Journal of Hate Studies

Native America and the Question of Genocide by Alex Alvarez (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2014. 203 pp. $34.13. ISBN 978-1442225817).

Lisa King, University of Tennessee-KnoxvilleFollow

Abstract

On September 6th, 2015, Indian Country Today publicized a story that did not make mainstream news but resonated throughout Indian Country: a Navajo/Maidu student, Chiitaanibah Johnson, was ejected from her California State-Sacramento history class after asking the instructor to address the genocide of Native peoples in his coverage of American history. The instructor claimed that Native peoples had simply died of disease and that she was “hijacking” his class when she insisted (Schilling). Meanwhile, amid the protests of 50 different California tribes, Pope Francis made headlines when he canonized the controversial figure Juniper Serra, one of the leaders of the Spanish mission system that was known for its forceful abuse of the Native peoples it attempted to Christianize – a system that many California Native peoples now characterize as genocide (Burke). Both of these examples illustrate how critical the conversation around the concept of genocide has become to Indigenous peoples and how difficult it is to get the wider public to care. It is within such ongoing conversations that Alex Alvarez has published Native America and the Question of Genocide.

Recommended Citation

King, Lisa (2016) "Native America and the Question of Genocide by Alex Alvarez (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2014. 203 pp. $34.13. ISBN 978-1442225817).," Journal of Hate Studies: Vol. 13: Iss. 1, Article 13.
DOI: 10.33972/jhs.142
Available at: https://repository.gonzaga.edu/jhs/vol13/iss1/13