Yes, But Who Am I?
"Whiskey Tender" is Deborah Jackson Taffa's search for her identity as a mixed tribe native girl. Her father is Quechan/Laguna, and her mother is a devout Hispanic Catholic. This is not a story of a girl soaking in the stories handed down by her family, she had to fight through their reluctance to speak of the things they had endured: tales of the treatment suffered in the Indian residential boarding schools and, as she said, "the shame: the silence that follows an apocalypse."
In addition to the struggles for support within the family, her identity was beset by social confusion. Born on the Yuma, California Reservation, the family moved to Farmington, New Mexico, where her father could find the work he was trained for. Leaving the reservation was tantamount to betrayal or desertion in the eyes of her father's people. Farmington is on the northeast border of the Navajo Nation and there was a resistance against full acceptance of Quechan blood and tradition. The Hispanic population did not see Deborah's family as their own, either. As for the white attitude, Farmington had just been the scene of protests following the "Indian rolling" kidnapping and murdering of three native men by three high school students.
This confusing attempt to grasp identity while being sent mixed signals reminded me of "If I Survive You" by Jonathan Escoffery, a novel shortlisted for the 2023 Booker Prize. A main theme of that book involves the denial of acceptance by those the protagonist is drawn to. Escoffery's character is a young Jamaican immigrant, rejected by Jamaican islanders just as soundly as he is rejected by every other group in his new home.
This is a fascinating portrait of where Native Americans look to find themselves today, told through one woman's coming of age in an America which has tried so hard to whitewash out her heritage. I love the relationship she conveys with her father. I am touched by the distance she and her mother try so hard to bridge. A wonderful book addressing life from the family to the nation.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
"Whiskey Tender" is Deborah Jackson Taffa's search for her identity as a mixed tribe native girl. Her father is Quechan/Laguna, and her mother is a devout Hispanic Catholic. This is not a story of a girl soaking in the stories handed down by her family, she had to fight through their reluctance to speak of the things they had endured: tales of the treatment suffered in the Indian residential boarding schools and, as she said, "the shame: the silence that follows an apocalypse."
In addition to the struggles for support within the family, her identity was beset by social confusion. Born on the Yuma, California Reservation, the family moved to Farmington, New Mexico, where her father could find the work he was trained for. Leaving the reservation was tantamount to betrayal or desertion in the eyes of her father's people. Farmington is on the northeast border of the Navajo Nation and there was a resistance against full acceptance of Quechan blood and tradition. The Hispanic population did not see Deborah's family as their own, either. As for the white attitude, Farmington had just been the scene of protests following the "Indian rolling" kidnapping and murdering of three native men by three high school students.
This confusing attempt to grasp identity while being sent mixed signals reminded me of "If I Survive You" by Jonathan Escoffery, a novel shortlisted for the 2023 Booker Prize. A main theme of that book involves the denial of acceptance by those the protagonist is drawn to. Escoffery's character is a young Jamaican immigrant, rejected by Jamaican islanders just as soundly as he is rejected by every other group in his new home.
This is a fascinating portrait of where Native Americans look to find themselves today, told through one woman's coming of age in an America which has tried so hard to whitewash out her heritage. I love the relationship she conveys with her father. I am touched by the distance she and her mother try so hard to bridge. A wonderful book addressing life from the family to the nation.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
