This is my second book this year about the plight of the Lakota Sioux. The first was fiction One Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus. Good Friday on the Rez by David Hugh Bunnell is non-fiction. Both are difficult to read.
Bunnell’s story is a combination of memoir, travelogue, and history. Bunnell, not native America, lived near the reservation growing up and returned later to teach high school at a reservation school. The narrative arc is years later when visiting his family. He drives to the reservation to visit an old friend and observes how the reservation has changed and stayed the same. The bars are a constant, but the schools are better.
His recollections are intertwined with history. Most of the history is bad: massacres, boarding schools (“Kill the Indians, Save the Man), broken treaties, land grabs, racism, and abuse. In 1972, a couple of drunk white guys murdered Raymond Yellow Thunder for no reason. This is history, but Bunnell was there. His recollections are vivid and disturbing.
If you are interested in the plight of the Native Americans in and around the Dakotas, most recently in the news protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline, this book gives the story with the extra impact of someone who was there.
Check out https://amazon.com/shop/influencer-20171115075 for book recommendations.
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