Slash (1985)

I am reading Syilx Okanagan First Nations writer and scholar Jeannette Armstrong's Slash (Penticton: Theytus Books, 1985). According to Wikipedia, Slash is the first novel by a First Nations woman to be published in Canada.

Slash is, among many things, the story of Tommy (or Slash, as he is nicknamed after his knifing), from his days growing up "traditional" in 1950s and 60s rural Okanagan, to his time in Vancouver, where he works for drug dealers and is eventually jailed, to his travels as a Red Power activist to hotbeds like Washington, DC and Wounded Knee, South Dakota, to his return home, where he puts his knowledge to work.

What I appreciate most about Slash is Armstrong's casual yet careful ability to show the complexities of indigenous life both on and off the reserve -- much like the complexities that existed within the American Indian Movement, which, despite insistence by some members that it was a "spiritual movement," was deemed too radical and violent by members who sought more unifying strategies.

After Slash returns from Wounded Knee, he attends a Band Council meeting, where he gets into a conversation with his cousin Chuck, who tells him:

"You look good, Tommy, I just don't think it's a good idea to feed anger and hate. I think if we are going to be strong and really doing it, it must be done with a lot of planning and strategy and logic. Not a lot of high emotionalism. That can ruin us. That kind of energy demands outlet and sometimes the outlet is just not the right action to take. We may defeat our own purposes that way. We got to be able to act, yes, but what actions we take are critical. We have to be relentless, yes, but we can't allow our leaders to be neutralized through the petty courts system and through assimilationist press that is biased. Anger, when it is uncontrolled and directed towards anything and everything, is dangerous even to itself. You might see that in due time with this. I can't look forward to that happening. I hope there is enough good strong leaders to see that the actions are directed and controlled toward achieving a common good. I wish you well, my brother." (141)