Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights

January 30, 2012

Sherman Alexie: Banned books are sacred documents now


By Sherman Alexie
The Progressive
http://progressive.org/sherman-alexie

Let's get one thing out of the way: Mexican immigration is an oxymoron. Mexicans are indigenous. So, in a strange way, I'm pleased that the racist folks of Arizona have officially declared, in banning me alongside Urrea, Baca, and Castillo, that their anti-immigration laws are also anti-Indian. I'm also strangely pleased that the folks of Arizona have officially announced their fear of an educated underclass. You give those brown kids some books about brown folks and what happens? Those brown kids change the world. In the effort to vanish our books, Arizona has actually given them enormous power. Arizona has made our books sacred documents now.
Sherman Alexie is a poet, short story writer, novelist, and filmmaker. His book "The Lone Ranger and Tonto's Fist Fight in Heaven," was on the banned curriculum of the Mexican American Studies Program.
Banned Authors Respond
http://progressive.org/sherman-alexie

Urrea, banned by Tucson schools, to be featured at Tucson Festival of Books in March
http://tucsonfestivalofbooks.org/item/show/325474

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