writes, may be due to politics within the Rappahannock tribe. A1995 amendment to its articles of incorporation states that stated (p. 166):

“Applicants possessing any Negro blood will not be admitted to membership. Any member marrying into the Negro race will automatically be admonished from membership in the Tribe.”

I'm not impugning Jeter or her family. It seems to me Mildred Jeter Loving was caught in some of the ugliest racial politics in the country. As I read Coleman's chapter and turn to the rest of her book, I am unsettled by that racial politics. In the final pages of the chapter, Coleman writes (p. 175):

Of course, Mildred had a right to self-identify as she wished and to have that right respected by others. Nevertheless, viewed within the historical context of Virginia in general and Central Point in particular, ironically, “the couple that rocked courts” may have inadvertently had more in common with their opponents than they realized. Mildred’s Indian identity as inscribed on her marriage certificate and her marriage to Richard, a White man, appears to have been more of an endorsement of the tenets of racial purity rather than a validation of White/ Black intermarriage as many have supposed.

Turning back to The Case for Loving, I pick it up and read it again, mentally replacing Cherokee with Rappahannock and holding all this racial politics in my head. It makes a difference.

At this moment, I don't know what it means for this picture book. One could argue that it provides children with an important story about history, but I can also imagine children looking back on it as they grow up and thinking that they were misinformed--not deliberately--but by those twists and turns in racial politics in the United States of America.

Published in 2015 by Arthur A. Levine, I do not recommend The Case for Loving. 

~~~~~

Updates to add relevant items shared by others:

Kara Stewart pointed me to a news story from a Virginia TV station:
Doctor's quest to engineer a 'master race' in the early 1900s still hurting Virginia Indian tribes 

Kara's comment prompted me to search for information on the Racial Integrity Act. I found that the Library of Virginia has a page about it.


Update, March 18, 7:25 PM:
Just saying again---you must get a copy of Coleman's book. In other chapters, she talks about the Pocahontas Exception and how it was written to accommodate "the White elite who said they were descendants of the Indian princess Pocahontas and the English colonist John Rolfe." Here's one excerpt (p. 5):

It shall hereafter be unlawful for any white person in this State to marry any save a white person, or a person with no other admixture of blood than white and American Indian. For the purpose of this act, the term “white person” shall apply only to the person who has no trace whatsoever of any blood other than Caucasian; but persons who have one-sixteenth or less of the blood of the American Indian and have no other non-Caucasic blood shall be deemed to be white persons. 

*Update, March 23, 12:05 PM:
Professor Coleman read my review and noted an error in what I said. I've used the cross-out option to indicate what is wrong and inserted the correct information. Mulatto/Negro were specific to the Jeter name, not to Mildred's Jeter's parents.

Neal Shusterman and Michelle Knowlden's UNSTRUNG

In 2009, Neal Shusterman launched the first of his "Unwind Dystology" series. The first book is Unwind. Published by Simon and Schuster, here's the synopsis provided at Amazon:

In America after the Second Civil War, the Pro-Choice and Pro-Life armies came to an agreement: The Bill of Life states that human life may not be touched from the moment of conception until a child reaches the age of thirteen. Between the ages of thirteen and eighteen, however, a parent may choose to retroactively get rid of a child through a process called "unwinding." Unwinding ensures that the child's life doesn’t “technically” end by transplanting all the organs in the child's body to various recipients. Now a common and accepted practice in society, troublesome or unwanted teens are able to easily be unwound.
With breathtaking suspense, this book follows three teens who all become runaway Unwinds: Connor, a rebel whose parents have ordered his unwinding; Risa, a ward of the state who is to be unwound due to cost-cutting; and Lev, his parents' tenth child whose unwinding has been planned since birth as a religious tithing. As their paths intersect and lives hang in the balance, Shusterman examines serious moral issues in a way that will keep readers turning the pages to see if Connor, Risa, and Lev avoid meeting their untimely ends.

Unstrung: An Unwind Story came out in 2012. It is a short story. Here's what Amazon says about it:

How did Lev Calder move from an unwillingly escaped Tithe to a clapper? In this revealing short story, Neal Shusterman opens a window on Lev’s adventures between the time he left CyFi and showed up at the Graveyard.
Pulling elements from Neal Shusterman’s critically acclaimed Unwind and giving hints about what is to come in the riveting sequel, UnWholly, this short story is not to be missed.

As Unstrung opens, Lev is waking up after escaping from bad guys who were gonna do that unwinding thing to him. He's an AWOL. The place he ran to? A "rez" -- or, reservation. There, he figured he'd be safe. Indians of the future, it turns out, are exempt from unwinding. The family helping Lev recover is going to petition the Tribal Council to let him stay. As he opens his eyes, he seems a woman with a square jaw, black hair, and bronze skin. He blurts out

"SlotMonger!"

Lev is immediately embarrassed for using that word. See--in this future world Shusterman created, Indians aren't called Indians anymore. The woman responds (Note: I'm reading an ebook and can't give you page numbers):

"Old words die hard," she tells him with infinite understanding. "We were called Indians long after it was obvious we weren't from India. And 'Native American' was always a bit too condescending for my taste." 

"ChanceFolk," Lev says, hoping that his SlotMonger slur will quickly be forgotten.

"Yes," the woman says. "People of Chance. Of course the casinos are long gone, but I suppose the name still has enough resonance to stick." 

Dear! Well, that's not what I said when I read that part. If you're a regular reader of AICL, you know that sometimes, I curse at things I read.

Moving on...

The People of Chance family has a boy. He's three years older than Lev. His name is Wil. That's short for Chowilawu. We don't know what language that is, or what tribe these people belong to. Later on, we do get some clues about their location, though! They're in what we know today as Colorado, and they live in an incredibly opulent city with cliff dwellings on the canyon sides.

Do you know who lived at Mesa Verde? Chaco Canyon? Bandelier? Pueblo people! So, I take it that the People of Chance are somehow based on Pueblo Indians. Yikes!

Let's meet Wil.

Wil has a gift. When he plays his guitar, who or whatever hears his music, is transfixed. Just Wil's presence can calm people. But that guitar playing... well, it is such a gift that he/it is used to help the dying tribal members transition more easily into death itself. Wil doesn't like that gift, because his grandfather is dying. The people expect him to go play for his grandpa but he doesn't want to. When the story opens, Wil plays his guitar for Lev. He does that by sitting cross-legged on a mountain lion skin. Yep. Cross-legged. Cuz why?! (Answer: Indians sit cross-legged. You learned that at camp, right? Or maybe kindergarten? Or maybe your teacher knew better than to introduce that stereotype to you.)

Lev recovers a bit, and he and Wil go out into the city. Lev has a question:

"Is it true that reservations are safe for AWOLs?" he asks. "Is it true that People of Chance don't unwind?"
Wil nods. "We never signed the Unwind Accord. So not only don't we unwind, we also can't use unwound parts."
Lev mulls that over, baffled at how a society could work without harvesting organs. "So...where do you get parts?"
"Nature provides," Wil says. "Sometimes."

Nature provides! How does that work, you might wonder? Meet Wil's uncle, Pivane. Wil introduces Lev to him. He's wearing deerskins, but he's also got a Swiss watch on. And, Lev thinks, his rifle is probably custom-made. Pivane has been out hunting for a mountain lion. They need the heart of a male mountain lion. Pivane thinks they'll find one at Cash Out Gulch. (Reading "Cash Out Gulch" was another WTF moment for me.)

Here's where we get a picture of this place where the People of Chance live:

...red cliff homes, the whitewashed adobes, and the sidewalks of rich mahogany planks. Although the place appears at first to be primitive, Lev knows upper crust when he sees it, from the luxury cars parked on the side streets to the gold plaques embedded in the adobe walls. Men and women wear business suits that are clearly Chance-Folk in style, yet finer than the best designer fashions."

Lev asks Wil what the people do (for a living) and Wil says:

"When my grandfather was a kid, the rez made a bundle--not just from gaming, but from some lawsuits over land usage, a water treatment plant, a wind farm that went haywire, and casinos we didn't want but got stuck with when another tribe rolled on us." He shrugs uncomfortably. "Luck of the draw. We've got it better than some tribes."

Lev looks down the street, where the curbs gleam with gold. "Way better, by the look of it."

"Yah," says Wil, looking both embarrassed and proud at the same time. "Some tribes did wise investing with their casino cash; others squandered it. Then, when the virtual casinos got ritzier than the real ones and it all came crashing down, tribes like ours did very well. We're a Hi-Rez. You're lucky you didn't jump the wall of a Low-Rez. They're much more likely to sell AWOLs to parts pirates."

Lev has heard about the rich tribes and the poor ones. Wil continues:

"Anyway," says Wil, "my tribe knows the law and how to use it. In fact my dad's a lawyer, and has done pretty well for our family. My mom runs the pediatrics lodge in the medical warren and is well respected. We get rich tribal kids from all over North America coming here for healing."

I was doing a lot of eye rolling and cursing as I read all of that! I certainly want writers to move away from narrow depictions of the professions Native people are in, but the rest of what Shusterman did is so bad that I can't give the lawyer-dad or doctor-mom characters a good read! Let's back up, though to that info about how the People of Chance tribe (I wonder what the Lo-Rez tribe names are?!) got their money: casinos, and good lawyers. I'm wondering about Shusterman's source material for all that lawyering. Where is he from? Is he living nearby a tribal nation that has been successfully winning legal cases over water rights? Or wind farms? Is he from Massachusetts? In 2011, the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head filed a lawsuit over a wind farm project off Cape Cod. The For Mojave Indian tribe sued a California agency over a water treatment plant that was desecrating sacred land. I'm guessing that Shusterman did some research and found these news stories. And as the wealth of the People of Chance indicates, they won big time! Doesn't matter, I suppose, that those two particular tribal nations are at opposite ends of the country. With a made-up nation, you can do whatever you want!

Well, let's move on. The People of Chance have animal spirit guides. If/when they're sick, that particular animal can be killed and its body part(s) used to heal the human. Do you recall that Pivane is looking for the heart of a mountain lion? A mountain lion is the spirit guide of Wil's grandfather. His heart is bad. He needs a new one. Pavine finds one, but Wil's grandfather wants to give it to a young woman who needs it more than he does. Wil argues with him about that decision. But guess what! Lev gets asked for advice. Outsiders have perspectives, you see, that can help people make important decisions. Lev's advice is to respect the wishes of Wil's grandpa. Such wisdom from the white outsider! Of course, the heart goes to the woman, and Wil's grandpa dies.

Wil is gonna die, too. No... that's not right. He's going to be killed. No... that's not right either...

Wil has taken Lev and a bunch of kids out on a vision quest to find their spirit guides. Some of those parts pirates have gotten over the rez wall, too. Turns out, there's a black market for People of Chance body parts because they have special skills. To save the children, Wil takes out that guitar and demonstrates his gift. He bargains with the parts pirates. They take him and let the children go. I gotta say... this is so unsettling. Does Shusterman know Native bodies were butchered and parts taken from them as trophies? Has he not read about Sand Creek?! How 'bout his editor? Does he/she know? Do they know and not care? Or maybe they don't imagine Native people as readers of Unstrung?

Well. Towards the end of the story, the tribal council denies the petition to adopt Lev. He leaves. And what about Wil? We find him again, on a surgical table. A woman with a slight British accent tells him:

"We have been searching for the right Person of Chance for a very long time. You will be part of a spectacular experiment. One that will change the future." 

Pretty sick, isn't it? In the end, Wil's family and girlfriend find out that he's been unwound...

Not through smoke signals.
Not through the intricate legal investigations of the Council.
Not through the tribal nations' security task force, put in place after the parts pirates took him.
In the end, the rez finds out Wil is no more when his guitar is delivered with no note and no return address. 

Another WTF. Smoke signals?! Mr. Shusterman: this is a very messed up story. I regret having read it.

Update, September 28, 7:48 PM

Mr. Shusterman submitted the following comment. As has been the case with previous authors who respond to a review I've done on AICL, I'm adding the response to the body of the blog post to allow readers to more easily read the response. Mr. Shusterman said:

I wanted to personally apologize for anything in UnStrung that you found offensive. Both Michelle Knowlden and I wanted you to know that in writing the story we took great cares to be respectful, and sensitive. We also were wary of “political correctness,” which is just as offensive as stereotypes.

The story takes place in a dystopian future – and we were attempting to extrapolate where one tribe might find themselves within that exaggerated dystopian world. It could not be immune to the dark turn society has taken. Our take was that this particular tribe had become affluent, and increasingly isolationist – to protect itself ideologically from the rest of America, which had become a pretty unpleasant place. We tried to take tradition, and marry it to futurism. We actively worked to shatter stereotypes, breaking them open to show something real, and honest.

Huge amount of thought went into every choice, so to be called out for insensitivity warrants the opening of a dialogue. I have a reputation for being culturally fair, and on-target in my books – so if I’ve missed the mark here, it’s important to me to know how, and how to improve it.

I do want to point out that some things you found were stretches. A kid sitting cross-legged on the floor was just a kid sitting cross-legged on the floor. That’s how my daughter plays guiter, so that’s where that came from. It was not a racial stereotype.

It’s important to note that socially and culturally, American Indians are the heroes of the story. They are the only cultural group that collectively fights against the heinous practice of Unwinding, and maintains a high moral and ethical bar, that the rest of society has lost. The entire book series, in fact, hinges on their action in the face of a world mired in inaction.

UnStrung will be rewritten for inclusion in a collection of novellas in the Unwind world. We would love to discuss with you what changes will make it not only more palatable, but a positive experience for Indian readers. I can be reached at storymanweb@gmail.com. Thank you.

Debbie's response:

Mr. Shusterman,

Thank you for responding to my concerns. I am traveling this week and next and can't give your comment the attention it deserves. A quick note for now: I read a lot of children's and young adult books with Native characters. You'd be surprised, perhaps, to know how many of them sit cross-legged. Other characters in the book don't. They just sit. How they sit isn't generally noted. More, later, when I've had time to think about your comments. 

Update, Tuesday, Sept 30 2014

My review reflects my incredulous reaction as I read your book. You said it is important to know how you missed the mark, and how you can improve the story. I hope you'll find time to go back and re-read my review. I think I've clearly laid out examples in which you've missed the mark.

It is the overall premise, however, that is deeply flawed. You said that (quoting from your comment),

"American Indians are the heroes of the story... They maintain a high moral and ethical bar... The entire book series, in fact, hinges on their action..."

See that? You think you've done a good thing, making American Indians the heroes. You meant well... You are just like all those people/places/organizations that use American Indian something-or-other as an ideal to strive for. Big case in the news right now is the Dan Snyder, owner of the Washington DC pro football team. Are you following that at all? From my perspective, you sound an awful lot like Dan Snyder and you sound like a thousand people who've told me and other Native people "but you don't understand. I'm trying to honor you."

In her excellent piece for writers, Cynthia Leitich Smith posed a few questions that authors can use when reflecting on the Native characters they create. I'm modifying them a bit:

Is Wil a magical character? My answer: Yes, he has a musical gift. It is so magical that it will be taken from him to serve the greater good. Who is taking it? A British/American surgeon.

Does Wil die first? My answer: Yes. Lev lives on. Wil does not.

Are Wil's people the model minority? My answer: Yes. This is a bit more nuanced, but they've had great success economically and professionally.

Does his heritage inform his character?  My answer: Yes, and a bit complicated because his heritage is your creation and rests on stereotypical ways of thinking about Native peoples. It is, in other words, an outsider's take on Native culture, so it is hard for me to say that his heritage is, in fact, Native. It isn't. In her post, Smith also asks if non-Native readers will notice problems like this. Her answer is, "maybe." Mine? From what I've seen online, nobody noticed. Smith asks if Native readers will notice. My answer: Not necessarily, but most of them will. I think a good many Native readers will do a WTF. In fact, Native people with whom I've shared the review are also expressing incredulity.

What will your readers think of Wil and his people? My answer: Most of your readers will (and do) love Wil and his people. In her post, Smith goes on to say that sometimes, writers "get so wrapped up in our own intent, however benevolent, that we forget to consider impact." Clearly, you meant well. You had good intentions. But the impact of those good intentions? You're using your conception of Native people to save the world. In so doing, you affirm stereotypical ideas that are already deeply embedded in the world.


What did you read prior to creating this tribe and people? Your turn. What did you read? And, I invite your answers to the question above, too. I know you're doing a Q&A at Goodreads this week and may not have time to come back to AICL for the dialog you asked me for, but I do hope you come back as soon as you can. Your fellow writers, and my fellow reviewers, can gain a great deal by reading our dialog.



Update, Saturday, October 4, 2014

Neal Shusterman's reply, submitted at 11:05 PM October 3 2013:

Debbie – thank you for your detailed response. I appreciate the time you took to really analyze the story. Cynthia Leitich Smith’s questions are right on target.

Perhaps I overstated it when I said that the Indians are the heroes of the book series. The Indian characters are as flawed as everyone else, and struggle with their own moral dilemmas and ethical demons. I do not feel that any of my characters are stereotypes, regardless of their cultural background. As a group, the fictional tribe in the book makes both poor decisions, and good decisions. Ultimately they are one of many factors that changes the world for the better by the end of the book series. 

I do need to emphasize the fictional nature of the tribe. It is not intended to reflect current Indian culture. It is an exaggeration seen through a very specific future lens, just like every other culture portrayed in the book. Everything is painted in unsettling shades of gray -- the reader is supposed to have mixed feelings about everything and everyone. We should see the best and the worst of ourselves in the characters, and cultures.

You mentioned that other people had the same reaction you did when they read your review. I imagine so. A review is like the prosecution’s case in a trial. It’s all very cut and dry if you don’t hear the defense. The defense is the actual work, and I stand behind my work. That said, there are some things I would, and will change, however, and I thank you for bringing it to my attention.

Debbie Reese's Notes on Larry Watson's MONTANA 1948

Note from Debbie: This is a page of notes I'm taking as I read Larry Watson's Montana 1948. Originally published in 1993, it is taught in high school classrooms. In the last couple of years, I've had a few inquiries about it. It received starred reviews and though it does not look to me like it was put forth as a book for teens, it appeared on year-end lists of best books for young adults/teens. I have excerpts below but not page numbers because I'm reading an electronic copy of the book. And please note: there are graphic excerpts about rape, in my notes. 

Debbie's Notes:

Chapter 1

The setting includes the "Fort Warren Indian Reservation" which is not a real place. It is described as "the rockiest, sandiest, least arable parcel of land in the region." And, "its roads were unpaved, and many of its shacks looked as though they would barely hold back a breeze." The town, Bentrock, is also fictional. 

The story is told from the point of view of David (Davy). In it, he is 12. His mother, Gail, works out of their home. His father, Wesley Hayden, is the sheriff. Wesley's brother, Frank, is a doctor. Their father was the town sheriff before Wesley accepted the job.

On page 12, Davy tells us that they have a housekeeper who lives with them during the week. Her name is Marie Little Soldier, a Hunkpapa Sioux who is from the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota. Marie's mother married a Canadian who owned a bar called Frenchy's in Bentrock. There is a rumor that Frenchy 

"kept locked in his storeroom a fat old toothless Indian woman whom anyone could have sex with for two dollars." 

Some think it is Marie's mother, but Davy knows that isn't true because Marie's mother is a thin, shy woman. Marie was nearly six feet tall and had a "fleshy amplitude" that made her seem soft and strong, "as if all that body could be ready, at a moment's notice, for sex or work." She had "a wide, pretty face and cheekbones so high, full, and glossy I often wondered if they were naturally like that or if they were puffy and swollen. 

Marie has a boyfriend named Ronnie Tall Bear. Davy adores both of them. 

One time, Davy saw Marie naked when she stepped out of the shower. They were both embarrassed. He saw (location 290): 

Dark nipples that shocked me in the way they stood out like fingertips. A black triangle of public hair below a thick waist and gently rounded belly. 

Marie gets sick. Gail puts blankets on her to sweat out the sickness like Sioux people do (location 290): 

To this day many Sioux practice a kind of purification ritual in which they enclose themselves in a small tent or lodge and with the help of heated stones and water steam themselves until sweat streams from them.

Marie doesn't want Davy's mother to call Dr. Hayden. She prefers Dr. Snow. When she gets worse, Wesley reaches for the phone and Davy tells him again that Marie doesn't want a doctor. Wesley tells him it is Indian superstition. Davy's father (location 354):

... did not like Indians. No, that's not exactly accurate, because it implies that my father disliked Indians, which isn't so. He simply held them in low regard. He was not a hate-filled bit--he probably thought he was free of prejudice!--and he could treat Indians with generosity, kindness, and respect (as he could treat every human being). Nevertheless, he believed Indians, with only a few exceptions, were ignorant, lazy, superstitious, and irresponsible. I first learned of his racism when I was seven or either. An aunt gave me a pair of moccasins for my birthday, and my father forbade me to wear them. When I made a fuss and my mother sided with me, my father said "He wears those and soon he'll be as flat-footed and lazy as an Indian."

His father asks Davy, sarcastically, if Marie needs a medicine man, then calls his brother. Davy listens to the phone call. 

"She didn't say why. My guess is she's never been to anyone but the tribal medicine man." 

He laughs, and hangs up the phone. He says: 

"Frank said maybe he'd do a little dance around the bed. And if that doesn't work he'll try beating some drums." 

Frank arrives and goes into Marie's bedroom. She calls for Davy's mother. Gail goes into Marie's room, too, but Davy can still hear Marie saying no. When Frank comes out, Davy's dad asks what is wrong with her, and Frank says: 

"Like you said on the phone. They're used to being treated by the medicine man. Or some old squaw. But a doctor comes around and they think he's the evil spirit or something." 

Davy's father says: 

"They're not going to make it into the twentieth century until they give up their superstitions and old ways." 

They talk about Marie's care, that she might have pneumonia. Gail says Marie will stay with them. She seems irritated at Frank. He leaves, and she asks Davy to go inside because she needs to talk with Wesley. Davy sneaks around the house to listen and hears (location 527):

The reason, Wesley, the reason Marie didn't want to be examined by Frank is that he--he has... is that your brother has molested Indian girls." Wesley starts to leave but she insists he stay and listen. she tells him "He's been doing it for years, Wes. When the examines an Indian he... he does things he shouldn't. He takes liberties. Indecent liberties." 

She goes on (location 561):

Your brother makes his patients--some of his patients---undress completely and get into indecent positions. He makes them jump up and down while he watches. He fondles their breasts. He--no, don't you turn away. Don't! You asked and I'm going to tell you. All o it. He puts things into these girls. Inside them, there. His instruments. His fingers. He has... your brother I believe has inserted his, his penis into some of these girls. Wesley, your brother is raping these women. These girls. These Indian girls. He offers his services to the reservation, to the BIA school. To the high school for athletic physicals. Then when he gets these girls where he wants them he... Oh! I don't even want to say it again. He does what he wants to do." 

Wesley decides to talk to his deputy, Len, and his wife, Daisy, in a way to see if either of them has heard what Marie shared. Daisy says (location 631): "The word is he doesn't do everything on the up-and-up." and she adds who he does things to by saying "Just the squaws, though." 

When they leave, Davy hears his parents talking. His mother says that people in town know about Frank. Davy realizes that both he and his mother see their husband/Davy's dad as a brother to a pervert. Looking at him, Davy doesn't want to see the ways his uncle Frank's features and his dad's are similar. Wesley says he doesn't want this talk spread over town because there's no proof, and that it will be upsetting to their father (he was sheriff, too), who heroizes Frank. 

Chapter 2

Wesley decides to investigate. He talks to Ollie Young Bear, a Native vet who he holds in high regard as an example of what someone can be if they choose to work hard, if he knows anything about Frank's abuse of Native women. Then Wesley, Gail, and Davy go to visit Julian. Frank is already there, at Julian's ranch house. Julian is waiting on the porch. Davy listens to the two men talk. Julian says Wesley and Gail only had one child, and that they should have had more. They talk about Frank and Gloria (his wife) not having children but that Julian only wants white children. Wesley asks him what that means, and (location 924):

Grandfather laughed a deep, breathy cuh-cuh-cuh that sounded like half cough and half laugh. "Come on, Wesley. Come on, boy. You know Frank's always been partial to red meat. He couldn't have been any older than Davy when Bud caught him down in the stable with that little Indian girl. Bud said to me, 'Mr. Hayden, you better have a talk with that boy. He had that little squaw down on her hands and knees. He's been learning' from watching the dogs and the horses and the bulls.' I wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't some young ones out on the reservation who look a lot like your brother." 

A couple of days later, Marie dies. 

****

I am pausing my reading to look for reviews and articles about the book. So far, I see that Frank poisoned Marie to protect himself from the accusations. Based on what I've read of the book, it is one that will eventually have a Not Recommended label. In the excerpts I provided above, we see horrific things being said about Native people. Some are said by characters we are not meant to like, but some are stated as fact (Daisy using "squaw" rather than "women"). It is one of those books, I think, where the author intends readers to see anti-Indigenous attitudes. The author does not, I think, imagine that any of his readers might actually be Native. He may not have anticipated how his writing would impact Native readers--or the dynamics in a classroom of Native and non-Native readers. I may have more to say, later, if I come back to read more of the book and share notes and eventually (perhaps), a review. 

For now, I will say that I do not recommend Montana 1948 for any classroom of young people. 

"Bestsellers in Children's Native American Books"

A colleague wrote to ask if I know of a study of the most-assigned Native author in schools. I don't know of one, but will be looking for one, or, trying to figure out how to get the answer to the question, which is basically, "What book about American Indians is most-often taught/assigned in school?" Course, that would vary by grade level and school and other factors like state, public/private, etc.

One thing I (always) wonder about is best-selling books. One source of info is Amazon. In their "Bestsellers in Children's Native American Books" (time/date of list: 7:23 AM, Central Time, November 8, 2010) are the following titles. Some are on their more than once. In some cases, its clear that the duplicate is a Kindle edition, but others seem to just be repeats. There isn't, for example, a note that says it is an audio copy.

It is, overall, a disappointing list and it makes me grumpy on this Monday morning...  I'm glad to see Native authors on the list, but duplicates of some really problematic books like Touching Spirit Bear?! And it is pretty easy to see that Amazon's customers want works of historical fiction or "myths, legends and folktales."  


#1 - The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie.
#2 - Island of the Blue Dolphins, by Scott O'Dell
#3 - One Little, Two Little, Three Little Pilgrims, by B. G. Hennessy
#4 - Island of the Blue Dolphins (Kindle), by Scott O'Dell
#5 - Squanto's Journey: The Story of the First Thanksgiving, by Joseph Bruchac
#6 - Touching Spirit Bear, by Ben Mikaelsen
#7 - North American Indians, by Douglas Gorsline
#8 - Tapenum's Day: A Wampanoag Indian Boy in Pilgrim Times
*#9 - Encounter, by Jane Yolen
#10 - Sing Down the Moon, by Scott O'Dell
#11 - The Rough-Face Girl, by Rafe Martin
#12 - Paddle-to-the-Sea, by Holling C. Holling
#13 - Diamond Willow, by Helen Frost
#14 - Red Fox and His Canoe (I Can Read Book), by Nathaniel Benchley
#15 - The Sign of the Beaver, by Elizabeth George Speare
#16 - The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush, by Tomie de Paola
#17 - Arrow to the Sun: A Pueblo Indian Tale, by Gerald McDermott
#18 - Touching Spirit Bear (Kindle) by Ben Mikaelson
#19 - Julie of the Wolves, by Jean Craighead George
#20 - Touching Spirit Bear, by Ben Mikaelsen
#21 - Indian Captive: The Story of Mary Jemison, by Lois Lenski
#22 - Mountain Top Mystery (Boxcar Children), by Gertrude Chandler Warner
#23 - Grandmother's Dreamcatcher, by Becky Ray McCain
#24 - On Mother's Lap, by Ann Herbert Scott
#25 - Horse Diaries #5: Golden Sun, by Whitney Sanderson
#26 - The Indian in the Cupboard, by Lynn Reid Banks
#27 - Sacagawea: American Pathfinder, by Flora Warren Seymour
#28 - Code Talker: A Novel about the Navajo Marines of World War II, by Joseph Bruchac
#29 - The Heart of a Chief, by Joseph Bruchac
#30 - Little Runner of the Longhouse (I Can Red Book 2) by Betty Baker
#31 - Paddle-to-the-Sea, by Holling C. Hollins
#32 - Love Flute, by Paul Goble
#33 - Soft Rain: A Story of the Cherokee Trail of Tears, by Cornelia Cornelissen
#34 - The Journal of Jesse Smoke: A Cherokee Boy, Trail of Tears, 1838, by Joseph Bruchac
#35 - The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie
#36 - The Birchbark House, by Louise Erdrich
#37 - The Legend of the Bluebonnet, by Tomie dePaola
#38 - Buffalo Woman, by Paul Goble
#39 - Cheyenne Again, by Eve Bunting
#40 - Where the Broken Heart Still Beats: The Story of Cynthia Ann Parker, by Carolyn Meyer
#41 - Julie, by Jean Craighead George
#42 - Children of the Longhouse, by Joseph Bruchac
#43 - Sacred Fire, by Nancy Wood
#44 - Island of the Blue Dolphins, by Scott O'Dell
#45 - Mama, Do You Love Me, by Barbara J. Joosse
#46 - The Year of Miss Agnes, by Kirkpatrick Hill
#47 - Sweetgrass Basket, by Marlene Carvell
#48 - Sitting Bull: Dakota Boy, by Augusta Stevenson
#49 - The Talking Earth, by Jean Craighead George
#50 - Rainbow Crow, by Nancy Van Laan
#51 - The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses, by Paul Goble
#52 - The Polar Bear Son: An Inuit Tale, by Lydia Dabcovich
#53 - The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses, by Paul Goble
#54 - Song of the Seven Herbs, by Walking Night Bear
#55 - Ten Little Rabbits, by Virginia Grossman
#56 - The Lost Children: The Boys Who Were Neglected, by Paul Goble
#57- Moccasin Trail, by Eloise Jarvis McGraw
#58 - Thunder Rolling in the Mountains, by Scott O'Dell
#59 - Meet Kaya: An American Girl, by Janet Beeler Shaw
#60 - When the Legends Die, by Hal Borland
#61 - Sacajawea, by Joseph Bruchac
#62 - Knots on a Counting Rope, by John Archambault
#63 - The Porcupine Year, by Louise Erdrich
#64 - Star Boy, by Paul Goble
#65 - Jim and Me, by Dan Gutman
#66 - Kaya: An American Girl: 1764/Box Set, by Janet Beeler Shaw
#67 - Between Earth and Sky: Legends of Native American Sacred Places, by Joseph Bruchac
#68 - Touching Spirit Bear, by Ben Mikaelsen
#69 - Weasel, by Cynthia Defelice
#70 - When the Shadbush Blooms, by Carla Messinger
#71 - On Mother's Lap, by Ann Herbert Scott
#72 - The Captive Princess: A Story Based on the Life of Young Pocahontas
#73 - Powwow's Coming, by Linda Boyden
#74 - The Gift of the Sacred Dog, by Paul Goble
#75 - Streams to the River, River to the Sea, by Scott O'Dell
#76 - Weetamoo: Heart of the Pocassets, Massachusetts - Rhode Island, 1653 (Royal Diaries) by Patricia Clark Smith
#77 - Indian Trail (Choose Your Own Adventure) , by R. A. Montgomery
#78 - Arrow Over the Door, by Joseph Bruchac
#79 - At Seneca Castle, by William W. Canfield
#81 - Pocahontas, by Joseph Bruchac
#82 - Squanto's Journey: The Story of the First Thanksgiving, by Joseph Bruchac
#83 - Christmas Moccsains, by Ray Buckley
#84 - The Game of Silence, by Louise Erdrich
#85 - Encounter, by Jane Yolen
#86 - Beyond the Ridge, by Paul Goble
#87 - Death of the Iron Horse, by Paul Goble
#88 - The Last of the Mohicans, by James Fenimore Cooper
#89 - Island of the Blue Dolphins (illustrated) by Scott O'Dell
#90 - Frozen Fire: A Tale of Courage by James Houston
#92 - Blood on the River: James Town 1607, by Elisa Carbone
#92 - The Give-Away: A Christmas Story in the American Tradition, by Ray Buckley
#93 - Mystic Horse, by Paul Goble
#94 - Eating the Plates: A Pilgrim Book of Food and Manners, by Lucilee Recht Penner
#95 - Mysteries in Our National Parks: Cliff Hanger, by Gloria Skurzynski
#96 - Jim Thorpe, Olympic Champion, by Guernsey Van Riper Jr
#97 - Good Hunting, Blue Sky (I Can Read Book) by Peggy Parish
#98 - Guests, by Michael Dorris
#99 - Hiawatha and Megissogwon by Henry W. Longfellow
#100 - Sing Down the Moon, by Scott O'Dell


Observations? Books by four Native authors are on the list: Sherman Alexie, (Update on Sep 30 2023: I no longer recommend Bruchac's work. For details see Is Joseph Bruchac truly Abenaki?)  Joseph Bruchac, Louise Erdrich, and Michael Dorris.  I'll return to this list later to share analyses and observations. Right now, I gotta head to class. The class? American Indian Studies 101, where, over the course of the semester, students gain insight and skills in recognizing problematic depictions of Native peoples. It is encouraging to see that development in them. I wish everyone in the US could take an Intro to American Indian Studies course. Then maybe there'd be some CHANGE in what they buy.

Dear Writers Who Think You're Cherokee

Over the last few weeks, people in American Indian, Native American, or Indigenous Studies have been deeply engaged in discussions of identity, trying to help people understand what it means to be a member or citizen of the Cherokee Nation.

This discussion was prompted when the identity of a key person in this area of research and teaching was featured in an article in The Daily Beast on June 30, 2015. The person is Andrea Smith. The identity she claims is Cherokee.

Several years ago, Smith asked David Cornsilk of the Cherokee Nation to help her verify her belief that she was Cherokee. In an Open Letter at Indian Country Today Media Network, David goes into great detail on his findings (bottom line: she's not Cherokee). Many people knew about this and hoped that Smith would 1) stop saying she is Cherokee, and, 2) that she would take steps so that people would stop calling her Cherokee when they introduce her at lectures she is invited to deliver.

She didn't do either one. It was only a matter of time before her misrepresentation of her identity would become more widely known.

The article at The Daily Beast pulled heavily from a Tumblr page that documented a long history of Smith's efforts to get her claims verified. This led to many blog posts and discussions on social media and at Native news sites.

I wrote a post (on July 3, 2015), too, because lack of knowing what it means to be Cherokee results in a lot of problems in children's literature. They range from:

1) claims that are, in fact, empty (when will every copy of "Forrest Carter's" The Education of Little Tree be moved from autobiography to fiction, if not removed entirely from the shelves?).

2) ignorance in portraying Cherokee culture, as seen--for example--in David Arnold's Mosquitoland, or Francesa Lia Block's Weetzie Bat series, or P.C. and Kristin Cast's House of Night series, or Gail Haley's Two Bad Boys, or Martina Boone's Compulsion. 

3) mis-identifying people as Cherokee when they say otherwise, as was done in Alko's The Case for Loving. 

As I packed for a family trip to North Carolina on Thursday, July 9, 2015, my head was filled with what I'd been reading about Andrea Smith.

Our first stop was in Atlanta. Along the walls in the passageway from Terminal B to Terminal A is an exhibit of Atlanta's history. It includes panels on the Cherokee Nation. I stood there looking at the exhibit and thought about Cherokee people I know, and what their ancestors have been through. Sometimes, my Cherokee friends and colleagues are furious over another instance in which they are misrepresented or when someone on a national level (like Elizabeth Warren) says they're Cherokee. Other times, they are weary.

Like their ancestors, they persevere.

On Saturday morning, David Cornsilk was out and about in Tahlequah, the capitol of the Cherokee Nation. Being out with family and friends in the Cherokee Nation isn't unusual for David. Later that day, he wrote about it on his Facebook page. With his permission, I share some of what he said, here:

Today seemed different though. Every Cherokee I came into contact with gave me a heightened sense of what it means to a part of the Cherokee community. At breakfast I saw cousins and old friends, all Cherokees. When I went to the estate sales I saw and visited with Cherokees. And again, at the theater, the room was filled with the people I and my family associate with, Cherokees. As I looked around the room I saw the faces of Cherokees laughing, joking and socializing. These are spaces that fill my memory from childhood to the present.

As these contacts built in my minds eye on what is just another Saturday, I was suddenly struck by a profound truth in the context of the Andrea Smith controversy. Even if she could prove some smidgen of Cherokee ancestry, of course she can't, but if she could, what I experienced today, in just four short hours, was more Cherokee community and culture than someone like Andrea will experience in a lifetime.

After the movie and the see-Ya-later hugs from my grandchildren, their innocent little Cherokee selves facing a world that wants nothing more than to take everything away from them, I became more resolved to fight harder for their future as citizens of the Cherokee Nation, to defend their tribe's sovereignty from all comers. Because like the saying we hear so often, the land is not ours, it's only borrowed from our children, so too is our sovereignty.

When someone says they are Cherokee without any concern for the rights of the tribe, they erode the sovereignty and self-determination that rightfully belongs to our children and grandchildren. As the current defenders of that sovereignty, our generation must do all we can to defend what is not really ours, but our grandchildren's.

David knows what it is to be Cherokee, what life is like for someone who is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation.

What he shared brings me back to you, Writer Who Thinks You Are Cherokee. Are you an Andrea Smith? Did someone in your family tell you that you're Cherokee? Did you use that story to identify yourself as Cherokee? Does that identity inspire you to create stories to "honor" Cherokees? Or some other Native Nation?

If the answer to those questions is yes, hit the pause button. If you're not living life as a Cherokee, you're likely to add to the pile of misrepresentations Cherokee people contend with, day in, and day out. Do you really want to do that?

But returning to Andrea Smith, and speaking now, to my friends and colleagues in activist circles: please reconsider inviting Andrea Smith to deliver a keynote lecture at your conference or workshop. My request may sound mean-spirited or unfair to her, but consider the Cherokee Nation itself. Consider the Cherokee children David speaks of. Do you want to, as Smith is doing, thumb your nose at their sovereignty? Their rights to say who their citizens are? Do you really want to do that?

Dear Teachers: Do You Teach Joseph Boyden's THREE DAY ROAD?

Editors note: Saturday, January 13, 2017. Scroll down to the very bottom of this post to see links to reviews of Boyden's books, written by Native people from the communities a book is about.  

January 7, 2017

Dear Teachers,

I know that some of you assign Joseph Boyden's Three Day Road to students in your high school classes. Some of you may be doing author studies of him. This letter and information I share beneath the letter, in two parts, is for you, and for anyone who is interested in discussions of Boyden's identity. It is an archive of items about Joseph Boyden's identity.

I'm a former school teacher, too. I particularly enjoyed reading aloud to the kindergarten and first graders I taught in the 90s, and teaching kids about the authors and other books they wrote. I'm not teaching anymore. Now, I research and write articles and book chapters about the ways Native peoples are depicted in children's and young adult books. And, I publish this site, American Indians in Children's Literature, which is now in its eleventh year.

In 2014, I learned about a writer named Joseph Boyden. A novel he'd written, The Orenda, was in Canada Reads, which is an annual battle-of-the-books competition. The Orenda was being defended by Wab Kinew. I'd become familiar with Kinew's work via social media. Always on the look-out for books I can recommend, I looked into Boyden and saw that his first book, Three Day Road was in the Canada Reads competition in 2006, when it came out. He was being put forth as a Native writer. I got Three Day Road. I was drawn into the story and thought I might write about it here on AICL. I wanted to know more about Boyden. So, I read Hayden King's review of Orenda. He had concerns with Boyden's depictions of the Haudenosaunee. I started looking around some more and talking with colleagues. I learned that there were a lot of questions about Boyden's claim to Native identity. What I saw was enough for me to set aside Three Day Road. I didn't finish it and didn't write about it.

On December 22, 2016, I saw a series of tweets from the IndigenousXca account. That week, the IndigenousXca host was Robert Jago. I learn a lot by following that account. Each week, there's a new host. I was the host in March. Jago's tweets that night were about Joseph Boyden's identity. The next day, Jorge Barrera, a reporter with Aboriginal Peoples Television Network, published a news article about Boyden. Jago and Barrera's work prompted many discussions on social media, and, many more articles and news segments.

This "Dear Teachers" letter is a place for me to archive what I've seen about Boyden and identity.

Part One of my archive started as a thread on Twitter that I added to whenever I saw something that added to the discussion. Rather than re-create the thread, I'm pasting it directly from a Storify I did. I hope that all the links work, though some may not. People delete tweets, and sometimes their entire account. Beneath the Storify is part two.

Part Two is items I'm entering as I see them. It is "in process" -- because new items are published in the media, or on social media (primarily Facebook and Twitter), almost daily.

I hope it is useful. If you see something somewhere that you wish to share, please submit it via the comments option at the bottom.

Thank you,
Debbie Reese
American Indians in Children's Literature

_______________

An Archive: 

Joseph Boyden's Claims to Indigenous Identity

Part One: A Storify by @debreese, from Dec 24, 2016 through Jan 3, 2017 (apologies for formatting errors that occurred when I pasted the storify)

by Debbie_Reese

23 minutes ago

Joseph Boyden: Native? Or not?

On Christmas Eve 2016, Jorge Barrera of APTN published an article on Joseph Boyden's identity. I began tweeting my thoughts, and links to threads/posts/articles on Boyden. I'll add to this Storify as additional items appear. (Last update: Jan 1, 2016, 8:25 AM)

1. 
   

   Debbie Reese@debreese

   Did you read @APTN article on Joseph Boyden's identity and are you seeking more rdgs to help you understand Native views on identity?

   
   

   14 DAYS AGO
   
2. 
   

   Debbie Reese@debreese

   This is, in kid/YA lit, what is called #OwnVoices. It gets very complicated, quickly, for many peoples, including us (Native ppl).

   
   

   14 DAYS AGO
   
3. 
   

   Debbie Reese@debreese

   Take a look at @justicedanielh's post at FB:  https://www.facebook.com/daniel.justice.7393/posts/716714078504628?pnref=story …

   
   

   14 DAYS AGO
   
4. 
   

   Debbie Reese@debreese

   Here's the APTN article, for those who haven't seen it: "Joseph Boyden's Shape-Shifting Identity"  http://aptn.ca/news/2016/12/23/author-joseph-boydens-shape-shifting-indigenous-identity/ …

   
   

   14 DAYS AGO
   
5. 
   

   Debbie Reese@debreese

   Yesterday and today, many Native ppl on Twitter are talking about Boyden and identity. Read their convos but pls refrain from jumping in.

   
   

   14 DAYS AGO
   
6. 
   

   Debbie Reese@debreese

   Read, listen, think, to what they're saying. See @apihtawikosisan's TL; here's two of her tweets:  https://twitter.com/apihtawikosisan/status/812384479675371520 …

   
   

   14 DAYS AGO
   
7. 
   

   Debbie Reese@debreese

   See ongoing convo between @MrHWM, @Hayden_King, and @damienlee  https://twitter.com/MrHWM/status/812657180922888193 …

   
   

   14 DAYS AGO
   
8. 
   

   Debbie Reese@debreese

   See Robert Jago's video (tweeting this week from @IndigenousXca) which kicked off the APTN article:  https://twitter.com/IndigenousXca/status/812105288300056582 …

   
   

   14 DAYS AGO
   
9. 
   

   Debbie Reese@debreese

   See @adamgaudry's TL, too.  https://twitter.com/adamgaudry/status/812396944156979200 …

   
   

   14 DAYS AGO
   
10. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    Another person on Twitter who is tweeting about Joseph Boyden is Darryl Leroux.  https://twitter.com/DarrylLeroux/status/812353859926577152 …

    
    

    14 DAYS AGO
    
11. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    My area of research/writing is kid/YA lit. As a former teacher, I know that "author studies" are a much-loved unit in schools.

    
    

    14 DAYS AGO
    
12. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    Teachers ask students to read other bks by a specific author, works abt that author's life, etc., to deepen what they know that author/bks.

    
    

    14 DAYS AGO
    
13. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    Still, after all these years, so much ignorance about Native identity, claims to it, why it matters. So many don't know that...

    
    

    14 DAYS AGO
    
14. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    ... Jamake Highwater, who won a Newbery Honor for ANPAO, was a fake. He wasn't Native. So many don't know Forrest Carter is a fake, too.

    
    

    14 DAYS AGO
    
15. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    So many libraries have Forrest Carter's EDUCATION OF LITTLE TREE in autobiography section! At the very least, it should be in fiction.

    
    

    14 DAYS AGO
    
16. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    Adoption into a Native family is a real thing, but it doesn't mean that Paul Goble can say he's Native.

    
    

    14 DAYS AGO
    
17. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    Re ANPAO, @indiancountry, among others, has info on Jamake Highwater's fakery, here:  https://indiancountrymedianetwork.com/culture/arts-entertainment/fools-gold-the-story-of-jamake-highwater-the-fake-indian-who-wont-die/ …

    
    

    14 DAYS AGO
    
18. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    There's a lot of writing abt "Forrest Carter." I write abt him/EDUC OF LITTLE TREE at my site & link to others: … https://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/search?q=education+of+little+tree …

    
    

    14 DAYS AGO
    
19. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    I don't think Joseph Boyden has written for kids or teens. I did find an article from 2007 about a planned bk but can't find it.

    
    

    14 DAYS AGO
    
20. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    Here's the article that says Joseph Boyden was working on a young adult book:  http://bookcentre.ca/penguin_canada_publish_joseph_boydens_first_young_adult_novel_razorbill/ …

    
    

    14 DAYS AGO
    
21. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    Robert Jago has an opinion on Boyden, here (loaded on 12/24/16):  http://www.canadalandshow.com/question-joseph-boydens-indigenous-ancestry/ … @IndigenousXca

    
    

    14 DAYS AGO
    
22. 
    

    Stephen Cree@coreindianness

    We need to acknowledge how problematic Boyden invoking an elder as retrospective proof of his indigeneity.

    
    

    @debreese
    

    ·

    15 DAYS AGO
    
23. 
    

    Stephen Cree@coreindianness

    The guy asserts he's 1/2 a dozen different kinds of Indian. If you've been adopted, great, but then that's your people.

    
    

    @debreese
    

    ·

    15 DAYS AGO
    
24. 
    

    Stephen Cree@coreindianness

    His invocation of an elder, who has passed, reeks of grasping at straws. Which is so despicable.

    
    

    @debreese
    

    ·

    15 DAYS AGO
    
25. 
    

    Fancy Bebamikawe@FancyBebamikawe

    The truth is that Joseph Boyden is the archetype of what white ppl want native ppl to be. He makes white ppl so comfortable. They love him.

    
    

    @debreese
    

    ·

    14 DAYS AGO
    
26. 
    

    Still adding to my thread on Boyden. On Christmas Eve, he posted a response to APTN:  https://twitter.com/josephboyden/status/812798846438928384 … pic.twitter.com/EjH0VYTsBN

    
    

    DEBBIE REESE@DEBREESE

    ·

    13 DAYS AGO
    
27. 
    

    DrChrisAndersen@BigMMusings

    ...what's a poor bestselling author with a highly variable ancestral genealogy to do?

    
    

    @debreese
    

    ·

    13 DAYS AGO
    
28. 
    

    Adam Gaudry@adamgaudry

    Well one thing is clearer, even Boyden isn't claiming he's Metis anymore. There's consensus on that now.

    
    

    @debreese
    

    ·

    13 DAYS AGO
    
29. 
    

    Connie Walker@connie_walker

    Giller Prize winner Joseph Boyden’s indigenous ancestry questioned /via @globeandmail  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/giller-prize-winner-joseph-boydens-indigenous-ancestry-questioned/article33429989/?utm_medium=Referrer:+Social+Network+/+Media&utm_campaign=Shared+Web+Article+Links …

    
    

    @debreese
    

    ·

    13 DAYS AGO
    
30. 
    

    DrChrisAndersen@BigMMusings

    the ethical labour of some of NAIS's top scholars in writing this letter 18mon ago, seems especially apropos lately  https://indiancountrymedianetwork.com/news/opinions/open-letter-from-indigenous-women-scholars-regarding-discussions-of-andrea-smith/ …

    
    

    @debreese
    

    ·

    13 DAYS AGO
    
31. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    On Christmas Day (afternoon/evening) news outlets began to publish a short article, by Nicole Thompson:  http://www.ctvnews.ca/entertainment/author-joseph-boyden-defends-indigenous-heritage-after-investigation-1.3217325 …

    
    

    12 DAYS AGO
    
32. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    On Christmas night, The Globe and Mail ran Sean Fine's more in-depth article on Boyden:  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/giller-prize-winner-joseph-boydens-indigenous-ancestry-questioned/article33429989/ …

    
    

    12 DAYS AGO
    
33. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    As I noted on Day 1 of my thread on Boyden, Native people-on Twitter & Facebook-have been talking about Boyden's claims to Native identity.

    
    

    12 DAYS AGO
    
34. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    People who like Boyden think Native people are jealous, unfair, mean, etc. There's a lot of sympathy for him as an individual.

    
    

    12 DAYS AGO
    
35. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    Lot of ppl, in other words, rallying to his defense, embracing him/the story of how he came to identify as Native.

    
    

    12 DAYS AGO
    
36. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    Where, though, were those rallying cries for the Choctaw Nation when a Choctaw child was being returned to her Choctaw family?

    
    

    12 DAYS AGO
    
37. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    Native ppl following my thread know what I'm talking abt. If you're a Boyden fan following my thread, you may not know what I'm talking abt.

    
    

    12 DAYS AGO
    
38. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    Here's a news story re the Choctaw child with info you need, if you're going to be informed re identity:  https://indiancountrymedianetwork.com/news/native-news/icwa-lexi-to-remain-with-utah-family-in-appeals-court-ruling/ …

    
    

    12 DAYS AGO
    
39. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    Most of you likely read mainstream media that failed in its responsibility to provide you with info abt sovereignty & our status as nations.

    
    

    12 DAYS AGO
    
40. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    The Choctaw child has clear lineage. There is no question re her identity or her family. Yet, the public said she was not Indian enough.

    
    

    12 DAYS AGO
    
41. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    Native ppl are asking Boyden "who are your people" and "who is your family" but he cannot give clear answers.

    
    

    12 DAYS AGO
    
42. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    He has an uncle who played Indian but denied being Indian. Indeed, as the @APTN article showed, that man delighted in fooling ppl.

    
    

    12 DAYS AGO
    
43. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    I linked to the ATPN article way back in this thread. Here it is again, for your convenience:  http://aptn.ca/news/2016/12/23/author-joseph-boydens-shape-shifting-indigenous-identity/ …

    
    

    12 DAYS AGO
    
44. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    As noted earlier, Native people are using social media to talk with each other abt Boyden's claims. I've linked to some, in this thread...

    
    

    12 DAYS AGO
    
45. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    Here's a new thread from Robert Jago, who--this week--has been tweeting from @IndigenousXca.  https://twitter.com/IndigenousXca/status/813236288983801857 … His first thread...

    
    

    12 DAYS AGO
    
46. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    ...on Boyden, claims to Native identity, and who can tell our stories, was on Dec 22nd from the @IndigenousXca acct:  https://twitter.com/IndigenousXca/status/812095345912119300 …

    
    

    12 DAYS AGO
    
47. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    Jago used numbered (rather than threaded) tweets. You'll need to go to that Dec 22nd tweet and read up from there. I urge you do that!

    
    

    12 DAYS AGO
    
48. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    Yesterday, writer @aaronpaquette did a thread on Boyden's claims:  https://twitter.com/aaronpaquette/status/813099748022484992 …

    
    

    12 DAYS AGO
    
49. 
    

    Kenzie Allen@cerena

    Great collection of threads / current convo--just reading & listening, atm. h/t @debreese @apihtawikosisan @IndigenousXca@justicedanielh  https://twitter.com/debreese/status/812673387415932929 …

    
    

    @debreese
    

    ·

    12 DAYS AGO
    
50. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    Last night, scholar and writer, @justicedanielh did an excellent thread in response to those who think that asking these questions...

    
    

    12 DAYS AGO
    
51. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    ... re Boyden and identity, is wrong. Here's @justicedanielh thread:  https://twitter.com/justicedanielh/status/813270135674961920 … Also! Follow Daniel, and read his writings.

    
    

    12 DAYS AGO
    
52. I see, in this video from 2009, that high school students were assigned Boyden's THREE DAY ROAD:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CbgGD16X_E …

    
    

    DEBBIE REESE@DEBREESE

    ·

    12 DAYS AGO
    
53. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    In an article, I saw that Boyden said Trump is a trickster. That led me to this:  https://twitter.com/danrueck/status/796722282727096320 …, which is evidence that...

    
    

    12 DAYS AGO
    
54. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    ... ppl have had questions abt Boyden's claims for awhile. In some interviews, Boyden said that it is only white ppl that question...

    
    

    12 DAYS AGO
    
55. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    ... and that Native people don't question his identity. That is not accurate. In Native circles, ppl have had this q for a long time.

    
    

    12 DAYS AGO
    
56. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    As I read articles/tweets abt Boyden's claims, I understand that feeling of being betrayed by someone who said they're Native. We know...

    
    

    12 DAYS AGO
    
57. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    ... that Native doesn't mean dark hair/skin/high cheekbones. We know it is about citizenship or membership, abt being claimed by a nation.

    
    

    12 DAYS AGO
    
58. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    I have given people the benefit of the doubt, and then felt horribly betrayed when truths about their claims were brought out.

    
    

    12 DAYS AGO
    
59. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    When I was on faculty at U Illinois, we got burned, twice, by ppl who we hired because we trusted their claim to Native identity.

    
    

    12 DAYS AGO
    
60. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    The first was Andrea Smith, who claimed to be Cherokee. She had claimed that identity for years and had cred with key scholars.

    
    

    12 DAYS AGO
    
61. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    That finally unraveled. Here's an article about her:  https://indiancountrymedianetwork.com/news/opinions/open-letter-from-indigenous-women-scholars-regarding-discussions-of-andrea-smith/ …

    
    

    12 DAYS AGO
    
62. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    The second was David Anthony Clark, who said he was Meskwaki (Sac and Fox.) Those two cases led us to write this:  http://www.ais.illinois.edu/research/identity-and-academic-integrity 

    
    

    12 DAYS AGO
    
63. 
    

    Woah. Robert Jago pointed to a 2011 article where Boyden is talking about how he is two spirit....  https://twitter.com/IndigenousXca/status/813351440764796928 … pic.twitter.com/rbh0db4EAp

    
    

    DEBBIE REESE@DEBREESE

    ·

    12 DAYS AGO
    
64. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    I have compassion for Native people who were taken from their families and communities and are holding on to that identity, looking for...

    
    

    12 DAYS AGO
    
65. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    ... their family, their community, their nation. As adults, Smith, Clark, and Boyden read/studied writings on these takings, these policies.

    
    

    12 DAYS AGO
    
66. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    They "know the score" so to speak, on identity and claims to Native identity. They know what it means to make those claims.

    
    

    12 DAYS AGO
    
67. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    Just saw @KimTallBear tweet this thread by a white woman, on Boyden:  https://twitter.com/sarahshulist/status/813441234698014722 …

    
    

    12 DAYS AGO
    
68. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    Re Boyden, this is quite good:  https://peggyblair.wordpress.com/2016/12/26/joseph-boydens-disputed-status-as-indigenous-spokesman-and-why-it-matters/ …

    
    

    12 DAYS AGO
    
69. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    Boyden said ppl mis-heard him when he said he is Nipmuc. Did he not ask those who misrepresented his identity to correct their error?

    
    

    12 DAYS AGO
    
70. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    Here's an example that @jeffdberglund shared earlier today. It is interview from 2005 where reporter said Mi'kmaq.  https://twitter.com/jeffdberglund/status/813486325848424448 …

    
    

    12 DAYS AGO
    
71. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    This is the most painful thread on Boyden and his claims to Native identity, the ways he's been navigating...  https://twitter.com/apihtawikosisan/status/813503205057449984 …

    
    

    12 DAYS AGO
    
72. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    The most recent major news media article on Boyden is by Tristin Hopper at The Province:  http://www.theprovince.com/news/national/98do+think+crazy+horse+checked+warrior+status+cards+fight+over/12594059/story.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter …

    
    

    12 DAYS AGO
    
73. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    If you're reading tweets abt Boyden, you're probably seeing some from ppl who think he can take a DNA test and "settle" this. But, ...

    
    

    12 DAYS AGO
    
74. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    ... that suggestion shows ignorance on part of person making it. DNA testing will not help. Earlier today, @KimTallBear did a long...

    
    

    12 DAYS AGO
    
75. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    ... thread on her experiences w ppl's expectations re Native identity. She also said that a DNA test...

    
    

    12 DAYS AGO
    
76. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    ... wouldn't help re Elizabeth Warren. Same holds true for Boyden:  https://twitter.com/KimTallBear/status/813475847466319872 …

    
    

    12 DAYS AGO
    
77. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    Boyden's THREE DAY ROAD is a WWI story. If you want an alternative, from ppl who are Native, w/o question, get...

    
    

    12 DAYS AGO
    
78. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    TALES OF THE MIGHTY CODE TALKERS: … https://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/2016/12/highly-recommended-tales-of-mighty-code.html …

    
    

    12 DAYS AGO
    
79. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    Good morning (12/27/16)! Ppl in my networks continue to talk abt Joseph Boyden, his claims to Native identity, & why it matters. I am...

    
    

    11 DAYS AGO
    
80. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    ...reading/thinking abt what I read as people weigh in or add to what they've previously said. Here's @innes_rob  https://twitter.com/innes_rob/status/813532328538406912 …

    
    

    11 DAYS AGO
    
81. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    Here's @BigMMusings's thread:  https://twitter.com/BigMMusings/status/813468583942651904 …

    
    

    11 DAYS AGO
    
82. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    Earlier in this long thread on Boyden, I pointed to @adamgaudry. Yesterday he took a look at Boyden's uncle, who Boyden references...

    
    

    11 DAYS AGO
    
83. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    ... a lot, as a means to prove his identity. @adamgaudry's TL on that uncle is excellent:  https://twitter.com/adamgaudry/status/813591251547103232 …

    
    

    11 DAYS AGO
    
84. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    Way back in this thread, I asked ppl to read, think, and NOT to jump in to defend Boyden. Course, his fans have been jumping in everywhere!

    
    

    11 DAYS AGO
    
85. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    In response to Boyden's fans, @justicedanielh did a thread last night that I rec you read:  https://twitter.com/justicedanielh/status/813581012827598848 …

    
    

    11 DAYS AGO
    
86. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    I'll add some thoughts to what Daniel said. If you're not Native or don't read Native news or lit crit of bks abt Native ppl, you're...

    
    

    11 DAYS AGO
    
87. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    ... entering these conversations from a place of ignorance of why identity matters to us. We enter the convo with context that...

    
    

    11 DAYS AGO
    
88. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    ... goes back hundreds of years. For me, it is the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. Catholics/Spanish tried to wipe us/our ways out. We resisted.

    
    

    11 DAYS AGO
    
89. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    You've been educated/socialized to think we were primitive, savage, violent, etc., but we weren't. Some yrs back I started rdg Boyden's...

    
    

    11 DAYS AGO
    
90. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    ... THREE DAY ROAD. It was compelling, but I set it aside. That was when ORENDA came out. I read Native criticism of ORENDA.

    
    

    11 DAYS AGO
    
91. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    See, especially, @Hayden_King's critique:  http://muskratmagazine.com/critical-review-of-joseph-boydens-the-orenda-a-timeless-classic-colonial-alibi/ …

    
    

    11 DAYS AGO
    
92. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    Recently, I read an interview w Boyden. He was asked abt the criticism. I think he misrepresented the criticism, and thereby, dismissed it.

    
    

    11 DAYS AGO
    
93. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    Concerns, as I understood them, were that he affirmed the stereotypical idea of Native ppls as savages. Boyden said that the violence...

    
    

    11 DAYS AGO
    
94. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    ... in his bk was just a few pages. In essence, he denied the fact that those few pages dovetail with the massive, existing imagery of...

    
    

    11 DAYS AGO
    
95. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    ... Native ppl as violent and barbaric. He fed the white expectation. Native ppl said WTF, Boyden, but he waved them away.

    
    

    11 DAYS AGO
    
96. 
    

    Earlier in this thread, I've pointed you to Chelsea Vowel's TL. I've learned a lot from. Get her book.  http://www.portageandmainpress.com/product/indigenous-writes/ …pic.twitter.com/UA4VjcPRB9

    
    

    DEBBIE REESE@DEBREESE

    ·

    11 DAYS AGO
    
97. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    12/28/16, morning: More to add to thread I started 5 days ago on Joseph Boyden. Here's Audra Simpson's comments:  https://twitter.com/RedIndianGirl/status/813859775092035585 …

    
    

    10 DAYS AGO
    
98. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    Last night, ppl were sharing a Litopedia interview. Titled "Joseph Boyden: Who Are You, Really?", it was taped 3 yrs ago, and because...

    
    

    10 DAYS AGO
    
99. 
    

    Debbie Reese@debreese

    ... of the APTN article on Boyden, the Litopedia team decided to share it. Here's the link:  https://litopia.com/joseph-boyden-who-are-you-really/ …

    
    

    10 DAYS AGO
    
100. 
     

     Debbie Reese@debreese

     Boyden walked out of that interview, about halfway thru the 30 minute segment. It is all on the tape... I don't know the show or the...

     
     

     10 DAYS AGO
     
101. 
     

     Debbie Reese@debreese

     ... hosts, but Boyden clearly was not enjoying that interview. If the hosts are always provocative, Boyden shouldn't have agreed to be on!

     
     

     10 DAYS AGO
     
102. 
     

     When @Litopia shared the segment yesterday, they included some context: pic.twitter.com/AC9fuRvA4k

     
     

     DEBBIE REESE@DEBREESE

     ·

     10 DAYS AGO
     
103. 
     

     Debbie Reese@debreese

     Here's a short thread @Litopia did when Boyden walked out of the interview:  https://twitter.com/litopia/status/403532481489424384 …

     
     

     10 DAYS AGO
     
104. 
     

     Debbie Reese@debreese

     See @KimTallBear's thread as she listened to Boyden's interview:  https://twitter.com/KimTallBear/status/813979845587849216 …

     
     

     10 DAYS AGO
     
105. 
     

     Debbie Reese@debreese

     Reporters are tweeting to Boyden, asking him to call them so they can do interviews w him abt this. He's in a hotseat of his own making.

     
     

     10 DAYS AGO
     
106. 
     

     Debbie Reese@debreese

     I've also seen a lot of tweets from Ernie Cray. Last night, he was interviewed abt Boyden:  http://www.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=1024376&playlistId=1.3218874&binId=1.810401&playlistPageNum=1&binPageNum=1 … He's defending Boyden.

     
     

     10 DAYS AGO
     
107. 
     

     Debbie Reese@debreese

     Typo in that last tweet! The man's name is Ernie Crey. His defense of Boyden strikes me as naive. Crey is chief of a FN. I wonder...

     
     

     10 DAYS AGO
     
108. 
     

     Debbie Reese@debreese

     ... would Crey feel that way if Boyden was claiming to be Cheam?

     
     

     10 DAYS AGO
     
109. 
     

     Debbie Reese@debreese

     Another thread to read/study (on Boyden) is this one, from @Kamayaam:  https://twitter.com/Kamayaam/status/813764215534063618 …

     
     

     10 DAYS AGO
     
110. 
     

     Debbie Reese@debreese

     Earlier today, The Globe and Mail published @Hayden_King's opinion piece on Boyden:  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/joseph-boyden-where-are-you-from/article33441604/?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=Referrer:+Social+Network+/+Media&utm_campaign=Shared+Web+Article+Links …

     
     

     10 DAYS AGO
     
111. 
     

     Debbie Reese@debreese

     There's another dimension to the Boyden mess that I haven't included in this thread: Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

     
     

     10 DAYS AGO
     
112. 
     

     Debbie Reese@debreese

     Boyden, as some know, has a high profile and is often asked to deliver lectures on issues specific to Native people.

     
     

     10 DAYS AGO
     
113. 
     

     Debbie Reese@debreese

     He wrote an open letter re investigation/firing of writer, Steven Galloway. @ZoeSTodd was interviewed abt it here:  http://www.quillandquire.com/omni/qa-zoe-todd-on-rape-culture-canlit-and-you/ …

     
     

     10 DAYS AGO
     
114. 
     

     Debbie Reese@debreese

     Just saw that The Walrus has an article up now, about Boyden:  https://thewalrus.ca/why-is-joseph-boydens-indigenous-identity-being-questioned/ …

     
     

     10 DAYS AGO
     
115. 
     

     Debbie Reese@debreese

     That article in The Walrus is by its editor in chief, who I think is pretty ignorant.

     
     

     10 DAYS AGO
     
116. 
     

     Debbie Reese@debreese

     So... major media in Canada is paying attn. I haven't seen anything in US papers. Boyden is on faculty in New Orleans.

     
     

     10 DAYS AGO
     
117. 
     

     Debbie Reese@debreese

     The editor at The Walrus really needs to do some reading. He could start with Kim @KimTallBear's thread:  https://twitter.com/KimTallBear/status/814165113225834496 …

     
     

     10 DAYS AGO
     
118. 
     

     In November, Boyden compared Trump to a trickster. He says some pretty messed up/ignorant things. pic.twitter.com/jzkaAJA5nf

     
     

     DEBBIE REESE@DEBREESE

     ·

     10 DAYS AGO
     
119. 
     

     Debbie Reese@debreese

     Here's the trump/trickster article if you want to see it:  http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/boyden-indigenous-innovation-summit-1.3844277 …

     
     

     10 DAYS AGO
     
120. 
     

     Debbie Reese@debreese

     Earlier today I pointed to an interview Ernie Crey did re Boyden. Here's a response to his points, from @ZoeSTodd:  https://twitter.com/ZoeSTodd/status/814185179698888704 …

     
     

     10 DAYS AGO
     
121. 
     

     Debbie Reese@debreese

     And, looks like there will be a radio segment (or is it TV?) on Boyden tonight:  https://twitter.com/LorenMcGinnis/status/814195607610888192 …

     
     

     10 DAYS AGO
     
122. 
     

     Debbie Reese@debreese

     This interview re Boyden is very good.  http://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-wednesday-edition-1.3914159/joseph-boyden-must-take-responsibility-for-misrepresenting-heritage-says-indigenous-writer-1.3907253 …

     
     

     10 DAYS AGO
     
123. 
     

     Debbie Reese@debreese

     No surprise to see "lynching' and "mob" used to describe Native ppl who speak up in defense of our nations.  http://www.theglobeandmail.com//opinion/joseph-boydens-lynching-should-set-off-alarm-bells/article33444228/?cmpid=rss1&click=sf_globe …

     
     

     9 DAYS AGO
     
124. 
     

     Debbie Reese@debreese

     I wonder if Boyden read Yakabuski's opinion piece in Globe and Mail?  http://www.theglobeandmail.com//opinion/joseph-boydens-lynching-should-set-off-alarm-bells/article33444228/?cmpid=rss1&click=sf_globe … If he did, is he nodding? Or cringing?

     
     

     9 DAYS AGO
     
125. 
     

     Debbie Reese@debreese

     I hope the Boyden fans read Dave Obee's "Boyden Should Clear Up Ancestry Claim."  http://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/columnists/dave-obee-boyden-should-clear-up-ancestry-claim-1.5600362 …

     
     

     9 DAYS AGO
     
126. 
     

     Robert Jago@rjjago

     Is any native man actually employed as a writer at the Globe, Star, Sun, or Post?  https://twitter.com/genrysg/status/814464200714153986 …

     
     

     @debreese
     

     ·

     9 DAYS AGO
     
127. 
     

     Debbie Reese@debreese

     Three of the six controversies in young adult lit have problematic content abt Native ppl:  https://www.bustle.com/articles/198750-the-worst-book-controversies-of-2016-and-what-to-read-in-response … @zlikeinzorro

     
     

     9 DAYS AGO
     
128. 
     

     Debbie Reese@debreese

     Article in Bustle points to controversies in young adult lit. Boyden's THREE DAY ROAD wasn't marketed as being for young adults, but...

     
     

     9 DAYS AGO
     
129. 
     

     Debbie Reese@debreese

     ... given that it is assigned in high schools, I think news stories re Boyden's claims to Native identity is #7 in Bustle article...

     
     

     9 DAYS AGO
     
130. 
     

     Debbie Reese@debreese

     Here's the Bustle article on controversies in young adult lit.  https://www.bustle.com/articles/198750-the-worst-book-controversies-of-2016-and-what-to-read-in-response … Three of the 6 are abt Native content.

     
     

     9 DAYS AGO
     
131. 
     

     John Mark Ockerbloom@JMarkOckerbloom

     Long thread by @debreese on Native identity.  https://twitter.com/debreese/status/812673387415932929 … Upshot: relevant Q not "what's your DNA?" but "what nation claims you?"

     
     

     @debreese
     

     ·

     9 DAYS AGO
     
132. 
     

     The more I items I read abt Boyden, the more I cringe. See @duane_linklater's account here:  http://www.duanelinklater.com/  This is 1st paragraph: pic.twitter.com/HZKN8fDIcM

     
     

     DEBBIE REESE@DEBREESE

     ·

     9 DAYS AGO
     
133. 
     

     Debbie Reese@debreese

     Joseph Boyden is his uncle Erl: a white person who dresses up like he's a Native person, and performs for White people.

     
     

     9 DAYS AGO
     
134. 
     

     Debbie Reese@debreese

     Erl put on a headdress and stood by a tipi. Joseph Boyden puts on words. Performing Indians. Basking in adulation. And yes, doing harm.

     
     

     9 DAYS AGO
     
135. 
     

     Debbie Reese@debreese

     Who is asked to write abt Boyden, and why, is an imp aspect of this mess. @justicedanielh lays it out here:  https://twitter.com/justicedanielh/status/814532448595738624 …

     
     

     9 DAYS AGO
     
136. 
     

     A concise analysis of claims Joseph Boyden has made re his identity:  http://www.canadalandshow.com/things-joseph-boyden-claimed-not/ … pic.twitter.com/nBpDYCDmGX

     
     

     DEBBIE REESE@DEBREESE

     ·

     9 DAYS AGO
     
137. 
     

     Read Tabodondung's POV here:  http://www.cbc.ca/1.3907253  and Yakabuski's here:  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/joseph-boydens-lynching-should-set-off-alarm-bells/article33444228/ … Also, @globeandmail changed... pic.twitter.com/VNsEmoaiDO

     
     

     DEBBIE REESE@DEBREESE

     ·

     9 DAYS AGO
     
138. 
     

     ... its headline. In original, they used "lynching" but have since taken it out. It still shows, tho, in the URL. pic.twitter.com/UVBoLXxORX

     
     

     DEBBIE REESE@DEBREESE

     ·

     9 DAYS AGO
     
139. 
     

     Debbie Reese@debreese

     Early today @tuckeve wrote to Globe and Mail about their use of "lynching" -- here's her tweet abt it:  https://twitter.com/tuckeve/status/814484764254212097 …

     
     

     9 DAYS AGO
     
140. 
     

     Debbie Reese@debreese

     Another article on Boyden. I had to hit translate to read it.  http://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1008363/ecrivain-joseph-boyden-metisse-usurpateur-aptn-autochtone-metis … Cites @apihtawikosisan and @IndigenousXca

     
     

     9 DAYS AGO
     
141. 
     

     Debbie Reese@debreese

     Info I'm tweeting in this thread on Boyden comes from what I see in a twitter search using his name. But also from ppl I follow, such as...

     
     

     9 DAYS AGO
     
142. 
     

     Debbie Reese@debreese

     @apihtawikosisan @IndigenousXca @Hayden_King @justicedanielh@KimTallBear @FancyBebamikawe @innes_rob @rjjago@adamgaudry @AngelaSterritt

     
     

     9 DAYS AGO
     
143. 
     

     Debbie Reese@debreese

     @apihtawikosisan and @adamgaudry. See his newest thread:  https://twitter.com/adamgaudry/status/814589995340234752 …

     
     

     9 DAYS AGO
     
144. 
     

     This account re Boyden's research for THROUGH BLACK SPRUCE is hard to read:  https://lennyshish.wordpress.com/2016/12/30/boyden-i-discovered-a-gold-mine-on-james-bay/ …pic.twitter.com/amu594hpQZ

     
     

     DEBBIE REESE@DEBREESE

     ·

     9 DAYS AGO
     
145. 
     

     Debbie Reese@debreese

     Boyden is far from the first--or last--person to go into a Native community, do research, and walk away and publish things w/o permission.

     
     

     9 DAYS AGO
     
146. 
     

     Debbie Reese@debreese

     There's several examples, here in the US, of white writers teaching or hanging out in Native communities, and then writing stories abt...

     
     

     9 DAYS AGO
     
147. 
     

     Debbie Reese@debreese

     ... that community, and in an Author's Note, talking abt how they were asked to do that, or, abt how they're donating % of profit to...

     
     

     9 DAYS AGO
     
148. 
     

     Debbie Reese@debreese

     ... a Native org. They--and their pals--think that makes them look good, like they're generous. Reality: that's grotesque exploitation.

     
     

     9 DAYS AGO
     
149. 
     

     Debbie Reese@debreese

     When I point that out, friends of those white people flock to my blog and defend those writers. Those writers get spun as the victim.

     
     

     9 DAYS AGO
     
150. 
     

     Debbie Reese@debreese

     And, those writers and their editors whisper "Debbie Reese hates white people." It'd be amusing if there weren't so many of them out...

     
     

     9 DAYS AGO
     
151. 
     

     Debbie Reese@debreese

     ... there, consoling each other and doing the same old thing year after year.

     
     

     9 DAYS AGO
     
152. 
     

     Debbie Reese@debreese

     Do make sure you read Lenny Carpenter's post on Boyden.  https://lennyshish.wordpress.com/2016/12/30/boyden-i-discovered-a-gold-mine-on-james-bay/ … Boyden saying he discovered a gold mine... WTF.

     
     

     9 DAYS AGO
     
153. 
     

     Debbie Reese@debreese

     Ah! Check out this article abt f'ed up headline in Globe and Mail abt Boyden being "lynched."  https://www.pressprogress.ca/the_globe_and_mail_has_officially_published_canada_worst_headline_of_2016 … h/t @KimTallBear

     
     

     9 DAYS AGO
     
154. 
     

     Debbie Reese@debreese

     Boyden, his claims, and ppl who feel compassion for him getting challenged are causing harm they either don't understand or care about...

     
     

     9 DAYS AGO
     
155. 
     

     Debbie Reese@debreese

     See this thread, from @FancyBebamikawe. Read with care, and think, about what she's saying:  https://twitter.com/FancyBebamikawe/status/814621803842859008 … and then revisit...

     
     

     9 DAYS AGO
     
156. 
     

     Debbie Reese@debreese

     ... that love-of-Boyden. That love is in the way, causing hurt and pain, perpetuating ignorance, exploitation.

     
     

     9 DAYS AGO
     
157. 
     

     Debbie Reese@debreese

     5 AM, Dec 30, 2016: Convo's re Joseph Boyden's claim to Native identity continue. First item I read today is by Jordan Wheeler...

     
     

     8 DAYS AGO
     
158. 
     

     Debbie Reese@debreese

     Here's his article: ttp://www.cbc.ca/1.3915934 Did you note @JordWheel's ref to his mom? I love her bks! … https://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/2011/10/lesson-plan-where-did-you-get-your.html …

     
     

     8 DAYS AGO
     
159. 
     

     Debbie Reese@debreese

     I've seen tweets that q's re Boyden's claims may hurt those who were taken from family. This thread addresses that:  https://twitter.com/CotySavard/status/814639276759531520 …

     
     

     8 DAYS AGO
     
160. 
     

     Debbie Reese@debreese

     Vice News Canada has an article up now, on Boyden:  https://news.vice.com/story/controversy-over-canadian-author-joseph-boydens-indigenous-roots-isnt-about-blood … Cites @KimTallBear @aaronpaquette@rjjago

     
     

     8 DAYS AGO
     
161. 
     

     Another article from Globe and Mail, about Boyden:  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/why-the-facts-behind-joseph-boydens-fiction-matter/article33454930/?cmpid=rss1 … pic.twitter.com/vBZm4W5mf9

     
     

     DEBBIE REESE@DEBREESE

     ·

     8 DAYS AGO
     
162. 
     

     Debbie Reese@debreese

     In this article,  https://news.vice.com/story/controversy-over-canadian-author-joseph-boydens-indigenous-roots-isnt-about-blood …, Frank Busch defends Boyden. Here is a response to Busch:  https://twitter.com/RedIndianGirl/status/814878105764499456 …

     
     

     8 DAYS AGO
     
163. 
     

     "What Colour is Your Beadwork, Joseph Boyden" asks @RMComedy:  https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/what-colour-is-your-beadwork-joseph-boyden … Ryan McMahon's piece is one of the must-reads. pic.twitter.com/4soBGPsOMV

     
     

     DEBBIE REESE@DEBREESE

     ·

     8 DAYS AGO
     
164. 
     

     Letter by @teikanewton "Here's how Joseph Boyden reinforced system oppression of First Nations."  http://www.nationalobserver.com/2016/12/30/opinion/heres-how-joseph-boyden-reinforced-systemic-oppression-first-nations …pic.twitter.com/72I4MORGsJ

     
     

     DEBBIE REESE@DEBREESE

     ·

     8 DAYS AGO
     
165. 
     

     Debbie Reese@debreese

     Adding another thread by Dr. Chris Anderson (@BigMMusings) that breaks down the q's re blood/blood quantum & Boyden  https://twitter.com/BigMMusings/status/814903632483287041 …

     
     

     8 DAYS AGO
     
166. 
     

     MEDIA INDIGENA@mediaINDIGENA

     PODCAST—Why 2016 a breakout year for empowering Indigenous media arts + activism; #JosephBoyden's identity questions  http://mediaindigena.libsyn.com/ep-43-indigenous-look-back-at-2016-joseph-boydens-identity-questions …

     
     

     @debreese
     

     ·

     8 DAYS AGO
     
167. 
     

     Debbie Reese@debreese

     In addition to @CBCIndigenous articles on Boyden, take time to listen to radio interview with Rebeka Tabobondung:  http://www.cbc.ca/listen/shows/as-it-happens/segment/11266887 …

     
     

     7 DAYS AGO
     
168. 
     

     Debbie Reese@debreese

     Tabobondung: Those who speak abt Native issues must be people who are grounded in that area/community.

     
     

     7 DAYS AGO
     
169. 
     

     Debbie Reese@debreese

     Without that grounding, she says, interpretations of that ppl's history can have negative consequences that perpetuate negative stereotypes.

     
     

     7 DAYS AGO
     
170. 
     

     Debbie Reese@debreese

     Yesterday, @aaronpaquette did a thread on the who-can-speak question, too:  https://twitter.com/aaronpaquette/status/815015649055571968 …

     
     

     7 DAYS AGO
     
171. 
     

     Debbie Reese@debreese

     Tabobondung talked abt problems in interpretation of a community not ones own. Terri Monture's rev of Boyden's ORENDA...@RedIndianGirl

     
     

     7 DAYS AGO
     
172. 
     

     Debbie Reese@debreese

     gets at what Tabobondung was talking about:  http://redindiangirl.blogspot.com/2013/09/in-which-i-review-joseph-boydens-orenda.html … @RedIndianGirl

     
     

     7 DAYS AGO
     
173. 
     

     Lee maracle@MaracleLee

     What Colour Is Your Beadwork, Joseph Boyden?  https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/what-colour-is-your-beadwork-joseph-boyden … via @vicecanada

     
     

     @debreese
     

     ·

     7 DAYS AGO
     
174. 
     

     Kathryn Para@paracommunicate

     Joseph Boyden: From Frying Pan to Fire | MELANIE LEFEBVRE #josephboyden #ubcaccountable #canlit  https://melanielefebvre.com/2016/12/30/joseph-boyden-from-frying-pan-to-fire/ …

     
     

     @debreese
     

     ·

     6 DAYS AGO
     
175. 
     

     Debbie Reese@debreese

     4:07, Jan 2, 2017: RT'ing items from Jan 1 and Jan 2, on Joseph Boyden, to add to the Storify I started on Dec 24th. Here's @RachelAnnSnow:  https://twitter.com/RachelAnnSnow/status/815562677887995905 …

     
     

     5 DAYS AGO
     
176. 
     

     Native Lit & Culture@NDNLit

     My thoughts on the @josephboyden uproar for whatever it’s worth:  https://dragswolf.org/journal/on-joseph-boyden …

     
     

     @debreese
     

     ·

     5 DAYS AGO
     
177. 
     

     Maria Morrison@firstnationbook

     How #JosephBoyden ’s claims to Indigeneity affect us all via Ricochet  https://ricochet.media/en/1609/how-joseph-boydens-claims-to-indigeneity-affect-us-all …

     
     

     @debreese
     

     ·

     5 DAYS AGO
     

     REPLYRETWEETFAVORITE

Part Two: (in process) 

January 2, 2017

• Albert W. McLoad's letter in response to Boyden's definition of Two-Spirit

January 3, 2017

• Sadie-Phoenix Lavoie and Jacqueline Pellend, Joseph Boyden's Identity Crisis: Women's voices on determining identity at Deprogrammed
• Danielle Paradis, Joseph Boyden's indigenous controversy part of 'broader structural problem' at Toronto Metro
• Wab Kinew's There is room in our circle for Joseph Boyden at The Globe and Mail

January 4, 2017

• Wab Kinew, 'I think he should be completely upfront about his ancestry' at APTN

•  Terry Glavin, The unbearable whiteness of Joseph Boyden's Aboriginal identity controversy at National Post
• Thohahoken, Boyden an example of how the winners get to write the history at Two Row Times
• Rachel A. Snow, Staying Silent at Two Row Times

January 5, 2017

• Terese Marie Mailhot's Tell Joseph Boyden You Can't Sell 'Indian' Like A Souvenir at Huffpost Canada
• Ryan McMahon, on Joseph Boyden: Two Worlds, Two Debates, at CanadaLand (also has links to items)
• Wab Kinew, Lee Maracle, and Kim TallBear on Indigenous identity and the case of Joseph Boyden on The Current, at CBC Radio
• Clayton Thomas-Muller and Mona Moquin, Indigenous identity panel at CBC InfoRadio
• Editorial, Profiting from identity politics, Winnipeg Free Press

January 6, 2017

• Aaron Paquette's The Struggle for Joseph Boyden
• Marsha Lederman's Amid heritage controversy, heavyweights stand by Joseph Boyden in The Globe and Mail
• Editorial, The Spectator's View: In defence of Joseph Boyden at Hamilton Spectator
• Doug George-Kanentiio's Author Joseph Boyden exploits mythical Native identity at Indianz
• Daniel Heath Justice's thread on Twitter, starting at 12:58 PM
• Dawn Marie's storify, Things to consider on self-identification

January 8, 2017

• Stephen Kimber's Who is Joseph Boyden, and does the answer matter? in Halifax Examiner
• Zoe Todd's Métis legal traditions, reciprocity and the curious case of consumable identity
• Ryan McMahon, on The National panel, "Taking on an identity: The Joseph Boyden debate"

• Karen McCall's How the Headlines Covered the Controversy Over Joseph Boyden's Heritage at Ryerson Review of Journalism

January 9, 2016

• Terese Mailhot's Natives Joseph Boyden, Natives Don't Get Pity at Indian Country Today

January 10, 2017

• Robert Jago's The Boyden Controversy Is Not about Bloodline at The Walrus

January 11, 2017

• Russell Diabo's Why Joseph Boyden's ancestry matters at CBC News Ontario Today
• Jessica Wong's Joseph Boyden sorry 'for taking too much of the airtime' on Indigenous issues at CBC News Entertainment
• Cheryl Toney Holley's Award Winning Canadian Author Claims that Dartmouth Indians are Really Nipmuck?  

.... pausing the bulleted list to note that Boyden finally responded to the many questions...

• Candy Palmater's Full interview: Joseph Boyden on his heritage at CBC radio's 'q with Tom Power' 
• Joseph Boyden's Statement by Joseph Boyden at CNW (Canada News Wire)
• Mark Medley's report of interview, Boyden admits to mistakes, backs down as indigenous spokesperson at The Globe and Mail

... back to the bulleted list, which--from here--is primarily responses to Boyden's remarks. When this started back in December, the headline on the APTN article had "shape shifting identity" in it. As some of these responses indicate, he's shifting his stories now. Previously, he said his family never talked about their Native ancestry, now--he says--they talked about it all his life, from his birth, even, telling stories. 

• Adam Gaudry's thread on Twitter, listening to/analyzing Boyden's interview
• Robert Jago's thread on Twitter, listening to/analyzing Boyden's interview
• Fancy Bebamikawe's thread on Twitter, on Boyden's interview
• Aaron Paquette's thread on Twitter, in response to Boyden's interview 
• Damien Lee's thread on Twitter, about adoption/Boyden's words about being adopted

January 12, 2017

• APTN's Author Joseph Boyden launches PR push to counter controversy 
• Tim Fontaine's Joseph Boyden's first interview 'a start' but leaves unanswered questions at CBC News/Indigenous 
• Nigel Irwin's Joseph Boyden's Apology and the Strange History of 'Pretendians' at Vice
• Marilyn Jensen's radio interview, Yukon First Nation instructor speaks on Joseph Boyden and identity, at CBC Yukon

...pausing the list again, to note that:

1) Boyden's publisher (Penguin Random House in Canada), and his editor (Nicole Winstanley) voiced support for Boyden. Major publishers like Penguin are huge corporations. Integrity of writing or author does not matter. If it did, Simon and Schuster would not be publishing the White supremacist, Milo Yiannopoulos. It will make a lot of money for its publisher. Boyden's books make a lot of money for Penguin.  

2) The Tozer's, who Boyden referenced in his 1/12/17 interview with Candy Palmater, also issued a statement of support. William and Pamela Tozer are Moose Cree, and run Camp Onakawana, near Moosonee, Ontario. In 2014 (article linked below), Boyden wrote about the camp and said that William Tozer is the inspiration for Uncle Will Bird, a character in Boyden's Through Blue Spruce.

• Penguin Books Canada, on Twitter, We are proud to publish Joseph Boyden
• Nicole Winstanley, Boyden's editor, on Twitter, I've known Joseph Boyden to be a person of integrity 
• Pamela Tozer's post on Facebook, We are the Tozer family. 

... resuming the list:

• Victoria Ahearn's Joseph Boyden statements on indigenous roots too vague, say academics at The Province

January 13, 2017

• Jorge Barrera's interview of Ryan McMahon on Nation to Nation: Boyden, Fonda and Labrador Land Defenders (video broadcast on Jan 12).
• Ian Austen's A Voice for Indigenous Canadians Defends His Claim to Be One at The New York Times
• News Brief, Reaction to Joseph Boyden's New Interviews at CanadaLand
• Chelsea Vowel's response, on Twitter, to the article in The New York Times are important corrections to some of the content in the article
• Hayden King's response, on Twitter, to the New York Times article on Boyden corrects errors therein
• David Newhouse's How to evaluate Joseph Boyden's claim to ancestry in The Toronto Star
• Rick Salutin's The Boyden affair just got murkier in The Toronto Star
• CBC News item First Nations filmmaker in Manitoba adopting Joseph Boyden as her brother at CBC News/Indigenous
• Peggy Blair's The Inconsistencies in Joseph Boyden's Various Backgrounds
• Alicia Elliot's Twitter thread on Boyden, CanLit accountability, and PR (Note: she was the host for the IndigenousXca account when she wrote that thread for that account)

January 14, 2017

• The Canadian Encyclopedia has added information about Boyden's identity and his role in the Galloway letter to its entry on Joseph Boyden [note: I'm inserting it here, but the "last edit" date for it is Jan 7]
• Doug Cuthand's There is room in the tent for Joseph Boyden  at Saskatoon StarPhoenix

... Daniel Heath Justice shared an article from 2013 in which Boyden makes a claim to being Wendat. So far as I recall, that claim had not been written about. Here's a photo from the article, with the final paragraph pasted beneath the photo:

... Daniel Heath Justice's thread on Twitter, regarding that Wendat claim

• Tanya Talaga's Joseph Boyden's identity crisis opens us questions on who is part of a community at The Star

January 15 2017

• BC Metis Federation's Coffee Talk on Jan 15 (at 10 minute mark the hosts discuss Boyden)

January 16, 2017

• Shree Paradkar's Oh, Please. Joseph Boyden not the victim in indigenous ancestry saga at The Star
• Nickita Longman and Wab Kinew at Who Speaks for Indigenous Causes at Native America Calling
• Shaneen Robinson's report at APTN, "He has agreed to be my brother"/Why Lisa Meeches is adopting Joseph Boyden

January 18, 2017

• National News at APTN, University professor cutting Joseph Boyden novels
• Jeremy Simes, Edmonton cancels Joseph Boyden appearance in February at Edmonton Metro
• Sue Carter's Joseph Boyden's post-TRC conference keynote cancelled, at Quill & Quire

Reviews by People of the 

Native Communities Boyden's Books Depict

Three Day Road, published in 2005 by Viking Penguin

Through Blue Spruce, published in 2009 by Viking Penguin

• Lenny Carpenter's Boyden: 'I discovered a gold mine on James Bay'

The Orenda, published in 2013 by Penguin Random House

• Hayden King's Critical Review of Joseph Boyden's The Orenda: A Timeless, Classic, Colonial Alibi
• Terri Monture's In Which I Review Joseph Boyden's The Orenda