Who Will Tell My Brother?

By Marlene Carvell. Hyperion Books for Children, 2002.

In August 2005, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) announced its intention to prohibit the use of Indian imagery, symbols, and names by colleges and universities participating in sport championships it sponsored, because it understood them to be "hostile and abusive" to indigenous peoples. In the process, it echoed the proclamations and findings of numerous professional, political, and religious organizations, including the United States Civil Rights Commission, the National Congress of American Indians, the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations, the United Church of Christ, the American Anthropological Association, and the National Education Association. Its decision, moreover, was in keeping with the actions of numerous educational institutions, like Stanford University and the University of Miami (Ohio), and governmental bodies charged with overseeing education, such as school districts in Los Angeles and Dallas and state boards of education in Nebraska and Washington. At the same time, the new policy sparked impassioned commentaries and aggressive actions in defense of the continued use of Native American mascots. Even Florida Governor Jeb Bush felt compelled to speak out in support of Florida State University and its "tradition" of playing Indian under the guise of "the Seminoles" and at home football games in the disguise of Chief Osceola. He dubbed the policy change "ridiculous." In this context, Who will tell my brother? by Marlene Carvell is most welcome. Teachers, in particular, will find it to be a valuable resource.

Who will tell my brother? is a novel, written in an engaging lyrical style and inspired by the experience of the author's family. It tells the story of Evan Hill, a biracial high school senior in upstate New York, who only recently has begun to explore his American Indian heritage. There is little indication at the start of the book that Evan, a well adjusted and seemingly well-liked youth from a loving middle class home, will be the center of controversy. Instead, his opposition to the school's mascot emerges suddenly, in response to antics at a pep rally. As he describes it:

   And as they prance through the
    stands,
   placing brightly colored bands
    upon the heads
   of laughing, cheering students,
   I feel myself cringing backwards,
    trying to melt
   into the wall behind me, a wall of
   ignorance, whose concrete barrier
   makes me face this shame.

Subsequently, he raises his concerns with the principal only to be rebuffed and patronized by the administrator, who reminds Evan of his older brother's failed efforts two years before and before indicating the issue is dosed to further discussion. Undeterred, Evan takes the issue to the school board, where he offers impassioned appeals monthly to elected officials are meant with silence and disdain. Increasingly, as he become more vocal and visible, he experiences his school as a hostile environment, where he is taunted, called names, and otherwise abused by his classmates both for his dissent and his ethnicity. The acts of intimidation culminate in the killing of his older brother's beloved dog, inciting public sympathy and the crystallization of support among his peers. At the close of the narrative, although the mascot remains in place, its future is less than certain: Evan and his friends silently protest the use of Indianness at a graduation celebration, receiving noteworthy support from those in attendance.

Who will tell my brother? is an accessible and evocative book that will appeal to students and teachers alike. Indeed, the key themes of the text make it ideal for classroom use.

Perhaps most obviously, it offers an intimate introduction, albeit fictionalized, into the Native American mascot controversy. Who will tell my brother? prompts critical thinking about what is at stake in the use of American Indian symbols in sport spectacles. Seen through Evans eyes, many of the key terms of the ongoing struggle for and against the use of such imagery appear different, more complicated, and slightly out of whack. Carvell's prose should encourage readers to ask about how one may discern honor and respect in Native American mascots, to contemplate the importance of intention versus effect, and to consider symbolic violence and social exclusion. Significantly, one of the novel's greatest contributions is its capacity to bring to life experiences and ideas that too often remain underdiscussed, grounding abstractions, while speaking silenced truths. As a consequence, Who will tell my brother? could usefully serve as guidebook to or accompaniment for a broader consideration of the Native American mascot controversy or even anti-Indianism in the United States more generally.

In Who will tell my brother?, Carvell encourages readers to reflect upon identity as well. Many conversations of American Indian imagery in athletics take up the connection between mainstream or traditional American identity, especially the ways in which invented visions of an indigenous other anchors and animates whiteness and masculinity. Who will tell my brother? surely afford such an opportunity as well; however, Carvell does something more. She invites us to think about the complexities and contradictions of Indianness in the American experience, especially as lived by a mixed-race youth. She touchingly probes the subjective quest to know oneself, one's relations, and one's heritage, highlighting the ways in which dominant society has stigmatized such journeys of self-discovery and self-validation for people of color. In turn, she forces readers to contemplate how whiteness polices racial difference through jokes, epitaphs, stories, and spectacles. Looking both ways, Carvell fosters opportunities for deep thinking about self and other as well as the role symbols and society shape the fashioning of each.

Amid the ongoing "War on Terror," moreover, Who will tell my brother? usefully complicates the notion of terror. Carvell reminds readers that students in American school face hostility and abuse because of their race, ethnicity, and nationality and unpopular political views--to which we would no doubt add gender, sexuality, and ability. This realization should, in turn, prompt engagement and reflection upon how social relations, human dignity, and personal safety are regarded. Why do some endure violations (like those suffered by Evan in the novel), while others remain oblivious or act as perpetrators? How do big stories about foreign enemies let students and citizens off the hook for the harms they visit upon their peers?

Underlying the hostile environment that many schools using American Indian imagery become is institutional racism. Who will tell my brother? renders everyday racism palpable, conveying its force and significance in accessible language and engaging scenarios. It wonderfully illustrates the impact of racial symbols and ideas, how they structure and saturate public spaces, how they empower and entertain some, and how they are taken for granted, unquestioned and unquestionable. Indeed, readers are given a grand tour of the many forms of everyday racism: the team name and pep rally traditions, the principals disapproval and the school board's silence, as well as, the attacks in the hallway and the invisibility of the violation. Happily, Who will tell my brother? offers lessons in anti-racism that might be imparted to students, including the power of dissent and perseverance, the capacity to speak truth to power, and the possibility of change.

In the end, Who will tell my brother? is a valuable book. It should find a place in literature and social science classrooms. Hopefully, it will also be collected in personal libraries as well.