Let’s read together: The Night Watchman
“If you should ever doubt that a series of dry words in a government document can shatter spirits and demolish lives, let this book erase that doubt. Conversely, if you should be of the conviction that we are powerless to change those dry words, let this book give you heart.” ― Louise Erdrich, The Night Watchman
This week we open the pages of National Book Award winner, The Night Watchman. Louise Erdrich’s latest novel is an exquisite fictional narrative inspired by her grandfather’s real-life role in resisting the federal termination of his Tribe by the congress of 1953.
Erdrich, a member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, captures the story of the main character, Thomas, and his fight for his Tribe’s very right to exist — set against the backdrop of a searing rural North Dakota landscape.
While this novel is fiction, there is nothing fictional about the “emancipation acts,” the congressional efforts to strip Tribes of their federal recognition. These laws and policies were enacted from the mid-1940s to the mid-1960s and resulted in over one hundred tribes being terminated and 1,362,155 acres of Native American land sold off. In an interview with NPR, Erdrich speaks about this termination:
“Termination was a way to finally resolve what Congress thought of as the Indian problem, and that would be to move everyone off reservation land. . .turn over their land, sell their land, move everyone to cities. And the most important part in doing that was to abrogate all treaties…to acquire the lands that, in many cases, were covered with some of the most beautiful stands of virgin forest in the country…which they did.”
We don’t have to look far to see this story retold. As a result of the Western Oregon Indian Termination Act of 1954, the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde and the Confederated Tribes of the Siletz Indians and 59 other Tribes were terminated. This act severed the trust relationship between the government and the Tribes, and the long road to repair this exploitation continues to this day.
As we learn and understand more deeply the many stories of the first people for whom Willamette Falls and its natural surroundings were home since time immemorial, we are brought back to Erdrich’s exhortation, that even as dry words in a government document can “shatter spirits,” we are not “powerless to change those dry words.” We envision the future of Willamette Falls as a place where people can gather together in hope and a common goal to change those dry words.
You can order a copy from Oregon City’s White Rabbit Gifts at Black Ink Coffee. They will deliver within a ten-mile radius. Place your order at: whiterabbitinformation@gmail.com.
As we continue to stay home and save lives, we’d love to know how you experience this wonderful novel—leave your thoughts on our Facebook page or by replying to this email. We’d love to hear from you.
