LITR 4332 American Minority Literature
Poetry Presentation 2008

Tuesday, 7 October: Poetry presentation: Albert Gazeley, "The Cry of the Native American"

Reader: LeChelle Walker

The Cry of The Native American

Albert Gazeley

We were here first

(i-gv-ya o-gi-lu-tsv a-ha-ni)

Maybe the Cherokee cry

But we wanted their land

So they had to die

 

How could their rights

 

Have been explained?

 

The bow and arrow -

 

Against the gun ordained?

 

We took their homes -

 

(Do-ge-nv-sv do-ge-gi-gi-e-lv)

 

They were mostly dead - when the deeds were done

 

What was theirs is ours - Yes! we have won

 

They had to die - we had no choice

 

Their punishment for owning - our land first

 

The Indians had been the custodians of the land.

 

(a-ni-yv-wi-ya o-s-da i-yu-nv-na-de-ga ga-do-hi)

 

But the cowboy turned the pastures into sand

 

And buffalo herds - very soon were damned

 

Sustainability was more the Indians way

 

a-ni-yv-wi-ya u-nv-sv a-na-li-s-de-li-s-gv.

 

But luxury to excess was more our “cup of tea”

 

We brought the Indians smallpox, pollution and T.B.

 

After two hundred years we now see our wrongs

 

And we begin to listen to the Indian Songs

 

na-quu-no a-nv-da-di-s-do-di-quu i-ga

 

di-ga-ka-no-gi-s-do-di a-le i-ga-da

 

da-ni-na-s-da-tli tsu-na-ni-gi-da.

 

But sadly most of their tribes are gone

 

Now in the souvenir shops throughout the U.S.A

 

Indian proverbs are on display

 

Pictures of Geronimo, Sitting Bull and Chief Joseph

 

Are sought by tourists looking for proverbs and Indian motifs

 

Sayings of American Presidents are not bought

 

But Chief Red Cloud of the Sioux is eagerly sought

 

Why do we see the wisdom -- yet our ancestors couldn't?

 

Or is it that they could -- but wouldn't

 

The American Indians say

 

“There is one God looking down on us all”

 

(sa-quu u-ne-la-nv-hi)

 

Has the Native American salvation come at last

 

And will the “Great One” now be just?

 

 

 

 

Albert Gazeley – a folk poetry writer, not a lot of personal information found

 

Connects to:

 

Objective 1b – Voiceless vs. Choiceless

 

“So they had to die” – show’s determination/forcefulness of white man

 

“They had to die- we had no choice” –interesting that the white man felt there was no choice, in contrast, the Native American felt the same.

 

Objective 5b – Loss and Survival

5b. Native American Indian alternative narrative: "Loss and Survival"

  • Dominant / immigrant culture leaves its past behind to gain rights and opportunities--the American Dream.

  •  For Indians, the American Dream of immigration is the American Nightmare, creating an undeniable narrative of loss: the native people were once “the Americans” but lost most of their people, land, rights, and opportunities.

  • Despite these terrible losses, Native Americans defy the myth of "the vanishing Indian," choosing to "survive," sometimes in faith that the dominant culture will eventually destroy itself, and the forests and buffalo will return.

  • The American dominant culture usually writes only half of the Indians' story, romanticizing their loss (e. g., The Last of the Mohicans) and ignoring the Indians who adapt and survive.

 

               “We took their homes”

 

               “We brought the Indians smallpox, pollution and T.B.”

 

               “Has the Native American salvation come at last”

 

These above passages demonstrate what the Native American lost. Perhaps the last line turns us to believe that survival is hopeful.

 

Can also relate the Native American to the American nightmare (loss of people, land, rights vs. gaining)

 

 

Questions:

1. In what other areas of the poem can we find the Voiceless vs. Choiceless objective? What about the Loss and Survival objective?

 

2. What do you think was the author’s intent was for writing the poem from a white man's perceptive?

 

3. How does the Native American poetry similar and different from African American poetry?

 

 

 

Instructor's question(s):

How does the poem represent the Indians as a minority?

Not just in victimization but also in expression--?

 

 

Objective 6: Minorities and Language

To study minority writers' and speakers' experiences with literacy & influence on literature and language.

6b. To emphasize how all speakers and writers use literary devices such as narrative and figures of speech.

6c. To discover literature's power to express the minority voice and vicariously share minority experience.

6e. To note variations of standard English by minority writers and speakers.