- Vine Deloria Jr., author of "Custer Died for Your Sins"
Vine Deloria Jr. could inspire me to hero worship, even though he once told me to get the hell out of his office.
Although he's a revered icon in the universe of indigenous thought and perspective, some might ask, "Who is Vine Deloria?"
The short answer: legal scholar, historian, theologian, social critic, humorist, academician and author of 20 books. And from Time magazine: one of the greatest religious minds of the 20th century.
Now Deloria is being honored with the 2005 American Indian Visionary Award. He'll accept the title March 2 at the National Press Club in Washington. The award will be presented by Indian Country Today, the country's leading newspaper dedicated to Native news. Its Web site, www.indiancountry.com, features a half-dozen wide-ranging essays detailing his life and work.
A prolific writer, Deloria has enlightened tens of thousands of readers through his essays and legal studies. Several of his books - "God is Red," "Red Earth, White Lies," "American Indians, American Justice," "Evolution, Creationism, and Other Modern Myths" - line my bookshelves.
Fortunately, I've had more than his books to read. As a journalism student at the University of Colorado at Boulder, I was able to take his classes before he retired from the history department.
I can still hear him lecturing - I recorded a number of the class sessions - and I can easily picture him standing with a cigarette in hand, puffs of smoke matching his then-trademark gray sweatshirt. I used to imagine his closet filled with dozens of sweatshirts and black jeans.
I'm sure he would have preferred I think more about the Treaty of Ghent.
As for treaties, well, that's what led to me getting kicked out of his office. As an undergraduate student, the work assigned in his graduate-level history class more than rivaled my entire course load. I was trying to buy some time for a paper that was due.
He would have none of it.
I wasn't easily dissuaded.
Neither was he.
Case dismissed. I was looking at the door. As I was about to leave, I was thinking, "I don't even want to go to your class today."
He must have read me like a book. He looked at me and said: "And don't come to class. Get over to the library. You're a journalist. Start writing."
I finished the paper on time. That was the first class I had with him, and I took every course I could from him thereafter.
When I recently learned about his 2005 American Indian Visionary award, I doubted I had enough time to finish this column for the weekend papers. I dismissed the thought. I told myself, "I'm a journalist. I'll just start writing."
Still, there is some trepidation in telling a short story about a man whose writing career spans three decades, whose influence spills from one generation to the next and will likely shower generations to come.
That gave me all the more reason to write. Despite his intellectual prowess, one that rivals contemporaries like John Kenneth Galbraith, Laurence Tribe or Seymour Hersh, most people likely know more about them than Deloria.
I asked my husband - who's enjoyed talking with Deloria about philosophy, oral tradition, scientific theory and Immanuel Velikovsky - why the venerated Lakota from South Dakota wasn't known to more people.
"Because he's Indian," he said.
The answer reflects a larger truth, one Deloria has devoted a lifetime to exploring and explaining. In doing so, he's busted through dark corridors to illuminate the historical and contemporary relationship of Native peoples to Western theory and philosophy.
Although he is admired by many, it's easy to picture people shielding themselves with crosses should Deloria cross their path. He's unafraid of conflict and quick to challenge the status quo. Those attributes solidly define his character, on which he's built an indomitable reputation.
For as much as he's laid the groundwork for the present-day Native intelligentsia, he's long been committed to informing the larger public about the lives and dreams of Native people who are consistently trampled by those who would help them, he writes in "Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto."
The Native burden shared by every generation, he writes, lies in "correcting misconceptions and calling attitudes to account." The remedy lies in "keeping American Indians before the American public and on the American domestic agenda."
Jodi Rave covers Native issues for Lee Enterprises. Reach her at 1-800-366-7186 or jodi.rave@lee.net.
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