John Trudell

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Famed American Indian activist and poet John Trudell was born on February 15, 1946 in Omaha, Nebraska, and grew up splitting his time between the Santee Sioux reservation with his grandparents and his parents’ home in the Omaha suburbs. At the age of six, Trudell’s mother died and his family fell into deep economic hardship. During this time, Trudell discovered a love of rock and roll music that would come to influence his later spoken word poetry, which he produced as albums with musical tracks behind the words. Trudell did not spend his youth enjoying literature, even dropping out of high school to join the Navy during the Vietnam War, where he saw active duty doing search-and-rescue missions for downed pilots. After four years, Trudell moved to Southern California to attend community college for radio communications before finding himself involved in the event that he is most known for: the occupation of Alcatraz Island from 1969 to 1971 by the Indians of All Tribes group. Acting as the national spokesman for the group, Trudell discovered a natural talent for activism and public speaking that led him to become the National Chairman of the American Indian Movement from 1973 until 1979. In 1979, Trudell and a group of activists burned an American flag in front of the FBI Headquarters in protest of the way the United States government treated minorities. Twelve hours later, a fire “of suspicious origin” burned down his home, killing his pregnant wife Tina, their three children, and Tina’s mother. Deep in grief, Trudell retreated from his activism and discovered poetry as a means to connect to his late wife and process the trauma he had been through. After becoming friends with musical artists Jackson Browne and Jesse Ed Davis, Trudell began to record his work as spoken word poems with musical backing. AKA GRAFITTI MAN, his first album, was Bob Dylan’s pick for “the best album of 1986” and was followed by other albums that backed his poetry with traditional Native American music as well as contemporary pop. Trudell has been featured in several movies and documentaries, including the acclaimed 2005 documentary film “Trudell” by Heather Rae about his life, as well as feature films Thunderheart and Smoke Signals. After a lengthy fight with cancer, Trudell died at his home in Santa Clara County, California at the age of 69. 

Look at Us

Look at us

We are of earth and water

Look at them

It is the same

Look at us

We are suffering all these years

Look at them

They are connected

Look at us

We are in pain

Look at them

Surprised at our anger

Look at us

We are struggling to survive

Look at them

Expecting sorrow be benign

 

Look at us

We are the ones called pagan

Look at them

On their arrival

Look at us

We are called subversive

Look at them

Descending from name callers

Look at us

We wept sadly in the long dark

Look at them

Hiding in technologic light

Look at us

We buried the generations

Look at them

Inventing the body count

Look at us

We are older than America

Look at them

Chasing a fountain of youth

 

Look at us we are embracing earth

Look at them

Clutching today

Look at us

We are living in the generations

Look at them

Existing in jobs and debt

Look at us

We have escaped many times

Look at them

They cannot remember

Look at us

We are healing

Look at them

Their medicine is patented

Look at us

We are trying

Look at them

What are they doing

Look at us

We are children of earth

Look at them

Who are they

Published:

2008

Length:

Regular

Literary Movements:

Native American Renaissance

Anthology Years:

2023

Themes:

Intersectionality & Culture

Nature

Strength & Resilience

Literary Devices:

Anaphora

a figure of speech in which words repeat at the beginning of successive clauses, phrases, or sentences

Juxtaposition

the fact of two things being seen or placed close together with contrasting effect