The myth of the disappearing Indian or the vanishing Indian is something that’s been part of the overall sort of purview of Native culture from the Western point of view for over 150 years. And it is something that is untrue, has always been untrue, will remain untrue. In fact, Native populations are increasing. In fact, there’s a great growing awareness of our traditional cultures and our languages. Even though many are vanishing or in danger, people are attempting to restore and hold onto them.
And Native people are part of the present, not the past. It was mentioned today – I recall this very clearly that there were 94 books which focused on African Americans published last year, and of those 94, only four were not in the past. A similar statistic can be found in terms of books about Native Americans usually not by American Indians, that virtually all of them are in the past, not in the present.
And as a writer, I’ve written many stories about present-day Native people. And I’ve now written books about Native people in the future in a science fiction vein.
