Warrior Girl Unearthed

“‘My parents own the motel,’ Erik clarifies. ‘My mom and I are tribal members.’

I correct him. ‘Tribal citizens. Members belong to clubs. Citizens belong to nations.’

‘Tribal citizens,’ Erik repeats. ‘I like that.’”

While Erik knows little about the Sugar Island Ojibwe Tribe, Perry is well-educated in Indigenous knowledge and traditions. Her insistence that Tribe members be called “citizens” rather than “members” reinforces the idea of tribal sovereignty.

“Bones. A skull, or rather, a cranium. Long, sturdy leg bones alongside fragments of slender ones that might be from an arm. A thick, curved section that I realize is part of the spine. There are smaller, tissue-wrapped packets. I glimpse a few of the labels: TEETH and LEFT HAND and AFO. This was a person. I’ve seen and heard the term human remains at least a hundred times today. But it registers differently now. The remains of a human being who lived and breathed.”

Perry sees an ancestor for the first time, which highlights the theme of The Cultural Importance of Repatriation and makes it a reality. While Perry sees her ancestor as “a person,” Mackinac has such ancestors disarticulated and sorted into boxes and categories. The so-called “scientific” fascination that Perry sees people adopt toward her ancestors foreshadows the intensifying of that treatment by antagonists like Lockhart and Leer-wah.

“There is so much crammed into the space. I could spend an entire day cataloging this inventory. Instead, everything in my body screams to get the hell out of here. Before they put me in a glass case marked INDIAN MAIDEN, CIRCA 2014. Because what’s the difference between one set of Indian bones and another?”

Perry feels like she and her ancestors are on a continuum, not separated by time and place. She sees the gaze people take to her exoticized ancestors and feels as though that gaze is trained on her. This foreshadows how Leer-wah will trap Perry and Shense in a hidey-hole. In addition, it characterizes how Perry sees the importance of repatriation and the role of Indigenous knowledge and traditions in her life: For her, the past isn’t past but present.

“I come from Theodora Firekeeper, who was the daughter of Pearl Paquette, who was the daughter of Maria Norman, who was the daughter of Sophie Williams, who was the daughter or Louise John, who was the daughter of Katherine Waakaayaabide, who was the daughter of Netamop Ogidaaki, the one they call Gichi Nokomis Giizis, or Great-Grandmother Moon. Through her, I am related to nearly every Ojibwe person on Ziisabaaka Minising, because Netamop had thirteen daughters—who we refer to as the Thirteen Grandmothers—who all married into different families on Sugar Island. My tribe teaches us to think seven generations ahead when we make decisions. Netamop would have thought about me.”

When Perry introduces herself, she uses her lineage to contextualize who she is. She pays her respects to the seven generations of women who survived and sacrificed so that she could be where she is today, and she explains the Anishinaabe teaching of thinking seven generations ahead to demonstrate the role of the past in her life. In the novel’s climax, Leer-wah says that this speech “inspired” him to kidnap one descendent of each of the Thirteen Grandmothers.

“ME: Not cool. You need to be safe. #wiindigoo

PAULINE: Still not telling.

ME: Seriously. #mmiw stands for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. You’re an IW at risk of getting M+M.”

The Epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People is a theme that colors every action that women in the Sugar Island Community take. Sneaking out to meet a boy is a stereotypical teenage action, but Perry worries that someone will kidnap or murder Pauline just because she’s an Indigenous woman. The symbol of the wiindigoo, which Perry uses here as a hashtag, is associated with men who abuse Indigenous woman.

“‘I admire warriors,’ he says with such intensity it’s like a spell. ‘Those who are willing to do what others can’t or won’t do for the community.’ He smiles. ‘Any questions?’

‘I get hazard pay for sitting through council meetings, right?’

Web laughs. ‘We’re going to be a great team, Ogichidaakwezans.’

I beam at the name. Warrior Girl.”

Perry thinks Web is her ally, but these words foreshadow his role as a secret antagonist. Web knows that Perry is passionate about repatriation, and he manipulates her by calling her “Warrior Girl,” the name of the ancestor she wants to repatriate. His words also foreshadow how he’s “willing to do what others can’t or won’t do,” including tricking Perry and her friends for his own gain.

“Granny June says we just gotta wait until there‘s enough council members with unenrolled relatives, and then Tribal Council will vote to lower the blood-quantum requirement. Pops says only three things still have pedigrees: dogs, horses and Indians.”

“Blood quantum” is “a highly controversial measurement of the amount of ‘Indian blood’ you have” (Chow, Kat. “So What Exactly is ‘Blood Quantum’?” NPR Code Switch, 2018). Since tribes receive specific rights and sovereignty, the federal government forced blood quantum on tribes to “limit their citizenship” (Chow); however, many tribes continue to use blood quantum as a standard for enrollment. Pop’s words show how he finds blood quantum dehumanizing.

“Some Elders spoke about the baskets as if they existed only in dreams; a few were scared to speak of them at all. The priests, nuns, and government folks at the boarding schools were not satisfied in beating children’s bodies; they sought to beat Anishinaabe memories into oblivion. How many dusty stories are inside the boxes in Dr. Fenton’s office?”

Perry thinks about the black ash baskets, which connect to her Ojibwe Indigenous knowledge and traditions. Some Elders who were physically and mentally abused at boarding schools associate the baskets with fear, while Perry associates them with pride. She realizes that even inanimate objects carry personal stories with them and thinks about all the “stories” thus trapped in Fenton’s office.

“She provides an overview about the epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit individuals. Instead of referring to it as MMIW, she makes a point of using MMIWG2S to include all those who face disproportionate rates of violence.”

The presenter from Uniting Three Fires Against Violence discusses the epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous individuals. The presenter makes sure to emphasize that others besides adult cisgender women are subject to abuse, violence, and murder. Underage girls and two-spirit people are also vulnerable. These groups are targets for the wiindigoo, the term that Perry and her family use to denote men who prey on vulnerable individuals.

“‘You aren’t responsible for your parents’ decision. I do understand people being reluctant to talk to law enforcement, especially Nishnaabs.’ He attempts a smile that doesn’t reach the dried white toothpaste. ‘You both did great work. It’s just that the crime took place on state land, so the investigation isn’t within our jurisdiction.’”

TJ’s words highlight how some Anishinaabe people feel about non-Tribal law enforcement. Non-Tribal police don’t take the epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit (MMIWG2S) individuals seriously. TJ’s acknowledging this foreshadows when Perry and Mr. Jackson call non-Tribal police after Shense’s disappearance, and they refuse to take it seriously. Since, as TJ says, Tribal Police have no jurisdiction for crimes that happen off tribal land—like Edwards’s murder or Shense’s disappearance—Anishinaabe officers like TJ can’t protect their community, and community members don’t feel protected.

“‘I think Grant Edwards knew he could get away with anything on tribal land,’ I say.

‘But he’s gone now,’ Pauline says. ‘We don’t have to be afraid of him anymore, right?’ She looks from Auntie to mom, and back at me.

Auntie rises and calls for Waab. She lifts him onto her hip. When she finally answers my sister, Auntie’s voice sounds all worn out. ‘He’s not the only wiindigoo out there.’”

Daunis’s invocation of wiindigoo to describe men who prey on Indigenous women shows that the epidemic of MMIWG2S is a persevering, systemic problem. Because Edwards is dead, their community isn’t safe.

“‘I think that’s what Chief Manitou was doing.’ She looks around to make sure no one can overhear. ‘Grooming me […] He was all professional the first week when we were getting to know the council members. But after he picked me, he made everything casual. Maybe too casual.’ Pauline avoids my eyes. ‘Whenever we were in his office, he’d make the sliding doors opaque so no one could look in […] Chief Manitou would say the same tired joke each time he made the sliding doors opaque.’ She makes her voice gruff. ‘Whatever happens in the chief’s office stays in the chief’s office.’”

Pauline’s realization that Chief Manitou was grooming her shows how the people who abuse their power aren’t only outside their community. This quotation also characterizes Pauline’s growth over the novel. She initially didn’t want to believe that Chief Manitou was grooming her. After Uniting Three Fires Against Violence explains grooming, she acknowledges the mistake and learns from it.

“‘Their archaeologist thinks any ancestor from more than a thousand years ago can’t be claimed by any “modern-day” tribe. But he goes around like, “This here is my girl.”‘

Dr. Fenton’s office comes to mind.

‘They don’t think we can take proper care of human remains and sacred objects. But they have our ancestors in fruit boxes, Web. Actual banana boxes. They’re okay with storing teeth in a fucking cereal box, but not with turning our relatives over to us.’”

Perry comments on the irony of anthropologists claiming that Anishinaabe people aren’t “highly skilled” caregivers of their cultural objects when those same anthropologists have her ancestors’ teeth in spare cereal boxes in their office bathrooms. This observation conveys that Western scientific methods and officials aren’t inherently more qualified to take care of such objects than the people to whom they belong and are culturally important.

“Lockhart is turning over our ancestors’ belongings on Columbus Day. Columbus Day? It’s beyond irony. The explorer who got lost and discovered a ‘new world’ full of resources: Indigenous peoples he could enslave to work in gold mines and on plantations. ‘Indians’ to be trafficked, just another resource to be extracted from the land.”

Perry points out the irony that Lockhart is giving his collection of Ojibwe cultural items to Mackinac State College on Columbus Day, a US holiday that commemorates the day Christopher Columbus landed in the Americas in 1492. Some Indigenous people and allies suggest celebrating “Indigenous Peoples Day” on that day instead, to acknowledge the genocide of Indigenous Americans that unfolded for centuries after that date. Here, Perry acknowledges some of the travesties that make Columbus Day a painful day for Indigenous Americans.

“I speak to them, introducing myself. ‘Aaniin. Perry Firekeeper-Birch indizhnikaaz. Waabizhish indoodem. Ziisabaaka Minising indonjiba.’ I try not to cry, but the effort requires energy I cannot spare. Amii izhi nibaan. Gego gotaajiken. Gizaagi’in.”

Perry doesn’t merely code-mesh, as when speaking to fluent living members of her community, but code-switches entirely into Ojibwemowin to address her ancestors’ remains. Although the novel often translates Perry’s Ojibwemowin, it doesn’t translate her words to the ancestors. Because this moment of connection between Perry and her ancestors is deeply emotional and private, the novel purposefully doesn’t reveal details to readers who don’t know Ojibwemowin.

“There are times, not just when I’m dreaming, when it’s as if Warrior Girl is with me as well. Maybe I’m imagining it—the idea that she is part of everything that’s happening. It’s going to be difficult, reclaiming our ancestors…but Web’s right: I don’t have to do it on my own.”

This quotation shows the two levels of parallelism between Perry and Warrior Girl. First, Perry has a deep connection to her ancestors because of the knowledge and practices she shares with them and the knowledge that their sacrifices enable her to live a full life. In this way, she always carries her ancestors within her. Second, as the novel continues, Perry discovers the “warrior girl” inside herself, finding ways to demonstrate her strength and resilience in the most effective way.

“Netamop’s thirteen daughters each married into a different family on Sugar Island. They knew of that wiindigoo and the secret to defeating it. When one of the thirteen died, the other twelve sisters selected a new secret keeper from their dead sister’s family at the next full moon, they brought the new woman to the wiindigoo’s location. They told her about the wiindigoo and, most importantly, how to defeat it.”

The old-timers ask Perry to tell a “scary story,” and she can think of nothing scarier than the real violence that Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit people experience. The wiindigoo symbolizes those (often men) who hurt Indigenous women. Among Perry’s ancestors is one of the Thirteen Grandmothers, which connects her to most other Ojibwe people on Sugar Island. Her community has a story about the women of Sugar Island passing on the knowledge of how to kill a wiindigoo. This foreshadows Perry’s eventual standoff against Leer-wah.

“It’s overwhelming. Black and brown people killed. Men, women, children. Attacked. Accused. Quick assumptions and even quicker knee-jerk reactions. Both my Native and Black ancestors were treated unjustly. Denied justice. The young man’s family is preparing to bury their loved one. I don’t know of any burial traditions from Grandma Cake’s side of the family. I only know about Ojibwe funerals.”

Although Perry knows more about her Anishinaabe heritage than her Black family, her father’s mother, Grandma Cake, was Black. Over the summer of 2014, Perry witnesses news coverage of the murders of Eric Garner and Michael Brown. She notes how systemic racism and violence targets both sides of her ancestry and ponders how Grandma Cake’s generational knowledge has been lost to her, just like Ojibwe knowledge is lost to many people in her community.

“You’re Marten Clan, like me. We protect and provide for our community. You notice things that others don’t. You fight for people who can’t fight for themselves. If you need to be fierce, you can get there in a heartbeat. But at heart, you are a gentle soul who wants tranquility. It’s why we make the best protectors. It’s not about showing force. It’s about strategizing, negotiating, and making difficult decisions quickly. It’s recognizing that knowing when not to fight is more important than knowing you are capable of fighting.”

Throughout the novel, Perry has struggled with feeling replaceable. She was fired by Cooper, taken off the repatriation committee, let go by Web and then extorted by him, misunderstood by Erik after stealing the basket, moved to work at the casino, and then dropped from the casino to work at Tribal Police. In addition, teachers have always called Pauline “the smart twin.” All of this has eroded Perry’s self-confidence and unique abilities. TJ’s observations, which are all the more meaningful because they’re both Marten Clan, remind Perry about what her strengths are and why she fights.

“My sister cries as she holds a shadow box containing a baby’s remains. I take it from her and coo to the binoojii like I would with Washkeh. This happens four more times. I ache all over.”

Perry, Pauline, and Lucas treat every ancestor with the utmost respect, but moving the remains of the ancestors, especially the babies, is still highly emotional for them. All 42 ancestors were arranged in “shadow boxes” around a viewing chair in the silo. Shadow boxes are deeply recessed boxes made for displaying something for viewing. The three teens witness this dehumanization of their ancestors and use care to treat them as human once more. Perry coos to the remains of babies as she would coo to Washkeh, Shense’s daughter.

“I grew up drinking her spring water. I took my first steps on her back. I run and play and hunt and fish within her. I live in a home filled with love and Anishinaabe minobimaadiziwin. I speak the same language as my grandmother’s grandmother.”

Leer-wah wanted to take Pauline, whom he said was the Sugar Island’s “best.” Perry makes a case for herself as Sugar Island’s best. In expressing her own confidence, knowledge, and love, Perry doesn’t diminish Pauline’s importance, even though Perry hasn’t chosen the same academic pursuits as Pauline.

“‘Your mom is Ojibwe right? She and Caron are sisters? You are Ojibwe.’

‘My dad wouldn’t let her enroll me,’ he says.

‘You’re still Ojibwe,’ I say. ‘The ancestors are yours. Not to own or control, but to help them get home.’ If there is any decency to him, this is the only way I can think to reach him. ‘Shense has a daughter named Washkeh. Don’t let that little girl grow up without her mom the way Claire had to. You can give her back her mother.’

Hugo LeRoy is quiet and unmoving. I hold my breath while he contemplates my plea. ‘You will be revered,’ he says triumphantly.”

This passage provides key characterization for both Perry and Leer-wah, who reveals himself as a wiindigoo and secret antagonist. She’s fluent in cultural language and traditions but doesn’t think that gives her any superiority over people who lack that knowledge. Her words show that she considers even Leer-wah, who has done unspeakable things, “still Ojibwe,” capable of respecting the culture and ancestors. He, however, doesn’t accept this proposition. He sees Indigenous women as exoticized objects that exist for him to own and watch.

“‘Frank Lockhart recruited Tom Webster and me,’ Claire says. ‘He said he’d split the insurance money with us and keep the money from what he is selling overseas to private collectors.’ She looks at me. ‘Using the interns to steal everything was Tom’s idea. I was just supposed to come up with team challenges to identify the best people.’”

Claire reveals one of the novel’s largest plot twists: Lockhart, Claire, and Web orchestrated the entire heist at its outset. While Perry and her friends thought they were proactively saving their ancestors from imprisonment, a secret plot that they couldn’t see was moving them around like pieces on a game board. Even Perry’s beloved group of friends, “Team Misfit Toys,” was something that Claire expertly organized to pull off their trick.