Scroll down further or type in key searchwords to learn the truth about the 2017 PEN Center USA Book Awards, the 2004 James Jones First Novel Fellowship, The Absolutely True Fall of Sherman Alexie, and Identity Politics and Racism in the World of NativeĪmerican Writers. In 2018, scroll down to the end of the first section. To learn How the Controversy Came to an End I humbly ask that you read thisĮntire webpage before making any judgment about me and especially before making any adverse decision about my writing. That you do as I recommended to Winston Groom (author of Forrest Gump): pour yourself a cup of coffee, tea, or something stiffer, sit back, and read on. If you are reading this because you have heard or read negative things about me, I ask It is offered in response to a quarter century of bullying and "fake news" about me. IF YOU WANT TO LEARN THE WHOLE STORY, INCLUDING HOW THE CONTROVERSYĮNDED IN 2018, AND HOW BULLIES MISREPRESENTED THE TRUTH FOR DECADES, READ ON. These facts should satisfy any curious person about my ethnicity. In 2012, I delivered the keynote address at the FBI's New York City field office during National NativeĪmerican Heritage Month (November) as part of President Obama's initiative to increase diversity awareness among government agencies. In 1999, when I was in my mid-30s, Ahtna Chief Harry Johns held a special ceremony to designate me a Traditional AhtnaĬulture Bearer, a term usually reserved for elders with significant cultural knowledge. Who remembered the old stories, I published two collections of our mythology. My work in the Ahtna language is even cited in a book which was named a Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. To watch episodes of me teaching Ahtna 101 on YouTube). In 1998, the Ahtna Heritage Foundation in partnership with Ahtna Native Corporation published my dictionary of our language (click on "dictionaries" on the menu to view or download the dictionary or In addition, I am one of the last speakers on earth of our severely endangered Native language, having learned it from every elder who spoke Ahtna. Language, and traditional Native Ways of Knowing. For years, I was the tribally-appointed executive director of my tribe's Heritage Foundation, whose mission is to preserve our culture, Served as an administrator for numerous Native organizations. The State of Alaska issued me a license (based on federal laws) authorizing me to create and sell art as authentic Native handicraft. I participated in our traditional subsistenceĬustoms of hunting and fishing. I have not missed a vote in three decades. By tribal law, only Natives are eligible to vote (seeīelow). Voting member (called a shareholder) of Ahtna Native Corporation and the Traditional Native Village of Tazlina, a federally recognized tribe. I have a Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood (CDIB) from the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), part of the U.S. IĪm the son of a half-blood Native father. Importantly by the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA 1971, 1987 Amendments), the largest indigenous legislation passed by Congress in American history, I am Alaska Native/Native American. LeGuin, backcover, Songs from an Outcastīy all applicable laws of the United States, most "The North, the winter, warmth within cold-this poet speaks from the land, and for the land and the people who belong to This gives his work an unusual and valuable resonance." -Denise Levertov, foreword to Songs from an Outcast Twentieth century individual poetic sensibility and the collective voice of the people of that landscape in times past. When he evokes the Alaskan landscape, its fauna, its myths, one can't help but feel one is hearing the voice of a late Smelcer is taking an active step towards rescuing it for his contemporaries. As a pioneer in exploring the almost defunct Ahtna Athabaskan language for some of his own work, which he then translates into English, So grievously wounded yet still alive around and in him. "John Smelcer's poems bring one a strong sense of his Indian ancestry, his constant and haunting awareness of the indigenous life He continues to write and the world continues to listen to what he has to say, despite his marginalization by the very people who shouldĮncourage him most." -James Welch, American Book Award winning author of Fools Crow & The Indian He has never given up he has never let others quiet his voice. "What impresses me most about John Smelcer, aside from his powerful writing, is his indomitable spirit. Willful Ignorance of Bullies Who Attacked Ethnicity, the University of Alaska Anchorage, the End of a Controversy, and the
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