Only Approved Indians

In these short stories, Jack D. Forbes captures the remarkable breadth and variety of American Indian life. Drawing on his skills as scholar and native activist, and, above all, as artist, Forbes enlarges our sense of how American Indians experience themselves and the world around them. Though all the main characters are of Indian descent, each is a unique combination of tribal origin, social status, age, and life-style - from native elder and college professor to lesbian barmaid and Chicano adolescent. Nevertheless the U.S. government (and perhaps white society as a whole) narrows the definition of "Indian". In the title story, for example, two basketball teams begin fighting when one accuses the other of lacking BIA status - government recognition. When tournament officials disqualify the team that lacks "official" Indian players, the "approved" team celebrates its victory. Forbes's characters want to be unique, but they must struggle for this right, and they must endure pain. Forbes shows how such quests can have personal and political motives and can meet with success or failure and how those who search for individual identity must reckon with the identity of their group. Thus, in retelling the story of the Seminole War, Injun Joe casts the Indians, not the whites, as victors. He cannot rewrite history, but by recreating it he can come to terms with a painful legacy. Imagination is equally important to other characters: even when they cannot achieve change, they can envision it. Forbes's stories open our eyes to the injustices of this world and provide transcendent visions of the world as it might be.