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NewTribeRising.org is an educational resource available to teachers, families and the general public. This web site is inspired by Spirit and created to encourage education, healing, forgiveness, reconciliation, and unification.
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Editorial Messages and Works Cited
By Rene' Locklear White (Lumbee) and Angie Ford
NewTribeRising.com Web Site Editors and Designers
Understanding the Artist's Choices
Influence of the Allusions Explained
Here is our brief explanation of the influence of the Allusions researched and annotated on our Read and Watch pages, through at least two characters’ sections of There There. Our summary explains how the annotations we created and how our research can help you better understand Oranges’ choices in constructing There There’s characters and their backgrounds (Spoiler Alert). We reference specific connections between his characters, our annotations of his prologue, and our research.
Reflection of two characters:
The allusions in the "Indian Head" section of Orange's "Prologue" are the backdrop for all of the characters including Tony's and Edwin's circumstances. Our annotations (on the Read and Watch pages) reveal that cultural genocide is real in the United States. Fragmented circumstances of Tony's fetal alcohol syndrome and Edwin's obesity and low self-esteem are examples of embedded challenges as a result of generations of colonial violence directed towards Indigenous Peoples. Orange constructed There There beginning with Tony as his first and final character. During his life, Tony is surrounded by the ultimate stereotypes of alcoholism, drugs, fractured family, homelessness, and violence. But in spite of these, Tony does not drink and still wants to dance. Orange’s characters’ problems are not a result of personal defects but rather oppression that also deprived his characters of a better life.
Orange weaves in words that kill and messages that connect Urban Indians in Oakland with each other, their ancestors and the world around them. Orange's stereotypical words like "Drome," "Sidewalk Indians," and "Apples" illustrate that words are weapons used against American Indians. Orange added that they, "Called us citified, superficial, inauthentic, cultureless refugees, apples. An apple is red on the outside and white on the inside” (Orange 10). It is curious to us that most Americans still think that to be Indian means to be red on the outside, live on a reservation and wear feathers in their hair everyday.
Orange's allusions help Americans ask themselves why non-Native people hold Indians in the past without the opportunity to accept modern American Indians as real Indians. Using music as an allusion for Native American people, culture, and way of life, Edwin says, “The catch, or the double bind, about the whole thing is this: If it (Native music) isn’t pulling from tradition, how is it Indigenous? And if it is stuck in tradition, in the past, how can it be relevant to other Indigenous people living now, how can it be modern?” (Orange 77). Our annotations explain how small kinds of miracles, like music as a possibility, rather than a gun scope, can help release Native Americans from this trap of tradition.
Our annotations also reveal how dreams are sacred for Indigenous Peoples. We believe Orange is using the idea of sacred dreams as a way to communicate the depth of the metal bullets in Native American lives. These bullets killed Indigenous ancestors and could have been part of a dream or prediction of the similar metal cities that have now come to kill Urban Indians, like Tony and Edwin. A profound dream/vision for Tony closes the novel, but in contrast and hopeless, Edwin has become dreamless.
Edwin is a smart young man, perhaps a genius caught up in the stereotypes, addictions, and recovery as well as doubt, loss, unemployment, clinical depression, and violence. The impact of colonialism (evident in our annotations) has severed Edwin's connection to his sacred dreams and weighted him down. If he does dream, his dreams are noiseless "screen-saver dreams" (Orange 64). Edwin is a perfect example of the influences of colonialism. Unable to be the traditional Cheyenne Indian warrior the world expects of him, Edwin is not defeated nor "finished," only momentarily defeated by a bowel movement (Orange 77-78).
Orange is suggesting a new way to measure Indian-ness. For example, our annotations show how reservations are a U.S. government construct. Urban Indians like Tony and Edwin were born in the city, whereas their ancestors were born on reservations or born before reservations began. Before contact, Indigenous Peoples moved without lines drawn on maps or across state boarders. In fact, Native ancestors were born all over this land. "Land moves" with Indian people like "memory" because it does not matter where you are born, but that you are born Indian (Orange 11). Orange alludes to land as the earth. Which means, no matter where American Indians are born, they are Indian.
We hope that the evidence provided by NewTribeRising.org helps you better understand Oranges’ choices in There There.
- Tony Loneman: twenty-one years old, born and raised in Oakland, of Cheyenne descent. Born with fetal alcohol syndrome, which he calls 'the Drome.' Lives with his grandmother, Maxine, and deals drugs with Octavio.
- Edwin Black: biracial young man: his mother, Karen, is white, and his father, Harvey, whom he has never known, is Native. Once dreamed of becoming a writer; earned a master’s degree in comparative literature with a focus on Native American literature. Loves the Internet. Recently started an internship assisting with the Big Oakland Powwow" (Orange xi).
The allusions in the "Indian Head" section of Orange's "Prologue" are the backdrop for all of the characters including Tony's and Edwin's circumstances. Our annotations (on the Read and Watch pages) reveal that cultural genocide is real in the United States. Fragmented circumstances of Tony's fetal alcohol syndrome and Edwin's obesity and low self-esteem are examples of embedded challenges as a result of generations of colonial violence directed towards Indigenous Peoples. Orange constructed There There beginning with Tony as his first and final character. During his life, Tony is surrounded by the ultimate stereotypes of alcoholism, drugs, fractured family, homelessness, and violence. But in spite of these, Tony does not drink and still wants to dance. Orange’s characters’ problems are not a result of personal defects but rather oppression that also deprived his characters of a better life.
Orange weaves in words that kill and messages that connect Urban Indians in Oakland with each other, their ancestors and the world around them. Orange's stereotypical words like "Drome," "Sidewalk Indians," and "Apples" illustrate that words are weapons used against American Indians. Orange added that they, "Called us citified, superficial, inauthentic, cultureless refugees, apples. An apple is red on the outside and white on the inside” (Orange 10). It is curious to us that most Americans still think that to be Indian means to be red on the outside, live on a reservation and wear feathers in their hair everyday.
Orange's allusions help Americans ask themselves why non-Native people hold Indians in the past without the opportunity to accept modern American Indians as real Indians. Using music as an allusion for Native American people, culture, and way of life, Edwin says, “The catch, or the double bind, about the whole thing is this: If it (Native music) isn’t pulling from tradition, how is it Indigenous? And if it is stuck in tradition, in the past, how can it be relevant to other Indigenous people living now, how can it be modern?” (Orange 77). Our annotations explain how small kinds of miracles, like music as a possibility, rather than a gun scope, can help release Native Americans from this trap of tradition.
Our annotations also reveal how dreams are sacred for Indigenous Peoples. We believe Orange is using the idea of sacred dreams as a way to communicate the depth of the metal bullets in Native American lives. These bullets killed Indigenous ancestors and could have been part of a dream or prediction of the similar metal cities that have now come to kill Urban Indians, like Tony and Edwin. A profound dream/vision for Tony closes the novel, but in contrast and hopeless, Edwin has become dreamless.
Edwin is a smart young man, perhaps a genius caught up in the stereotypes, addictions, and recovery as well as doubt, loss, unemployment, clinical depression, and violence. The impact of colonialism (evident in our annotations) has severed Edwin's connection to his sacred dreams and weighted him down. If he does dream, his dreams are noiseless "screen-saver dreams" (Orange 64). Edwin is a perfect example of the influences of colonialism. Unable to be the traditional Cheyenne Indian warrior the world expects of him, Edwin is not defeated nor "finished," only momentarily defeated by a bowel movement (Orange 77-78).
Orange is suggesting a new way to measure Indian-ness. For example, our annotations show how reservations are a U.S. government construct. Urban Indians like Tony and Edwin were born in the city, whereas their ancestors were born on reservations or born before reservations began. Before contact, Indigenous Peoples moved without lines drawn on maps or across state boarders. In fact, Native ancestors were born all over this land. "Land moves" with Indian people like "memory" because it does not matter where you are born, but that you are born Indian (Orange 11). Orange alludes to land as the earth. Which means, no matter where American Indians are born, they are Indian.
We hope that the evidence provided by NewTribeRising.org helps you better understand Oranges’ choices in There There.
Our Reflection on There There
We would like to take a moment to explain how our annotations can give you a richer understanding of the novel There There as a whole. Spoiler Alert! We will reference specific connections between this artist's text, the Allusion's annotated prologue of his text, and the research that we found and referenced in our annotations on our Read and Watch pages.
There There is full of references to losing self, trying to find self, questioning self, belonging to and fitting into a modern world, and the weight of colonialism. The annotated links on our pages unearth a larger part of the American Indian story for readers unaware of what really happened in the United States. The majority of people (Indigenous and non-Native) who read this web site are not supposed to know these truths. Through There There, Orange is showing how people, including Indigenous people were unaware of what was happening around them and to them (Orange 149).
The "Prologue" presents a theme of cultural appropriation, federal policies, massacres, and off-reservation “Urban Indians” born in the cities, in addition to memory, identity, violence, and despair. Look no further than Christopher Columbus' myths and atrocities to see how U.S. histories are written wrongly. A more harsher truth, is that in many cases these untruths are factual lies American teachers are forced to teach our children. In addition to histories being written wrong in this country, many histories about Indigenous Peoples are meant to be forgotten. Examples of this are the Indian Boarding School atrocities.
With his example of the Indian heads and test pattern, Orange is not only talking about Americans sleeping at night during the Indian-Head test pattern that aired on American televisions (1939-1970s), but he is asking why American's have slept generation after generation while America's Indigenous people's were slaughtered, their heads flown as flags, and were required to measure their Indian-ness through Blood Quantum policy/rules. How could Americans sleep at night as the U.S. government: removed Native Americans from their lands (1830s-1850s); relocated them to reservations (1850s-1890s); forced them to assimilate (1870s-1930s); uprooted them from reservations and reorganized them into urban cities (1930s-1950s); and finally threatened them with termination (1950s-1960s) (Wilkins, Stark 150-151).
Orange is pointing out that U.S. policies set against Indians were on purpose and a "set up". One character in Orange's novel explains this by saying, the “Indian” is not supposed to know what was happening to them, “That’s the way this whole thing is set up … We can’t know … (but) That’s what makes us keep going” (Orange 186). It is this "keep going" attitude that has brought Native American Peoples into the current American Indian Self-Determination and Self-Governance Eras (1960s-present) (Wilkins, Stark 150-151).
We share Orange's characters' understanding that the Indian Way that was there once, is no longer there. In some ways, maybe there is no more there here. For example, the Indian’s world has gotten smaller and is now defined by high rises, streets, Internet and all that goes with it. By itself, we do not think the word there has a meaning. We looked up the word there and the word is actually rhetorical and has no meaning in and of itself. However, Orange's messages are far from meaningless.
You might ask if There There a place Indigenous people are stuck in? Does his book validate the White-minded people about stereotypes (from lies) that are prevalent among Native American people (e.g., alcohol, drugs, abuse, unmarried mothers, absent fathers, jobless men, children living with their grandmas etc.)? Or does There There give voices to the voiceless? Because of inaccurate narratives, fractured identities, and disconnections due to governmental policies, Native authors like Tommy Orange and other sources (like these we provided) have produced works that illuminate these themes of trauma and violence that have plagued Native communities since colonization. Maybe our combined understanding and many voices can be heard more loudly.
In his final section of his "Prologue" titled “Urbanity,” Orange is defending Urban Indians existence as being real Indians. Despite everything that has happened and continues to happen, Orange is saying we are still here.
With this project we aimed to help bring these truths into one place for you. What's more, we believe that having access to authentic Indigenous information can offset biased, untrue-stereotypes and correct false-information that has irrevocably damaged Native Peoples and their communities for too long. This website is inspired by Spirit and created to encourage education, healing, forgiveness, reconciliation, and unification.
The "Prologue" presents a theme of cultural appropriation, federal policies, massacres, and off-reservation “Urban Indians” born in the cities, in addition to memory, identity, violence, and despair. Look no further than Christopher Columbus' myths and atrocities to see how U.S. histories are written wrongly. A more harsher truth, is that in many cases these untruths are factual lies American teachers are forced to teach our children. In addition to histories being written wrong in this country, many histories about Indigenous Peoples are meant to be forgotten. Examples of this are the Indian Boarding School atrocities.
With his example of the Indian heads and test pattern, Orange is not only talking about Americans sleeping at night during the Indian-Head test pattern that aired on American televisions (1939-1970s), but he is asking why American's have slept generation after generation while America's Indigenous people's were slaughtered, their heads flown as flags, and were required to measure their Indian-ness through Blood Quantum policy/rules. How could Americans sleep at night as the U.S. government: removed Native Americans from their lands (1830s-1850s); relocated them to reservations (1850s-1890s); forced them to assimilate (1870s-1930s); uprooted them from reservations and reorganized them into urban cities (1930s-1950s); and finally threatened them with termination (1950s-1960s) (Wilkins, Stark 150-151).
Orange is pointing out that U.S. policies set against Indians were on purpose and a "set up". One character in Orange's novel explains this by saying, the “Indian” is not supposed to know what was happening to them, “That’s the way this whole thing is set up … We can’t know … (but) That’s what makes us keep going” (Orange 186). It is this "keep going" attitude that has brought Native American Peoples into the current American Indian Self-Determination and Self-Governance Eras (1960s-present) (Wilkins, Stark 150-151).
We share Orange's characters' understanding that the Indian Way that was there once, is no longer there. In some ways, maybe there is no more there here. For example, the Indian’s world has gotten smaller and is now defined by high rises, streets, Internet and all that goes with it. By itself, we do not think the word there has a meaning. We looked up the word there and the word is actually rhetorical and has no meaning in and of itself. However, Orange's messages are far from meaningless.
You might ask if There There a place Indigenous people are stuck in? Does his book validate the White-minded people about stereotypes (from lies) that are prevalent among Native American people (e.g., alcohol, drugs, abuse, unmarried mothers, absent fathers, jobless men, children living with their grandmas etc.)? Or does There There give voices to the voiceless? Because of inaccurate narratives, fractured identities, and disconnections due to governmental policies, Native authors like Tommy Orange and other sources (like these we provided) have produced works that illuminate these themes of trauma and violence that have plagued Native communities since colonization. Maybe our combined understanding and many voices can be heard more loudly.
In his final section of his "Prologue" titled “Urbanity,” Orange is defending Urban Indians existence as being real Indians. Despite everything that has happened and continues to happen, Orange is saying we are still here.
With this project we aimed to help bring these truths into one place for you. What's more, we believe that having access to authentic Indigenous information can offset biased, untrue-stereotypes and correct false-information that has irrevocably damaged Native Peoples and their communities for too long. This website is inspired by Spirit and created to encourage education, healing, forgiveness, reconciliation, and unification.
Works Cited
These works cited are our references for Tommy Orange's allusions.
A Tribe Called Red. Perf. The Halluci Nation. n.d. 2022. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USqLVySEUE8&t=41s>.
Adams, David Wallace. "'Kill the Indian, Save the Man' An Introduction to the History of Boarding Schools." Healing Voices: A Primer on American Indian and Alaska Native Boarding Schools in the U.S. (2020): 1-3 and 8-9.
Biography. 2022. Music Group Web Site. <https://thehallucination.com/press-kit/>.
Colorado University Law. 2022. <https://www.colorado.edu/law/vine-deloria-jr>.
Deloria Jr., Vine and Philip Deloria. The World We Used to Live in: Remembering the Powers of the Medicine Men. Fulcrum, 2006.
DVIDS, Defense Visual Information Distribution Service. Three Members of the Native American Women Warriors. 2019. 2022. <https://nara.getarchive.net/media/three-members-of-the-native-american-women-warriors-5c1953>.
Encyclopedia, Colorado. "Indian Appropriations Act (1871)." 2022. <https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/image/indian-appropriations-act-1871>.
Fonseca, Felicia. To Native Americans, honoring flag might mean a different anthem. 25 Nov. 2017. The Associated Press. 2022.
Franco, Jeré. "Empowering the World War II Native American Veteran: Postwar Civil Rights." Wicazo Sa Review 9.1 (1993): 32-37. 2022. <https://www.jstor.org/stable/1409252>.
Hirschfelder, Arlene and Paulette F. Molin. Stereotyping Native Americans, I is for Ignoble: Stereotyping Native Americans. 2018. 2022. <https://www.ferris.edu/HTMLS/news/jimcrow/native/homepage.htm>.
Horrible, True Facts About Christopher and Columbus Day. Perf. Vincent Schilling. n.d.
YouTube. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCir-NX0zdQ>.
Human Voice, How To. Mitákuye Oyásʼiŋ. 2022. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhvMdPmRM4o>.
Kopacz, Chris. Tommy Orange hints about upcoming sequel to 'There There'. 2022. <https://indiancountrytoday.com/news/tommy-orange-hints-about-upcoming-sequel-to-there-there>.
Moya-Smith, Simon. Native American fry bread is the food of our oppression. It's also delicious, so we're reclaiming it. 6 April 2019. <https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/native-american-fry-bread-food-our-oppression-it-s-also-ncna991591>.
NLH/NIH. Native Voices. Ed. National Library of Medicine and National Institute of Health Health. 2022. <https://www.nlm.nih.gov/nativevoices/timeline/317.html>.
Orange, Tommy. "Prologue." There There. Alfred A. Knopf, 2018. 3-11.
—. There There. Alfred A. Knopf, 2018.
Peter. Top 10 Native American Flags. n.d. 2022. <https://youtu.be/xJmnPHfUaLw>.
PowWows.com. Smudging: A Sacred Native American Ritual. 2022. <https://www.powwows.com/native-american-smudging/>.
Purdue University, College of Science. Department of Chemistry. 2022. Chart. <https://www.chem.purdue.edu/academic_programs/resource-room/periodictable.html>.
Reports, APM. "Uprooted. The 1950s Plan to Erase Indian Country." Article and Audio. American Public Media, 2019. Radio. <https://www.apmreports.org/episode/2019/11/01/uprooted-the-1950s-plan-to-erase-indian-country>.
Review, Harvard Business. Build a Family Business that Lasts. 2022. <https://hbr.org/2021/01/build-a-family-business-that-lasts>.
Schilling, Vincent. 8 myths and atrocities about Christopher Columbus and Columbus Day. 14 October 2013. <https://indiancountrytoday.com/news/8-myths-and-atrocities-about-christopher-columbus-and-columbus-day>.
Stronglegs Richardson, Dr. Edwin. Power of Dreams - Native American Dream. n.d. YouTube Video. 2022. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XzU1jwx9bA>.
The Reservation Era (1850 - 1887). 2022. 2022. <https://library.law.howard.edu/civilrightshistory/indigenous/reservation>.
Unknown. President Calvin Coolidge posed with Natives, possibly from the Plateau area in the Northwestern United States, near the south lawn of the White House. Library of Congress. Black and White Photo. <https://www.loc.gov/item/94508991/>.
Wilkins, David and Heidi Kiiwetinepinesiik Stark. American Indian Politics and the American Political System. Rowman & Littlefield, 2018.
A Tribe Called Red. Perf. The Halluci Nation. n.d. 2022. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USqLVySEUE8&t=41s>.
Adams, David Wallace. "'Kill the Indian, Save the Man' An Introduction to the History of Boarding Schools." Healing Voices: A Primer on American Indian and Alaska Native Boarding Schools in the U.S. (2020): 1-3 and 8-9.
Biography. 2022. Music Group Web Site. <https://thehallucination.com/press-kit/>.
Colorado University Law. 2022. <https://www.colorado.edu/law/vine-deloria-jr>.
Deloria Jr., Vine and Philip Deloria. The World We Used to Live in: Remembering the Powers of the Medicine Men. Fulcrum, 2006.
DVIDS, Defense Visual Information Distribution Service. Three Members of the Native American Women Warriors. 2019. 2022. <https://nara.getarchive.net/media/three-members-of-the-native-american-women-warriors-5c1953>.
Encyclopedia, Colorado. "Indian Appropriations Act (1871)." 2022. <https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/image/indian-appropriations-act-1871>.
Fonseca, Felicia. To Native Americans, honoring flag might mean a different anthem. 25 Nov. 2017. The Associated Press. 2022.
Franco, Jeré. "Empowering the World War II Native American Veteran: Postwar Civil Rights." Wicazo Sa Review 9.1 (1993): 32-37. 2022. <https://www.jstor.org/stable/1409252>.
Hirschfelder, Arlene and Paulette F. Molin. Stereotyping Native Americans, I is for Ignoble: Stereotyping Native Americans. 2018. 2022. <https://www.ferris.edu/HTMLS/news/jimcrow/native/homepage.htm>.
Horrible, True Facts About Christopher and Columbus Day. Perf. Vincent Schilling. n.d.
YouTube. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCir-NX0zdQ>.
Human Voice, How To. Mitákuye Oyásʼiŋ. 2022. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhvMdPmRM4o>.
Kopacz, Chris. Tommy Orange hints about upcoming sequel to 'There There'. 2022. <https://indiancountrytoday.com/news/tommy-orange-hints-about-upcoming-sequel-to-there-there>.
Moya-Smith, Simon. Native American fry bread is the food of our oppression. It's also delicious, so we're reclaiming it. 6 April 2019. <https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/native-american-fry-bread-food-our-oppression-it-s-also-ncna991591>.
NLH/NIH. Native Voices. Ed. National Library of Medicine and National Institute of Health Health. 2022. <https://www.nlm.nih.gov/nativevoices/timeline/317.html>.
Orange, Tommy. "Prologue." There There. Alfred A. Knopf, 2018. 3-11.
—. There There. Alfred A. Knopf, 2018.
Peter. Top 10 Native American Flags. n.d. 2022. <https://youtu.be/xJmnPHfUaLw>.
PowWows.com. Smudging: A Sacred Native American Ritual. 2022. <https://www.powwows.com/native-american-smudging/>.
Purdue University, College of Science. Department of Chemistry. 2022. Chart. <https://www.chem.purdue.edu/academic_programs/resource-room/periodictable.html>.
Reports, APM. "Uprooted. The 1950s Plan to Erase Indian Country." Article and Audio. American Public Media, 2019. Radio. <https://www.apmreports.org/episode/2019/11/01/uprooted-the-1950s-plan-to-erase-indian-country>.
Review, Harvard Business. Build a Family Business that Lasts. 2022. <https://hbr.org/2021/01/build-a-family-business-that-lasts>.
Schilling, Vincent. 8 myths and atrocities about Christopher Columbus and Columbus Day. 14 October 2013. <https://indiancountrytoday.com/news/8-myths-and-atrocities-about-christopher-columbus-and-columbus-day>.
Stronglegs Richardson, Dr. Edwin. Power of Dreams - Native American Dream. n.d. YouTube Video. 2022. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XzU1jwx9bA>.
The Reservation Era (1850 - 1887). 2022. 2022. <https://library.law.howard.edu/civilrightshistory/indigenous/reservation>.
Unknown. President Calvin Coolidge posed with Natives, possibly from the Plateau area in the Northwestern United States, near the south lawn of the White House. Library of Congress. Black and White Photo. <https://www.loc.gov/item/94508991/>.
Wilkins, David and Heidi Kiiwetinepinesiik Stark. American Indian Politics and the American Political System. Rowman & Littlefield, 2018.
Other Sources of Possible Interest
https://libguides.uncp.edu/americanindianstudies/journals
https://www.nlm.nih.gov/nativevoices/exhibition/healing-ways/medicine-ways/medicine-wheel.html
https://nativeamericatoday.com/smudging-with-sweetgrass-will-make-you-happy/
https://sioux-chef.com/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/edwin-h-richardson-a-warriorand-a-scholar/2012/12/14/8901e094-3019-11e2-ac4a-33b8b41fb531_story.html
https://libguides.uncp.edu/americanindianstudies/journals
https://www.nlm.nih.gov/nativevoices/exhibition/healing-ways/medicine-ways/medicine-wheel.html
https://nativeamericatoday.com/smudging-with-sweetgrass-will-make-you-happy/
https://sioux-chef.com/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/edwin-h-richardson-a-warriorand-a-scholar/2012/12/14/8901e094-3019-11e2-ac4a-33b8b41fb531_story.html