Genocide of the Mind by MariJo Moore

Author:MariJo Moore [Moore, MariJo; Deloria, Vine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780786750313
Publisher: PublicAffairs

NAMES BY WHICH THE SPIRITS KNOW US

Sean Lee Fahrlander

Aaniin, Niizho-migizi-wag indigo. Migizi indoodem.

My name is Sean Fahrlander and following in the tradition of my people I’ve introduced myself in my own language, Ojibwe.

My introduction translates, “Hello, Two Eagles is what the Spirits call me.” Eagle is my clan. It may fly in the face of some people’s convention for me to share this much information, but I was told to share. Unfortunately, nine arguments out of ten in Indian County (I use the term Indian County broadly—in essence, wherever an Indian person is standing) are about what I know versus what you know. With that said, I want to stress that what I’m saying applies only to what I’ve been taught.

I received my name from an old man on the White Earth Reservation in northern Minnesota. He’s no longer with us, and out of respect I will not mention his name. He was a rare individual and assumed the role as my namesake with the same passion that he lived his life. He became my surrogate father as well as a teacher. When I left the military and came home to the reservation, I would often show up on his doorstep late at night, find the spare key, let myself into the house, and crash on the couch. In the morning I would wake to the smell of breakfast cooking and hot coffee. He never turned me away.

The day he named me will never be far from my mind. I had asked him to do this because of the esteem I had for him. In the old days it would have been left up to my parents to choose someone to be my namesake. A lot has changed since then. However, my generation is one of the first to start the long walk back to our traditions. I passed tobacco to the old man and asked him to be my wen’enh, or namesake. He used my tobacco to ask the Spirits to reveal to him what it was that they called me. After receiving the insight, he shared it with me in front of several people from the community and my family. He then smoked his pipe and we feasted my new name.

It was the start of a great journey and thankfully it has not ended. One of the important things I’ve learned on this trail is how names come to be. Part of my understanding is as we pass through life, most of the time we are blissfully unaware of the Spirits that exist along with us. I’m certain that we grow away from the ability to interact with them. In a way, I think we have lost the awe that allowed us to see. Even if we don’t let ourselves be aware of the Spirits, I’m sure they are aware of us. I like to think of this like gravity. We live our whole lives never seeing gravity, just its effects. We trip and fall; we drop things and at times even defy gravity for our own purposes.

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