Free Risky Undertaking by Mark de Castrique Page B

I added. “What’s it mean?”
    Emma’s lips tightened as if holding back a flood of words. Then, in a even cadence, she said, “Kill the Indian and save the man.” She looked at Romero and tears trickled along the crevices of her cheeks. “But they killed the Indian and the man.”
    Romero put his arm around the old woman and took a deep breath. “It’s OK, Miss Emma. I’ll explain it.” He turned to Tommy Lee and me. “Most in the white world don’t know termination was the code word for the government’s policy of driving out all vestiges of Indian heritage. The goal was forced assimilation and the abolishment of reservations. In short, civilize the native people that white society viewed as savages.
    â€œSchools were built where Indian children were forbidden to speak their native tongue or practice traditional customs. In a generation or two, the Indian within would be eradicated, and what was left would be an individual swallowed up in mainstream culture.”
    â€œKill the Indian and save the man,” I repeated. “I thought that was from the late 1800s.”
    â€œIt was,” Romero said. “But the policy officially flourished from the 1940s through the 1960s when the government dissolved recognition of numerous tribes and gave states the responsibility to govern the former reservation lands.”
    â€œWere the Cherokee terminated?” I asked.
    â€œNo. Terminations were done on a tribe-by-tribe basis and had to move through Congress and court challenges. A backlash built, the American Indian Movement coalesced around the common interests, and the documented effects of termination on education and health care proved devastating, the exact opposite of what was promised.”
    â€œThe termination policy was terminated,” I said.
    Romero pulled his arm away from Emma, and she wiped her eyes on her sleeve.
    â€œYes,” Romero said. “Thanks to Richard Nixon.”
    â€œTricky Dick?” Tommy Lee scowled. “What was in it for him?”
    Romero shrugged. “I guess he had enough Vietnam War protesters on his hands without adding Indians to the list. And the states didn’t want responsibility for the tribes, especially with no federal funds. So, Nixon changed the policy from termination to self-determination.”
    The history lesson still didn’t give me the answer to my question. “Then why would Jimmy say preservation?”
    Emma Byrd pointed a finger at me. “Because self-determination is leading us to our self-termination. Jimmy fought not only against forces without but also forces within. Whether it was your cemetery or a tribal council meeting, Jimmy made no distinction. He saw no shades of gray when it came to preserving and protecting the spiritual core of the Cherokee people.”
    â€œAnd yet, yesterday, he was happy,” I said. “Contented. Why?”
    â€œI don’t know,” Emma Byrd said. “And if I’d asked, the very question could have broken his mood. It was enough that he was happy.”
    And less than twelve hours later, he was dead. I thought about the information Romero shared at the police station. “Miss Byrd, we understand that your grandson went home after eating supper with you.”
    â€œYes. He left a little before nine. Skye stayed longer.”
    â€œYour granddaughter, Jimmy’s sister?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œAnyone else?”
    â€œNo. Sometimes Eddie Wolfe comes with Skye. He’s her boyfriend, but last night he was working second shift.”
    â€œWhere?”
    â€œSome box factory near Murphy.”
    â€œThat would be about forty-five minutes away,” Romero said.
    â€œOK,” I said. “Miss Byrd, it looks like there’s no road up here. Where did Jimmy keep his truck?”
    â€œDown at my house. He parked it off to the side.”
    â€œAnd he didn’t drive off after