American Indian Education: Counternarratives in Racism, Struggle, and the Law (review)

The framework of this book is Critical Race Theory (CRT); the method is storytelling. Stories told in CRT are those that the express non-mainstream experiences—hence the term “counternarrative.” The eight narratives in this book are told through the experiences of members of the fictional Lake Matchimanitou Band (LMB) of Ottawa in Michigan. With the exception of Chapter 4, the narratives are based on actual “legal or quasilegal proceedings” (p. 8). All of the stories involve education and the oppression, marginalization, and racism that the characters experience. The narratives in this book hit so close to home for me that I had to go for a walk several times while I was reading this text. I, my family, or someone whom I know, has had similar experiences.

The introduction provides an overview of U.S. policies toward American Indians. Educational policies were all tied to assimilation, a form of removal—removal of culture and language. In addition to this accessible overview is the connection to storytelling and Indigenous people, counternarratives in CRT, and an introduction to the fictional characters in the book. The White community controls the schools and economy in the setting of this book. CRT is not explained.

Chapter 1, “Commodifying Indian Students and Sports Mascots: The Lake Matchimanitou Warriors” is about a pee-wee all-Indian football team that wins every game yet is prevented from becoming league champions, and the White high school’s caricatured Native American warrior mascot. This chapter introduces Parker Roberts, a woman who argues against the offensive mascot.

Chapter 2, “Burying Indian Histories in the Curriculum: The American History Teacher,” takes place after Parker has completed her education and lands a job teaching history at Lake Matchimanitou High School. Parker attempts to change the curriculum by infusing it with local American Indian history, an attempt thwarted by the school board.

Chapter 3, “Criminal Injustice and Demonizing Indian Students: The American Indian Student,” concerns the unfair treatment high school students experience at the high school. The vice principal hands out suspensions and “affidavits” without investigation, turning American Indian students over to the local police. Suspension and drop-out data tell a tale of racism.

Chapter 4, “Intergenerational Character of Indian Experiences in Education: Niko Roberts on the Ice” is what Fletcher calls an “interlude,” a short story that fills in important details about Parker and her son, Niko, the value of education in this family, and Niko’s experience as an American Indian college student.

In Chapter 5, “Indian Academic Fraud: The Terrible Tribe,” Niko and his football star cousin, Gil Ogema, are college students. Gil joins a secret society called “the Terrible Tribe” housed on the campus. Niko and a friend oppose the university’s support of the “Tribe,” a club of very powerful non-Native men who mock American Indian culture as they “play Indian.”

Chapter 6, “Indian Literary Fraud: Vann Logan’s Novel” is about academic fraud. Logan, a non-Native writer, appropriates the perspective of Niko’s tribe and is exposed by one of Niko’s non-Native English professors, who is familiar with Logan’s deception. This chapter explores the explosive topic of American Indian identity and also introduces Niko’s grandfather, Toledo Marks, a full-blood, who long ago fled his community and family.

In Chapter 7, “Indian Cultural Restoration: Toledo Marks’s Return,” Niko is a lawyer representing his community. Marks, as one of the last traditional pipe carriers, conducts a cultural presentation of the pipe at a public school. The school sues Marks and the school district for First Amendment violations.

Chapter 8, “Indian Political Resurgence and Affirmative Action: The Lake Matchimanitou Indian School,” takes place in the future. The private Lake Matchimanitou Indian School, limited to indigenous students, is an extraordinary success, but slowly the non-Native community begins to replace the students, administration, and faculty, resulting in a U.S. Supreme Court case regarding race...