In July, I was visiting with a Navajo Mormon neighbor on another matter when she asked if I thought my eleven-year-old daughter might like to perform in the local Mormon pageant, The Voices of San Juan. I had never seen the pageant but said I thought that she would like very much to take part. Then my neighbor told me that my fair-skinned, blond-highlighted girl would be playing a Navajo toiling among other Navajos in a segment portraying “The Long Walk.” The idea of my very white daughter playing a Navajo in this reenactment of one of the most tragic events in Navajo history startled me, and I laughed out loud. My neighbor laughed, too. But she was serious. Continue reading “Playing Indian: The Voices of San Juan Pageant”
A Motley Vision 