Review: Brando Skyhorse finds out truth about his 'Indian' dad.

[Diana]

I had heard of this writer some time ago but can't remember when. It was the name that caught my attention. Then I saw this over on Indianz. It looks like a fascinating read and I plan on getting the book.

The reason I'm posting this, his experience mirrors a lot of the frauds we investigate and write about. From what little I could glean from his interview it sounds like his Mother was mentally ill.

I truly believe most of these frauds are emotional cripples with undiagnosed psychosis. Which is why I am going to read this book to get a better handle on these people we report about.

http://www.indianz.com/News/2014/014413.asp

'Take This Man': Uncovering A Mother's Reinventions
 by NPR Staff

When Brando Skyhorse was 5 years old, his mother said she would take him to meet his father. They took a train from California to Illinois, where, at a prison, he met Paul Skyhorse Johnson, a Native American political activist who'd been incarcerated for armed robbery.

"He looked literally like the part of a stereotypical American Indian brave," Brando tells NPR's Arun Rath. "And I thought, 'Oh good God, this is my dad? This looks great!' "

Back at home in Los Angeles, Brando's mother, Maria, pounded home his Native American heritage. She insisted Brando grow his hair long and convinced him to abstain from the Pledge of Allegiance at his elementary school.

But when Brando was 12 or 13, a realization dawned: His father couldn't possibly be Paul Skyhorse Johnson. All of his mother's details about her life with Johnson simply didn't make sense.

In fact, Brando wasn't Native American at all. He was Mexican — his birth name was Brando Kelly Ulloa. But his Mexican father had abandoned the family when Brando was just 3 years old. That's when Maria struck up correspondence with the incarcerated Paul Johnson and convinced him by mail to adopt both Brando and the middle name Skyhorse. It was decades until Brando would reunite with his real father, a Mexican man named Candido.

That sprawling web of tall tales and realizations makes up Brando Skyhorse's captivating new memoir, Take This Man.

http://www.npr.org/2014/06/07/319418859/take-this-man-uncovering-a-mothers-reinventions

[Autumn]

Thanks, Diana, it sounds really interesting.  I have reserved the book from my local library and will be reading it also.

His mother certainly sounds eccentric.  I read somewhere else that he had five stepfathers.  This is how the author explained what she did (in the same NPR article you had listed above, at the bottom):

I wish I could have gotten around to asking her. She probably would have given two completely different answers and meant them both. I think a part of her would have said, "Well, you know, I relate more with American Indian Culture." ... Everything about it really appealed to her on a basic and primal level.

And [second,] I think that the idea that she'd been abandoned by a Mexican man really wounded her, and really wounded her pride. I think it confirmed a lot of the negative stereotypes she probably had about what it means to be Mexican in a place like Echo Park, Los Angeles. I think she felt that maybe being Mexican was limiting for her, that no one would be interested in her or her stories if she simply said, "Oh, I'm just a simple Mexican girl from Echo Park, California." ...

And that's another one of those sad ironies, because my mother was so mesmerizing, such a wonderful and charming personality, that she didn't need to invent anything. People would have gravitated toward her regardless.

[earthw7]

I work for my tribe and at least once a month i get a call from people like this.
I have to inform them that they are not related to us. They all say but i grew up
hear these stories, well i have always been indian and now you tell I am not.
People are shocked! I try to explain as native people the government kept
records of us so we can pull up the tribal records to see who has be on our rolls,
who is related to whom, plus it is our way to tell everyone which family we come from,
When you go to visit another place the first thing is ask is who are you related too,
who was your grandparents.
I have heard my grandma has
Indian nose
Indian ears
Indian high cheek bone
I have to roll my eyes!
or its just look at her picture she looks Indian of course i do look at the pictures
they dont look Indian.
Then they get tribes all mixed up so we have Lakota and cherokee ceremony together whoever heard!
Then they have dates all mixed up.
Yes most of these stories are made up from unbalanced people

[Diana]

I agree Earth, something is fundamentally wrong with these people. The reason I find this particular story fascinating is the lengths Brando Skyhorse's mother went to, to convince him and everyone around her that she was Indian.

And to have someone actually uncover the lies and write about it gives us an insiders view to that pretendian's sad life.

I can't wait to read the book.

[Epiphany]

Diana, thanks for posting this, I'd heard this on NPR and was also struck by how much this sounds right up our fraud research alley. I put a hold on a copy through local library, look forward to reading it. We have our own NAFPS Book Club here.

[Lime Tree]

I read this book for one third now. Speaking for myself: I do not see how this book would help me understand why people would want to be famous, or world saviours, or Masters, or The-One-Who-Knows-It-All.

A quote from the book, page 21:

[My mother] could be leading a group of wide-eyed "Pilgrims" - my mother's term for whites - around a jewelry store rubbing 'southwestern' squash blossom necklaces and sterling silver bracelets between her fingers. Using a just-for-white-people "Indian" voice - a taffy pull on her slight Latina accent - she'd pronounce whether a piece of turquoise had been crafted by a real "on the rez Skin".
Of course, my mother had no idea which pieces were authentic, but if her details didn't line up - or connect at all - you still wanted to believe her. Why? You felt privileged that someone with such an extraordinary story would choose to confide in, of all people, you. You'd forget meeting a hundred people, but you'd remember meeting my mother. Her story became your story.
"I can't wait to tell my friends I met an Indian!" one of my mother's Pilgrims told her in a sincere embrace. She rattled with her jewelry my mother had helped her buy. "Thank you."

It is a bit like the theme:
Who decides what is the meaning of symbols?
In this case, a Latina nitwit tells white nitwits what is 'real NDN jewelry'. And they love it!

[Autumn]

I read this book for one third now. Speaking for myself: I do not see how this book would help me understand why people would want to be famous, or world saviours, or Masters, or The-One-Who-Knows-It-All.

A quote from the book, page 21:

[My mother] could be leading a group of wide-eyed "Pilgrims" - my mother's term for whites - around a jewelry store rubbing 'southwestern' squash blossom necklaces and sterling silver bracelets between her fingers. Using a just-for-white-people "Indian" voice - a taffy pull on her slight Latina accent - she'd pronounce whether a piece of turquoise had been crafted by a real "on the rez Skin".
Of course, my mother had no idea which pieces were authentic, but if her details didn't line up - or connect at all - you still wanted to believe her. Why? You felt privileged that someone with such an extraordinary story would choose to confide in, of all people, you. You'd forget meeting a hundred people, but you'd remember meeting my mother. Her story became your story.
"I can't wait to tell my friends I met an Indian!" one of my mother's Pilgrims told her in a sincere embrace. She rattled with her jewelry my mother had helped her buy. "Thank you."

It is a bit like the theme:
Who decides what is the meaning of symbols?
In this case, a Latina nitwit tells white nitwits what is 'real NDN jewelry'. And they love it!

I agree, Lime Tree.  I have read the entire book.  It is a very personal story of a man who is trying to make peace with his unusual and very dysfunctional family.  I don't really think there are any great truths that can be applied to everyone who claims NDN heritage when there is no heritage to be claimed (other than perhaps they are all nuts??).  The NDN part of his history seems very minor, also, in light of the continuing saga of his mother, grandmother, and five step-fathers (non of the marriages actually legal since his mother never got divorced and used assumed names when she re-married). 

[Diana]

I finally read Take This Man: A Memoir by Brando Skyhorse. It was a good read and utterly heartbreaking! And I would recommend it to everyone.

Brando Skyhorse's Mother is without a doubt mentally ill. Which strongly reinforces my opinion of these frauds, con artists and culture appropriators, they are emotional cripples grasping at unattainable fantasies, schemes or delusions. They are a sad lot indeed.

Diana

[Autumn]

I finally read Take This Man: A Memoir by Brando Skyhorse. It was a good read and utterly heartbreaking! And I would recommend it to everyone.

Brando Skyhorse's Mother is without a doubt mentally ill. Which strongly reinforces my opinion of these frauds, con artists and culture appropriators, they are emotional cripples grasping at unattainable fantasies, schemes or delusions. They are a sad lot indeed.

Diana

And the people who believe them are emotional cripples also, "grasping at unattainable fantasies, schemes or delusions".  It is a vicious cycle.

[Diana]

You're absolutely right Autumn. Sometimes I forget about their victims too.

Also, one of the troubling aspects of his Mother's scheme is that Brando's own heritage was stolen from him. He seems adrift as an adult. He has no connection to his culture, language or religion. He has no support system.

I wish there had been a few more stories about his Mother's fantastical ruse, but all in all it was a very good eye opening book about these kind of people.

Diana

   

[Defend the Sacred]

Psychology/Psychiatry tangent moved here: http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=4451