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“How did he take that?”
“Not well. He threatened to destroy my career.”
“Clearly he didn’t succeed,” Adam stated.
“No, because I had Jane.” I gave him a long look. “I’m not stupid. I know Jane isn’t the best human being in this world, but she worked her magic then like she’s done a ton of other times. Hollywood is all about alliances and luckily Jane knew his wife well. When I told Jane about his threats of destroying my career, she was so pissed that she called him and threatened to destroy his family.”
“Wow. Talk about a toxic environment,” Adam muttered.
“Yeah. But do you see why I need her now?”
“I guess.”
We were quiet for a moment as the waiter brought us our food.
“How about you? What did you want to be when you grew up?” I asked.
Adam chewed a forkful of scrambled eggs and tilted his head. “I grew up in poverty, and my dream has always been to make a difference in my community.”
“How?”
“When I was small I thought it was just a matter of building a factory to give all the adults jobs. My mom was unemployed and she always told me if only she had a job we would have money. But now I understand things are not that simple.”
“What do you mean?”
“Our issues go deeper than unemployment. There’s a powerlessness that goes back to the trauma our ancestors suffered when the white men stole our country.”
“But that’s so long ago,” I said.
“Is it?” He gave me a direct stare. “We still have old members of our tribes who were taken from their families as children and sent to awful boarding schools with other Native American kids to be Christianized. Their hair was cut and they were given new Christian names to break with their cultural heritage. They can tell you stories of abuse and of being severely punished for speaking about their families or talking in their native tongue. Imagine if the government had taken white kids for some reason… you think you would forgive or forget easily?”
“I didn’t know that,” I said with my eyes wide open.
“But you knew my people were slaughtered by soldiers when the government wanted our land, right?”
“Yes.” I looked down. “That’s a shameful part of history.”
“Of history? You do realize it’s still happening today.”
I looked up. “I haven’t heard of any slaughters in modern time.”
“First our land was taken and our people died defending it, then they tried to destroy our culture and now they poison our water with their dangerous pipelines. When we protest they show up with guns, giving us two choices. Let them destroy our land or go to prison.
“We’ve lost so much of our identity and dignity as a people. So, no, we may not be gathered on a hilltop and slaughtered like back in days of the European invasion, but with our high suicide rates and the social problems that we fight as a community, we’re still suffering.”
Clearly this was something Adam felt passionate about and his voice was firm when he continued. “Alcoholism, drug addiction, violence, unemployment, and children growing up in poverty, making it hard for them to break the pattern.”
“Is it like that for all Natives?”
“No.” He shook his head. “Some are making good money on the casinos they run and there are some tribes that are wealthy. But not ours.”
“So what do you need?”
“Actually, a common cause has been helpful. We’ve come together across tribes to restore our identity as protectors of the land lately.” He took a sip of his coffee. “Every time we win against large capitalistic corporations it restores some of our pride. And it’s finally being recognized around the country. I truly believe that our identity as protectors of the earth is the key to awakening a sense of deeper meaning in life for those of our people feeling lost.”
I nodded. “There’s no doubt Mother Nature can use all the help she can get.”
Adam’s eyes glazed over. “I dream of creating a strong community where people battling addictions can get help and their children have access to strong role models who can mentor them and educate them, even when their parents are unable to.
