Good morning. I am the author of Bitterroot: A Salish Memoir of Transracial adoption. It was won in the Creative Nonfiction AND Indigenous Writer categories of the High Plains Book Festival in 2019 and was a finalist in the Colorado Book Festival, in that same year as well.
I'm bringing it to your attention because it is not merely a book about my life, but my life placed into the context of history, policy, and social and cultural boundaries. All are important for indigenous people to understand, because the fracturing continues to happen, especially with the removal of children and placing them into non-Native homes. The argument I make is that this kind of fracturing didn't just affect me, it affected my bio family, with whom I've connected, and my tribal relations, and general conversations of who is "real", who is "authentic" and what this means in the long-term for tribes and nations. It means through legal and political means, too many people are attempting to water us down so we cease to exist as a recognized people. Which means treaties will not have to be honored, and land can be taken away and sold off for profit - and it's the historical cycle of American Indian genocide all over again.
I am a member of the Confederated Salish Kootenai Tribes, a cultural anthropologist who has lectured nationally and internationally on the subject of American Indian child removal. I would appreciate it if you consider this book in your search to understand American Indian history.
I'm bringing it to your attention because it is not merely a book about my life, but my life placed into the context of history, policy, and social and cultural boundaries. All are important for indigenous people to understand, because the fracturing continues to happen, especially with the removal of children and placing them into non-Native homes. The argument I make is that this kind of fracturing didn't just affect me, it affected my bio family, with whom I've connected, and my tribal relations, and general conversations of who is "real", who is "authentic" and what this means in the long-term for tribes and nations. It means through legal and political means, too many people are attempting to water us down so we cease to exist as a recognized people. Which means treaties will not have to be honored, and land can be taken away and sold off for profit - and it's the historical cycle of American Indian genocide all over again.
I am a member of the Confederated Salish Kootenai Tribes, a cultural anthropologist who has lectured nationally and internationally on the subject of American Indian child removal. I would appreciate it if you consider this book in your search to understand American Indian history.
All my best,
Susan Devan Harness